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Ideas on setting up a new system


Talbee

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Hi Everyone, I am new to Control4 and pretty excited that I might be able to do what I have always wanted with my Media and Home:). I have read quite a bit on the forum, and thank you for all your posts. I need some guidance as to best/simplest way to set up a control4 system, so if anyone can help it would be much appreciated and I will post my do and don'ts etc. once I have the system up and running. I haven't purchased the Control4 unit yet, but am leaning towards the HC300C.

Here is what I currently have:

Main room

Sony CX7000ES megachanger

Harmon Kardon AVR85 (looking at a Denon 3311)

Samsung LED 7000

DirecTV HD DVR

iPhone and iPad to control the system.

Second Room:

Insignia TV

Bose AV28 Media Center

Third Room:

Outdoor wireless speakers

Here is what I would like to do:

Main Room:

Put all my DVD movies in the Sony DVD

Put all my kids movies on a Hard Drive

Put all Music on a hard drive. Use the same Hard drive to back up my 2 computers

Play music in 2 other rooms (hopefully wirelessly)

Dim lights

Control Thermostat

Lock doors

open close garage.

Second Room:

Play music from the main room/system on this system if possible.

Dim lights

Third Room:

Play music from the main system on these speakers (could be the same music as the main room).

Dim Lights

AND OF COURSE I WOULD LIKE TO PLAY ALL OF THIS WITH THE ONE REMOTE OR IPHONE (i am sure that is a given but just saying)!!

I have been to 3 different Best Buy stores and none of them are very knowledgable, so if anyone has any suggestions on how to set this up and what components to buy, it would be much appreciated.

I will have a professional install the system, I am just looking to see what some experienced people would suggest so I don't set it up and then say I shoulda....

Thanks.

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Wow big list to read..

I would start off with a hc-1000 "due to the amount of media and overall performance of the system this is a great investment" I am sure you will love it!

So with the HC-1000 in place as the heart of the system then I would consider two HC-200 "1 for each room or TV for on screen display" Note you can do this with one controller by splitting the video out cables BUT A VERY BIG BUT for the time and cost of running wires and labour it is far less expense to buy the second controller honestly.

For accessing all your movies of the network / NAS drive the Control4 Media player rocks or XBMC which is really cool as well.. Not all dealers know about XBMC so this would be a question to ask them if they have done and if they could show or demo it for you.

Playing music from the main room system in the second room, humm there are different ways of doing this you could run audio cables out from all your devices to the second room and connect them to inputs on the Bose. Our what I would recommend is that you get at least a Control4 4 Zone Amp and then you can have 4 different inputs into. example would be you can know connect the DVD changer / Tuner / Direct TV / AUX /

WHAT IS IT THAT CONTROL 4 SAYS EVERYTHING IS BETTER CAUSE IT WORKS TOGEATHER.

Lights your dealer can count them and tell you what kind of switches, dimmers, etc that you need

Control4 is now offering a whole home lin for iphone / itouch / ipad / etc ... talk to your dealer about this as it is a better offer then buying 1 license at a time.

The rest of this seems pretty basic that your dealer can take care of, for you.. Heating, lights, door locks.. you know what I mean. (just go to www.control4.com) and do a search for dealers... stay away from Best Buy only because "if they can't answer your questions know, what is going to be like when they go to install it. LOL"

There a couple of other things to be said they are not as major, sorry but I have an installation that I need to be heading out to,

Good luck you will love it when it is all said and done.

Cheers

Fred Bannon

1Remote.ca

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This is great, thank you for spending some time answering, much appreciated....

2 other questions:

1) I have a Linksys N router- E3000. I currently only use it for the computers, but am told that I should connect it directly to the Control4 and the Sony CX7000 so I can stream movies if I want, and to be able to display the movie cover art, titles etc. Is this correct? Or will this be handled if I get the C4 or other media player.

2) Does the HC-200 have all the features of the HC-300 as long as I have the HC-1000 with it?

Jeff

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This is great, thank you for spending some time answering, much appreciated....

2 other questions:

1) I have a Linksys N router- E3000. I currently only use it for the computers, but am told that I should connect it directly to the Control4 and the Sony CX7000 so I can stream movies if I want, and to be able to display the movie cover art, titles etc. Is this correct? