C4-DS2FM door station and 4sight

[geckoutca]

I am fairly new to Control4 as I just had my home done with a dolby atmos system, game system room, 15 light switches, garage door, and front door lock as well.  i use the 4sight app then to control / opperate from anywhere in the world.

currently i have positioned the "doorbird" door station on my system and must admit am struggling with this item.  at home on my own internet it works pretty solid but if i am off wifi and away from home it works maybe 1/15 times if that...  hit or miss at best.

(long story here) I do have the  C4-DS2FM  door station that is not set up as i was told i would have to buy several control4 touch stations to do anything with it.  however browsing around a bit it seems there may be some way of actually using this without having to purchase several touch stations.

my question is basically, can i use this door station with the app / 4sight and both at home and away, use my phone or ipad or computer to view what is happening at my door when someone approaches / rings the bell?

thanks in advance

 

Bo

[abovedeck]

Correct, you don't actually need a tablet/touchscreen to use it.  However, you can't stream video or sound to the mobile apps. You can set push notifications and a photo capture, but I do not believe there are any 3rd party drivers that allow for streaming the audio or video.

[geckoutca]

thanks for the answer

i guess the other question is can i speak to them away from my home system via phone?

also can i speak inside house without the touch screen but on my network?

Bo

[abovedeck]

With the C4 DS2, I believe the answer is no.  I do know that with the doorbird, Houselogix has a driver but a lot of people here give it mixed reviews and not sure if it has any advantage over a DS2 with no touchscreen.

[eggzlot]

The Houselogix driver for DoorBird is limited to the extend that you can see video on the C4 touch screens but only a limited amount of them since it only sends out a few streams and one is to their mobile platform.  So maybe its like you can see it on the doorbird mobile app (not 4sight/c4 app) and then i think 2 or 3 touch screens in your house.

Long story short, SIP on C4 is crippled and very limited.  C4 supports ZERO out access to live video/voice on any door station.  The Gen 2 C4 door station will allow you to view the camera 24x7 via the C4 app and you can get photos sent to you with some drivers and programming (so if door bell rings you get a photo) but you cannot interact with the C4 door station in regards to talking to someone, watching live video, etc with anything other than a c4 touch screen.

So 4sight/C4 app will not help with any door station of any brand.  DoorBird has some ability to work within C4 on a limited scale and you have remote access with the Doorbird app so if not home you can talk to someone at your door.  C4 branded door station is good at home on C4 touch screens.  There is Ring too - Ring you can program events off the button press, but you cannot get the video/audio into the C4 interface/touch screen.  Lastly Holovision (what I have) does not have the mobile support but works flawlessly within a c4 environment and I have 4 touch screens in the house placed well so I have coverage.  I get photos sent to my phone when someone rings the bell.

The ability to talk to someone at the front door when you are not home seems odd to me.  The ring commercials showing someone talking to a robber so they leave is kind of a joke.  I think Ring has a great product and price point, so not knocking them, just that piece of their marketing campaign.  Robbers will either just break into your house regardless and wont ring the bell or they do ring and wait for someone to answer so they can push their way in (they fake a service call from the water company or something).  I would also venture to say most robbers would see any type of door station (more than a doorbell) and realize there is a camera in there and would likely back away anyways or find a window on the side of your house to bust in, etc.  

From a security standpoint I like having a camera there, I like getting photos so I know UPS dropped off my package, I like saving the recordings, etc  The ability to talk to someone in real time when I am not at home seems negligible.  I find the touch screens in the house useful since only two of us live in the house but it is big so we can be upstairs or downstairs and still see who is at the door, tell them to wait a minute or two, or even hit a quick button on the screen to let them by unlocking the door.  And I do not always have my cell phone on me at home so having the ability to talk to someone on my phone in the house at the door does not help me, but I am always within a quick walk to 1 of the 4 c4 touch screens (or the front door itself) to answer a ring when I am home.

[geckoutca]

@eggzlot

thank for the analysis....  with regards to you summary of the "ring' commercial, i too laugh every time i hear that one.  i agree...kind of a misleading advertisement.

