bdo21 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Hi,I am planning to install a control4 system in a new build house but this will be a couple of years away. In the meantime, I would like to replace my Windows Media Centre/My Movies with something more reliable. I am thinking about a Dune HD Base 3D. The on screen menu looks a bit fiddly though for the family to use and navigate to mymovies and I know you can use the EV driver to bypass the Dune OSD and use control4 instead. I was wondering whether there is any control4 device I could use with the Dune on a standalone basis (with an ipad as a controller) which wouldn't become redundant in the future when I do the whole house installation. Is there a sensible way of doing this or do I just need to wait?Thank you,Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecodeman Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 1) Do you have any TV shows on DVD?2) I would also seriously consider something newer than the Dune for speed purposes. There's another recent thread about here that discusses it ad-naseum, but the gist is along those players the latest is the Cloud Media A410, which can work with the MyMovies/Control4 system. 3) If you wanted to do this now, you'd need to get an HC250 or 800, the appropriate drivers (media player and my movies), you'll need to get a my movies install from a my movies partner so you can get the API key (talk to James from Diamond Home Design). Lastly you'll need a remote or ipad/iphone for control. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 And to add to codemans comments if you got an HC250 now to run a single room tv / movies / other stuff under the tv now solution, that box would find a home in your whole home install in 2 years time. Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo21 Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 Thank you. I was keen to have a bluray drive so my wife/children could just insert a disk if it wasn't on the system which is why I looked at the dune but it is a bit old now. I could wait for the next version. The A410 seems to have an hdd option but you can't seem to use a bluray drive in this slot? We have some TV shows on DVD - does this make a difference? So an HC250 would still be relevant in a whole house installation (which would presumably need a larger installation such as an H800? Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo21 Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 A changer won't give me the ability to watch the movies in different rooms from different devices (and presumably is much slower and won't let you skip straight to the movie instead of watching all the compulsory trailers) so I'm definitely interested in a network media player. I can wait if a better device will be released soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 We use a Popcorn Hour A400 over a cat5 network and works great, we have my movies driver for EV etc. I would run Cat6 cable if you are waiting 2 years and see what is around but at the moment the A400 does it for me. We have 1 to 1 back ups of Blu Rays and DVDs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo21 Posted June 18, 2014 Author Share Posted June 18, 2014 Thanks everyone. I'll take a look at the changer vs popcorn/dune but it sounds like an hc250 would be what I need now and it would still be useful when I put the whole system in. Does it need dealer installation? Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecodeman Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Thanks everyone. I'll take a look at the changer vs popcorn/dune but it sounds like an hc250 would be what I need now and it would still be useful when I put the whole system in. Does it need dealer installation? Thank youYes, Control4 is a dealer sold and supported system - so to get your HC250 and everything setup, I recommend it. Plenty of dealers on here who do remote support/installs and such. Try Neil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conceptht Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Hey all, I have an upcoming install and the client has already purchased a QNAP ts-469L and a Dune HD 3D player. Anybody have any experience with such a setup? Will we be able to view the directory of movies through control 4 or will we have to use the Dune GUI? Also, any way of getting netflix to work on these? I have a 8x8 C4 matrix and he wants to be able to listen to Netflix throughout the house. Any Ideas? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Alot of our dealers install plex media server onto their QNAP NAS drives and use dune media players to playback movies.They use our plex media server driver to auto import movies.http://www.c4forums.com/topic/14483-chowmain-plex-media-server-driver/#entry124440It will not integrate Netflix though so you will still need to use the dune UI for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turls Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Looked like a decent and recent thread to post this in, what is the trick to get the Dune HD Base 3D to power on with the EV driver if it is powered down/sleep/standby (red color on power button)? I have to start it up manually with the power button or use the iOS app. This should not be the case, I'm sure. Any other tweaks to the EV driver setup I should be taking advantage of? Doesn't seem like I have the major functions mapped out as they should be compared to the functionality of the iOS app. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 There's a trick to have the Dune players power to standby vs full off on power loss - not sure of the order but you need to do this from the original remote.This way the network port isn't shut down, thereby preventing communication. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badjesus Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 I would second what alanchow said, but add on his Chromecast driver. If you are looking for a good solution, the Plex with Chromecast driver may be your best option. You could get going now for $49 and integrate later with C4. You could even do mult TV for now. ($49 per TV). If you live in an area where no one is selling it local, Amazon can have it to you tomorrow. Certain apps will be a complication where you are going to need another device at a later time for things like Netflix. You have a lot of options though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Alot of dealers are installing our plex home theatre driver on a dedicated HTPC. Provides two way feedback on the player state so you can program the lights to dim when you select a movie in plex's menu or even have the system auto on upon airplay or auto off upon screen saver activate (great for when you fall sleep or forgot to turn the tv off whilst its paused).Note at the moment movie selection via navigator only works on Plex Home Theatre on the windows build due to a bug in plex.Also in regards to Netflix people are using my chromecast driver to perform an auto room on and auto room off upon movie selection from their ios or android device. It's not perfect but it's a few steps less than what people do at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badjesus Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Alot of dealers are installing our plex home theatre driver on a dedicated HTPC. Provides two way feedback on the player state so you can program the lights to dim when you select a movie in plex's menu or even have the system auto on upon airplay or auto off upon screen saver activate (great for when you fall sleep or forgot to turn the tv off whilst its paused).Note at the moment movie selection via navigator only works on Plex Home Theatre on the windows build due to a bug in plex.Also in regards to Netflix people are using my chromecast driver to perform an auto room on and auto room off upon movie selection from their ios or android device. It's not perfect but it's a few steps less than what people do at the moment.Hey Alan, I don't want to hijack this thread so is it cool if I send you a quick PM? I am just curious about the installation of the driver direct on an HTPC. I was not aware this was possible and I am curious if there is any documentation for this? I haven't been able to get this driver up and going due to my 16tb of movies being on a windows 8 box that I can't get C4 to connect to via a network share. If I could get around this by installing the driver on the local machine somehow, that would be ideal. (this is my topic on it > I would LOVE to finally get my plex driver up and going. I am probably over thinking this capability, but if that is possible I am curious if there is any documentation. Or even more simply, if there is any way to get the connection without doing a network share, or another driver for a network share that will be compatible with your driver? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Drivers are only installed on control4 controllers. I meant install plex home theatre on a HTPC and get our driver to control it. You can find documentation for our drivers on each product page on our website (http://www.chowmain.co.nz) You probably haven't set up your shares correctly which is why control4 cannot connect to it. Best way to get support for our drivers is via the extra vegetables help desk as this is handled by 3 different time zones (UK, US & AU) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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