alanchow Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Chowmain - Sky+HD / SkyQ / Sky Q Mini for Control4 Sky is a British satellite broadcast service provider. Chowmain has developed an IP based driver that provides control over UK based Sky set top boxes. This IP driver eliminates the need to attach infra red emitters to the set top box and is compatible with the Sky+ HD, Sky Q and Sky Q mini boxes. On top of IP control the driver also provides automatic channel media list updates for Control4. This ensures that the channel listing on Control4's user interface is always upto date with the latest channels for that particular region. Features No more IR buds 3-10 times faster than IR control Channel selection from navigator Automatic Channel list update - Always have upto date channels on your Control4 navigator. Never be effected by channel number changes or when Sky adds or removes a channel again. Select your region and have all the Sky channels automatically import periodically for your area. Select your period (Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly) or you can also manually update via programming action (tie it to a custom button or experience button). FAQ Can you give us some examples of how we could use this driver?? No more IR buds means no more IR bleeding and accidentally bud knocks. Speed up control over your customer's sky set top box. Your customer's sky media list will always be upto date with all the channels for their particular region. What hardware will this work on? This will work on any Control4 controller running OS 2.6 or later and with the following sky boxes. Sky+ HD Sky Q Sky Q Silver Sky Q Mini Why do you only support OS 2.6 and above? OS 2.6 offers a superior security encryption algorithm and a new and improved driver format. We have decided to only utilise this new format to ensure that the integrity of this driver is not compremised and that we can provide the best dealer/user experience available. How do I find out more information about the driver? Please see the links below for more information about the driver. Chowmain Website Installation Guide How do I buy the driver? This driver is developed by Chowmain software & apps and is distributed and supported by Houselogix, Inc. Download Driver / Purchase Licence Who do i contact for technical support? This driver is developed by Chowmain software & apps and is distributed and supported by Houselogix, Inc. Support Do you provide trial licences? All Chowmain drivers for Control4 come with a 48 hour trial. This is activated once you add the driver to the project. No additional steps are necessary. Xav and msgreenf 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Another great release Alan! This looks like a very nice driver! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Paxton Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Flawless. The Chanel import is worth the cost alone alanchow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Cheers Alan, contacted dealer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Paxton Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 @alanchow I know you talked of a Full and Light version. I was wondering if its possible to Poll the sky box for a response, We have lots of problems with these boxes locking up and triggering a service call. It would be awesome if it was possible to ping the box and if no response is received to trigger you're Wemo driver to reboot the box. I have no idea if this is even possible but would be attractive to dealers to avoid in warranty service calls to pull the plug on a sat box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 Just now, David Paxton said: @alanchow I know you talked of a Full and Light version. I was wondering if its possible to Poll the sky box for a response, We have lots of problems with these boxes locking up and triggering a service call. It would be awesome if it was possible to ping the box and if no response is received to trigger you're Wemo driver to reboot the box. I have no idea if this is even possible but would be attractive to dealers to avoid in warranty service calls to pull the plug on a sat box. Maybe when we do the Full version. For now i recommend using a service like Domotz where you can monitor the uptime of a device. It can even monitor if a port is open or closed and based upon this automatically power cycle the device using a wemo. David Paxton 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Great Driver Alan, Thank you so Much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 On 3/15/2017 at 5:01 AM, David Paxton said: Flawless. The Chanel import is worth the cost alone 2 hours ago, Gary Leeds UK said: Great Driver Alan, Thank you so Much Thanks for the feedback guys. Glad you guys enjoy it. For those who haven't tried it here's an article written by CE Pro Europe on it. http://ce-pro.eu/2017/03/chowmain-sky-ip-driver-control4-sky/amp/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo21 Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 I am thinking about the design for a Control4 system in our newbuild house. We have never had Sky before (we have always used Freesat) but I am looking for simple and comprehensive integration so the family don't complain or get confused. I am wondering whether this driver is the best route to TV integration with Control4 in the UK so I should buy Sky as a result. Or is there a similar Control4 integration for a Freesat box? Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey_westmids Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 Just contacted my dealer about getting this driver. Looking forward to using it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted March 17, 2017 Author Share Posted March 17, 2017 1 hour ago, bdo21 said: I am thinking about the design for a Control4 system in our newbuild house. We have never had Sky before (we have always used Freesat) but I am looking for simple and comprehensive integration so the family don't complain or get confused. I am wondering whether this driver is the best route to TV integration with Control4 in the UK so I should buy Sky as a result. Or is there a similar Control4 integration for a Freesat box? Thank you Usage is simple. Just click on watch->channels->channel you want to watch. can't get simpler than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 On 3/17/2017 at 5:12 AM, alanchow said: can't get simpler than that. What, you mean it cannot read my mind and