 

that said, seems like the two best choices (ignoring use of voice speaking outside of the house) would be Holovision or the Gen 2 C4 door station (which i do have but not set up).  also in order to fully use the doorstation i would need the touch screens and could not communicate through the 4sight/control4 app?  

in reality, the ability to talk remotely is really more of a "nice to have" than a necessity...just seeing how hard it would be to have it.  also sounds like the G2 C4 doorstation does have a lot of good features to it and is worth switching to and "retiring" my doorbird (i have been using their app and it still connects rarely at best)  

i have one other question before summarizing:   I currently have a cat6 line running from a panel in the basement to the front door to connect a door station.  Is this sufficient a set up and also does this need to go directly to a control4 EA5 or EA 1 that i have in my house or can it run to the panel and then be redirected to the actual controller?  currently all wires lead to the basement panel and then run from there to the respective areas of the home.  in my two story i have one EA5 in the main room and an EA1 on each of the other two tvs in the house.

in summary, the GS 4 door station is solid and works great and if the voice portion is not a must is worth swapping out for my current doorbird.  also the door station does not play nice with 4sight and though will send email photos etc while away, i still would not be able to active look at the door station while away.  that said at home my only other question is do i absolutely need touch screens or can i get away with phone etc.?

 

thanks again.

 

Bo

[eggzlot]

4 sight/c4 phone app will give ZERO interaction with ANY doorstation.  c4 door station, doorbird, ring, holovision, etc.  the only way to interact (interact defined as seeing live video and talking to someone in real time) with C4 Gen 2 or Holovision is via the c4 touch screens, thats it.  doorbird can connect to a few touch screens and their own app so has some flexibility.  ring video/voice goes no where in the c4 ecosystem but you can use the ring button itself to trigger events in control4.

1 cat6 is enough for the C4 and Holo units, I cannot comment on DoorBird or Ring but I would assume so.  C4 and Holo can go to your switch, not directly into the EA controller, that is not required.  C4 and Holo units are both power over ethernet (PoE) so if your switch panel is PoE compliant that 1 cat6 cable will supply the video/audio and electric power needed.

To comment on your summary, C4 Gen 2 doorstation has audio/video on the c4 touchscreen, just not accessible on any app on a phone/tablet in the house or when you are away.

No one can comment on if you need touch screens.  that is a personal decision and how your layout is designed, how you interact with the system, etc.  We use it to see who is at the door - we need to redo our roof/siding and that project would include the front door.  our current door is a double door with ZERO windows, just a small peep hole.  so having a camera and we can see on a screen who is out there is very handy.  one day we'd like a door with some glass to help see who is out there and just allow more light into the house.  We use the intercom agent so we can talk to each other when we are at different ends of the house - that is always very helpful so we are not yelling all the time.  We also use the touch screens to enact certain modes in the house (housekeeper mode, vacation mode, various holiday modes, etc).  I can press a button on my touch screen and I get the day's weather report read to me.  the one in the bedroom we use a lot to control the sonos music in the room (no keypad in the room) and also one in the bedroom is nice to check HVAC or cameras or whatever when we are in bed at night.  These are things you can do with well placed keypads or voice controls via Alexa/Google Assistant/Siri.  At $1,000 a pop they are very expensive and yes for some hard to justify.  If I had to do it again, I'd likely still have 4 touchscreens because we like them, but plenty of people could get by without them.  the only thing a touchscreen can do that no other input device can do easily is utilize the SIP protocol to interact with a doorstation and also the room to room intercom function.  Anything else can be replicated with keypads, voice commands, SR remotes, etc.

[eddy.trochez]

Apps like Bria let you integrate your iPhone or iPad to your Control4 intercom system with limitations. You can communicate with the touchscreen and/or DS2. 

[eggzlot]

8 hours ago, eddy.trochez said:

Apps like Bria let you integrate your iPhone or iPad to your Control4 intercom system with limitations. You can communicate with the touchscreen and/or DS2. 

Eddie do you know how to use with Bria? It's been mentioned here 1-2x and when you ask how the people never respond. 

