jcmiro Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 So I was reluctant to move to Control4 from the beginning, but hey. My apartment was fully rigged up for it. Yesterday the guys came over to finish most of it. My initial impressions are ....meeh.... The remote is clunky, but most importantly, the interface to watch Kodi my only prerequisite is just not as good as having the nvidia remote in my hand. THe only reason to home automate for me is movies and tv. And I only use Kodi and nothing else. I have several mac minis around the house and a couple amazon fire tvs. The C4 remote works fine, but when I go to the only room that has the nvidia shield. The controlling seems SOOOO much easier, fluid and less laggy. I turn everything on with control4 remote and then use my nvidia shield remote to control content and volume. SO MUCH BETTER. Am I doing something wrong_? Im using Alan Chows driver for kodi. The way Im thinking of going is donating the mac minis and replacing them with nvidia shields, just controlling them with the nvidia remote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Should be just a good. Check your wifi and internet network. Then get em to check your zigbee mesh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Do you have any lighting products? I wonder how strong your mesh is Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcmiro Posted July 23, 2016 Author Share Posted July 23, 2016 I have lighting in all the apartment except the service area. Wifi is decent I have 5 airport extremes and 4 airports all cat5ed to the wall distributing wifi at 2.4 and 5ghz on frequencies that were available. I think Ill give the C4 a week to see if I get used to it. It works fine for everything but the TVs and Projectors and music. Which is silly because thats the reason one gets C4. I just prefer the feel and interface of the nvidia shield remotes. The installer gave me the option of puting the mac minis by each TV, but I prefer the shields as the nvidia remote can control volume also. For music the Control 4 is not as nice as the Yamaha app on my phone which just streams my spotify to whichever zone I want. I think this solution is unique to me because Im a very simple install. I dont need blueray, directv, dvd, appletv, roku, all together and I feel that C4 caters to the people who want all those choices when sitting down to watch something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therockhr Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 On 7/23/2016 at 10:12 AM, jcmiro said: I think Ill give the C4 a week to see if I get used to it. It works fine for everything but the TVs and Projectors and music. Which is silly because thats the reason one gets C4. I just prefer the feel and interface of the nvidia shield remotes. The installer gave me the option of puting the mac minis by each TV, but I prefer the shields as the nvidia remote can control volume also. For music the Control 4 is not as nice as the Yamaha app on my phone which just streams my spotify to whichever zone I want. I think this solution is unique to me because Im a very simple install. I dont need blueray, directv, dvd, appletv, roku, all together and I feel that C4 caters to the people who want all those choices when sitting down to watch something. You are correct. If you have a single TV with a single source Control4 doesn't give you that much more than a universal remote. When you have mult-room audio, AVR, Sat/Cable box, Bluray, Roku, Xbox, etc. is when you see the big benefit of Control4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcmiro Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 Thanks for the response. I have probably a dozen tvs and a couple projectors. Slowly but surely I'll be adding more kodi boxes. Im about half way. The installer gave me the option of adding a electronic hdmi switcher or matrix. Sent from my SM-N920G using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 First let me start off by saying that utilising the Kodi onscreen interface with an original remote is a good option if you're happy with it. I just wanted to make sure that your dealer has advised you of why integration to Control4 makes the experience better. Lets start off with basic onscreen control over Kodi. The Nvidia remote much like the apple remotes only have a limited amount of buttons. As such quick navigation and also accessing certain functionality is not possible. We took care to map Kodi's functionality to Control4 as intuitively as possible. Up/Down/Left/Right/Select buttons navigate and provide navigation and selection around menus Page Up/Page Down buttons allow you to jump up and down a page Info Button provides information about the movie or episode you are currently watching Prev/Cancel buttons can be defined to either a back button or previous menu button Record Button will start recording the current live TV episode/movie/whatever you are watching. Channel Up/Channel Down will skip Live TV/Radio channels up and down. Guide by default will bring up the TV Guide on your PVR. PVR by default will bring up your PVR recordings. SCAN_REV, SCAN_FWD will perform skip steps when watching a movie, when held down it will fast forward or rewind at 8x speed. SKIP_NEXT,SKIP_PREV will perform a skip next or skip previous (for chapter or playlist) or can be defined to do a big step forward or big step back. The Number Buttons perform three difference sequences. When playing video (other than live tv) it'll allow you to jump to a percentage of the video. Eg 0 goes to 0%, 1 goes to 10%, 2 goes to 20% and so on. When navigating a menu it will perform a SMS style jump. Great for