building the ultimate system.......

[ipswichbadger]

hello people, can i introduce myself as im very new to this, im impressed by the threads that ive read and definately going to enjoy this new avenue of discovery and friends i may make.
im a proud owner of some b&o equipment which im looking to expand to include full home automation, ive a shed load of questions to ask and think i should start with the obvious......
is there an problem with using u.s. equipment in the u.k.(apart from the transformer) for power or ancillery cables, would kscape uk have issue with me by sourcing my equipment abroad, if i was starting with 10tb of storage what boxes should i focus on or would an amx 3100 brain be a good centrepeice to drive everything, im thinking of an amx wireless touchpanel to control everything ...... does anyone have experience of this combination?
i should really keep this short or i could go on and on, since i am the fresher here, thanks for reading this and be gentle with me

 

[DigitalStudioWerks]

First off ipswichbadger, welcome to the Kaleidescape Forums.

In regards to control systems, that a personal choice. Besides being a Kaleidescape dealer we are also Crestron dealer. With that said make sure the the AMX or Crestron dealer you select has experience and knows how to integrate a Kaleidescape system in to an automation system.

As far as purchasing in the US for shipment abroad there should not be an issue, other than power. We currently are working with a Kaleidescape client in France and Kaleidescape here in the US has no issues with it at all. Most of the questions we get from potential clients overseas is about shipping and VAT.

Hope that helps. Any questions let me know.

 

[Riskky]

Hi Ipswitchbadger

First of all welcome to the forum.

I can try and cover some of your questions off here.

Firstly both Kaleidescape and AMX maintain their channel in Europe properly, yes you can buy US equipment and use it in the UK, Kaleidescape actually has switchable power supplies to enable this. BUT the minute you take a system outside of the region it was first sold into, then the warranty doesn't follow. Its the same ruling that Tesco got done for selling Levis, and Sun Microsystems did a UK reseller for importing stuff from the States. The laws on "grey" trading are different in the USA but here in Europe we have to be very careful.

This will not cause you a problem, until you have an issue, then if you make the mistake of notifying the manufacturer, they will just refuse to cover the warranty, the only way you can do it is to ship it back to your supplier for them to repair, which gets costly.

We can supply Kaleidescape anywhere in the world, but under the terms of our contract with them we have to install the unit, (which believe me is the worst part of this job, can you imagine the hardship of having to go to Nice to stick a system on a yacht!) if we fail to do this we are putting our reseller agreement in jeopardy.

Also bear in mind that your Kscape communicates daily with the company so they can place the unit accurately by its IP address if needed.

Integration of Kscape is easy, we can do this with any number of systems, but pick an installer who knows what they are doing, if you dont get the integration right you won't get the best of the user experience that Kscape offers. As an example it's taken us a year to perfect our AMX module.

So... my advice is buy in the EU, pick your installer carefully and get them to show you the stuff in the flesh. There are a small number of companies out there who really do know what they are doing and that I would trust (and that does include us!)

In terms of the hardware, always buy the 3u server if you can, its the most long term cost effective way of doing it, the NI3100 works perfectly and infact is what we use in our showroom to demo the Kplayer and we run it off a AMX touchpanel too. The Ni3100 will also run quite a sophisticated home automation system, but in the spirit of keeping things equal, Crestron have stuff that will do so too. Iv'e attached a picture of a standard Kscape GUI on an AMX touchpanel as a reference of what it looks like.

I'm always happy to have a chat and to show the stuff working, and can always bung a Kscape and AMX unit in the car and demo it in your home.

If you are already talking to an installation company I will be happy to give you the inside knowledge on them, in an unbiased way,if not give me a call

0114 299 7986

Kris

 

[DigitalStudioWerks]

BUT the minute you take a system outside of the region it was first sold into, then the warranty doesn't follow.

I followed up with Kaleidescape and was told that the above is incorrect. Kaleidescape will still honor the warranty, as long as it is still under the original warranty or the extended warranty, no matter where the system was originally sold and where it's located when service is required.

 

[ipswichbadger]

wow, firstly can i say a big thank you to james from digital studio werks and kris from konnectiv.smarthouse. this is exactly why im so happy to be here, with the manners shining through.......... im in a real hurry right now but ill formulate a proper response for the weekend and maybe a couple more questions for the experts among us. so by for now and keep smiling people.