When to not get a touch panel?

[hehateme]

I am looking into installing a new Control4 system. There 8 zones and I am trying to keep the cost down.

Currently I am thinking of using the smallest touch panels. I have a few rooms like dining room and guest room which are not used much. Should I consider installing touch panels in these rooms?

Will the remotes that come with HC 500 and 300 work with touch panels and key pads?

I am looking for practical advice to keep the price down without sacrificing too much functionality.

Thanks

[tumult]

I have a touch panel in my kitchen and one next to my bed and a bunch of 6 button keypads scattered throughout the house. the one in the kitchen gets used the most. I thought I would use the one by my bed, but now that all of my lights go out at set times, and I already have a remote in my bedroom, there's not much use for the mts in my situation. if you haven't wired yet, run some cat5 cable to locations in which you may want a touch panel. I suggest only installing the touchpanel in high traffic areas. you don't want to walk to the other side of the house just to turn on music especially since there's probably a remote or keypad around. if you're trying to turn on music, the 6 button keypad can easily accomplish that task. The remotes included with the controllers are fantastic. assuming you have good zigbee coverage throughout the home, you can take the remote anywhere and control anything in your home.

good luck,

tum

[jbs]

One thing you might consider doing (if this is a house under construction and walls are still open) is running Cat6 to anywhere you might eventually want a touchpanel, and then if you're not happy with the remotes you can add one or more touchpanels in later.

In general, the remotes will do whatever the touchpanels will do. I've found that for music playing the touchpanels, being hardwired, are faster at getting through my very large MP3 collection. On the remote it's a bit more sluggish because of the limitations of Zigbee.

I've not used the most recent remotes which came out in the last few weeks or so.

The touchpanels are certainly very aesthetically nice, and add a very Jetsons-like vibe to a room, especially when you can walk over, and with a couple of taps bring up the right lighting, music and entertainment. But functionality wise, the remotes are also excellent.

Specifically which touchpanel are you looking at?

--Jason

[tumult]

I've not used the most recent remotes which came out in the last few weeks or so.

not to derail the topic, but.....if you're referring to the sr-250, you've got to check them out. its sooooooo much better than the 1st gen remotes.

[hehateme]

I built the house 2 years ago. At that time I had wired the house for crestron adagio. I have enough wiring to install most systems. Every room in the house already have speakers. Every room has wiring for touch panels.

I will start with just audio distribution and consider adding other features in the next few years.

Things have changed a lot in 2 years and I am trying to be much more judicious in the way I spend money.

The proposal I received from the installer had 8 touch panels in my 8 zones.

These are the smallest touch panels.

TSE-3.8C2-W PoE Mini Touch Screen - 4” (wht) $699.00

I know $699 might not be a lot of money for some folks but I don't want to waste money. I just want to make sure I only install things that I will find useful.

Thanks for your responses.

[dhendriksen]

I built the house 2 years ago. At that time I had wired the house for crestron adagio. I have enough wiring to install most systems. Every room in the house already have speakers. Every room has wiring for touch panels.

I will start with just audio distribution and consider adding other features in the next few years.

Things have changed a lot in 2 years and I am trying to be much more judicious in the way I spend money.

The proposal I received from the installer had 8 touch panels in my 8 zones.

These are the smallest touch panels.

TSE-3.8C2-W PoE Mini Touch Screen - 4” (wht) $699.00

I know $699 might not be a lot of money for some folks but I don't want to waste money. I just want to make sure I only install things that I will find useful.

Thanks for your responses.

Nothing against the Mini Touch Screen's, but I much prefer the 7". They are SOOO much easier to use, and so much better looking in my opinion. I am getting ready to replace some of my mini ts with the 7" and I can't wait. I actually almost prefer the 7" to the 10.5"!

[hehateme]

I will try to buy a couple 7 inch screens in the most used area. Perhaps in the kitchen and master bedroom.

Thanks

[dhendriksen]

I will try to buy a couple 7 inch screens in the most used area. Perhaps in the kitchen and master bedroom.

Thanks

You'll be glad you did.

