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

[benjycov]

HI Alan,

I am a c4 end user, and I purchasd my original driver from Houselogix, now I can't get updates because drivercentral refuse to allow me to register and don't respond to my support requst.

So I am stuck on 8.0.5, how can I get an updated version?

Regards... Ben

PS Brilliant driver!

[Cyknight]

No different from Houselogix, it requires a dealer to do this for you.

[alanchow]

Yep @Cyknight is 100% correct.  You should contact your dealer.  All licences have been migrated from Houselogix to driverCentral so they can perform the upgrade process for you.

Also note that there is no need for you to upgrade.  All existing driver licences purchased from Houselogix will continue to work indefinately.

[alanchow]

UPDATE

The Sky Channels driver will now only display subscribed channels if you enter in a Sky Q IP Address.  This means that if you change your subscription or do not have all packages you will now get the channels only you have subscribed to!

[OPS-UK]

Is anytone else having a nightmare with this driver? Since installing, Control4 has simply crashed. The processor is maxed out and I can't even connect to it. If I reboot it, it comes back for a couple of minutes and then sprirals out of control. I was on site on Monday until 7.30pm and again yesterday until gone 8.30. It seemed to come back but then my client reported it all crashed again at around 9pm. i tried calling support in the US but was just told to submit a ticket to the developers. I tried live chat but got a similar response. I have submitted a ticket but since I am not on site, it is not of much use.

Control4 were helpful and I spent around 2 hours on a call to US. They thought they had fixed it but it seems not. Next step is simply to remove the Chowmain driver and replace with IR. Atleast that does not trash my entire system. Very frustrating.

[3D - Benn]

3 hours ago, KHT said:

Is anytone else having a nightmare with this driver? Since installing, Control4 has simply crashed. The processor is maxed out and I can't even connect to it. If I reboot it, it comes back for a couple of minutes and then sprirals out of control. I was on site on Monday until 7.30pm and again yesterday until gone 8.30. It seemed to come back but then my client reported it all crashed again at around 9pm. i tried calling support in the US but was just told to submit a ticket to the developers. I tried live chat but got a similar response. I have submitted a ticket but since I am not on site, it is not of much use.

Control4 were helpful and I spent around 2 hours on a call to US. They thought they had fixed it but it seems not. Next step is simply to remove the Chowmain driver and replace with IR. Atleast that does not trash my entire system. Very frustrating.

Nope. I've installed this driver on a LOT of different jobs since it's come out... and aside from a issue with a firmware update by Sky (which was fixed prompto) i've had no problems at all. 

Judging from your certainty of it being the Sky driver, presumably all works flawlessly if the driver is removed? What processor is running director? 

[Gary Leeds UK]

No issues at all - We have had the driver from day One - We have hc800

[alanchow]

12 hours ago, KHT said:

Is anytone else having a nightmare with this driver? Since installing, Control4 has simply crashed. The processor is maxed out and I can't even connect to it. If I reboot it, it comes back for a couple of minutes and then sprirals out of control. I was on site on Monday until 7.30pm and again yesterday until gone 8.30. It seemed to come back but then my client reported it all crashed again at around 9pm. i tried calling support in the US but was just told to submit a ticket to the developers. I tried live chat but got a similar response. I have submitted a ticket but since I am not on site, it is not of much use.

Control4 were helpful and I spent around 2 hours on a call to US. They thought they had fixed it but it seems not. Next step is simply to remove the Chowmain driver and replace with IR. Atleast that does not trash my entire system. Very frustrating.

I am confident in saying we don't have a memory leaks or cpu utilisation issues with our driver (otherwise the UK Control4 office will have notified me by now - Also note UK support guys know the driver inside out as well since it is quite popular in the UK).

I am happy to assist in pinpointing your system issues to the problematic programming and/or drivers.  You will need to provide me with remote access to do this via VPN or 4sight.

[OPS-UK]

I have tried calling support but get told to submit a ticket. I have tried online chat, but get told to submit a ticket. I have tried submitting a ticket but I have not heard back. I have spent six hours on the phone in the past two days to Control4 without any resolution. Since installing this driver my processor is at 25% on director and nothing is responding. The whole system is down. I understand things not working but it is the total lack of support which is the problem. Support from Australia unfortunately does not work with UK. I have got no choice but to put this back to IR and forget I ever heard of the Chowmain IP driver. 

