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My Crestron Project … Done!
About a month ago, I started posting about my project involving the removal of most of the Crestron hardware.
I removed everything that has had to do with AV (audio and video).
It has been an interesting few weeks, meantime. I did probably spend 40 hours on this project. The majority of this time was spent on chasing wires and since I had to do all this by myself, it became even more complicated because it is hard to be at both ends of a wire at the same time.
2 tools that became extremely valuable are a tone generator (about $25 at Harbor Tools) and a Klein Tools Coax Explorer cable tester (Home Depot about $30).
I am done now, including some minor carpentry work reworking the cabinet where the Crestron hardware used to reside.
I have removed all of the Crestron with the exception of the AV2 component (at the very top of the photo). I need to keep this because it controls the lighting, shades and a few other things.
I sold the hardware on eBay and netted about $1100
This was more than enough to buy 2 Sony AV receivers on Amazon, i.e. a Sony STR-DN840 and a STR-DN1040 which make up the core of the new AV system in the living and bedroom areas.
I do admit to having pleased Olivia by also buying 2 new Samsung “Smart’ TV. After measuring the available space, I found that I could have substantially larger TV’s than what was there before. Within the same space, I moved up from a 42 inch to a 48 inch upfront and from 26 inch to 32 inch in the back. Does not sound like much but it actually is significant. Not only that, the TV upfront is 3D, althbough I am still trying to figure out what that is all about. I have wattched one 3D and was not impressed.
What I do really like about the new setup is the WiFi connections and the availability of Bluetooth. Now, I can pull out my iPhone or iPod and within seconds, I can stream my music or podcasts via the Sony AV receivers.
This project did not really cost a lot of money. Between the AV receivers and the 2 new TV, it cost me about $2000 – it just took a lot of my time spread out over a few weeks. It would have been a lot faster, if I had an extra pair of hands.
Anyways, I am very happy with the outcome of the project. I got rid of obsolete electronics, moved up to 2014 and, get this, I even gained a little bit of storage space below the AV receivers because the combined height of the receiver and the DVD player is less than half of what the Crestron took up.
BEFORE:
EARLY ON:
AFTER:
LEFTOVERS:
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19 Replies
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Nice job Ron.. I don’t have Crestron, but I have never heard anyone say they really liked it. Most of the comments I’ve heard cannot be repeated here..
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Ronald
Great job, Are you in Los Vegas
NV? We are going to the Grand Canyon and on to Los Vegas will be staying
at LVR for a few days. Is the road from Kingman to Vegas any good to take an XL2 with Jeep in tow? Leaving Florida on the 15th of May.Hish
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We were in Las Vegas prior to the Tampa show and the roads leading to Las Vegas are all OK for a bus and toad. No problems at all.
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Safe Travels Hish……..
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Jim thanks we will be in MI in August.
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Tom so what system do you have in your Marathon? I have the crestron with no problems at all. I did up grade my system to an I-pad to get rid of the bulky control box.
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Tom
I don’t have any issue with the Crestron we have in our coach. At first when we bought the coach we had a learning curve, but after the few screw ups now everything is good.
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Nice job on the upgrade, looks good!
A quick note about I-40 around Kingman….its really bombed out…especially to and from Flagstaff….
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Nobody has asked me, yet, why I did all this work. So I am going to answer this question now.
My Crestron installation dates back to about 2006. As most of you know, Crestron is a proprietary software and hardware system and in most instances, the converter retains control over the software.
In my case, with Olivia being an orphan since Teschner went out of business several years ago, I was left with a Crestron system that was technically speaking, outdated and since some modifications had been done prior to my taking ownership of the coach, these changes were never updated in the software. Thus, my Crestron AV part is no longer fully working because a new TV installed just prior to me buying the coach, a BlueRay DVD added by me to replace the old DVD/Tape player, a me switching to a different Sat dish service, all these changes are not being recognized by the software because these changes were not written into the code.
As you know, you get married to your converter or you have to hire some exorbitantly expensive software guru to fix things for you. I had been looking around far and wide for such a person. I even joined the Crestron bulletin board posting my needs and wishes. There appears to be no independent Crestron programmer. All the companies are selling Crestron hardware and then they add the software on top. Of course, their goal is to sell you new hardware.
Furthermore, fixing my software would not have provided me with the current level of electronics and sophistication we take for granted. For example, iPhone/iPod and or iPad integration. No Bluetooth, nor WiFi, nor USB connectivity, either.
I decided to take charge of my system. Now, I do have an AV system which I understand and can manipulate and control. I can upgrade this for very little money in the future or add gizmos without needing assistance from the converter or a highly paid Crestron service provider.
Needless to say, if my Crestron AV system had been working properly, I would have thought twice about doing such a project. The fact, that it did not work to its fullest capabilities, however, gaved me the incentive to tackle this project.
I am happy with the results of my labor.
And, by the way, the Sony AV receiver and the DVD are sitting on a rollout shelf which I built in my workshop (the picnic bench next to the bus). I also created 2 dedicated AC circuits to provide power and all the speaker wiring goes into a dedicated speaker distribution box.
