Colour C-Touch vs Homegate and LCD Touchscreen

Gudday Guys,

I was wondering if someone could point out the advantages of going with a C-BUS Colour Touch Screen versus an LCD Touchscreen running Homegate. As far as I can see, the later appears to be the more cost effective option (if you purchase a low spec computer), and you get a larger screen, i.e. 15" or larger if you want. Obviously if space is an issue and you want a slimline install to match decor, the C-BUS colour touch screen would be the way to go, but I can't see any other significant advantages that justify the cost?

Thanks, CC&C.

 

The C-Touch Colour is a completely integrated product. You can treat it like a VCR. Plug it in, turn on and download project. Everything is being handelled for you.

With a seperate PC you need to ensure you have it properly configured to act as an "appliance". This means special configuration of Windows, you need to manage security and service packs. You need to spend considerably more than the cost of a cheap PC as you need it to be fanless and to not use a hard disk drive (notoriously unreliable).

The C-Touch Colour is designed to be a easy to install and maintain solution that won't give our Integrators a headache in 2 years time when a normal PC (running 24x7) is dying a horrible death.

If this is for your own house and you are "on the ball" with configuring Windows and don't mind doing regular maintenance, then using a PC with a touch screen isn't a bad idea.

If you are an installer/integrator doing a job for a client, you will either want to be using a high quality commercial/industrial PC or a C-Touch Colour. I would never use a normal PC for client as it's not worth the hassle and likely reliability problems.

So although a cheap PC with a touch LCD running Homegate may look good on paper. The extra integration costs and maintenance issues are likely to be a real problem for you.

 

Make sure that you have included all of the costs in your comparison :
- Colour C-Touch is a C-Bus device so you do not need to purchase a separate PC Interface
- Colour C-Touch includes the cost of the software, so you do not need to purchase a HomeGate license
- Colour C-Touch includes the operating system, so you do not need to purchase a copy of Microsoft Windows
- If you are using multiple networks, you will have the additional cost of the C-Gate license. Colour C-Touch supports multiple networks.
- A "roll your own" solution will incur significant integration, installation and set-up costs.

The functional benefits of using a Colour C-Touch over using HomeGate on a touch panel PC are :
- Colour C-Touch supports the C-Bus Infrared remote control
- Colour C-Touch has sophisticated backlight control to adjust the backlight according to ambient conditions (this can be quite important)
- Colour C-Touch includes special software to simplify the project download process
- Colour C-Touch software supports some additional Special Functions (Cleaning Mode, Utilities) which are not required for desktop PC use
- Colour C-Touch is a fan-less device. Having a PC with a fan greatly reduces system reliability (and increases noise)
- Colour C-Touch uses a special operating system which is significantly more reliable that what is readily available "off the shelf"

 

colour screen

darren is right
the new screens will be great

we have installed pc/touch screen and the older(current) c-bus screens
on different jobs depending on customers requirements

i personaly will be replacing my current t/screen with a new coluor c-bus
screen ( never was a fan of homegate)

cant wait

 

Thanks guys for the very informative replies. I've currently got a monchrome touchscreen and I was trying to weigh up the advantages (and justify) upgrading to a colourscreen when they become available. I certainly don't have any problems with the touchscreen I have now, on the surface though the CBUS colour touchscreen "appears" expensive when compared to an LCD/Computer (particularly when they keep getting cheaper). You've convinced me though that a C-Bus touchscreen is the way to go, so thanks ... I think ...

Cheers CC&C.

 

it begs to be asked

Why cant we have a 15" c-touch

 

We had to start somewhere, and the 6.4" screen was believed to be the best for the market requirements.

Regardless of what size we release, there will always be someone that wants a different size. If you want a 15" C-Touch, use HomeGate on a 15" panel PC

 

Why can't we have a 15inch???

Also the same reason as to why the original Starserve quad modulators were never
brought out in Stereo ,, COST !!

The customers complained enough with paying $1000 for the MONO version,
STEREO was going to be twice that.

Same goes with Touchscreens, you want it bigger, i dare say the customer
then has enough money to buy:

Bigger screen PC
V3 Schedule plus with logic
PC Interace
Software licences......etc etc,

is there an echo in here,
as i think i remember this being stated in a message before....

 

I only made the statement because it seems that there are many who want the bigger screen. That is why they use HG or SP.

15" LCD with thouch screen is around $1200 I believe. Add that to the cost of the C-Touch (@2650 retail)and yeah you get an expensive product ($4K, but remove the cost of the PC that you would have needed and it helps comensate a little.

Add more functionality such as video etc for cameras, internet and its percieved value increases.

 

With the C-Touch Colour we wanted the screen to be awesome. The screen we chose is excellent quality with a wide viewing angle etc... When you compare prices you need to compare to absolute premium quality screens. I'm sure a 15" screen could have been used for only a relatively small increase in cost. However, it would have sucked to use. You would have need to be standing at just the right angle to see the screen, in full light you wouldn't be able read it etc... Much better to use a quality screen that you just use and don't have to fight the technology to use.

 

guys you only have to look at crestron and amx
if you want xga with video and vga inputs for 17" or
15" you will pay around 12-16 thousand just for the panels