[panamagixxer]

I have 4 touchscreens in my house and sadly, never you them. We have remotes 5 remotes (250s) and just use them. If I did could do it over, I would skip on them. Just too easy to use the remotes. I will get a 7" remote as soon as they come out.

[neil12011]

I'll give you my experience, as I'm both dealer and end user. I only have one touchscreen in my home, a 4' mini. Every other room has a remote or remotes. My wife uses the mini a good bit, it's pratical for her, I do occasionally, I just end up using remotes in the bedrooms because it's easy to fiddle and grab a hold of in the dark or middle of the night. However, I will say that the 7 inch has changed the dynamic, and that for me and most customers it's definately the way to go...I'd even get up from the couch where there is a remote just to mess with the 7 inch. But basically it boils down to what your preferences are, even though my mts does not get alot of traffic from me, I'm glad it's there for guests and the wife. I wouldn't consider removing it at all. I think 2 touchscreens are ideal, and the rest keypads and remotes.

[hehateme]

Can the remote control any zone and source?

It seems to me that I should use remotes or 7 inch screens LCD's.

[RyanE]

I've got 5 mini-touch screens, and I'd like to replace 2 of them (master bedroom and kitchen) with the 7".

The kids' rooms, master bath all have 10-button LCD keypads (zigbee -- I should've waited a couple of months for the PoE versions!) and system remotes as well in the kids' rooms. The kids use the remotes more than anything else (because then they can stay in bed and choose music), and I use only a system remote and the on-screen display in the 'home theater' (family room), but for choosing music, Rhapsody, etc., the touch screens work *so much faster*, that if and when I replace a couple of the mini-touch with 7" panels, I'll be moving the mini-touches to other locations in the house where I listen to music.

Of course, the kids are still going to just have their remotes... They've got to learn patience *somehow*...

If I were putting in a new install, I would *seriously* consider the 7" over the mini-touch. I *love* the mini-touch, it's one of the reasons I work at Control4 (long story), but for the difference in price, the 7" is quite a bit faster of a processor, and the larger display is gorgeous. It's 4x the real estate of the mini-touch, and the black frame looks nicer.

One last thing, the touchscreens *do* make quite a nice picture frame, I have all of mine set to display photos when on 'screensaver' mode. My wife *loves* that feature, and we get to see our pictures much more often than we used to.

RyanE

[jbs]

Ryan, I recall in the early days of the photo screensaver some people speculated that it was slowing down their systems . . . does that problem seem to have gone away now?

Has anyone replaced a MTS with a 7"? I don't suppose I'd be so lucky that it fits into the same backbox, does it? If not, how difficult was/is it to get the hold box out and a new one in? Can someone post the MSRP on the 7"? Are there functionality differences beyond the faster processor and sexier screen?

For example, if the 7" screen adopted my most-desired feature:

http://www.c4forums.com/viewtopic.php?id=1904

nested custom buttons, I'd upgrade in a heartbeat.

hehateme, I love our MTS's. We've got them in a number of locations throughout the house and use them a lot. I think $700 is no small investment as well, so adding them to the places you'll use them most often and seeing how you use them seems like a good call.

[RyanE]

The main issue was that it wouldn't wake up immediately or something along those lines.

I don't notice that it slows down my system at all. Pre 1.3.2, there were a couple of memory leaks that would hit during screensaver, but those are long gone.

I run photo screensaver ALL THE TIME at my house, and only turn it off at night in the Master Bedroom, so that I'm not blinded by the backlight when I'm trying to sleep. If it slowed down my touchscreen, I would have stopped using it.

The 7" has a completely different back box than the mini-touch, but fortunately, since it's larger, it's not too difficult (I'd imagine) to remove a mini-touch and add a 7" in the same location. I did that with some single-gang locations, made the hole bigger for the mini-touch. They were standard j-boxes, I just slid a hacksaw blade down the stud side of the box, and flush-cut the nails right off. Shouldn't be much different for a mini-touch backbox, unless it was a retrofit, in which case, it's even easier.

RyanE

[RyanE]

To answer your question, yes, there are a few differences in the functionality of the 7" from the mini-touch.

