Communication between SR-260 Remote and Controllers

[Yang]

I inherited 4 SR-260 Remotes and 3 Controllers from previous owner. I am trying to understand how they communicate each other before calling a dealer to program.

Below is my guess. I appreciate if someone can point out where I am wrong.

I assume each SR-260 has its own ID. When a button is pressed, all 3 controllers can "see" the event of button being pressed. The "program" set up by Composer Pro on *each* controller decides how the individual controller reacts on the same event. This is the scenario of how multiple controllers orchestrated together.

Or, the alternative scenario I am not sure is if it is only *one* controller handles the button event. Then *this* controller sends signs to other controllers to trigger certain actions.

Or, both above scenarios are supported?

Thanks.

[msgreenf]

Remotes are Zigbee pro.  They communicate with a mess.  One controller runs director aka the brain.  it sends commands to be executed wherever they need to be

[zaphod]

I think Mitch meant mesh rather than mess. 

Just expanding on what Mitch said, I believe that the controllers that are not running director are essentially just IR blasters (assuming that you are using IR control) to control your AV devices.  Depending on your setup the other controllers may also act as Zigbee Access Points, audio source and GUI source.

You may only need one controller in your system if your TVs, and other devices - if there are any, can be controlled via IP, and you don't use the C4 GUI on the TVs.

[msgreenf]

ROFL - yes Mesh

[Yang]

Thanks msgreenf and zaphod for the fast reply! Zaphod, you are right that I indeed trying to evaluation if I need all 3 controllers. The HC800 is older but supposed to be more powerful. The two EA-1s are newer though...

Just to my knowledge, if in a setup indeed needs 3 controllers, typically we assign one as permanent "director" or any of them can function as a director dynamically depending on situation?

 

[RyanE]

32 minutes ago, Yang said:

Just to my knowledge, if in a setup indeed needs 3 controllers, typically we assign one as permanent "director" or any of them can function as a director dynamically depending on situation?

There is no fail-over functionality available for the situation where the main controller stops working.

Only one controller 'runs the project', the others are used for their Audio Outputs, their HDMI (On-Screen) outputs, and their IO (Contact / Relay / Serial / IR) outputs.

One or more controllers can receive the Zigbee signals from the remotes, but they send that info on to the main controller, which then acts on it accordingly, sending control signals to the appropriate controller for the IR/Serial/etc. outputs.

RyanE

[Yang]

Thanks Ryan. I appreciate it. I like this forum so much!

[zaphod]

1 hour ago, Yang said:

Thanks msgreenf and zaphod for the fast reply! Zaphod, you are right that I indeed trying to evaluation if I need all 3 controllers. The HC800 is older but supposed to be more powerful. The two EA-1s are newer though...

The EA-1 is newer but it doesn't have all of the outputs that the HC-800 does.  For example, dedicated audio outputs.  You need these to feed an amplifier to play music from music files on your network, or for streaming audio sources like Tidal, Amazon Music, Spotify (via Spotify Connect) or Apple Music (via Shairplay). The EA-1 also does not have ports for relays or sensors which you may, or may not, need. But the HC-800 does not give you on-screen info if you are on the latest Control4 OS, which is OS3.  I continue to use an HC-800 as my main controller but I have several other controllers as well, both HC-800s, an EA-3 and an EA-1. The main reason for the other controllers is IR blasting and audio outputs.

[Yang]

58 minutes ago, zaphod said:

The EA-1 is newer but it doesn't have all of the outputs that the HC-800 does.  For example, dedicated audio outputs.  You need these to feed an amplifier to play music from music files on your network, or for streaming audio sources like Tidal, Amazon Music, Spotify (via Spotify Connect) or Apple Music (via Shairplay). The EA-1 also does not have ports for relays or sensors which you may, or may not, need. But the HC-800 does not give you on-screen info if you are on the latest Control4 OS, which is OS3.  I continue to use an HC-800 as my main controller but I have several other controllers as well, both HC-800s, an EA-3 and an EA-1. The main reason for the other controllers is IR blasting and audio outputs.

That's very true. I might have to use HC800 to do Amazon music as it has the analogy audio output for a C4 Audio matrix. Appreciate for all the help! 

[RyanE]

1 minute ago, Yang said:

That's very true. I might have to use HC800 to do Amazon music as it has the analogy audio output for a C4 Audio matrix. Appreciate for all the help! 

Keep in mind that the HC800's audio outputs are not Hi-Res audio, so any services that provide Hi-Res audio will not be the best quality they can be when using the HC800's audio outputs (Qobuz, Deezer, etc.).

One of the big advances in the EA (Entertainment and Automation) series controllers is the Hi-Res audio support, as well as lower noise audio paths and other audio quality improvements.

I'm at an age (and the tinnitus doesn't help) where I can't really tell the difference, but if you're an audiophile or have invested in higher-end audio distribution, that may be important to you.

RyanE

[Yang]

44 minutes ago, RyanE said:

Keep in mind that the HC800's audio outputs are not Hi-Res audio, so any services that provide Hi-Res audio will not be the best quality they can be when using the HC800's audio outputs (Qobuz, Deezer, etc.).

One of the big advances in the EA (Entertainment and Automation) series controllers is the Hi-Res audio support, as well as lower noise audio paths and other audio quality improvements.

I'm at an age (and the tinnitus doesn't help) where I can't really tell the difference, but if you're an audiophile or have invested in higher-end audio distribution, that may be important to you.

RyanE

Thanks Ryan. It is good to know that. I also do not believe I can tell the difference.   

[zaphod]

This image often pops up.  An HC800 can do up to full CD quality and it seems that it can do Tidal Hifi at the same bitrate.  It really is a shame that the EA-1 (which should be called an EA-0) doesn't have audio outputs other than HDMI, and they don't recommend that you use it for audio in a whole home solution due to sync issues.