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URC Explains: Why ZigBee on MX-880z Remote?
MX-880z caters to dense multi-user environments like MDUs. But it's still relevant to residential spaces, especially households with TV-happy families.
The PR for URC's new ZigBee-compatible MX-880z remote positions the unit for commercial and MDU applications.
That's because the remote works very well in dense environments like hotels, where numerous remotes would be used simultaneously.
The MX-880z is modeled after URC's MX-880. But unlike the MX-880 and other URC RF remotes, the 880z employs ZigBee spread-spectrum, frequency-hopping technology.
"Instead of buying one frequency, you're getting multiple frequencies," says VP of technology Eric Johnson.
So an RF remote in room 304 won't clobber the signals from rooms 303 and 305.
But the MX-880z ($540) is also relevant to residential environments, especially for homes that have a TV-centric family.
"If every one is watching their own TV, four people could be pushing their own buttons at the same time," Johnson says. "You get four people madly navigating the TV, statistically it will happen that you push buttons at the same time."
With the 880z, a single base station (MRZ-260) can receive commands from all users simultaneously and channel them to the appropriate source.
"You could run four cable boxes through one base station and four people could be pushing their own buttons at the same time," Johnson explains. "It's like having four different base stations with four different addresses."
Not bad, considering the four-port base station costs only $190.
ZigBee is best known for its rich two-way RF capabilities, but that was not the driver for URC's implementation. The two-way feedback on the MX-880z is "very modest," Johnson says.
On another note, URC is very involved in the ZigBee initiative RF4CE, a protocol that is meant to eliminate IR controls once and for all.
What are the prospects? Johnson thinks the initiative is "very exciting" but "the challenge is that the consumer will instantly have a problem with their existing IR remotes."
In any case, even with RF remotes, "We have to train our clients they don't need to point the remote."
That's because the remote works very well in dense environments like hotels, where numerous remotes would be used simultaneously.
The MX-880z is modeled after URC's MX-880. But unlike the MX-880 and other URC RF remotes, the 880z employs ZigBee spread-spectrum, frequency-hopping technology.
"Instead of buying one frequency, you're getting multiple frequencies," says VP of technology Eric Johnson.
So an RF remote in room 304 won't clobber the signals from rooms 303 and 305.
But the MX-880z ($540) is also relevant to residential environments, especially for homes that have a TV-centric family.
"If every one is watching their own TV, four people could be pushing their own buttons at the same time," Johnson says. "You get four people madly navigating the TV, statistically it will happen that you push buttons at the same time."
With the 880z, a single base station (MRZ-260) can receive commands from all users simultaneously and channel them to the appropriate source.
"You could run four cable boxes through one base station and four people could be pushing their own buttons at the same time," Johnson explains. "It's like having four different base stations with four different addresses."
Not bad, considering the four-port base station costs only $190.
ZigBee is best known for its rich two-way RF capabilities, but that was not the driver for URC's implementation. The two-way feedback on the MX-880z is "very modest," Johnson says.
On another note, URC is very involved in the ZigBee initiative RF4CE, a protocol that is meant to eliminate IR controls once and for all.
What are the prospects? Johnson thinks the initiative is "very exciting" but "the challenge is that the consumer will instantly have a problem with their existing IR remotes."
In any case, even with RF remotes, "We have to train our clients they don't need to point the remote."
MX-880z Features
- ZigBee spread-spectrum, frequency hopping RF
- 2-inch Active Matrix color LCD
- PC-programmable
- Controls up to 48 devices
- Up to eight pages for each deviceRechargeable lithium ion battery (included)
- Built-in motion sensor to activate backlighting
MRZ-260z Base Station
- ZigBee RF base station with integrated antenna.
- Four independently-routed IR outputs (2 adjustable, 2 fixed)
- Built-in front panel IR blaster
- Includes mounting bracket and power supply
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About the Author
Julie Jacobson, Editor-at-large, CE Pro
Julie Jacobson is co-founder of EH Publishing and currently spends most of her time writing for CE Pro, mostly in the areas of home automation, networked A/V and the business of home systems integration. She majored in Economics at the University of Michigan, earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and has never taken a journalism class in her life. Julie is a washed-up Ultimate Frisbee player with the scars to prove it. Follow her on Twitter @juliejacobson.
2 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
Issac URC has made that claim but it was never true.
The RF they use was not discrete and has cause me hundreds of headaches.. This is the answer to what they promised years ago.
Wonder if it will work as advertised since MRF stuff NEVER did?
Page 1 of 1 comment pages
“If every one is watching their own TV, four people could be pushing their own buttons at the same time,” Johnson says. “You get four people madly navigating the TV, statistically it will happen that you push buttons at the same time.”
Is the existing one-way RF that URC uses on 418 and 433 MHz in conjunction with a base station like the MRF-260 or MRF-350 and multiple remotes not capable of routing discrete IR to different source components all at the same time? I always thought it was.