Petra Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 New to the forum and totally impressed by the community of help available here. I'm less than pleased with my local dealer support so trying to figure my options. Not happy with lack of response, trying to sell me the latest equipment, and proposing an hourly rate to come fix a problem when I thought I gave them setup to do remote work. All I plan to use my C4 in the short term is home audio via TV and streaming audio services (e.g. Spotify). I'm a tech and DIY so of course I'd like to figure this out myself if I can. I have a few questions if I could get some advice: 1. Is an HC-250-BL controller old technology that needs upgrading? 2. Can this controller support Spotify streaming? 3. I'm running OS 2.10.4 and I see OS 3 is available and looks great. Is this something I could upgrade myself with Composer Home Edition? 4. I changed my living room TV setup from cable to built-in YouTubeTV so need to do some reprogramming. Is this something I could do myself with Composer HE? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 6 minutes ago, Petra said: New to the forum and totally impressed by the community of help available here. I'm less than pleased with my local dealer support so trying to figure my options. Not happy with lack of response, trying to sell me the latest equipment, and proposing an hourly rate to come fix a problem when I thought I gave them setup to do remote work. All I plan to use my C4 in the short term is home audio via TV and streaming audio services (e.g. Spotify). I'm a tech and DIY so of course I'd like to figure this out myself if I can. I have a few questions if I could get some advice: 1. Is an HC-250-BL controller old technology that needs upgrading? 2. Can this controller support Spotify streaming? 3. I'm running OS 2.10.4 and I see OS 3 is available and looks great. Is this something I could upgrade myself with Composer Home Edition? 4. I changed my living room TV setup from cable to built-in YouTubeTV so need to do some reprogramming. Is this something I could do myself with Composer HE? Thanks! 1) Hc250 cannot be in a project if you want to go to OS3. So it works, it works up to OS 2.10.6. You can go to the C4 site or google Control4 OS3 to see the changes. its a very big UI overhaul and there are some new features. Do you need it? that is up to you to decide 2) Spotify has eh c4 integration, most control needs to come from the spotify app. I dont use spotify so others will chime in with more details 3) You need a dealer to upgrade OS, but as I mentioned above, OS3 cannot have an HC250 (and a few other pieces of hardware) in the project. So you'll have to replace the HC250. A remote dealer can help sell you the new controller, help you ID it to your system, then upgrade you to OS3 4) Depending on the complexity you can do it in Composer HE but you cannot add mini apps. Depending on the TV (if its Android based) you may be able to do "watch > Youtube TV" and get it to launch straight to the app. That would require a dealer. Otherwise you should still be able to access your main TV menu then manually pick YouTube TV even in its current set up? There should be a "watch > something" available, the something being the TV. Some call it Living Room TV, some may just call it TV, others may call it by the brand name like Watch > Sony etc. So hard to know. It may not be visible, but if its in the project, using Composer HE you can go into the navigation in the room, go to the devices shown, show it, then be able to get at least get to your TV main menu to manually select youtube tv Petra 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unsocialtoaster Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 Hey, welcome to the forum! Answers to your questions: 1. Yes, the HC250 is last generation, and was replaced by the EA3/EA1 2. The HC250 can do Spotify Connect, but only if there is another more powerful controller in the system (HC800, EA1/3/5). 3. Updates to software are only possible by a dealer, using the Composer Pro software. Also, the HC250 is not supported on OS3 I'm afraid. 4. Unlikely I'm afraid, only Dealers can add and remove drivers Sorry you have had a bad experience with your dealer, there are some great folks on here who might be able to help you out remotely Petra 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 happy to review your config remotely. joecheech and eggzlot 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joecheech Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 51 minutes ago, msgreenf said: happy to review your config remotely. FYI - have worked with Mitch for a few years, he is highly qualified to assist you. eggzlot and Petra 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 Others have answered most of your questions. Instead of Spotify, I’d recommend something that integrates much better with C4 (e.g. Tidal or Deezer). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petra Posted July 1, 2020 Author Share Posted July 1, 2020 6 hours ago, eggzlot said: 1) Hc250 cannot be in a project if you want to go to OS3. So it works, it works up to OS 2.10.6. You can go to the C4 site or google Control4 OS3 to see the changes. its a very big UI overhaul and there are some new features. Do you need it? that is up to you to decide 2) Spotify has eh c4 integration, most control needs to come from the spotify app. I dont use spotify so others will chime in with more details 3) You need a dealer to upgrade OS, but as I mentioned above, OS3 cannot have an HC250 (and a few other pieces of hardware) in the project. So you'll have to replace the HC250. A remote dealer can help sell you the new controller, help you ID it to your system, then upgrade you to OS3 4) Depending on the complexity you can do it in Composer HE but you cannot add mini apps. Depending on the TV (if its Android based) you may be able to do "watch > Youtube TV" and get it to launch straight to the app. That would require a dealer. Otherwise you should still be able to access your main TV menu then manually pick YouTube TV even in its current set up? There should be a "watch > something" available, the something being the TV. Some call it Living Room TV, some may just call it TV, others may call it by the brand name like Watch > Sony etc. So hard to know. It may not be visible, but if its in the project, using Composer HE you can go into the navigation in the room, go to the devices shown, show it, then be able to get at least get to your TV main menu to manually select youtube tv Thanks much for the info! Since i'm just looking for basic home audio features I'll stick with the HC250 and find a remote dealer than can help me with a few things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petra Posted July 1, 2020 Author Share Posted July 1, 2020 6 hours ago, msgreenf said: happy to review your config remotely. Sounds good! What's next step? My two things to address are: 1. Fix music streaming. Streaming Pandora used to work but now shows playing but no sound. Ideally I'd like to stream Spotify from our iPhones. 2. Reprogram so that the living room TV doesn't try to use cable for audio since that's been replaced with built in YouTube TV. Would prefer to use TV remote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 I don't find it a big deal that Spotify doesn't fully live in the C4 app. I don't mind starting my music from Spotify as I prefer the Spotify UI for that over what I have used for other streaming services that are native in C4. When you set auto on you don't even need to touch the C4 app for the music to start playing. Only downside is that if you want to turn on multiple zones you will have to go into the C4 app and do it from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petra Posted July 2, 2020 Author Share Posted July 2, 2020 8 hours ago, zaphod said: I don't find it a big deal that Spotify doesn't fully live in the C4 app. I don't mind starting my music from Spotify as I prefer the Spotify UI for that over what I have used for other streaming services that are native in C4. When you set auto on you don't even need to touch the C4 app for the music to start playing. Only downside is that if you want to turn on multiple zones you will have to go into the C4 app and do it from there. How do you send the audio from your device Spotify to C4? Bluetooth? If so, isn’t your range limited? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 No. It's Spotify connect. That is what I just setup for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 6 hours ago, Petra said: How do you send the audio from your device Spotify to C4? Bluetooth? If so, isn’t your range limited? With Spotify Connect you start playing on your phone, click on Devices, and then select the room you want. Then it starts playing and things are stable and as long as the Auto Room function is setup. This does mean that you need to create an instance of the driver for each room that has audio capabilities. But you can now do that from the phone app. The only minor issue can be if you do something like put in your AirPods to make a phone call then an iPhone likes to switch the Spotify audio playback to your AirPods. I can't remember but you may lose audio playback if you leave your LAN - so that might be an issue if others are listening and you leave the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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