Just received an MVP-5200i
TonyAngelo
Posts: 315
I just pulled it out of the box. First impressions are good. Very solidly built and the kick stand works nice. I'm going to dump some GUI's and see how she performs but so far I like it a lot.
Screen is small though, certainly not a whole house controller.
Screen is small though, certainly not a whole house controller.
0
Comments
Jeff
Hmmm - I'd like to hear more on this. Even though a panel this size should NEVER be used as a whole house controller (a floating panel that can be taken from room to room), we all know we have clients that try to.
My thoughts were to use it as a whole house audio control panel, doing music server control with feedback. I have noticed that the range is not what our 8400 is, but I haven't played with it that much yet.
I just don't think a panel this size would be easy to use as a whole house audio controller. It'd like, trying to view amx.com on your phone (and NOT an iPhone.)
I am sure someone told Apple that they should never attempt to have the internet on a phone. I have CV7s in a house that have whole house control including AV, HVAC, security, lighting, distributed audio etc and it works fine. I would put the UI on a 5200 with some modifications. Why do you say that should NEVER happen?
Paul
The job we got it for, it's designed to be used to control a whole floor, six rooms, with lighting, security and HVAC. There are other controls, keypads and handhelds, but this is the master floor controller. I left it with the home owner over the weekend to see if the current UI will still be operable, but in the limited time he spent with it he seemed to really like it.
I'm starting to think my new motto in life is, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." I mean, sure - I can display all sorts of weather forecast information, moving doppler radar, up to the minute baseball scores, latest headline news stories, email, or a drag-and-drop application for setting their favorite DirecTV presets - but should I because I can? And yeah, I can cram 18 rooms of audio and 12 sources all on one page . . . should I?
It's always a judgement call depending on the system and what the client wants. That's why I didn't understand the 'never' part. I have clients that want that so I give it to them. Some clients are enthralled by technology and love surfing panels and others just want it to do what they want. I guess that's why they hire us right?
Paul
I should be getting mine this week and I really hope it's a noise issue at your end. I also hope they managed to improve on the hand off from AP to AP since the way the MVP8400 would associate w/ APs was the cause of many problems. When you can watch the connections of a stationery MVP drop one AP an associate with another and so on back and forth because you happen to be in an overlapping coverage area and both APs are near the same dBmv levels isn't good. I've since tried to design the wireless network so that APs are near primary MVP locations but if I don't have to do this for laptops I shouldn't have to do this for a more expensive MVP which should be made from the best of the best, well at least that's what we're paying for, isn't it.
I could be wrong, but I thought one of the main reasons that the R4 was not WiFi was because of how much battery power it takes.
Jeff
From what I've heard, and we've yet to implement it anywhere - though I'm sure we will soon - using WPA allows the panel for a much smoother and quick transition from WAP to WAP.
I hadn't seen that feature on the 8400 before.
In reality there are only 3 non-overlapping channels that should ever be used; 1, 6, & 11. The fact that the WAP allows settings in between doesn't matter. Please refer to the AMX on-line training class Getting Started with Wireless http://amx.learnflex.net/users/index.aspx for more information.
What happens in an office, condo or commercial environment where your surrounded by other systems using 1, 6 or 11 and they're right next door w/ signal levels comperable to yours, stay on the same channel, no, of course not. The real world uses other channels and so should we.
The active roaming does work very nicely if enabled and if you indeed are set up on channels 1, 6 & 11 but otherwise it doesn't change and won't re-associate on an AP even after the previous channel has drop off completely and you place the MVP on top of the AP that's something other than 1, 6 or 11. Same SSID obviously.
For reason previously mentioned I think this is a considerable design flaw and really unacceptable. Now were dicated as to how we set up our networks regardless of the fact that there may be valid reasons why we can't be on these 3 channels. If I'm in a condo and my neighbor is set up on 1 & 6 and I want to set up on 3 & 9, well I can but I can't roam. Putting a limitation on what channels we can roam on is IMHO, well I won't say what I think. It's so simple to write a script to handle any channels on the same SSID I really fail to understand why they chose to limit the panels in such a manner. It completely blows my mind and makes no sense. I'm sure on a sketch pad somewhere that the designer used to make an imaginary wireless network it made perfect sense but I live the real world where others channels have to be used and the idea of "Use Only 1, 6, & 11" is rediculous.
Now you guys out there that work with IT guys that handle all the networks, they only used 1, 6 & 11, right!
my standard touchpanel template has a neutral gray stainless steel background. on my calibrated monitor it appears correct but on the 5200i it is quite blue. I am aware all touchpanel do this to a degree but not as much as the 5200i.
does anyone know if there are hidden commands to calibrate the panels colour balance. tech support is looking into it.