Before I get into my problems, I figured I would introduce myself:

I'm both the programmer and end user of my own Crestron system. My
system consists of a ST-1500C touch screen, a ST-CP control processor,
1 ST-CS (current sensor), 1 ST-PC (power controller), a couple of
ST-SPL's (IR splitters), and a bunch of ST-IRP's. The system
currently is only used to control my home theater system, but will
eventually be expanded to control lighting and other items in the
house.

I'm using the current version of VisionTools Pro (version 1.2.4) to
program my system, as my system is pretty simple for now. SIMPL
Windows isn't a reasonable option for me - mostly because proper
documentation and/or training isn't available to me as an end user
(and it would be overkill for my current needs).

My day job is software development, primarily writing C++ Windows
applications using Microsoft's Visual C++. I've been doing this full
time since graduating from college around 9 years ago.

Enough with the introduction and on to my problems that will hopefully
generate some discussion on this list (and help solve my problem if
I'm lucky). The problems are listed in order of decreasing importance
to me.

1) I sometimes have trouble getting my touch panel and ST-CP to
communicate properly. The symptom when this happens is that the RF
light on the ST-CP will blink rather than stay on constantly if I
press and hold a button on the touch screen. For most purposes, this
isn't a big problem, but some functions on my devices require an
extended press.

Example 1: One of my VCR's has 2 fast forward / rewind speeds. Press
the button once and the VCR will go into a "slow" fast forward mode.
Press and hold the button for a few seconds, and the VCR will go into
a "fast" fast forward mode. However, when the communication between
the touch panel and the ST-CP is not working properly, the VCR gets
multiple "slow" fast forward commands which will usually put the VCR
back into play mode.

Example 2: The volume control for my preamp accelerates after it has
been held down for a few seconds. When the communications aren't
working properly, the ST-CP will think that it received a bunch of
individual volume up commands and continue to raise the volume for
several seconds after I release the button. This case has the
potential to damage my speakers, as the volume control can go crazy
when this happens.

The ST-CP and the touch panel have been sent to Crestron for testing
and they were unable to reproduce the problem. The dealer that sent
the equipment to Crestron also checked the units with me present after
they came back from Crestron and they worked fine. The only
conclusion we have collectively been able to come up with is RF
interference from something in the neighborhood. Does anyone know
what would be on a frequency that would interfere with the Crestron
equipment? This problem only happens occasionally, but often enough
to be very annoying. I don't have a clue how to track down the source
of RF interference, and neither does the dealer (who is not the dealer
I purchased the equipment from - that's another story...).

2) I have a series of macros defined in my VT Pro project that will do
things such as turn my system on configured for a given device (VCR1,
VCR2, DVD, LD, etc.), turn my entire system off, and select various
cable TV channels.

Aside from the macros being very limited in VT Pro, my biggest problem
with these is that the system off macro behaves strangely sometimes.
Most of my devices have discrete power on and power off commands
available, so that my need for current sensors is pretty minimal.
However, my TV is one of the devices that doesn't have discrete
commands. If the TV_OFF command is in the middle of the macro, the TV
will shut off in the appropriate order. However, it will come back on
a few seconds later and then shut back off in another few seconds.
It's as though the ST-CP or ST-CS is getting confused. If I move the
TV_OFF command to the end of the macro, the TV shuts off and stays
off. This problem has been relayed to Crestron support through email,
but never responded to.

This problem isn't a show stopper by any stretch, but I'd like to
understand what is going on here.

3) I found a bug in VT Pro where certain bitmap width/height ratios
won't display properly on a touch panel. This was reported to
Crestron and it is now acknowledged as a known problem in the VT Pro
release notes. I haven't taken the time to figure out what ratios
cause problems, and they haven't given me any further information to
work with. I found this problem while creating bitmaps for my
favorite cable channels.

I'm not really looking for feedback on this, but thought it might help
others to know that the problem exists.
--
Geoffrey Reynolds