The mini-touch has really small scrollbars. It's usually not an issue, since nearly all things use the scroll wheel. The 7" has much larger scrollbars. Larger buttons, better placement, and navigation is more like the 10", where you don't have to hit 'back' all the time, since more buttons are available on the screen.

Another thing, the mini-touch has 'landing' screens, where you choose what you want after you hit 'Music' or 'Video', etc. Those same buttons are on the screen all the time on the 7", so you don't have to back out of what you're doing to change sources, etc. Cover art is larger, actually *all* media is larger. On Rhapsody, you can enter the name of something in 'search', and it'll do a 'quick search', where you can keep typing, and it'll search as you go, instead of having to go back out a screen and then return. You can see 'now playing' information while you choose music, etc.

Dang. You just made me want to upgrade sooner...

RyanE

[tumult]

Can the remote control any zone and source?

It seems to me that I should use remotes or 7 inch screens LCD's.

yes, the remote controls all zones and sources.

tum

[jbs]

. . . and do you mind sharing the MSRP on the 7" and the SR250?

[RyanE]

MSRP is not a tightly-guarded secret for this stuff, but I don't actually remember the MSRP exactly on the 7" and the SR-250.

Some dealer could chime in, but since I don't sell the stuff regularly, I can't remember.

RyanE

[K&J]

MSRP is not a tightly-guarded secret for this stuff, but I don't actually remember the MSRP exactly on the 7" and the SR-250.

Some dealer could chime in, but since I don't sell the stuff regularly, I can't remember.

RyanE

Not at my store at this time and I'll correct myself if incorrect but I believe the pricing is this:

7" In-Wall Touch Screen - $1100.00

SR 250 - $200.00

I'll say this in reference to the subject of TS vs Remote.

We usually install 1 TS in the MB, 1 in Central Location of upstairs (if applicable), 1 Central Location Main Floor.

1 TS in the Basement (if applicable)

If you are using an alarm system you can replace their keypad for a C4 TS. Why use their keypad when you can utilize the TS and do so much more.

I do like using the SR250's and I find myself using this more than the TS's but every customer is different.

I also use the GUI on the projector or TV.

With the HC 200 out now you can have a HD GUI at each TV location and use that instead of a TS in every room.

When we walk through a project with a customer we generally get a real good feel for what the customer is wanting and make our best recommendation.

You can Always add a Wireless TS.. Especially when the 7" Wireless TS comes out.

I would also like to add that when we quote a project we use MSRP.

We generally give the customer items as Dimmer, Switches, Remotes, Composer HE (Home Edition) etc..

This also depends on the size of the project.

Not one of our customers in the last 3 years have paid for HE whether they have chosen to use it or not.

I cannot state what the other dealers are selling for but again our philosophy is to Build Client Base and not try and get rich off each customer.

[maniac36]

I only have one touchscreen in my home, a 4' mini. Every other room has a remote or remotes. My wife uses the mini a good bit, it's pratical for her, I do occasionally, I just end up using remotes in the bedrooms because it's easy to fiddle and grab a hold of in the dark or middle of the night. But basically it boils down to what your preferences are, even though my mts does not get alot of traffic from me, I'm glad it's there for guests and the wife. I wouldn't consider removing it at all. I think 2 touchscreens are ideal, and the rest keypads and remotes.

I agree, we only have one MTS in our place for the same reasons, wife and guests. We have four remotes for the other main rooms, I will say the iPhone app it great. It's just like having a touchscreen in your pocket, for me it's worth the $299. I am considering the 7" wireless when it comes out later this year!

[MSI]

We swapped out a mini with a 7" with no problems. Ended up moving the mini to another location.

Get the 7".....it is amazing. It is much faster then the mini and easier to use and navigate. We hardly use the TV on screen display. We use the 7" all the time.

Most of the time it is used for checking the weather with the weatherbug page, sending announcments to other areas of the house, and for playing back digital music. I would suggest putting them in the kitchen and master bedroom. A SR-250 remote is probably sufficent for most TV rooms.

As Ryan mentioned, the photo screen saver is a nice feature.

BTW if you want minis look on ebay for discounted units.