My Control4 Build w/ Mac Pro Integration

I thought I would put my Media Center/Control4 system finally down on e-paper.

First, many thanks go out to CCHyper, Magnolia HiFi (specifically R. Welch), DJ (High voltage), and of course my wife for putting up with my shitstorm. Sorry for the Martin Grammatica mistakes.

I recently purchased my house in June of 2009 and started a fairly large remodel of the interior. Since I was doing a lot of gutting, I figured I would finally take advantage and put in my dream media system.

Objectives:

-Install a system that anyone can use

-Control my Mac Pro from any monitor located throughout the house

-Media computer stores all of my media (music, pictures, movies, etc)

-Play Media in any zone

-Home Automation

OVERVIEW:

To start you off, the following picture is of my Family room, which I consider to be my main T.V. viewing area (no theater room, sorry!). The original design of the house had traditional bookcase shelving and a deep box cutout (right of t.v.) for your larger CRT televisions and equipment (VHS?). I basically covered the holes up with new library style paneling & hidden shelving, and utilized what was a storage closet in the office located directly behind the main family room as my Main Equipment Closet (to the left of the t.v.).

HOUSE LAYOUT:

For some background, here is a basic layout of the house with the different zones I am trying to reach. I wired the entire house with multiple Cat6 drops to all rooms (either for monitors or for regular ethernet hookup), with accompanying stereo wires.

SYSTEM DESIGN:

Now for the fun part. Of course it is a lot more complicated than it appears on paper, but you get the idea. This system build has basically been in my head for 8 years now, and I finally am now able to show exactly what I think is the best system design for the money. Control4 proved to be a perfect solution as it already had a great GUI interface in place, and all I had to really do was hookup my Mac Pro as one of many video sources and I was off and running.

MEDIA CENTER: MAC PRO

By far the hardest part of the system was getting the Mac Pro to work on all of the screens. Now just to get this out of the way, yes I know Mac's are very limiting on what you can utilize in terms of software and hardware in the Media Center world, but that was the exact reason I wanted to do it! I had issues with overscan, video cards (Apple controls the drivers to most of the cards installed), signal quality…you name it. After the fifth video card (a Matrox product), and the help of an open source custom screen pixel mapping package Display ConfigX, we achieved success. (mind you that Chris spent 5 hours custom pixel all the monitors to work).

Blah Blah Blah…Yes we are an apple household, and of course I utilize a lot of their pro tools (Aperture, etc) so I wanted to be able to have a seamless user experience.

But Doug, why both a Mac Pro and Control4 you may ask? Well the answer is basically two fold:

1) Currently most media solutions out there only allow for what I call "pull" content-- meaning that you can pull your content from a Blu Ray player streaming Netflix, or you can pull a video from a Control4 media controller attached to your NAS storage device. But,the problem with these types of devices is that you have to use their proprietary GUI, their remote control....and you basically cannot watch any media on demand from alternate sources.

With the Mac, all I have to do is select "Watch Mac Pro" with my Control4 remote, then pick up my bluetooth mouse and keyboard and start using the server right away. Or I can pick up my iPhone and control the computer through a third party APP like boxee.tv.

Boxee.tv</a>. (which is a third party media center GUI). With that said, I can now utilize the Mac Pro to use many different types of media GUI's such as XBMC, Boxee, Hulu desktop, iTunes, youtube, Netflix, etc, all with a click of the mouse, using an interface (apple) that I think everyone knows quite well. (and of course I am running windows 7 no the machine, which works out well because everything is stored on the NAS….).

NAS or rather...DAS: Direct Attached Storage Domination

Having a gigabit ethernet wired around the house, I can also utilize a rack mounted DAS RAID drive and store/access all of my media on that drive. The Mac Pro server uses an eSATA card to pull it at 3 gb/s speeds, and computers on the network can pull/push their content at 1 gb/s.

It acts as a local drive that will be shared across the network by the MAC server. The reason being that that the MAC can serve multiple connections and stream the files without issue -- because it is DAS it can stream the largest files without issue using eSATA speeds.

What this means is that when I add a track to iTunes on my main computer, it points the track to be stored on an iTunes library located on the rack DAS. When I download pictures to Aperture, it stores them on a library located on the DAS. So essentially, I have all of my computers mirroring each other to libraries located centrally on the DAS. I think its cool. :-)

HOME AUTOMATION:

One of the other large objectives of the house build was to also utilize Control4 as a home automation solution. With Control4 I am now able to control all my light switches, thermostat, ADT security system, camera's, fireplace, garage doors, etc. What does this all mean?

