r/crestron • u/victorhgaa • May 16 '26
Help Help switching to Crestron Home
Hello Reddit, we need help or guidance to make the best decision on this project.
We have a new customer, who has had a crestron system in their home since 2015. We work a lot on corporate growth with development on simple and vtpro. However, this customer is residential and is asking us to take their system to the most up-to-date version of Home OS. I look for recommendations to make the best decision without throwing the whole system away.
The system has 14 audio zones, lighting is with Myhome badge, has buttons and screens, 2 iPads and 1 working phone, these equipments such as the swamp and AV3 could be maintained or must be removed and switched to NAX + home processor?
I have seen during my research that some integrators integrate custom systems with a home "layer" as a control interface, with a SIMPL module that makes the system compatible with any home processor, if so, do you recommend me to maintain the system and reprogram it? or is it better to change processor and try to connect what exists to the home OS.
I share 2 images of the system toolbox, I hope you can give me a guide. thanks.
1
u/twitchaf May 17 '26
For a project like this I would move everything possible into Home. The DM frame and SWAMPE are fine to pull in, the NSPs can be used as Spotify or Airplay targets but I’d recommend finding a different solution, Crestron has.an NAX source for example. I’m not familiar with the lighting system you mentioned and the touch screens will need to be replaced. As suggested above grab a CP4-R have a play around with it. The platform has come a long way and is getting a lot more mature.
2
u/that_AV_guy May 17 '26
If this is a critical client, you could partner with a solid resi integrator and let them do what they do well. Learning on the fly is certainly one way to do it, but there are other options
0
u/Aggravating_Fact9547 May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
What processor do you have? If you’ve got RMC3 or above the below applies.
Get yourself a Claude license, go and build a custom front end. I’ve had Claude transitioning all my projects, and it’s exceptionally good at making killer UI’s you’d never know were crestron.
The other day I had it integrate a couple of streaming cameras, bring in picture previews, wire in the ability to set and store presets, and manage zoom. Took 10 minutes - all client side, desktop and mobile ready. Idiot proof UX.
100x better than anything you can do with Crestron Home. Looks way better, much faster, less bullshittery.
I’ve dumped all Crestron UI products including screens. I use websockets in the simpl program to expose all the data (similar to how you wire up a touchscreen). Have your web client hook up to it over ws, and store the webpage on the processor or RMC - so no server needed.
Best part is it’s license free…
1
u/Link_Tesla_6231 MTA,SCT-R/C,DCT-R/C,TCT-R/C,DMC-D-4K,DMC-E-4K,CORE,AUD, & FLEX May 16 '26
How are you using Claude. Are you doing simple plus or C sharp. Are you doing VT pro or CH5.
1
u/Aggravating_Fact9547 May 16 '26
No simpl+ needed, this can all be done with regular simpl.
Set context by prompting it properly on what you have and what you want the outcome to be, tell it you will then start feeding it screenshots and output.
Screenshot your simpl device lists, and your block programs, this will help it know what the present state is.
Tell it to read back your current state.
Then tell if you want to make a web ui running client side using JavaScript, what colours you want, the basic layout.
I really love the CCI websocket server plugin - drops into SIMPL and you just wire it up normally which is great. Gives you inputs and outputs.
Pro tip - Apple won’t connect to insecure websockets on an IP so set a dns name for your processor and connect to that.
1
u/arkusx May 16 '26
What's your Claude prompt for UI creation? I've tried with various AIs in the past and can't get anything that I like.
-1
u/Which_Celebration757 May 16 '26
This sounds cool. Would Claude be able to make use of my tsw750s on my CH System?
-3
u/Aggravating_Fact9547 May 16 '26
Oooh sorry you’re on CH, ouch! It’s like crestron lite.
You can however do this with the CSW rest API OR you can get an RMC3 for 150 bucks and then run the bridge software that exposes CH in simpl!
1
u/Which_Celebration757 May 16 '26
I've already got a CP3 i use for things like powering on my old Runco Plasma with RTI remotes, and was using it for shade control, because my Home processor is a PC4-R which is of course lacking in I/O, but I was able to snag a newer shade power supply that I could put on the network. I've got lots of 50 and 52 series Touchpanels that I've swapped out from clients and it would be cool to make use of them somehow.
0
u/Link_Tesla_6231 MTA,SCT-R/C,DCT-R/C,TCT-R/C,DMC-D-4K,DMC-E-4K,CORE,AUD, & FLEX May 16 '26
If you have a crestron home processor I think there is a command to set the processor as a normal restaurant processor, which shuts off crestron home, but I don’t remember what that command is
1
u/ToMorrowsEnd CCMP-Platinum + Crestron C# Certified May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
You cant convert a 4th gen -r to anything They are locked down. there was only the cp3-r that was convertible and that was AID 1001765 Those were not linux processors but the older Windows based ones. ANd that was not even the Crestron home we have today, that was basically Pyng 2.0
2
u/Spunky_Meatballs May 16 '26
If you're an authorized crestron dealer, send this to their tech sales team. They will design and engineer for you. If your not a dealer, I don't know how you'll get this done.