jumping to a specific movie or tv show quickly. When watching live tv it will allow you to input a TV channel number. Play will send a play command Pause will send a pause command Stop will send a stop command The Custom 1, Custom 2, Custom 3, Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, Guide, PVR, Hash, Star buttons are all definable to non intuitive commands. These commands are as follows. Video Mode Fullscreen Toggle Show Subtitles Next Subtitles Next Audio Langauge Context Menu Codec Info Eject Tray PVR Menu TV Recordings TV Guide TV Search Radio Recordings Radio Guide Radio Search Jump to Music Files Jump to Music Library Jump to Video Files Jump to Video Library Jump to Weather Jump to Pictures Jump to Programs Jump to Settings Jump to Home Jump to Top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Ok this is going to take me a while so i'm going to break it up into several posts. Next let me talk about the background automation tasks that happen that can be programmed. The driver allows for some pretty cool functionality that you can only get from 2 way integration via a home automation system. Here are some of examples. Properties Auto Room(s) Select - This will allow Control4 to automatically turn the system on when it detects playback of video, pictures or music. Its smart enough to only turn on your receiver if it detects music playback whereas if you playback video or pictures it will also turn on your TV or projector. This is useful if you stream content via UPnP from another device (such as a phone) to your Kodi system. In the past i used to airplay content from my iphone to the TV however Kodi has not kept up with the newest IOS airplay funcitonality. Room Off on Screensaver - This will allow Control4 to automatically turn the system off when the screensaver starts on Kodi. Useful for when you pause and forget about your tv, fall asleep or if you're like me get bored and just walk away. Power Off - Has several options (default is stop then home window) but can be used to shutdown your HTPC so that the driver can send a WOL command to turn it on (for power saving). Variables Media Type - Can be picture, episode, movie, video, channel, musicvideo, unknown or song. Useful for programming different scenes and other automation tasks. Video Aspect Ratio - If you have a projector, video masking, etc you can automate your cinema to change to 169, 235, 4:3 modes. Great for eliminating those black bars and maximising your viewing experience. Video Resolution - Provides the current resolution of the video playing. Useful for programming scalers. Currently Playing - Useful for logging and notifications of what content is being watched/listened to (requires our Event Logging Driver and/of Notification Suite) CPU Usage/Memory Usage/System Temperature - Useful for detecting system health. I use shutdown the system if any of these are high. System Uptime/System Total Space - Various stats that you can log / notify Events Play - Event fired when playback of content starts - Combine with Media Type variable for useful programming (eg when a movie starts open projection curtains, dim lights, etc or when a song is playing set your RGB lighting to create a party mode) Stop - Event fired when playback of content stops - Eg Ramp up lights to full Pause - Event fired when playback of content pauses - Eg Ramp up lights, etc. Screensaver Deactivated - Event fired when screensaver turns off. Screensaver Activated - Event fired when screensaver turns on. Detected Video Playback - Same as Play but specific only to Video Detected Audio Playback - Same as Play but specific only to Audio. Detected Photo Playback - Same as Play but specific only to Photos. Actions Play Audio Announcement - Playback Control4 Announcements through your Kodi system. The system (if off) will automatically turn on, switch to the right input, playback the audio file, and then turn off. If on another source currently it will switch sources, playback the audio file and the switch back. Combine with our Advanced Announcements driver for dynamic audio announcements (mine tells me the weather forecast in the morning over my speakers through my house). Send Kodi Notification - Sends a little popup message to the bottom right hand corner of Kodi. Useful if you want messages about whats happening in your home (eg doorbell pressed) whilst you're watching a movie. Various WOL, Shutdown, Hibernate, etc commands Set Audio passthrough, audio channels, video resolution, refresh rate - used in conjunciton with a matrix switch this sets the system to suit the display & sound system that is currently outputting. Play URL - Useful for starting playback of a specific URL on the internet upon event. Launch Android Application - If you have LANmote installed then this will launch an android application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Lastly let me touch on the Mini drivers that we have created which form what we call Kodi Full. Kodi Movies Provides full library browsing and searching from any Control4 user interface including touchscreens, android/IOS devices, PC, remote controls (no searching on remotes). Can be browsed by All Movies Movie Genres MPAA Ratings Recently Added Movies Recently Played Movies (My personal favourite) Displays cover art for movies, Info of each movie Provides the ability to start playback from the start or resume if you've already started watching. Can search by Title Actors Directors Studios Genres Also allows you to program an action to play a specific movie. I have a button on my wall that starts Frozen up. I press the button, the TV, receiver, etc turns on and Frozens playing. Kodi TV