Homeowner Offers Crestron System on Craigslist for $8,000

Drew-

The line “we rip out Crestron systems all the time” is irrelevant. We rip out Elan systems, we rip out Universal Systems, we rip out Russound systems, we rip out “open source Media PC systems”. There are HACKS out there installing Control4 that is designed, installed and programmed wrong that doesn’t work. The REAL danger to this industry is BAD CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES and this can happen with any system-this a brand agnostic issue.

People cry gloom and doom for Crestron, Control4, etc every year. I doubt either company will be out of business (although with the current economic environment-who knows-lots of people will be caught in the net)..

My point is that neither system is horrible. Neither system is the golden child. Both have their issues and strengths and the better dealers know how to take advantage of the strengths and minimize or eliminate the customer from experiencing the weaknesses.

Helloooooo… Has anyone ever heard of Adagio? It’s Crestron and cheap…

I looked on ebay and there is a lot of crestron stuff there.

Drew,

Did you see the recent CE Pro article on the new Crestron Las Vegas office?

“Today, nearly every hotel, casino and resort in Las Vegas, including the MGM Grand, Venetian, Wynn and new CITYCENTER, includes AV technology and has standardized on Crestron to manage and control VIP suites, boardrooms, gaming rooms and operation centers.”

Interesting I don’t see any Control 4 offices going up anywhere.  Crestron must be doing very bad to be opening up offices and to be the standard in so many of the hotels in Vegas. 

Explain to me how if the product is so outdated and there is so much more that can be done with Control 4 why they don’t have articles like this written about them?

Also, I find it interesting how you mention that the automation business will fade away when it is one of the fastest growing segments in our industry.

G, I am not an expert and I don’t know as much as you.

I am so impressed that Crestron opened an sat office that I will take back everything I said about their products. Except that they are out spec’d by products costing half as much. And also that they are destined to fail given the current economy and rivaling products. I’m sure you disagree, and believe Crestron will be around forever and its the best, which is to your credit as a dreamer or dreams.

the automation industry will saturate, when apple + ColoVnet + Control4 etc gain enough market share and market directly to end users. The need for high end, super expensive integrators will be less. I can’t imagine this is news to anyone here, and I suppose you could just search this site for articles about that.

Drew,

Even with a saturated market there will always be the need for a high end solution.  Affluent consumers will always want something better than everyone else.  You don’t see Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Ferrari, etc. going out of business due to bad economical times.  It’s the Ford’s and Chevy’s that are suffering.

I think the problem is that your business is built around the average which is why you sell like the average, and which is why you don’t understand the high end.  Your business model are the ones that are hurting right now because those buying your products are having problems paying more for lettuce and gas while the rich despite having lost a lot still much left to spend on the best performance and technology that money can buy.

The frustration for me is to hear guys like you who are so one dimensional that you can’t see the industry as a whole and look at it only from your company point of view.  Doing this then sends the wrong message to the customers and starts to cheapen our industry.  So while I don’t care what start up company you decide to support this week, I do hope that you will expand your understanding outside of your business and at least educate yourself on what other successful business models exist.  Good luck to you!

Drew, I’m not taking sides, but what’s your company name and website URL?  I’ve never before met a Control4 dealer who was such an evangelical advocate of the brand.  Given how unique you are, maybe an interview and an article spotlighting your firm’s business is in order.

Actually there is at least one DIY friendly control system that is available that allows for very robust prefessional capacity as well.  It is called Charmed Quark Controler (CQC for short) and can be found at http://www.charmedquark.com  It is a software based automation backbone, so it does require a computer to run the show.  But it supports many of the most common automation systems out there and more are being added all the time.  A/V distribution, HVAC, lighting, security, pool control, relays (curtains, sprinkler system, etc), etc are no problem.  Users have infinite control with the design of layouts and screens for touchscreens and other interfaces.  Best of all, DIYers get a much reduced price on the software.  A CI will pay more, but also have direct support while the DIYers have more limited support.  This more limited support generally comes in the form of a very active forum group, but also comes in the form of direct support from the deisgner Dean Roddey himself.  CI obviously get custom support from Dean since their situation generally revolves around an on going job and issues that must be resolved immediately to make the clients happy.  I am a DIY user of the CQC system and have been for almost two years.  I have to say it is a great system and one that is starting to get a lot of traction with the CI community now.  If you haven’t heard of CQC yet, just wait - you will.

I am in the market for a high-end solution.  Building a high-end house in the US.

After studying the field (got my KNX certification in Europe), I realized Crestron was not for me.  It is not a question of price, just the closed nature and the “installer, not the customer, is king” rubs me the wrong way.

I decided to start an open source project (http://www.openremote.org) that embraces DiY innovation but cater to the industrial/commercial (KNX is supported).  I am funding it personally.  It will cost me more than a high-end crestron system but I hope to see a Open Source Crestron alternative emerge.  We are not yet in the hardware but support any hardware we can build drivers for.

The main thrust is to create a modeler and custom UI on touch screen with support for any 3rd party best of breed in the back.  iPhone natively supported. Touchpanels as well.

PS: The tone of the Crestron installer in this thread was just a big turn-off. But really having talked to KNX installer here in EU they are just as insecure and defensive.  After all this is how these people make their living so I gave up expecting ‘unbiased’ opinions. Truth is that Automation is still struggling to find a “raison d’etre” in the home market. Industrial and commercial? sure! That is why you see all these guys move up the food chain. In that world the A/V nature of Crestron is a drawback, AC and Lights reign supreme.