Now you know why I did all this.
🙂
Cheers,
Ronald
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I lke my Crestron system.
That said, I DON’T like that I can’t get the program and modify it myself.
At the Austin POG rally 3 years ago there was a company, Uii-Gui, that would have been able to do the upgrade for you and would give you the programming, but I think they have gone out of business.
Thankfully Liberty is still alive and well. I am currently waiting for a quote on having them update things for me.
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Sid – I’m just a rocker switch guy with remotes to run the AV and buttons to turn on lights. I now have Tech Link and can see my Marathon information center on my TV, shazaam, this is cool. But, I still have remotes and buttons and Jon can’t go to the bathroom without his handy Crestron thingy so he can see what he’s doing. That should leave you with a great picture in your mind.:)
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Ronald,
That is a project that you must have debated about for some time. I would guess few of us would take on that project….Including myself. Pictures really tell a story.
Several levels above train horns.
AL
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Think of Crestron as nothing more than a big remote.
Apart from the convenience of being able to operate all of the different devices of the audio visual systems (which I like a whole lot) it is very convenient being able to use it to perform a lot of other functions. It eliminates having multiple switches and controls mounted on the walls and cleans up the appearance of the coach. Every converter spends a lot of time and money designing the interiors and then having to stick various switches and switch panels helter skelter on the walls kind of negates that effort.
My complaint is solely related to making it convenient. Sometimes the Crestron is less convenient than it could be.
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My 2004 Crestron system is also somewhat long in the tooth. I have a Marathon XLII and it’s somewhat hard for me to appreciate.
For background, I’m a software guru and have programmed all sorts of things, including my own home A/V system which is powered by a Crestron competitor called Control-4. I became a Control-4 developer and have access to all the software necessary to change anything on my home system.
The Crestron people, however, are bastards. But then, so is Marathon who will not release the programming code for the system that I own. If I had the code, I could hire any local Crestron programmer to come in and modify my bus to my specifications. I’m willing to pay for that, even though I could probably do it myself, IF I had the Crestron software, and the program that Marathon put into it.
If I sound a little touchy about this its because I am. I inquired with Crestron on becoming a Certified Independent Programmer and got nowhere. It isn’t going to happen, apparently.
Maybe I’ll rip the Cre$tron stuff out and put in a new Control4 system. If that happens, I’ll share the code with anybody who is interested in the same. The hardest part of the conversion is controlling the blinds and lighting, which are run by another oddball system that is fairly obscure but tied into the Crestron. The A/V stuff is easy by comparison. Also, Marathon’s TechLink stuff is crap too. It’s a cheap PC running a crippled versionof Microsoft windows stashed under the bed. Also, their “phone home” remote link is equally useless, but then this a 10 year old coach. By now they should have a built in cell phone that can call home to the Marathon Mother Ship with remote diagnostics.
As an engineer, programmer, and builder, however, I generally have little interest in their way of doing things.
I’m pretty happy with the rest of the coach, however 🙂
-fred
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I doubt if anyone will mistake me for a technology geek. And while I am very understanding of how upset folks get when they cannot get what they need so they can reprogram a new TV into their system or cannot get access to their Crestron so a local tech can make changes I think the converters have some valid reasons for what they do.
Those who read this forum know I have complained about Crestron (or for that matter any similar system) when it doesn’t make sense, but I have wondered why the converters do not share information about their proprietary systems and I think I know why.
First, compare the problems you have when someone inexperienced starts messing with your coach’s suspension system, something we see over and over. I get a lot of emails and try walking people through their problems, something made a lot more difficult when techs choose to get “creative”. The people owners choose to make repairs often create bigger problems due to their lack of understanding and the owner is stuck in the middle between someone claiming he did what was right because the system was poorly designed, and the people who know the system who often end up having to sort things back out after some preferred technician messed it up. The converters are expected to support our coaches and if they have someone else working on the system they may not be able to offer correct advice and then they get blamed. If nobody other than the converter can access the codes or software then the system will remain as designed and it is far easier to have the converter fix it, as opposed to having the converter trying to figure out who was messing with it, and what did they did.
The second reason converters are reluctant to share information is the development of their conversions took a lot of time and money and over the years a lot of a converter’s ideas were stolen and used on competitor’s conversions. Mike Guth who developed the Vantare bragged in the FMCA magazine in 1992 how he bought a Liberty and used it for a year and then reverse engineered it to use certain features in his newly designed Vantare, There are other examples of converters copying the ideas of other converters, so I am not surprised when converters keep proprietary information to themselves.
The technology we are seeing in our coaches is at some point going to bite us in the butt. Technology is moving so fast a lot of stuff is obsolete and no longer supported a couple of years from new. When a manufacturer of key components goes out of business or stops supplying drop in replacements for some devices we who own the coaches are in deep trouble. In a perfect world all our coaches would have the neat technology such as Crestron, but also would have buttons and switches for every single feature found on the Crestron. One converter is supposed to be doing that now and I believe that is a very strong selling point.
Fred is very accurately conveying the frustration a lot of owners have, but how to satisfy his needs is a far bigger problem than first meets the eye.
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