homeauto01 Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 Guys, I have a c4 system that was in the house when I bought it. The seller took part of the system out when he moved out. The Integrator was a friend of his from out of state who did not want to continue supporting the system remotely. Local integrators want to basically rip out the system and start over. I do not like the high cost of the system and not being able to maintain it without an expensive integrator on retainer. I realize that C4 really is just not for me, but there is a lot of expensive equipment that I can't bring myself to abandon quite yet. I have abandoned the 8x8 video matrix and gone to apple tv's in each room. I have a c4 hc-800 controller and a c4 8 zone matrix audio amp. and a c4 i/o extender. I have a Homebridge installed that lets me control all my lights with Siri and homekit. My Luma camera feeds have stopped showing up in the C4 app even though they are still working and show up on the hardwired monitor in the wiring closet. I bought Composer to try and do some maintenance myself, but it did a version update the other day and now it says it is not compatible with my current C4 system. The system is falling apart and I probably should just throw in the towel. Sorry for the frustrated rant. Before I trash the whole thing, is there an easy way to get apple music to play through my c4 system? Right now i have speakers in 8 rooms of the house connected to the 8 zone matrix amp but I am listening to apple music on individual home pods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopedogg88 Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 Yes you can airplay to the hc800 if you have the Shairbridge driver in your project. I can help you remotely (for a fee) if you want to get things cleaned up and working well again, or just add the driver for airplay. What kind of video matrix did you remove? I may be interested in it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 If things are stabilized it should be straightforward to play Apple Music using Shairbridge, and there are some other options too for playing music, such as playing files from a network share, or using Amazon Music, which is (somewhat) included with Amazon Prime. End users are not supposed to upgrade systems on their own so you likely have a mismatch in the OS that you are running. You will need a dealer to straighten it out, like chopedogg88. If you want to just rip the stuff out and sell it you can still get decent money for the 8 zone matrix amp on ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeauto01 Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 17 minutes ago, zaphod said: If things are stabilized it should be straightforward to play Apple Music using Shairbridge, and there are some other options too for playing music, such as playing files from a network share, or using Amazon Music, which is (somewhat) included with Amazon Prime. End users are not supposed to upgrade systems on their own so you likely have a mismatch in the OS that you are running. You will need a dealer to straighten it out, like chopedogg88. If you want to just rip the stuff out and sell it you can still get decent money for the 8 zone matrix amp on ebay. To be clear I did not upgrade my c4 system, I just upgraded the Composer version. Opened Composer up one day and it asked if I wanted to upgrade so I said yes, it upgraded itself then promptly told me it was not compatible with my C4 operating system. I would have thought that it would not do an automatic upgrade if it was not compatible. Live and learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopedogg88 Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 you can always download an older version of Composer Home Edition from customer.control4.com under the My System section. Or better yet, have someone update your controller to get benefits of new versions. doesn't take long usually and can be done remotely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 18 minutes ago, homeauto01 said: To be clear I did not upgrade my c4 system, I just upgraded the Composer version. Opened Composer up one day and it asked if I wanted to upgrade so I said yes, it upgraded itself then promptly told me it was not compatible with my C4 operating system. I would have thought that it would not do an automatic upgrade if it was not compatible. Live and learn. It is easy to see how this could happen as you do get those nag screens to update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therockhr Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 Adding a Sonos Connect/Port would allow you to get Apple Music into your audio matrix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeauto01 Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 12 hours ago, therockhr said: Adding a Sonos Connect/Port would allow you to get Apple Music into your audio matrix. Now that is an interesting idea. In addition, I actually have some Sonos 1's, 3, and a 5 speakers that I am not currently using, that I could dust off and use in a few areas where I do not have in ceiling speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeauto01 Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 What are my options if I just go with Amazon or Spotify? Am I correct that both these options are baked into C4 already and are much easier to implement? I am heavily into Apple and Siri but maybe I would be better off with Amazon or Spotify. I am not heavily into music so I am sure either service would suit my needs from a content perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekohn00 Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 19 hours ago, therockhr said: Adding a Sonos Connect/Port would allow you to get Apple Music into your audio matrix. I thought you still have to use the Sonos app.... if so the only real difference is streaming form the sonos connect vs apple music device, correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therockhr Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 1 hour ago, ekohn00 said: I thought you still have to use the Sonos app.... if so the only real difference is streaming form the sonos connect vs apple music device, correct? Yes you have to use the sonos app to add and browse music. ive never found it to be a big deal. load up a playlist in sonos and good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therockhr Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 8 hours ago, homeauto01 said: What are my options if I just go with Amazon or Spotify? Am I correct that both these options are baked into C4 already and are much easier to implement? I am heavily into Apple and Siri but maybe I would be better off with Amazon or Spotify. I am not heavily into music so I am sure either service would suit my needs from a content perspective. I think Amazon is a native Control4 service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekohn00 Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 Not sure anyone mentioned, but since I have XM in the car, XM and Pandora are native to stream in C4 too. Also, if you have a plex server, super easy to add music files as a DLNA share..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeauto01 Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 5 hours ago, ekohn00 said: I thought you still have to use the Sonos app.... if so the only real difference is streaming form the sonos connect vs apple music device, correct? I do not use Airplay yet and don't fully understand it but, I got the idea that the Airplay 1 implementation with Sharebridge meant that you had to use your phone. So if you had music playing in the house and decided to run to the store you would loose the music in the house. Is that correct? With the Sonos connect obviously this would not be the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 12 hours ago, homeauto01 said: What are my options if I just go with Amazon or Spotify? Am I correct that both these options are baked into C4 already and are much easier to implement? I am heavily into Apple and Siri but maybe I would be better off with Amazon or Spotify. I am not heavily into music so I am sure either service would suit my needs from a content perspective. Amazon, Spotify, Deezer and Tidal are all native sources. Lots of threads on these and lots of differences in opinion. In my view Tidal and Deezer give far superior integration. Having been an Apple Music fan for years (feels like forever), I moved to Tidal a year or two back for the C4 integration and have been very happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 1 hour ago, homeauto01 said: I do not use Airplay yet and don't fully understand it but, I got the idea that the Airplay 1 implementation with Sharebridge meant that you had to use your phone. So if you had music playing in the house and decided to run to the store you would loose the music in the house. Is that correct? With the Sonos connect obviously this would not be the case. That is correct. With Airplay the connection is between your phone and C4. With Spotify Connect the connection is with the Spotify servers and C4 so your phone is removed from the equation. The only minor annoyance of this is that if you put in your Airpods to make a call the Spotify will switch the playback device from your C4 Spotify connect device to your headphones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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