Connecting a PC to the Control4 system

[Vic]

Hello,

I am looking at replacing my existing Opus system (damaged in a house flood) with Control 4. Currently I have a PC (Sony Vaio Media Server) connected as one of my 6 inputs into my Opus system and I can use wireless keyboards and mouse from any room in my house and browse the internet with the content appearing on my TV screen. Can this also be done using Control4 and any tips you can provide on this as my dealer in London, UK isn't familiar with this and it's a key feature for me.

Note: I have an equipment rack in my basement and I currently have USB booster cables from the Sony Vaio PC basement up to the 3rd floor of my house so the wireless keyboards and mouse can send commands directly to the PC. Can these commands be routed instead directly via the Control4 system to the PC so I can do away with these booster cables (which can clash on different floors e.g. a signal sent from a keyboard on the 3rd floor can be picked up by the 3rd floor and 2nd floor USB cable and the PC gets multiple commands and not great when typing a Search word in an Internet browser as you sometimes get 2 letters)

Thanks

[Khemiicalz]

A long time ago i saw a PCI card that allowed custom IR programming. You could potentially have C4 control the pc. I have not heard of anyway to connect a keyboard on zigbee/C4. I hope someone chimes in with a solution for you. 

[South Africa C4 user]

I have a Mac Mini linked into my Matrix and Control4 allows me to view the Mac Mini on any of my TVs so that part is easy.  I use my iPad as a keyboard using Rowmote Pro (an Apple app that allows one to use an iPad as a wireless keyboard for any Apple Mac).  Any wireless keyboard that can link over WiFi or any app that allows keyboard control for a Sony should give you the same result.

[Vic]

That sounds positive. Thanks for your feedback

[BY96]

Look into FLIRC. It is a USB IR receiver that can be programmed to translate any IR signal into a PC command. I have FLIRC on my HTPC and send commands to it via C4 with IR. As suggested above, there are also apps that allow you to control most anything on your PC from an iOS or Android device. I use Unified Remote on an Android tablet. It allows me to control almost everything on the PC and even to add custom controls. 

[zaphod]

You may not need this but there is also something called MCE Controller which allows a PC to be controlled over the network.  This was written by former C4 executive Charlie Kindel:  https://github.com/tig/mcec

There is also a C4 driver for MCE Controller https://github.com/garrynewman/Control4.MceControllerDriver.   This was written by Garry Newman who has (ahem) written other Control4 related software.

[RyanE]

There is also EventGhost.  It's a free Windows automation program, which you can use to send keystrokes, mouse movements, and a lot of other functionality (starting / bring apps to the front, etc.).

There is also a Webserver plugin which allows you to control EventGhost using http commands.

I used it about 10 years ago to automate a PC that ran presentation software using Control4 and the former Flash UI on a touchscreen TV.  It was pretty slick.

RyanE

[Vic]

These possibilities sound good in principle but I'm wondering how I get a London, UK based "Smart Home Pro" over the line. I have been recommended by a separate IT friend to get a Synology NAS Drive as a replacement Media Server and then I need to connect this with Control 4 (maybe HDMI?) and route wireless keyboard commands and mouse movements and clicks with the Internet screen being displayed on the TV's when I select that input... I can't help but feel this should be core functionality in Control 4 but it sounds like it isn't...?

By the way, the other Core functionality that my Opus system had (and bear in mind this is 13 years old so I would have thought a more up to date system would have this) is to be able to display the input screen from say Satellite TV on the Control 4 touchscreens e.g. in my bathroom I have a touch panel on the wall by the door and a TV in the corner opposite the bath. Sometimes I just want to turn on the touch panel whilst I'm brushing my teeth and see the Sky TV picture on the touch panel. From what the London "Smart Home Pro" has told me, Control4 does not support this. It appears that Control 4 touch panels just hold apps and merely display navigation keys... is that right?

[msgreenf]

That is correct that touch screens don't play video 

[South Africa C4 user]

4 hours ago, msgreenf said:

That is correct that touch screens don't play video 

There are actually ways to do this… but they are pretty much hacks

[Vic]

I'm surprised that it's not core functionality

 

[Khemiicalz]

Its easier done with a backplate on an ipad mounted to the wall. 
personally the set ups that work best in my opinion are those where control4 does the least. Im not knocking control4 in anyway. I just think things can be done better and cheaper by using third party hardware and integrating it on C4