Help for parents' system (1 Viewer)

[dc4517]

Hi folks,

I'm trying to help my parents, who have just moved into a house where the previous owner had quite a setup. Here's a list of what's in the rack:

Panamax Max 5300
Creston Media Controller MC2E
Creston Audio Distribution Processor CNX-PAD8A
Integra DTR 5.5
Integra DTR 4.5
Integra DPS 5.5
Sherbourn Power Amplifier 16/800 (8 zones)
Escient Disc Management System DVDM-100
Sony Disc Explorer 400 DVP-CX777ES
Request Nitro Pro Music Servier
3 DirecTV HD DVR receivers
3 MX-850 remotes

There's a bunch of other stuff like 3 touchpanels throughout the house, a Crestron RF antenna, and other things that I didn't take note of. Someone said this stuff probably costs about $50k

I want to better understand this setup. In the brief week that I've spent looking at this thing and consulting the Internet, I think I have an idea of what is doing what. But want to get insight from you all.

So, here goes. I'll start with the remote in the media room. Let's say I hit the button for the DirecTV service. That sends an RF signal down to the Crestron RF antenna, which then communicates with the MC2E. The MC2E then does a number of things. Via IR cables running to each component, it turns on the TV, turns on the DirecTV receiver, turns on the DTR 5.5, and it tells the CNX-PAD8A to take the video output of the DirecTV receiver and the audio output of the DTR 5.5 (which itself is receiving this audio from the DirecTV receiver) and sends it to the TV and the speakers, respectively, in the media room. Do I have this right?

For the other A/V sources, I assume I could replace the DirecTV receiver in what I just wrote above, and the corresponding button on the remote would just turned that component one (e.g. the Nitro Pro) and send the audio to the speakers in whichever room I want it sent to.

I want to make sure I understand the underlying process flow here.

Thanks to anyone who can help me understand this.

 

[Robert_J]

You have the process correct as far as I can tell. But this is definitely not a basic system. In other threads we are trying to help people properly connect a DVD player to a TV.

Yes, everything you listed is pretty high end except for the DirecTV receivers because I have two of them. I also have a similar configuration where I press Watch DirecTivo on my remote and it magically turns everything on and to the correct settings. Harmony remotes are great and at the most cost a couple hundred dollars.

Your parents should find the company that installed this equipment and see if they will give them a tutorial.

-Robert

 

[dc4517]

Robert,

Thanks for the confirmation.

We talked with the original installers, and they started talking pricing from the get go. My parents aren't into this fancy setup - it only just came with the house and now they're not happy that they're stuck with having to use the original installers for any updates or changes. If anything, my parents would prefer to dissassemble the whole thing and just have a DirecTV receiver in each room, but even that's complicated due to the way that the DirecTV lines were fed into the house.

The main issue they've run into is that that DirecTV forced them to upgrade their receivers because the previous receivers (H21s) no longer receive HD. So DirecTV updated the dish and the 3 receivers. However, as a result of this, the MX-850 remotes don't control the receivers. The system still turns on everything, but in order to change channels, my parents are going into the basement and using the original DirecTV remotes to change channels, etc. They're not willing to pay the $2k+ to get the remotes, touchpanels, and Crestron processor re-programmed.

So they've asked me to see what I can do. In order to figure out where I can help, I needed to understand the overall flow. I'm basically thinking of re-programming only the DirecTV portion of the MX-850 remote with Universal Remote Controls' profile for DirecTV remote and adding a MRF-350 station in the rack to control just the receivers. However, I don't think it will work because I'm not sure whether the MX-850 remote can work with both the Crestron antenna and the MRF-350 at the same time (i.e. can you separate the control of the Crestron network versus the MRF-350 "network").

Another solution I'm thinking may work is to use DirecTV's RF version of the remote (RC64r), which I believe the new H23 receivers can support. If that's the case, then I think that solves the entire problem. They would then have to use 2 remotes, the RC64r for the DirecTV and the MX-850 for everything else. But my parents wouldn't care about using 2 remotes. They've done that all their lives.

Personally, I think my parents should just bite the bullet and pay the installers to get it done right and probably don't have to fuss with it ever again. But they're not interested based on the installers' behavior. So I'm trying to help them as best I can. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Greg_R]

It sounds like your parents could care less about all the fancy video and audio. Selling it all off may make the most sense in the long run. Hire an electrician to stick the DirecTV boxes where your parents want them (i.e. run the coax). Either reprogram the MX-850 (fairly easy) to control the new simple setup or even the DirecTV remote (does TV power, etc.).

 

[Robert_J]

You mention the DirecTV HD DVR on the first post and then start your model numbers with 'H'. That is the designation for non-DVR receivers. The current DVR's are the HR23. I have an HR20 and HR22. There are only 2 IR remote control addresses that can be used. After that you have to start using the RF portion of the remotes. I bet the Crestron equipment has isolated IR emiters that send signals to individual receivers.

There are some Crestron forums. Try going there before you scrap the system in favor of something less complicated. Yes it may seem like a large task but once things are working it will be easy to operate.

-Robert

 

[dc4517]

Greg, Robert,

Thanks for the feedback. Will poke around the Crestron forums and see what can work. My parents were able to turn on the RF feature of the DirecTV receiver and remotes. But the range is limited given that the rack is in the basement. But they're happier now as they don't have to go all the way into the basement to change the channel. Still, they regret not fully understanding what it means to own a system like this. But perhaps in time, once they've settled in and all the initial move-in expenses are sorted out, they'll look at getting it properly setup.

Thanks for your responses.