09.02.2009 — Universal Remote Control (URC) is coming out with the KP-4000 in-wall touchscreen and it looks cool.

The company will be showing the product, but not demonstrating all of its capabilities, at CEDIA Expo 2009.

URC, a leader in remote-control technologies, is not making any formal announcements on the KP-4000, but marketing director Jon Sienkewicz gave CE Pro a few details about the product.

The nice form factor not withstanding, the key thing about the touchscreen is that it is URC's first product with two-way RS-232 and IP communications. The company is rapidly developing drivers for two-way A/V components, cameras, thermostats, lighting and other home control products. So not only can you operate your A/V gear with this thing, you can check on the baby cam, change the temperature in any room of the house, and of course view and play your music collection.

URC does boast a couple of two-way WiFi controllers -- the MX-6000 wireless touchpanel and the new MX-5000 handheld with haptic technology -- but the feedback is relativey limited. Users can access their music collections, stock prices, and a number of Internet functions at the press of a button. But they can't, for example, receive two-way feedback from an RS-232 lighting-control system.

On its own, the KP-4000 will be able to control and receive feedback from IP-communicating devices such as IP-communicating media servers and cameras.

But add the new MRX-1 network base station (pictured below) to the mix, and you'll also get two-way RS-232 control and feedback for third-party subsystems. Plus, the MRX-1 gives you IR over IP to control IR devices from the KP-4000.

The MRX-1 is a multifaceted little RF hub that can be used with any URC remote. Like the company's other base stations, it provides RF in and IR out, plus relays and a video/voltage sensor.

URC calls it "a true bridge between the network and IR, RS-232 and relay-controlled devices."

There's more: Add the new RFTX-1 module to the base station, and you get RF out to communicate directly with URC lighting controls.

Availability, pricing and more details will be available at a later time post CEDIA Expo, but you can get a glimpse of the new stuff at the show. Make sure to stop by the booth (1442) to play with the MX-5000 with tactile feedback.



Click to enlarge MRX-1