[JerryDelColliano]

A good friend of mine is swapping his ENTIRE home in West Palm Beach from a full AMX system to Harmony remotes.

That's like him trading in his Bentely for a Corola however the AMX systems have proven SO difficult to program and get support on - that he has given up. He wants control of his system in a world where it can take 3 weeks to get someone out to change one channel on your remote (and it costs you $500 for their time).

I understand his frustration. My Crestron based system sits waiting for installation and programing for new DirecTV receivers among other goodies. My system currently works but I don't have the new DirecTV boxes installed in all but one of my systems. With all of the HD content on the sat - I hate to miss out on it.

The idea that dealers can make a fortune selling AMX and Crestron stuff is fine by me but what I object to is the idea that you become a slave to them for even the smallest of changes to you system. Sometimes, in my system, my programmer can make changes from the Internet which is GREAT and cost-effective. Right now, its the changing IP addresses and overall connectivity that is causing me grief.