Shows Provides full library browsing and searching from any Control4 user interface including touchscreens, android/IOS devices, PC, remote controls (no searching on remotes). Browsing broken down from Show to Season to Episode Can be browsed by All TV Shows TV Show Genres Recently Added Episodes Recently Played Episodes Displays cover art for tv shows, seasons, epsiodes Info of each show and episode Provides the ability to start playback from the start or resume if you've already started watching. Can search by TV Show Title TV Show Actor TV Show Studio TV Show Genre Also allows you to program an action to play a specific episode. Video Addons & Audio Addons Provides browsing of all your (non script based) Video and Audio addons. Displays cover art (if the addon supports it for that item). Starts playback of audio or video upon selection of item. Video Files/Music Files Allows folder structure browsing of your Video Files and Music Files. Cover Artwork can be defined in the driver (by default it is set to folder.jpg) Allows playback of media file upon selection. Allows you to program an action to playback a specific video file (upon keypad button press, motion detection, etc) Kodi Music Provides full library browsing and searching from any Control4 user interface including touchscreens, android/IOS devices, PC, remote controls (no searching on remotes). Browsing broken down from Artist to Album to Songs Can be browsed by Artist Albums Genres Displays cover art for albums (if available) Can search by Title Artist Album Genre Ability to add to queue or play now for albums and tracks. Kodi Live TV/Radio Provides full channel browsing from any Control4 user interface including touchscreens, android/IOS devices, PC, remote controls (no searching on remotes). Can be browsed by Channels Recordings Scheduled Displays channel artwork (if available) Displays current playing for every channel upon browsing. Displays Guide information Allows you to playback, record or view the information about the current channel. Youtube Allows browsing and searching of YouTube from any Control4 user interface including touchscreens, android/IOS devices, PC, remote controls (no searching on remotes). Displays channel and video artwork. Upon clicking on a video it will start playback of video. VEVO Allows browsing and searching of VEVO from any Control4 user interface including touchscreens, android/IOS devices, PC, remote controls (no searching on remotes). Displays video artwork. Upon clicking on a video it will start playback of video. Pictures Provides full photo browsing from any Control4 user interface including touchscreens, android/IOS devices, PC, remote controls (no searching on remotes). Upon clicking on a photo it will show the photo on Kodi.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 9 hours ago, therockhr said: You are correct. If you have a single TV with a single source Control4 doesn't give you that much more than a universal remote. When you have mult-room audio, AVR, Sat/Cable box, Bluray, Roku, Xbox, etc. is when you see the big benefit of Control4. I actually disagree with this statement. Control4's benefit is the automation of manual tasks and lifestyle. Having a single source or multiple AV sources doesn't change that. Automation of a single source is just as important as automation of whole home. Eg we have customers who utilise the Kodi driver's Video Aspect Ratio to transform their cinema to suit the movie they are watching. I myself utilise the auto room off functionality quite a bit to turn off the system when the screensaver kicks in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 7 hours ago, jcmiro said: Thanks for the response. I have probably a dozen tvs and a couple projectors. Slowly but surely I'll be adding more kodi boxes. Im about half way. The installer gave me the option of adding a electronic hdmi switcher or matrix. Sent from my SM-N920G using Tapatalk I don't see the point in having a HDMI matrix if you already have Kodi setups on every TV/projector and that is your only source. If you have sateliite boxes and other sources then that is a different story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 5 minutes ago, alanchow said: I actually disagree with this statement. Control4's benefit is the automation of manual tasks and lifestyle. Having a single source or multiple AV sources doesn't change that. Automation of a single source is just as important as automation of whole home. Eg we have customers who utilise the Kodi driver's Video Aspect Ratio to transform their cinema to suit the movie they are watching. I myself utilise the auto room off functionality quite a bit to turn off the system when the screensaver kicks in. Aye - if you're comparing a Control4 system to a universal remote - you're using it wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy.trochez Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Alan, I have to study those 3 posts. I have to print them though, it'll take me a while to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin L Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Alans KODI driver is amazing.. I use it all the time with zero issues what so ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 44 minutes ago, Kevin L said: Alans KODI driver is amazing.. I use it all the time with zero issues what so ever Thanks Kevin. Glad you enjoy our driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Here's some previews of what the UI looks like on Control4's interfaces for those who have never seen it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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