How many screens do you have and why?

[SeeFour4ever]

I can see the need to having many screens in the past when smartphones and tablets where not so common.

But I find it hard to justify a T4 screen just for the ability to have Intercom anywhere on it (vs a simple android tablet), I think more than not I would answer the calls from my smartphone.

How many screens are the norm (one at entrance, living room, kitchen?) And would you now have less touchscreens with the likes of NEEO in the living room for example? Interested to see what peoples views are. I know everyone has their own preferences but there must be a general consensus to what is an acceptable number of screens and what would be too many?

[RAV]

Touchscreens are faster, more reliable, not prone to wims of IOS or Android, and wall touchscreens are always ready and right where you left them.
They are also easily usable by not you. Meaning guests and family.
And more features, like intercom.

So consider others using the system, they'll have a better and easier time with a touchscreen.

[eggzlot]

My thoughts are key areas with heavy usage in areas of AV, Alarm and/or Intercom for answering the front door.

So for us, we have 5:

1) upstairs office (2nd floor)

2) Kitchen (1st floor)

3) Master Bedroom (1st floor)

4) Foyer Entry (first floor)

5) Gym (basement)

 

If I did it again I'd leave out the Foyer.  By the time I get to the foyer I can look out the door and see who is there.  There is no real AV or HVAC needs in the foyer.  We have 2 keypads on the wall in the foyer for quick access to some scenes.  And the foyer has a coat closet and in that coat closet we have a DSC keypad for our alarm system.  So its hidden but easily accessible.  So the need for a Touch screen in the foyer - minimal at least for our use.

Kitchen is great because if you are busy you can see who is at the door, turn on music/tv, etc.  Master Bedroom is good again for control of the entire house.  And our gym and upstairs office are on different floors so just good for intercom access, etc.

Oh and I have a cheap Lenovo Tablet in another room that I use for C4 too.  Its no where near as fast/snappy and responsive as a T3, but it was also basically 1/10th the price so for the $100 I paid, GREAT value.  but certainly has its drawbacks

[tmj4]

I would agree with Neeo remotes you don't need quite as many, but I would still think one per large common area is good. 

The biggest plus them compared to wall-mounting tablets is the batteries and doing just one thing and doing it well. 

[tmj4]

3 hours ago, RAV said:

Touchscreens are faster, more reliable, not prone to wims of IOS or Android, and wall touchscreens are always ready and right where you left them.

Would generally agree, but the framerate and UI smoothness is definitely better on our iPad than our 10" T4.

[RyanE]

I think the 'big win' for touchpanels for intercom use is that it's always in a consistent place, and on the 'right app'.

As an example, I can call my kitchen touchpanel from my phone when I'm in a different country using Control4's intercom, even if I've taken my iPad with me on vacation.

Those at home while I've got the iPad can still answer the chime doorstation calls, and don't have to find their phone, etc.

It's always on the right app, it's always on the right version, etc.

RyanE

[lebron2k21]

36 minutes ago, tmj4 said:

Would generally agree, but the framerate and UI smoothness is definitely better on our iPad than our 10" T4.

I thought T4 was the best choice hands down if price is not an issue? 

[Neo1738]

I like them as I always know where they are and it's much easier to dim lights w them than the keypads. We have in Master (wireless), My office (wireless), Kitchen, Bar, Guest Room, Kids Room. May add 1 more 7" to other guest room but that would be it. 

[Jeff W]

Setting aside budget considerations.  Having a touch screen in each room that has audio makes for a much better user experience in our mind.  With more and more audio services being online, the interface is a critical piece when being able to select/browse music.  Drilling down through menus is so much nicer on a large screen or putting in username/passwords for online services.  These are things that can't be down with a wireless/wired lighting keypad.

Having the touch screens in large common areas is a great option too. 

I love my Control4 system and the DS2, but there are times when the phone doesn't ring when someone pushes the doorbell.  I find it works much more consistent with the touch screens.  When the phone does ring by the press of the doorbell, I have to answer the phone, then I have to unlock it for the intercom app to start and then it takes a few seconds for the video to start working.  It takes a few moments and sometimes, people have already walked away from the door.  

As much as people always say they have their phone with them.  That's usually not the case when people come home.  A lot of people put the phone down and walk away.  Sure it's somewhere in the house but if they need it fast, they can never find it.

As good as the Control4 app is, it takes a few moments to load the system settings each time it's opened.  If you are on the edge of your wifi coverage then app can sometimes take several attempts to reload if it detects the cellular connection, switches back to wifi, switches back to cellular connection.  

Having a touch screen that is always ready when you need it to be is huge win for user experience.

[Cyknight]

Had to count - personally I'm running 7 t3/t4 screens. 3 are certainnly the most heavily used, but 6 og them are used very regularly (as in multiple times per day). The 7th currently in the laundry room as half a test and obviously doesn't get used unless there's laundry to be done, which isn't every single day.

I recommend having at least one per 'heavy traffic' area. So well placed locations, usually where there's a 'hub' of rooms or hallways.

Most used screen in my house is on the side of a closet, which is in view of the kitchen, dining and living room, where the hallway to 3 bedrooms start and the stairs are.... more 'touches' a day then I can begin to count.

Second and third (depends on time of year which) are the one at the patio doors from the kitchen to outside and the one at the basement landing (open to hallway to laundry and bedrooms hall, rec area, family room and office/games room). Well behind the first, but still couldn't tell you off hand how many times a day it is used because it's too much to bother to count.