switch to the channel I want - the one I really want, not the one I'm trying to convince myself I want? pffft hunk of junk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl01 Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 Been testing this out, Great driver Alan, Uk has been awaiting this for a long time. Thumbs Up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 7 hours ago, carl01 said: Been testing this out, Great driver Alan, Uk has been awaiting this for a long time. Thumbs Up. Glad you like it. Thanks for the feedback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NextGenAV Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Brilliant driver Alan, will be rolling it out to customers. One thing: Am I able to send the Sky button command? It is the fastest way out of any menus to main viewing. Couldn't see it in the driver and all my customers use the # key to get back to full screen viewing. Cheers for another great driver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crustyloafer Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 On 21/03/2017 at 5:32 PM, NextGenAV said: Brilliant driver Alan, will be rolling it out to customers. One thing: Am I able to send the Sky button command? It is the fastest way out of any menus to main viewing. Couldn't see it in the driver and all my customers use the # key to get back to full screen viewing. Cheers for another great driver. Agreed, and I'll second the request for access to map the Sky command to a button. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted April 21, 2017 Author Share Posted April 21, 2017 On 13/04/2017 at 5:09 PM, Crustyloafer said: Agreed, and I'll second the request for access to map the Sky command to a button. On 22/03/2017 at 4:32 AM, NextGenAV said: Brilliant driver Alan, will be rolling it out to customers. One thing: Am I able to send the Sky button command? It is the fastest way out of any menus to main viewing. Couldn't see it in the driver and all my customers use the # key to get back to full screen viewing. Cheers for another great driver. We have actually implemented this in beta but am waiting for more things to implement before releasing it. Don't want to put out too many releases. If nothing happens in the next few weeks we'll just release with this one new addition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NextGenAV Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 On 2017-4-21 at 5:37 AM, alanchow said: We have actually implemented this in beta but am waiting for more things to implement before releasing it. Don't want to put out too many releases. If nothing happens in the next few weeks we'll just release with this one new addition. Excellent Alan, I'm starting to update clients to the driver soon. I'm still leaving in an unconnected IR driver just to send the Sky command, can't wait to get rid of the IR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted April 27, 2017 Author Share Posted April 27, 2017 51 minutes ago, NextGenAV said: Excellent Alan, I'm starting to update clients to the driver soon. I'm still leaving in an unconnected IR driver just to send the Sky command, can't wait to get rid of the IR The next version will also have mappable sky. Will be released shortly with our new Sky Channels driver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted May 1, 2017 Author Share Posted May 1, 2017 MAJOR UPDATE - NEW SKY RF CLOUD DRIVER INCLUDED! Overview The Sky+ HD / SKY Q channels driver for Control4 is a driver designed as an alternative to the Sky channel cloud in Control4 with the following functionality. Automatically updates channels every 5 minutes into Control4 Ability to see whats currently playing on all channels! HD artwork! Cover art is now handled by Navigator which means crisper cover art. Grid view and list view Genres Driver will automatically select the first unused bound sky source in the room. Perfect for matrixed systems with multiple Sky+ HD and SkyQ boxes. FAQ I already bought the sky driver. Do i have to pay more? No. Just add this driver in, configure it and use the same licence you purchased. Why should i use this driver? This driver comes bundled with the Chowmain Sky+HD & SkyQ IP driver and gives you now playing data for all the channels listed on navigator. No more channel surfing or bringing up the guide on the Sky box whilst you’re watching. Why does the cover art come up slowly? Cover art is handled by navigator. As such the first time you load cover art it will pop up one by one as it loads from the internet. It will however be cached on the device which means it’ll load faster next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 Alan, Our dealer updated the driver yesterday. When we go into Channels we are getting no icons (On screen GUI) when using mini ipad they start to load then crash the ipad, no issue with Iphone 6, however if we go into Genes we have no issues at all - All ions load. Is this normal ? When I go into Media in Composer HE I do not see Sky Channels - Should it show ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted May 17, 2017 Author Share Posted May 17, 2017 1 hour ago, Gary Leeds UK said: Alan, Our dealer updated the driver yesterday. When we go into Channels we are getting no icons (On screen GUI) when using mini ipad they start to load then crash the ipad, no issue with Iphone 6, however if we go into Genes we have no issues at all - All ions load. Is this normal ? When I go into Media in Composer HE I do not see Sky Channels - Should it show ? We actually issued an update that fixes issues on flash based navigators today. This will resolve your onscreen GUI (i assume you are using a HC class controller). There is an issue which effects ipads only that is out of our hands. We have advised Control4 of this so hopefully they can issue a fix for iPads in the next version of the iPad app. We have also added the ability to programatically play channels via an action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 Cheers Alan - We are using a HC800 and HC250 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted May 17, 2017 Author Share Posted May 17, 2017 16 minutes ago, Gary Leeds UK said: Cheers Alan - We are using a HC800 and HC250 Yep the fix we issued today resolves those Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 Alan all sorted - Great Job and one hell of a driver - Love It Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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