A couple of examples:

-I have a keypad at the top of my stairs near the master bedroom door. This keypad allows me to shut down the entire house with the push of one button (televisions, garage door (if its open), fireplace, lights, etc), and also program for certain light dimmers to go on at a certain level (say 10% for the back staircase).

-I am leaving, and by the garage I also have a keypad that allows me to not only turn everything off in the house with a push of a button, but also turn on the alarm (2 minute delay), and put some of the house dimmers on 15% in case its dark when I get back.

-My wife and I are laying in bed, I want to turn the lights off in the bathroom, turn on the television (watch a movie on the Mac of course), and quickly check my daughters room to see if she is awake (IP Camera hooked into the Control4 system), all with my iPhone.

iPhone:

Control4 has an iPhone app that gives you the same user experience as the remotes (operating on Zigbee, or WiFi for the case of the 7" touchscreen). But, one thing I learned is that the Control4 iPhone app only allows you access while on your local network (WiFi). But because I have a firewall with VPN built-in (and the iPhone has native VPN support), after some quick inputs I can access the app from 3G cellular or from another WiFi hotspot in seconds. So now while I am at my parents house, I can login into their WiFi on my iPhone and hook into my control4 system over the VPN -- and say arm the ADT system or close the garage door (in case I forgot).

SYSTEM PICS:

Here is a shot of my MEC, or main equipment closet. Here you can see an upper and a lower rack. The upper rack is fixed to the wall, while the lower rack can be rolled out on wheels to allow access to everything. This was a key to my design, as you know how tight these spaces can get!

Here are some pics of the keypads located in the Kitchen. I have some temporary labels on the buttons until I work out the kinks (I may change the names or what they do) and order permanent buttons from Control4 later. Also, some screen shots of my touch screen with door cam, thermostat control, as well as some lighting scenes to give you an idea. When someone rings the doorbell, the front door cam pops up on my 7" touchscreen.

MEC Construction:

Rats nest anyone?

Here is a shot of the Mac Pro hanging inside the closet. Now you might scratch your head on this one...but space was limited so my good friend Chris and I came up with this brilliant idea. With some chains and screw-in i-bolts -- the thing was hanging off studs in no time. The really cool thing is that it actually works a lot better than placing it on a (flimsy) shelf. I can grab it and muscle it around with no worry, and it actually has better airflow for cooling and allows for easier access to the inside of the computer for quick inspection (the side pops off).

UPPER RACK:

And of course I have a switch on the exhaust fan helping cool the closet (which is suprisingly quiet!). I'll have a wirless contact relay with internal thermo installed shortly that will help the control4 system tell the fan to go on/off when the temp reaches above 85 degrees (its shipping).

Wow...when I have a bit I will read through the rest but it looks like it was quite the project.

Thanks, yes it was. But I actually had a lot of fun doing it...as sometimes these things can be a divorce inducer.

Try doing it for a living... LOL

Try doing what I do for a living!

Don't ask him thecodeman...

The answer might be, "If I tell you, I have to kill you!"

With your zone 1 - 3 setup, how does the Mac & receiver output 5.1 audio to the family room while streaming a different mp3 in the kitchen? Are you outputting 1080p video to all your TVs? Is the Mac up-scaling any internet video to 1080p? Which OS are you running on your NAS? Any RAID?

Hi. I can only dream of such a system. Wow! I also have questions about the MacPro media server. I would love to set up one of these. But Apple doesn't make it easy to set up a mac server specifically as a media centre....as you are well aware.... because they make you go down the AppleTv route.. Also no 1080p. I'm so pissed off at Apple for not making this sort of Mac media server thing easy on a Mac (unless you want to spend $100K's on something like Savant)- I'm thinking of switching to Windows7 Media Centre. ( Yeh I know as a "fanboy"- this is a BIG retro step backwards. )

What you are doing is a great - because it negates the limitations of not being able to play multiple video formats within iTunes. My questions are-

1/ how do you organise all the different video files? Do you use a specific program? You can't drag everything into itunes...so do you have a manual video file structure?