Also some ppl say Bria only works when on wifi within their network and doesn't connect via mobile data when. It hkme 

[eddy.trochez]

Yes, I have Bria in my iPhone and one iPad and it works well as an intercom with T3s. Unfortunately, it only works when in the home network. Apparently, there's a way to activate SIP to make it work outside the home network, but I haven't looked into it. I'm having some coffee right now, I'll post how to install Bria in a little while.

[geckoutca]

On 2/25/2017 at 6:02 AM, eddy.trochez said:

Yes, I have Bria in my iPhone and one iPad and it works well as an intercom with T3s. Unfortunately, it only works when in the home network. Apparently, there's a way to activate SIP to make it work outside the home network, but I haven't looked into it. I'm having some coffee right now, I'll post how to install Bria in a little while.

Eddy,

Curious if you had a chance yet to post how to install Bria and get it working ipads / iphones etc?  I am looking at a decision on installing or not this wednesday and would like to see if i can hold off (budgetary reasons) on getting TS's for now and using Bria/ ipad/ iphone. thanks  John

[eddy.trochez]

Bria:

Install the Universal SIP Phone driver in your project (one per device)
In the driver properties, choose an username and password
Set the Camera enabled field to True
In the Actions tab, click on Idle State. This will set the intercom status of the device to‘Idle’, which will enable it to receive intercom calls.

To configure Bria for Android:
1. Navigate to Settings > Accounts and click on the ‘+’ symbol to add an account. For iOS users, select the ‘SIP’ button for VoIP calling to specify the account type.
2. Add the username that you put into the Universal SIP Phone driver for this device.
3. Add the password that you put into the Universal SIP Phone driver for this device.
4. Add the IP address of the primary controller in the Domain field.
5. For iOS users, select Preferences > General and enable Run in Background. For Android users, select Preferences > Additional and enable Keep Wi-Fi Radio Awake.
6. Select Preferences > Video Calls and enable Enable Video.
7. Go back to the account you created and select Account Specific Features, and enable Enable Video, Always Offer Video, and AutoSend Video.
8. Go to Premium features to purchase the h.264 add-on if desired. This is necessary if you planon communicating with V2 touch screens.

[Ziba Ji]

Is 4sight another app for control 4?

[hank31980]

With regard to the Control4 Door Station 2, it looks identical to a 2N Helios IP Verso unit.

Have you tried to create an account on 2n's remote access App (via My2N.com) to then gain access to it remotely on your iPhone/iPad or Android device?

I have been using this App via my iPhone, to communicate with my 2N Door Station.

When someone presses the Call button on the Door Station, I get called up on my Control4 touchscreens & simultaneously on my iPhone.

if i choose to answer on my iPhone, I can hold an Audio/Video conversation with the caller and can from the App open close the Gate/Door.

 

I just wondered whether this App would work with the C4DS2 as it just looks like a C4 badged 2N Helios IP Verso.

 

That way your Control4 system will be one option of handling calls, but in the event of no Touchscreens, the App will call your Smartphone or tablet whether in the house or outside of the property.

 

Regards hank31980

[StroTek LLC]

6 hours ago, hank31980 said:

With regard to the Control4 Door Station 2, it looks identical to a 2N Helios IP Verso unit.

Have you tried to create an account on 2n's remote access App (via My2N.com) to then gain access to it remotely on your iPhone/iPad or Android device?

I have been using this App via my iPhone, to communicate with my 2N Door Station.

When someone presses the Call button on the Door Station, I get called up on my Control4 touchscreens & simultaneously on my iPhone.

if i choose to answer on my iPhone, I can hold an Audio/Video conversation with the caller and can from the App open close the Gate/Door.

 

I just wondered whether this App would work with the C4DS2 as it just looks like a C4 badged 2N Helios IP Verso.

 

That way your Control4 system will be one option of handling calls, but in the event of no Touchscreens, the App will call your Smartphone or tablet whether in the house or outside of the property.

 

Regards hank31980

it appears that may work.. but you need the serial number AND a "security code" to set it up..