John Estock

Thank you all for your help. One of the first things we did was reboot the controller with no change. Distance from HC800 to zigbee in far end of house is maybe 90 feet. To be clear, all of our remotes show the “waiting for network” error message not just the remote farthest from the HC800. Also system was working just fine until I tried to turn off one of the TV’s. Not sure about the zigbee on the processor. I just know there is a zigbee (little black puck with small antenna and blue light) at far end of house. A technician from the installer company was at our house and ran through a bunch of tests but didn’t suggest any of the ideas offered to extend the zigbee mesh. I fine it hard to believe I need a new controller. Like most of the responses it seems to me to be a device communication issue. I’ll pass on your ideas to see how the installer responds. I’m also going to get a second opinion. If I do need a new controller is the recommended EA5 overkill for the set up described above? Again thank you all for your ideas and your interest in helping a non- techie deal with this problem.

The current controller is an HC800. Installed July 2014. Installer proposing $2,000 new EA5 controller plus $200/hr for programming new controller. I think an EA3 would work just fine for my needs. See above system details. Any comments?

Also there is I believe one zigbee device at the far end of our house. The problem popped up out of the blue, it had been working fine for 5+ years.

The problem is throughout the house. Our entire video system is down with the “waiting for network “ on all remote control devices. Does this change any of your thoughts on the problem or proposed solution?

Turned one of our four TV’s on with remote, message on remote “waiting for network “, when I tried to turn the TV off. I’m being told by an installer after checking the programming and the rest of the system that the problem is the controller, does that make sense? I’m not at all technically knowledgeable about this stuff so I’m looking for some advice from unbiased contributors to this forum. My system is pretty straight forward: 4 TV’s in four rooms throughout our spacious house. 4,000+ sq ft. 5 speakers in main family room, no separate speakers in other rooms 3 cable boxes 1 Blu-ray 1 Apple TV unit 1 Binary B500 matrix 8x8 1 control 4 controller HC something 1 Sony multichannel AV receiver No plans to expand system The installer is recommending a new EA 5 controller to fix the problem. Based on what I’ve read on this forum that seems like overkill assuming the problem is the controller and not something else less expensive to fix. Unbiased advice on this problem and proposed solution would be greatly appreciated. JGE