2/ could anybody with basic network and OSX experience set up something similar - but on a smaller scale using a Macpro with a Raid card (To avoid the NAS)

3/ Do you know of any specific C4 Drivers of iTunes (in particular) or any of the other GUI's running on your MAC ( other than XBMC - which we all know)

Unreal system!!!! ::cool:

With your zone 1 - 3 setup, how does the Mac & receiver output 5.1 audio to the family room while streaming a different mp3 in the kitchen? Are you outputting 1080p video to all your TVs? Is the Mac up-scaling any internet video to 1080p? Which OS are you running on your NAS? Any RAID?

Zones 1 is controlled by the Pioneer unit for 5.1, and the Mac is also plugged into the B&K to play around the house simultaneously.

I am using a Key Digital YpBr switch for signal to all the t.v.'s, and I also have an HDMI going directly to the family room t.v. for the bluray player (for best quality).

The Mac is not doing any of the upscaling, the signal 'is what it is' from the source (be it ABC.com or HULU).

I am running the GUI that came with the Habey DS-1220N 12 bay drive unit. It is an online based GUI, so you launch Firefox and do all of your configuring right there in the browser. Pretty slick interface if you ask me. (see attachment)

Its actually a Direct Attached Storage and not a NAS, but yes I am running RAID 5 on two blocks of four drives. In other words, I am running two array's of RAID5 with (4) 1TB drives in each array, and one spare pool drive. One of the array's is utilizing enterprise level drives from WesternDigital, the othe four were Seagates that I had in other machines at one point in time.

Hi. I can only dream of such a system. Wow! I also have questions about the MacPro media server. I would love to set up one of these. But Apple doesn't make it easy to set up a mac server specifically as a media centre....as you are well aware.... because they make you go down the AppleTv route.. Also no 1080p. I'm so pissed off at Apple for not making this sort of Mac media server thing easy on a Mac (unless you want to spend $100K's on something like Savant)- I'm thinking of switching to Windows7 Media Centre. ( Yeh I know as a "fanboy"- this is a BIG retro step backwards. )

What you are doing is a great - because it negates the limitations of not being able to play multiple video formats within iTunes. My questions are-

1/ how do you organise all the different video files? Do you use a specific program? You can't drag everything into itunes...so do you have a manual video file structure?

2/ could anybody with basic network and OSX experience set up something similar - but on a smaller scale using a Macpro with a Raid card (To avoid the NAS)

3/ Do you know of any specific C4 Drivers of iTunes (in particular) or any of the other GUI's running on your MAC ( other than XBMC - which we all know)

Unreal system!!!! ::cool:

1) I have a folder on the DAS labeled MOVIES, in there they are of multiple file formats (.vbo, .mkv, .iso, .avi, .mov, .whatever). Right now I mostly use Boxee.tv (based on XBMC) as my main player, it populates the library and plays all of the types of files. It gives you that rich experience with cover art, info, etc, as long as you have the files in .imdb format. Boxee also has 'apps' within their program, like Pandora and Netflix, so I signed up for the $8.99 netflix download service - plugged my info into Boxee -- downloaded the app and I was off and running on Netflix in about 5 minutes total. I also have XBMC, Hulu desktop running on my Mac. Each GUI has their benefits, so right now I am playing around with all of them just for fun, but will probably stick with one as I get most comfortable with whichever one.

2) But that is actually what I am running. It is essentially like having a computer and 12 hard drives wired to the computer. The Habey drive bay is plugged right into my Mac Pro utilizing eSata. It is a DAS not an NAS. The gigabit ethernet just allows for high enough speeds for me to also have all the computers mirrored to these drives. If I didnt have the speeds, I would most definitely have local libraries as streaming content over WiFi is WAY too slow.

3) I am not using any C4 drivers for the system. Under the Video category on my Control4 interface, I have a "Mac Pro" source that I select. Once the screen is up I now have to pick up my keyboard and mouse to operate. Or if I already have Boxee running, I can control the GUI using my iphone Boxee App (which is actually pretty good. If I am in my office, I can use Apple's screen sharing tool

Even though C4 has a media center controller, I dont like being limited by the "pull" only factor of the box. In other words, I want to access ALL of my media, as well as pull streaming content from other internet sources. Also, I am not that impressed with the C4 GUI for things like Rhapsody, etc. It takes just way too much time to actually get a song off and playing, let alone the 37 menu levels it has to get you lost.

