Advice to newbie!

[rhardin]

i have used the HC-300 for about 2 years in my upstairs ht room only combined with the sony 777. I'm controling lights, and temp as well as my direct tv box, projector, and a/v receiver. i've had many problems with the htc not recognizing disks, but satisfied besides that. I'm looking to add to system to control downstairs lights and systems. I have seperate a/v receivers in living, master br, and hearth room, so wall displays with amps seem to not apply. I have a ipod 80gb connected to a yamaha in master driving speakers there and in master bath. Dealer is quoting two more Hc300 and dimmers and switches to control lights i've specified. I'm looking to:

1. control a/v, dvd player, dvr, tv, cd in living with one of these units behind doors.

2. control yamaha, ipod dock,dvd, tv, direct tv in master br with all components inside armoire

3. control a/v rec., direct tv box, and tv in hearth room (dealer quote doen't address this room)

4. automate all lighting i can afford

i'm thinking of using apple airport or dlo homedock to get music to hearth room and outdoor speakers that this a/v drives. Maybe also use same in living room even though i have an older sony 100 disk changer.

i'm a single household at present, so don't need to use system in different rooms at once very often. Advice:

How many HC300 do i need? Is it expensive to have mutiple rooms access the 777 upstairs? Any other thoughts on music distribution? any overall suggestions?

Thanks in advance for all feedback and advice!

Robert

[alfaguide]

Cant see why you would need any more than the one HC that you allready have. Without seeing plans though it is hard to understand why the dealer has quoted you 2 more Hc 300s.

Ben

[lippavisual]

It is best practice to have 1 controller per visual device. From the sounds of the equipment that you would like to add, you will need the 2.

[rhardin]

Do you mind expanding on why I need two more HTC to control the equipment I listed?

Thanks

[takitezsdc]

You dont " need " two more HTCs or a HC-300.

I am not sure how you have had a HC-300 for the last 2 years..........its only been out for under a year.

If you have a HTC you still ony need one.......BUT its all in what you want to be able to do. I have a HTC on every TV. This way I can use the on screen nav on each TV. Its a matter of convience.

You might want to buy a new HTC-300 or 500 IF you are going to get another one. The main reason you will want this is two fold.................

ONE is that when C4 comes out with the new version of composer in the summer it will have Rhapsody funtion that you will be able to download music and much more right to your system. THIS IS GOING TO BE VERY COOL!! You will have the ablity to have full access and all the features that Rhapsody has, IF you have a HTC-300 or better............if not.......your SOL!!!

TWO is that you will notice a HUGE difference in speed in your system! This is always nice.

In summary........you dont " need " another HTC to do what you want to do.....BUT you might want to get the new HC-300 or 500 for the reasons listed above.

One more thing I just tbought of......I noticed that sometimes my system would get " pegged" when I had just my mediia controler, using it as a nav, director and a meida source......by adding more HTC/ HC-300s or a HC-500 ( then you could dump that ipod) it would allow you to free up the system to run faster.

Hope this helps!

Scott

and FYI......Selmay taught me all I know !! He is the MASTER of C4!!!

[lippavisual]

He will need the other controllers for device control. 1 htc will not be enough for what he wants to accomplish. If you don't want to purchase another controller, you will have to purchase either the global cache or bb electronics pieces to support the need for I/O's.

If you do it, you might as well do it right and just get the controllers. I promise you will not be dissappointed.

[rhardin]

thanks for the feedback. I'll have to check the model #on my htc tonight, assumed it was hc300, but guess model has been upgraded. I'm planning to finalize plans with my installer soon, good to have indepenent advice also.