Touchpanel control systems

[crashin]

I am working on some upgrades to different conference rooms. I am wondering if anyone on this forum might have some insite to the different control systems. I have an AMXl and Xantech systems in place for an extensive conference room setup at our main office and I have recently had Xantech installed at one of the remote offices. I am having different companies bid on further upgrades that I am doing in the near future and they are using Crestron in their quotes. My company want things to be similar at each office and would prefer some consistency of operation from location to location.

To simply, my question is, are there any major differences in the Crestron vs. Xantech control panels that would warrant me asking for the bidding vendors to stick with the Xantech that we have at the other two locations? Or should I just recommend that we try to stick to a standard appearance on the programming that is put into whatever device the vendor is more comfortable utilizing?

[tom9933]

I would personally recommend on standardizing on not only the control system, but also the rest of the gear in the room. If you can do this you will not only have a consistent interface, but since the programming will be the same or very close to the same you should also have consistent performance. At the end of the day any of the three systems should do what you want as long as the programmer does their part. Also with any of the mentioned systems make sure you require that you get a copy of the code for your rooms as part of the spec. The reason to ask for this is so you have some flexibility down the road when you need to make changes.
Oh, one other advantage of standardizing on one brand is the ability to use the control system manufactures management package. I don’t know about Xantech but I know both AMX and Crestron offer these packages.

[crashin]

That is kind of what I was thinking. Especially since I am supporting the systems remotely. Few of our outside offices have tech support on hand so I will be fielding calls about them from here and it would help if they are similar.

I would personally recommend on standardizing on not only the control system, but also the rest of the gear in the room. If you can do this you will not only have a consistent interface, but since the programming will be the same or very close to the same you should also have consistent performance. At the end of the day any of the three systems should do what you want as long as the programmer does their part. Also with any of the mentioned systems make sure you require that you get a copy of the code for your rooms as part of the spec. The reason to ask for this is so you have some flexibility down the road when you need to make changes.
Oh, one other advantage of standardizing on one brand is the ability to use the control system manufactures management package. I don’t know about Xantech but I know both AMX and Crestron offer these packages.