I like seperating the C4 and the media centr for these reasons. Even though I have to use a seperate keyboard to use the mac, I think it saves time as the other GUI's that utilize remotes are too slow and confusing.

Apple also has a great native remote desktop feature called "screen sharing." This allows me to control the server from any computer, so if you want to you can use a laptop as your remote when you are up in the Master bedroom away from the bluetooth keyboard. Or when I am in my office, I have the server up on my second monitor when I am on my main computer (that way I have iTunes playing on the T.V. and on the speakers in the office, even though I am using an entirely seperate computer to work on).

This is way cool!:cool::cool::cool:

So the DAS behaves as if it's one drive on the mac right? That way you just point itunes at it, as if it is any other internal drive. No mucking around with the problems of itunes working with NAS drives :P:P

Thanks!

Basically. I have two RAID drives as you can see on the screen shot, DATA1 & DATA2.

iTunes points to the music folder on the DATA1 drive (which is really 4 drives in RAID5). I dont have anything on DATA2 yet, but I am bringing in a lot of digital content in the next month.

I also have an offsite server located in an undisclosed office building, that runs my Microsoft Exchange, websites, etc....and also acts as an offsite backup solution for my drives and computers at home. In other words, not only do I have the DAS and Apple timemachine being backed up on a local array, I have an offsite backup for triple protection.

I'm not sure that advertising that you're likely breaking Copyright law on a public website is the best of moves.

i.e. I'm unaware of a 'Friends and Family' clause in the copyright laws.

IANAL, and your setup looks nice.

RyanE

Like I said, I am NOT braking any laws. FWIW, that's not the exact clause name. If you do the research, you will find the answer.

But I'll take down that bit of info if it scares you. wink

-The Internet

Like I said, I am NOT braking any laws. FWIW, that's not the exact clause name. If you do the research, you will find the answer.

But I'll take down that bit of info if it scares you.

-The Internet

I don't think it scares any of us. If laws were broken it would be your azz not any of us forum members.

If you have done the research and can provide a link to what you have found I am sure everyone on the forum would be appreciative. One of the cannons of the forum is sharing information with others. Please share your research on this topic.

Audio is easy, the video or DVD ripping is more difficult to prove as its still being argued in the courts. Is the man listening in on this thread? LOL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Home_Recording_Act

But lets not derail this thread!

Ok back to re-railing the thread. The way you have set this up is sort of like a home made Savant system. But using OSX Itself to control the server from any networked Apple device. Correct?

Now I'm an Apple user with 4 -5 networked macs, iPhones, iPods etc and I well know how much easier it is to run a mac network like this- but I wouldn't say it's a straight forward easy thing for non comp savy family members to run even Apple remote display control of a Server. So how do you get around this problem?

Personally I wish a set of C4 IP 2 way drivers could be written for apps like iTunes, Boxxee, Elgato TV, safari, etc a bit like an extended version of Mira IR control. That way a mac server like this could be controlled directly with C4..

....there's no alternative until SJ allows his AppleTv team to open up it's video file sharing and live TV...

... Or run Sage... now where is that C4 2 way Sage driver again????

Don't suppose you could invite SJ up to Seattle to show him your fantastic setup and the deficiencies of a Mac Home media server and how it could be improved by any chance? Give him something to do now the ipad's launched

Ok back to re-railing the thread. The way you have set this up is sort of like a home made Savant system. But using OSX Itself to control the server from any networked Apple device. Correct?

Now I'm an Apple user with 4 -5 networked macs, iPhones, iPods etc and I well know how much easier it is to run a mac network like this- but I wouldn't say it's a straight forward easy thing for non comp savy family members to run even Apple remote display control of a Server. So how do you get around this problem?

Personally I wish a set of C4 IP 2 way drivers could be written for apps like iTunes, Boxxee, Elgato TV, safari, etc a bit like an extended version of Mira IR control. That way a mac server like this could be controlled directly with C4..

....there's no alternative until SJ allows his AppleTv team to open up it's video file sharing and live TV...

... Or run Sage... now where is that C4 2 way Sage driver again????

Don't suppose you could invite SJ up to Seattle to show him your fantastic setup and the deficiencies of a Mac Home media server and how it could be improved by any chance? Give him something to do now the ipad's launched

Correct. I have the Mac Pro feeding Audio/Video to the Control4 system, so all I have to do is select that input in any zone and bam I am watching/listening to whatever is on the server. I mostly run the Pandora music App within boxee and play it throughout the house during the day (work from home).