How many or exactly where will depend on house layout, and also (harder to pin-point) how the locations are being used. They're faster, more responsive (no way the iPad app is more responsive) and....ALWAYS READY.

 

CAN you do without - sure. But it's just not as convenient no matter how you cut it. If it's worth it, well that is up to the individual to decide.

[therockhr]

I don't have any touchscreens. It's purely a cost thing. Just out of reach for my budget. They would be useful in the spots where I have alarms keypads now; laundry room coming from garage, master bedroom and walkout basement entrance. It's one of those things I can live without but if I had the coin to spare I would purchase 3 of them.

[mstafford388]

I have 4.  2 get used every day, 1 sits in the rack really just for testing purposes, and one is basically a fancy clock that displays metadata. 

[lebron2k21]

4 hours ago, Cyknight said:

Had to count - personally I'm running 7 t3/t4 screens. 3 are certainnly the most heavily used, but 6 og them are used very regularly (as in multiple times per day). The 7th currently in the laundry room as half a test and obviously doesn't get used unless there's laundry to be done, which isn't every single day.

I recommend having at least one per 'heavy traffic' area. So well placed locations, usually where there's a 'hub' of rooms or hallways.

Most used screen in my house is on the side of a closet, which is in view of the kitchen, dining and living room, where the hallway to 3 bedrooms start and the stairs are.... more 'touches' a day then I can begin to count.

Second and third (depends on time of year which) are the one at the patio doors from the kitchen to outside and the one at the basement landing (open to hallway to laundry and bedrooms hall, rec area, family room and office/games room). Well behind the first, but still couldn't tell you off hand how many times a day it is used because it's too much to bother to count.

How many or exactly where will depend on house layout, and also (harder to pin-point) how the locations are being used. They're faster, more responsive (no way the iPad app is more responsive) and....ALWAYS READY.

 

CAN you do without - sure. But it's just not as convenient no matter how you cut it. If it's worth it, well that is up to the individual to decide.

All 10 inch?

[cshepard]

The most we’ve put in one house is 18. We’ve done many systems with zero. When we do use them, 3-5 seems to be a common range. Our largest C4 system to date has four T4s, and we will be adding three more. So it really just depends on the scenario and your preferences.

[lebron2k21]

35 minutes ago, cshepard said:

The most we’ve put in one house is 18. We’ve done many systems with zero. When we do use them, 3-5 seems to be a common range. Our largest C4 system to date has four T4s, and we will be adding three more. So it really just depends on the scenario and your preferences.

If you have installed 18 screens then why is largest system to date 4 screens? Or am I missing something here? 

[JSTRONG]

25 minutes ago, lebron2k21 said:

If you have installed 18 screens then why is largest system to date 4 screens? Or am I missing something here? 

Might be 18 crestron panels 

[tekki70]

i have 3 in my system

kitchen, master bedroom and theater, i use them all pretty regularly but i do also use a lot of experience buttons for items that i use all the time for lights, fans and custom buttons for scenes and favorited music. i also utilize keypads in other rooms with just audio because sometimes i just to like to walk into a room and click a button to start some music instead of pulling out the phone to select music.

[msgreenf]

I have two and would love to add a third. I have one in my master bedroom that's a portable and it in wall in my billiard room and I would like to add an in wall in my kitchen. I think the one in the kitchen would probably get the most use but I'll need to do Wi-Fi plus line power so I don't believe I could buy a t4 I have to find a used T3 at this point

[SeeFour4ever]

Surprised that very few people have said they would cut down on the number of screens. I personally thought that over time they will get used less and less. 

[RAV]

52 minutes ago, SeeFour4ever said:

Surprised that very few people have said they would cut down on the number of screens. I personally thought that over time they will get used less and less. 

You should try Josh AI.

"I don't want/need that..." quickly becomes "I want more...."

[South Africa C4 user]

1 hour ago, SeeFour4ever said:

Surprised that very few people have said they would cut down on the number of screens. I personally thought that over time they will get used less and less. 

I have 4 at my main residence and use 3 regularly (jacuzzi area, main bedroom and entrance area / lounge - big open plan area).  I also have one on the patio that I rarely use.

I have 5 at my my beach house and use 3 regularly (again - jacuzzi area, main bedroom and entrance area / lounge - big open plan area).  I have one at my bar area which I rarely use and one in our Pyjama Lounge (I thought I would use this more as this is the only one upstairs (and it is a large upstairs) apart from the main bedroom unit.  However, this is no more than a very expensive digital photo frame.

[SeeFour4ever]

40 minutes ago, RAV said:

You should try Josh AI.

"I don't want/need that..." quickly becomes "I want more...."

What can Josh AI do that Alexa/Google cant? 

[mstafford388]

13 minutes ago, SeeFour4ever said:

What can Josh AI do that Alexa/Google cant? 

It's much more natural the way you talk to it and you can also stack commands among other things. 

[RAV]

57 minutes ago, SeeFour4ever said:

What can Josh AI do that Alexa/Google cant? 

There's a couple other threads here as well.

[Amr]

Screens are a must for Intercom, that is the main use case, I have 2 portables (Family room & Kitchen) and 2 fixed now (Master & Office) and will add 2 more (Gym and 2nd Floor), I used to have one in every room ended up with 15 around the house, moving to 3.2.2 it’s impossible and ridiculous to replicate that.