 

These are some of the errors in the log:

2018-03-08 08:39:57.458 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.458 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 446: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.460 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.460 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 438: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.463 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.463 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 434: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.465 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.466 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 434: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.468 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.468 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] WARN: Error receiving UPnP XML [url: http://192.168.1.232:49153/description0.xml]: Unauthorized
2018-03-08 08:39:57.902 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 468: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.905 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.912 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 418: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.915 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.922 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 427: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.925 +0000 home-controll

These errors are referring to the connection to 192.168.1.231, which is the main SkyQ box. 192.168.1.232 is another SkyQ mini box.

[alanchow]

2 minutes ago, KHT said:

I have tried calling support but get told to submit a ticket. I have tried online chat, but get told to submit a ticket. I have tried submitting a ticket but I have not heard back. I have spent six hours on the phone in the past two days to Control4 without any resolution. Since installing this driver my processor is at 25% on director and nothing is responding. The whole system is down. I understand things not working but it is the total lack of support which is the problem. Support from Australia unfortunately does not work with UK. I have got no choice but to put this back to IR and forget I ever heard of the Chowmain IP driver. 

Hi Jason,

As mentioned in my email I am happy to assist.  We log in and diagnose issues for faults all the time.  Most issues are not ours but those that are faults of ours we resolve promptly.  I have cc'd in the ASM's for your region who can vouch for our driver since it is extremely popular in the UK.

[alanchow]

33 minutes ago, KHT said:

I have tried calling support but get told to submit a ticket. I have tried online chat, but get told to submit a ticket. I have tried submitting a ticket but I have not heard back. I have spent six hours on the phone in the past two days to Control4 without any resolution. Since installing this driver my processor is at 25% on director and nothing is responding. The whole system is down. I understand things not working but it is the total lack of support which is the problem. Support from Australia unfortunately does not work with UK. I have got no choice but to put this back to IR and forget I ever heard of the Chowmain IP driver. 

 

These are some of the errors in the log:

2018-03-08 08:39:57.458 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.458 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 446: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.460 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.460 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 438: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.463 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.463 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 434: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.465 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.466 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 434: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.468 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.468 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] WARN: Error receiving UPnP XML [url: http://192.168.1.232:49153/description0.xml]: Unauthorized
2018-03-08 08:39:57.902 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 468: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.905 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.912 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 418: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.915 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.922 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 427: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.925 +0000 home-controll

These errors are referring to the connection to 192.168.1.231, which is the main SkyQ box. 192.168.1.232 is another SkyQ mini box.

The data you have sent is fir device ID 4731 is UPnP data.  Our driver does not utilise UPnP.  From the looks of the port number and data you have sent i'd say its a Belkin Wemo driver.  As mentioned i am happy to log in and have a look to assist with diagnosing the problem.

[alanchow]

Without access to the site i am going to make a guess that the issue is an IP conflict between the Belkin Wemo device and the SkyQ devices.  Looks like the wemo driver is having trouble connecting and receiving data correctly since it has a conflict.  I'm going to guess that the wemo driver is creating timers and/or has a memory leak due to the IP conflict.

I am speculating here but if this is the case i would firstly fix your network by making sure there are no conflicts and then i'd recommend utilising our wemo driver that has self healing.

https://www.chowmainsoft.com/belkin-wemo

 

[alanchow]

2 hours ago, KHT said:

I have tried calling support but get told to submit a ticket. I have tried online chat, but get told to submit a ticket. I have tried submitting a ticket but I have not heard back. I have spent six hours on the phone in the past two days to Control4 without any resolution. Since installing this driver my processor is at 25% on director and nothing is responding. The whole system is down. I understand things not working but it is the total lack of support which is the problem. Support from Australia unfortunately does not work with UK. I have got no choice but to put this back to IR and forget I ever heard of the Chowmain IP driver. 

 

These are some of the errors in the log:

2018-03-08 08:39:57.458 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.458 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 446: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.460 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.460 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 438: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.463 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.463 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 434: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.465 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.466 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 434: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.468 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.468 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] WARN: Error receiving UPnP XML [url: http://192.168.1.232:49153/description0.xml]: Unauthorized
2018-03-08 08:39:57.902 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 468: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.905 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.912 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 418: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.915 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleUpnpDevice()
2018-03-08 08:39:57.922 +0000 home-controller-800-000FFF58C945 [4731] TRACE: handleReceiveFrom(): Received 427: NOTIFY * HTTP/1.1
2018-03-08 08:39:57.925 +0000 home-controll

These errors are referring to the connection to 192.168.1.231, which is the main SkyQ box. 192.168.1.232 is another SkyQ mini box.

I have worked with the Control4 escalation team on this issue.  They have ruled out the driver and are looking into other causes for the project issue.

