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In a CEDIA preview article on CEPro.com, Universal Remote Control (URC) unveiled some details on their new KP-4000 in-wall touchscreen control panel.  This two-way RS-232 and IP communication control panel is a new direction for URC, and another step further into the home automation arena, long dominated by Crestron and Control4.

High-end home automation is not a new concept — in fact CEDIA is all about it — but I believe there is a market for less expensive solutions.  Unlike Crestron’s InfiNet technology and Control4’s ZigBee based offerings, the KP-4000 looks to take advantage the well established and cheap Wi-Fi found in most peoples home. URC already offers a line of Wi-Fi, IR, and RF remotes, which includes the KP-900 — a detachable Wi-Fi based control panel — but KP-4000 looks to further push URC into the complete automation business.

Wi-Fi has been around for quite some time now and is largely underutilized in the home automation field.  Lately trends have been moving towards a wider use of Wi-Fi, especially with the introduction of so many smart-phones into the home and market.  The clear and simple benefit to Wi-Fi?  No wires of course!  With no wires installation is easy and connecting all the devices is even easier.  Imagine how simple it would be if everything in your house was IP-enabled and could be controlled from your iPhone.

All of these home automation solutions are going to require you to have deep pockets, but using the URC KP-4000 wont require you to tear apart your entire house.   By using your existing Wi-Fi network you can have the KP-4000 professionally installed (which it will need to be) and then hit the ground running while keeping costs relatively low.  You wont have to buy all new Creston or ZigBee based devices, though you might have to buy an addition or two to the KP-4000 to get the same effect.

Out of the box URC’s panel can control other IP-based devices, but no IR or RF devices. That is unless you buy the URC MRX-1, which is a base station that will give your KP-4000 the ability for IR over IP control. For RF you are going to have to buy an additional piece of hardware for the additional piece of hardware, which is the RFTX-1 an RF over IP module for the MRX-1.

Now as much as I hate to buy additional hardware in order to get a job done, the cost pales in comparison to buying all new Creston or ZigBee based equipment. We don’t know many additional details about the KP-4000, but at CEDIA they will be giving a limited demonstration of its capabilities.  I assume pricing will not be to bad compared to the existing competition.  URC has a non-touchscreen Wi-Fi based wall panel that runs for about $500, so I think that the KP-4000 will be in the $1000+ range.

I see the KP-4000 being a nice option for fairly well off home owners who don’t want to pay multiple factors more for custom Home Automation from Creston or Control4. Instead most consumers are going to want to use their own preexisting equipment.  (Either way I doubt I’ll be automating my house until a cheaper one comes along)