A collection of posts on projects we are involved in (though that is quite difficult as permission is not often given) as well as technologies and developments that affect all of us working in the residential technology sector.
We’re seeing increased interest in displaying more environmental and energy usage parameters on our Crestron interfaces.
Electrical consumption (and indeed generation for projects with PV systems etc.) is a very common request and there are a number of ways of getting the data, however many rely on ‘the cloud’ (and worrying whether the company stays in business etc.) or are quite expensive (Crestron themselves make a power meter, but it does come with a high price tag).
In a recent firmware and software update, you may have seen that Crestron have enabled Apple Homekit control of Apple TVs. There is some confusion about parts of this, in particular for custom software; so I have tried to cover some of the important points and ensuring that we are able to design systems together that work within the restrictions.
We’re on the move!
London’s been a blast, but time to get back to our roots.
More of our work is outside of London than in it, so there really is not a need to deal with the challenges and costs of living in London if we don’t need to.
The move should not only see a massive improvement in our quality of life, but also offers us some real opportunities to grow the business.
From time to time, things don’t work as we expect them to.
Who am I kidding right?!?
On many projects, things don’t work as we expect them to.
As our industry moves further and further into the IT domain (or, depending on your take, the IT industry moves further and further into our domain) we become ever more dependant on the network infrastructure.
A week has passed since we got back from the penultimate ISE in Amsterdam (ISE moves to Barcelona in 2021 - which will certainly be warmer!).
The show is, for us, a very different show than it is for those who are visiting as part of an integration company. Of course, we’re always excited about new technology and innovation; but on the whole, these days the latest projector from company XYZ is less important to us than the opportunity to meet with our existing clients and potential new clients.
We get asked this question a lot when we’re first talking with prospective clients.
Frankly, the question was a surprise at first. The thought of commissioning software without visiting site at all was not one that really crossed my mind.
The reason for the question turned out to be very interesting; on the whole people really did not like it when programmers would do everything remotely. It would put a lot of demands on their resources and, sometimes, they felt that issues were not resolved efficiently.
We totally get that some of the companies we work with do not want the fact that they use sub-contractors to be public knowledge and we ensure that we are very careful on how we present ourselves.
How much hardware do we have here for testing our Crestron software?
In our software development, we aim to have as much tested and debugged before we get onto a project site. There are so many reasons for this, but clearly, the primary one is to ensure that deployment is as painless and quick as possible.
CEDIA Communicates is a quarterly publication that goes out to members to keep them abreast of industry news and developments.
Delighted to say that the latest issue (read it here) that Marcus is featured in an article about CEDIA Industry-Related Professional Members (page 42).
Today, I want to tell you about a remarkably useful tool that I always make sure I have in my commissioning equipment and that is an infrared remote control tester.
I can hear you saying it now "everything is IP these days, why do we need to test IR?". Fair comment, however, there are still a lot of devices that are IR controlled either because that is the only option or because the IP control is not as reliable as needed.
These days, the use of motorised window treatments is fairly common place. The benefits of automating shades for temperature regulation and privacy are a very easy message to communicate to homeowners.
Basalte are a Belgian company that have been around a while and have had a series of very interesting products for some time. Most of their product range has worked on KNX or RS-485 buses and, as such, was not as straight-forward as it might be to interface with Crestron systems.
We're very pleased to announce that company owner and lead programmer, Marcus, has passed the next level in his Crestron certification and is now a Crestron Silver Master Programmer.
We're very excited to announce that we've decided to exhibit at Essential Install Live! in 2018.
The show at Sandown on May 9th and 10th has really grown into the best showcase in the UK for our industry, and is the ideal opportunity for us to talk with more installers and develop new relationships as part of our future plans.
As soon as everyone gets back from the Christmas break, there's always a flurry of activity as people book their trip to Amsterdam for ISE.
ISE has become the biggest show in our industry and is essential for staying ahead of the competition as well as meeting up with old friends.
Crestron have been working on auto-updating of systems for a while now. Newly released tools have really helped us to roll out our implementation of this. We are using our own secure file server to offer unattended updates for systems. Crestron systems can check in each night (or on a regular schedule) and see if we have put any new software or firmware for them. This means we can centrally manage all our systems and push new software easily and safely.
Crestron Pyng lighting is one of the most exciting systems that we have worked with in a very long time.
It offers huge benefits to installers and homeowners with low-cost deployment and huge flexibility.
All whilst removing the need to employ an experienced Crestron programmer to do so - so why am I (as a programmer) so excited about it?
A slightly different post on how much difference a small whiteboard has made to efficiency whilst deploying software.
We've recently completed our first Crestron DM-NVX project. Read about our thoughts on this amazing new technology and how it really does change the game going forwards.
We have recently undertaken projects where we have been able to help installers update the client's experience to using the latest Crestron TSW touchscreens despite the challenges of having to work with older analogue door-entry systems for audio and video.
As our client base grows steadily, it is fascinating to see how different integrators approach projects. Having spent 20 years on the installation side of the fence, it is really interesting to see companies doing things very differently to how my own experiences have seen things done.
How do we price our proposals to you? There's nothing magical about it and, for new projects in particular, it is pretty straight-forwards to give accurate costings quickly.
For us, it is a fairly simple process of counting up areas and other factors and entering the numbers into a spreadsheet and out pops the end result.
I have spent 20 years working with user experiences and interfaces. I have seen some well designed, easy to use interfaces and I have seen some awful interfaces that have been either visually disturbing or utterly unfathomable.
The challenge with many software developers is that there is little empathy towards users. This is a challenge way beyond the realms of Crestron software and is a challenge in so many areas of our lives.
Interfaces have to be frictionless, we do not want users to have to think 'how do I do that?', it should be clear to them what the next step is.
Slightly surprising product news in that it wasn't on show at ISE. But Crestron have just announced a new version of their X60 range of touchscreens with the twist (literally a 90 degree twist) that the screen is portrait orientation.
It was no great surprise that Crestron launched their latest Digital Media product at ISE in February 2017. Nor was it a surprise that it was a streaming product, as the hints had been dropped for a long time.
What was a surprise was just how powerful the solution was and how far ahead of other solutions it is.
Having been involved in CEDIA since the very early days in the UK (I think the 2nd CEDIA show in the UK in Croydon?), we are delighted to have become CEDIA members whilst we were at the ISE show in Amsterdam.
CE Pro have written a great article about the recently refitted Pulse Cinemas showrooms near Stansted. Integrated Experience have been delighted to be involved in this exciting project and look forward to the ongoing relationship with Pulse Cinemas.
What is BACnet?
Crestron offers seamless native BACnet integration and we are seeing this requirement on an increasingly large number of projects.
Whilst it is an ideal scenario to always have budget for Crestron and Lutron hardware on every project; sometimes that is not the reality.
This is especially true when it comes to projects on my own house; whilst I do have both Lutron and Crestron lighting controls systems, there’s never enough money to do everything I want on the house!