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Chowmain - Sky+HD / SkyQ / Sky Q Mini for Control4


alanchow

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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. 

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@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.

 

 

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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.

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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/

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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

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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.

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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.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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. 

sky_channels.gif

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  • 3 weeks later...

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 ?

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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.

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