Problems with remote display control? Its actually pretty easy once you set it up. (System Preferences --> Sharing -> setup permissions for all your users to access the Server as well as the drives. Then all you have to do is click on the server in a Finder window -> Click "Share Screen" -> Enter username and password --> Remote desktop connection is activated. It is very simple actually. My wife can do it on her laptop in seconds, or she can pick up the bluetooth keyboard and mouse located in the family room (close proximity to the computer) and use that as the pointer using the big screen as the monitor.

Stevie boy is probably to busy trying to figure out how to get the world to forget Flash & Silverlight and adopt HTML5 to worry about us Home Media Mac people. Like Steve said, its really just a hobby product for him (appleTV).

I don't know, I kind of like having the two GUIs seperated from each other. But yeah, iPad sure does conjure up ideas about how you could actually marry the two....

You do know about Mira from www.twistedmelon.com?

Allows IR control of dozens of mac apps. There is a IR receiver that can be hooked up to a macpro.

But better still - I wish someone could write a 2 way C4 IP driver that awakens the mac and say lists all the available video viewing apps loaded- eg XBMC/Boxee/Safari/Sage, or switches between OSX and WIn7. You could use this with IP control of the Server( Mac Pro )

Then you could have an IP C4 driver that launches "Share Screen" out at each zone (I have Mac mini's out at 3 TV Zones) and loads the server up for you ..perhaps even via an applescript

Then if you could launch one of the specific media centre IP drivers, on the server. C4 2 way drivers have been written for XBMC, WMC, Sonos, AppleTv and I think there is one coming for Sage. Not sure about Plex. But I would really love one for iTunes and Frontrow. As weird as it may sound I still use and play video, tv clips and podcasts straight out of iTunes! Itunes is STILL my main media player!!!

In Summary, I'd like more direct control of a mac server from a C4 touchscreen or even a SR250. And 2 way IP drivers for itunes and Frontrow

Just a personal wish

Hey. Thanks for sharing your invaluable experience. I love this crap :rolleyes: It's great sharing ideas. Very interesting! :)

I don't know, that jumble of wires on top of your rack is pretty ghetto, and you're hanging your Mac Pro like you're getting set to torture it. And have you thought about integrating a trap door if an authorized person opens your component closet? I think you got some work to do here....

I don't know, that jumble of wires on top of your rack is pretty ghetto, and you're hanging your Mac Pro like you're getting set to torture it. And have you thought about integrating a trap door if an authorized person opens your component closet? I think you got some work to do here....

LOL :lol:

I don't know, that jumble of wires on top of your rack is pretty ghetto, and you're hanging your Mac Pro like you're getting set to torture it. And have you thought about integrating a trap door if an authorized person opens your component closet? I think you got some work to do here....

Brotherly love.

Anyone know of a way that I can run HDMI from a Mac? :-)

I am a little annoyed with the Matrox MXO and would love a dedicated HDMI with 5.1 Audio line to use instead of component.....

Anyone know of a way that I can run HDMI from a Mac? :-)

I am a little annoyed with the Matrox MXO and would love a dedicated HDMI with 5.1 Audio line to use instead of component.....

Can't you just run a DVI to HDMI cable? And then run a separate optical audio cable for audio?

But how will you connect to your component video switcher with HDMI? Are you thinking of utilizing the unused DVI out on the Mac Pro?

There are a couple of use a macmini for home theatre forums out there. Try that slant. I think there is actually an all in one cable- but I don't know how it works. Be careful. Apparently not all surround receivers handle HDMI from a macmini (therefore macpro) very well...

Alternatively get yourself an aftermarket HDMI PCI express card for the macpro.

It's a liitle dissapointing that Apple seems to be so anti HDMI. Oh but They know best for us all when it comes to interfaces...

There are a couple of use a macmini for home theatre forums out there. Try that slant. I think there is actually an all in one cable- but I don't know how it works. Be careful. Apparently not all surround receivers handle HDMI from a macmini (therefore macpro) very well...

Alternatively get yourself an aftermarket HDMI PCI express card for the macpro.

It's a liitle dissapointing that Apple seems to be so anti HDMI. Oh but They know best for us all when it comes to interfaces...

And Blu-ray. Couldn't resist