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Amx, crestron,rti, ipad, etc
has anyone had a coach that did not have an interface to run the a/v, shades, lights, awnings, etc, then had one of the name brands installed after the fact?
If so, what are some issues that came into play to get to work and approx cost?
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21 Replies
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Do you really want to do that????????
Except for the fact it is nice having all the A/V operated via the Crestron I would much rather having hard wired switches for everything else located where they make sense.
Other than impressing people who have never had any experience with a Prevost I cannot think of a single benefit to have one more layer of control system and the added complexity.
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I agree with Jon. Be glad you got one without AMX. Recently got a Vantare and was relieved that it had no AMX control. Would not have kept us from buying the coach, but certainly considered it a bonus. Now, if only they had eliminated the air pocket doors along with the AMX.
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I do mostly agree with Jon’s thoughts. While it is nice to have a touchscreen to use for lighting, heating, shades, AV etc., it adds huge complexity to the systems. Never mind the cost which I. Estimate to be in the range of $50K to $100K. Not only that. Most Crestron systems are proprietary. Therefore, you have no control. You are getting married to your converter. Creatron may be great to have in a McMansion, where you have many rooms and huge squarefootage but in our buses? No way.
Olivia is a good example. It is a 2007 coach with an 05 chassis. We do have Crestron controls. We are fortunate to have the original source code. But, our Crestron system is about 8 years old by now. Our hardware is totally outdated. The Crestron touch panels have batteries, which are no longer available. Not a big problem because the pedestals are hooked up to AC.
If you replace a component, i.e. TV, or add a BlueRay player or whatever, the Crestron must be reprogrammed. Guess who does that and sends you the bill?
Buying 2013-2014 technology, especially , when you talk TV, players, surround sound etc., you do not need Crestron nor the miles of wires this adds to your bus.
I am actually working on plans for the removal of most of our Crestron equipment. I will need to retain some of it to control lighting, heating, shades, but I certainly do not need it for my Smart TV’s, surround sound, etc.
Anyway, my 5
Cheers,
Ronald
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Ronald
I also want to replace all of the Creston equipment. Please post how it goes for you.
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Mine has AMX, and I use regular remotes just like at home. Way to complicated to maintain.
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To all the converters out there in Prevost Land……..It is easy to disregard my opinions of the latest gee whiz technology, but I am sensing that foks that are using smart phones and know the difference between blue tooth and blue ray are also not exactly supporting the technology.
I would pay serious money to have switches for my lights, doors, shades, etc instead of Crestron. If my galley door is closed and the Crestron pukes I cannot get to the rear of my coach.
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I’m 110% with you on that John, with the 1.5 years I have been involved in trying to educate myself of the Prevost life. I have thought that I might be better off to look into older vintage coaches than what I initially thought based on the automation tech that can be useless and expensive. Am I correct in thinking that Parliament has the least amount of proprietary tech..
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I cannot answer your question Paul. You might be correct.
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Paul, you are correct. Talk to Ben C. at Parliament or if you’re comming to Lazy Days, He’ll be there.
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Paul, to get an answer to your question, your best bet would be to call Ben Cummings at Parliament. He is their Electrical Engineer. My guess is, they would build a coach cor you as complicated or as simple as you would want.
my prcious post was not about bashing Crestron. If it is seen within the realms of home automation of McMansions, they may very well be appropriate for that task.
But, for our coaches, they are, IMHO, total overkill.
For exampe, for less than $1,000 I can buy a Sony, Toshiba, you name it, AV receiver with tonsof connectivity options and a powered 2nd zone to control the radio/audio/av in another part of the coach. This money also buys you Apple connectivity as well as Internet radio and possibly XM radio as well as Bluetooth etc.
If you want the latest and greatest, for about $1,500 you can buy all of the above and probably get a 2nd and possibly 3rd zone to spread your entertainment around the coach.
Today, you can have wireless HDMI. Meaning, you can connect your TV wirelessly to your AV control. Or, if you can run cables, Smart TV do have multiple HDMI ports to connect all sorts of technology.
For example, we do have a 42 inch HDTV. Up front. It is several years old but it is HD and the picture is good.
However, it is not a “smart” TV. In other words, it has no Internet connectivity.
Well, for about $600-$800 I can buy a Smart TV.
