crestron@groups.io

gtdollar@pacbell.net

I'm new to this group, new to home automation and a new owner of a
STS 1500C & ST-CP.  

I need to obtain IR emitters to control my A/V equipment.  Do I need 
to stay with Crestron IR emmitters or will any vendor's product work, 
e.g. Xantech makes a plug compatible emitter? Are there other issues 
to consider?

I've been in the computer business for 30 years and spent many years 
programming.  How hard will it be to program this unit? Does 
programming documentation exist and is it decent?

thanks in advance
$

Tony Golden

#85

"gtdollar",

Congratulations on your purchase. Did you buy it new, or used? I'm sure you are aware that the 1500/ST-CP can handle much more than just A/V equipment :-)

The Xantech emitters will work fine.

Programming the units for basic features/operation shouldn't be difficult, although to really maximize it's potential requires a great deal of experience. As with anything else, your "first" is never your "best" :-)

The SIMPL language is also not very conventional, and many "old school" programmers don't like it -- however, I do.

As far as I know, without going to Crestron's training, the best documentation is contained within the Help files of the SIMPL and VtPro-e programs. There is a reference manual on the Ftp site for SIMPL+, but you still need to understand "regular" SIMPL in order to use SIMPL+. Also, on the BBS, you can download "The Complete Cresnet", a very old document that describes the Simpl language (circa 1995) and its symbols (many of which are still in use). That might be a good primer.

Tony Golden

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----- Original Message -----

From: gtdollar@...

To: Crestron@...

Sent: Monday, June 26, 2000 7:24 PM

Subject: [Crestron] STS Help

I'm new to this group, new to home automation and a new owner of a STS 1500C & ST-CP. I need to obtain IR emitters to control my A/V equipment. Do I need to stay with Crestron IR emmitters or will any vendor's product work, e.g. Xantech makes a plug compatible emitter? Are there other issues to consider? I've been in the computer business for 30 years and spent many years programming. How hard will it be to program this unit? Does programming documentation exist and is it decent? thanks in advance $

Mike Braithwaite

#84

Hello,
	You can use any brand emitter with the ST-CP.  Some of the other control
processors crestron makes can swing from +5vdc, to -5vdc, and would burn out
some emitters from niles, and xantech.  The ST-CP's IR ports do not perform
like this.


Mike Braithwaite


Original Message-----
From: gtdollar@... [mailto:gtdollar@...]
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2000 8:24 PM
To: Crestron@...
Subject: [Crestron] STS Help


I'm new to this group, new to home automation and a new owner of a
STS 1500C & ST-CP.

I need to obtain IR emitters to control my A/V equipment.  Do I need
to stay with Crestron IR emmitters or will any vendor's product work,
e.g. Xantech makes a plug compatible emitter? Are there other issues
to consider?

I've been in the computer business for 30 years and spent many years
programming.  How hard will it be to program this unit? Does
programming documentation exist and is it decent?

thanks in advance
$


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Geoffrey Reynolds

#83

On Tue, 27 Jun 2000 00:24:10 -0000, gtdollar@... wrote:

I'm new to this group, new to home automation and a new owner of a
STS 1500C & ST-CP.Welcome, and congratulations.  I happen to have the same equipment.

I need to obtain IR emitters to control my A/V equipment.  Do I need
to stay with Crestron IR emmitters or will any vendor's product work,
e.g. Xantech makes a plug compatible emitter? Are there other issues
to consider?You should be able to use pretty much any standard IR emitter (such as
Xantech).  As to other issues, you may be able to control some or all
of your equipment through rear panel control ports.  Many
manufacturers include such ports, including JVC, Mitsubishi, Sony,
Proceed, Marantz, Pioneer, etc.  Let us know what you have for
equipment to be controlled and look on the rear panels for jacks
labeled Control In, Control S, IR In, etc.  It's a bit cheaper this
way, as you can use standard 1/8" to 1/8" mono cables for many
devices.

I've been in the computer business for 30 years and spent many years
programming.  How hard will it be to program this unit? Does
programming documentation exist and is it decent?It depends on what level of control and which of Crestron's control
software you decide to use.  We end users get no documentation beyond
the help files and the helpful people on this email list.  Crestron
dealers get access to Crestron's training classes and full support
(Crestron's support group doesn't like to deal with end users) from
Crestron.

For my needs, Visiontools Pro gives me all the control I currently
need.  If you need more control than this tool offers, you pretty much
have to go to SIMPL Windows, which as a software developer (C++, MFC),
I've found somewhat less than intuitive to get started with, and the
documentation for it is pretty poor.  On the flip side, once you
figure it out, it is extremely powerful.

Hope this helps,
--
Geoffrey Reynolds