[Stevestobo]

Just had the Sky Q driver installed yesterday on an EA-3, great driver, are there any plans for it to be able to have access to recordings on the Sky Q box and not just the channels via touchscreens?

thanks

[alanchow]

21 hours ago, Stevestobo said:

Just had the Sky Q driver installed yesterday on an EA-3, great driver, are there any plans for it to be able to have access to recordings on the Sky Q box and not just the channels via touchscreens?

thanks

Glad you like it.  We are always looking at ways to improve the driver.

What you are asking for involves a major upgrade to our driver which will require rewriting a lot of the driver.

not impossible though probably not on the cards in the immediate future.

[Stevestobo]

Quick question. On the sr260 or the remote in the control4 app, which is the search button  for Sky Q to r do you have to program it. 

[Stevestobo]

2 hours ago, alanchow said:

Glad you like it.  We are always looking at ways to improve the driver.

What you are asking for involves a major upgrade to our driver which will require rewriting a lot of the driver.

not impossible though probably not on the cards in the immediate future.

Great thanks. Would be great to have this. 

[alanchow]

On 3/11/2018 at 6:49 PM, Stevestobo said:

Quick question. On the sr260 or the remote in the control4 app, which is the search button  for Sky Q to r do you have to program it. 

Steve reached out to me via PM on this.  Answer is it can be mapped to custom 1,2,3 on the SR260 and Hash/Star on the SR250 & SR260.  This is done via Composer HE or Composer Pro on the driver properties.

[Gary Leeds UK]

Alan we had Sky Q fitted today - Moved over from Sky HD

The driver works fine - But unable to select channels or see ICONS.

It was working fine on Friday when they did it. 

I just tried importing Channels and its give me the following - 

[string "Lua Code"]:370: Unexpected character at Line 1 character 1: F (70) when reading object ({ or [ or ' or " or number or boolean or null expected)
Context: 
Failed to get http://tv.sky.com
^ (ReceivedAsync)

Is it Bug ? 

[AHA]

...t/internal/c4z/driverworks_sky_channels/JSON4Lua.lua:380: Unexpected character at Line 1 character 1: F (70) when reading object ({ or [ or ' or " or number or boolean or null expected) Context: Failed to get http://tv.sky.com ^

Similar/same error here too.

[alanchow]

On 04/04/2018 at 5:44 AM, Gary Leeds UK said:

Alan we had Sky Q fitted today - Moved over from Sky HD

The driver works fine - But unable to select channels or see ICONS.

It was working fine on Friday when they did it. 

I just tried importing Channels and its give me the following - 

[string "Lua Code"]:370: Unexpected character at Line 1 character 1: F (70) when reading object ({ or [ or ' or " or number or boolean or null expected)
Context: 
Failed to get http://tv.sky.com
^ (ReceivedAsync)

Is it Bug ? 

 

On 04/04/2018 at 6:37 AM, appliedautomation said:

...t/internal/c4z/driverworks_sky_channels/JSON4Lua.lua:380: Unexpected character at Line 1 character 1: F (70) when reading object ({ or [ or ' or " or number or boolean or null expected) Context: Failed to get http://tv.sky.com ^

Similar/same error here too.

Thanks guys.  Sky changed the tv.sky.com endpoint to point to something else entirely.

As such we have worked hard and figured out a new method of obtaining this data.

tbe driver has been updated and pushed out to all sites.

it should be working now.

also all dealers should download the latest copy so that they don’t install an older copy of the driver.

[Gary Leeds UK]

Alan, its not pulling in all the Channels - On the News section we only get Sky News normally they is about 8 or 9 channels 

Still a great Driver 

[alanchow]

3 hours ago, Gary Leeds UK said:

Alan, its not pulling in all the Channels - On the News section we only get Sky News normally they is about 8 or 9 channels 

Still a great Driver 

Thanks for the feedback.  The sky web service we were using was discontinued.  As such we worked yesterday on finding a new solution.  Sounds like the solution we implemented has limited channels.  We will look into this and provide an updated fix asap.

[alanchow]

I have made a new version which now uses the Sky Q box as a source for the channel information.  it still uses the Sky website for the channel artwork and now playing data.  If anyone wants to beta test this please PM me.

[Stevestobo]

On 05/04/2018 at 1:43 AM, alanchow said:

Thanks for the feedback.  The sky web service we were using was discontinued.  As such we worked yesterday on finding a new solution.  Sounds like the solution we implemented has limited channels.  We will look into this and provide an updated fix asap.

Hi Alan, any idea on timeframes, also will this new driver with more channel be an auto update or will it require dealer intervention or can I do it with HE, I am new so forgive me if this is a stupid question.