However, I opted not to do that because for less than $100 I can buy a smart BlueRay player, that provides me with the same connectivity as a smart TV. For the savings of $500-700 I could buy many more players, if better technology comes along. As it will frequently throughout the year.
My Internet connection is provided by Millenicom. 20GB per month for $700 – this is plenty for web surfing, email etc. But it is not nearly enough to stream videos/movies.
For that reason, I installed a new satellite dish, which provides me with DISH HD service on a month to month basis. I opted for their Dish America’s Top 120 service,which provides me with plenty of channels to watch. We are not watching TV a lot, anyways (other than having been watching the Olympics every night into the wee hours, recently). The Dish service costs me $630 per month. No contract.
So, for about $1330 per month, I enjoy Internet and Satellite TV and with the built-in “smart” options, I can view my Picasa photo albums, can listen to Internet radio, can watch some foreign language news services and go shopping on Amazon, amongst some of the options.
Home Automation is getting less and less expensive with every month and year that goes by. Today, you can buy WiFi enabled thermostats, allowing you to set temperatures from afar via your iPhone or Smartphone. You can unlock locks and a $100 video cam can provide peace of mind, when you are away.
Technology is a great thing to have and to enjoy. The prices have come down to the level, that almost anyone can enjoy it, including Prevost coach owners! … 🙂
Cheers,
Ronald
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I did the same as Ronald, Dish Dome HD and I pause or unpause the service as needed, no contracts and fee’s to make the changes. I also did a wireless HD from my Dish receiver to the HD tv, no cabling.
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I did a good look at a 2010 Parliament and I think they hit hit the mark electrically. They used off the shelf low voltage control systems for most things switched. Very little in the way of air systems, maybe none when parked. As for AV systems, what’s wrong with IR extenders and universal remotes.
Ben C knows his stuff and as already said, he is a EE. I wonder how many other converters actually have a staff EE.
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I had a 2010 Parliament coach I bought new and there is no proprietary systems in the coach they pride themselves on that. The only air operated items were the TV lift , step well cover and the leveling system. Ben is the best I ever came a cross and he knows the systems very well. There is a lot to be said about simple. I agree with Jon most of us do not want the complication we really want reliability.
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On my previous coach, I upgraded my dish, receivers and TVs to HD. What a mistake. The constant signal delays and interruptions were unbearable. Before I let myself get talked into upgrading my system in my present coach, how has your experiences been with HD? Specific system recommendations?
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Hi Kevin,
I am sorry to hear about your bad expience with HD. This is very unlike my own experience. I have had HD in our current coach and a previous one and I would not want to be without HD anymore. What a huge difference in picture quality.
Going by your description, you do have obvious reception issues. It could be your hardware but my first question would be, how do you receive your TV signal? Your own Internet Hotspot? Campground WiFi? Satellite?
If it is your Hotspot, you need to have a minimum of 3G or better yet 4G or LTE service. Anything less than that would create the reception issues you reported.
I do have a Hotspot with service provided by Millenicom. They are a reseller of Verizon service. Depending on your location, you would almost always have 3G/4G/LTE service. The device shows you which. This is definitely fast enough to stream movies. We have done so, streaming Amazon movies in HD. No issues to report!
Campground WiFi? Do not even think about it! With everyone else hitting on the free connection, you end-up with nearly no connection at all. Just forget about watching movies.
Satellite? Whether it is DirecTV or Dish, you have to have a subscription which includes HD reception. We do have Dish because they offer month to month service and it includes HD channels. Our hardware is a Winegard Travler SK1000 specifically made for Dish HD service. This is connected to a VIP 211z Dish HD satellite receiver.
Our Internet connectivity is provided by a Panasonic BlueRay disk player with built-in Internet apps, including Skype video service, Amazon Prime movies , Netflix, Hulu etc. As well as Picasa and more.
Our TV’s are dumb. We have an LG HD TV upfront and a Samsung HD in the bedroom, which has its own BlueRay player with Internet apps.
We do also have an Apple TV box allowing us to stream content from our iPads to the TV.
I hope this information has some value to you. My recommendation is to take a close look at how you rceive your signals. We have enjoyed HD for several years and hardly ever have we had a reception issue. Whether it was by way of our Hotspot or satellite. The picture quality is far superior to standard definition.
Cheers,
Ronald
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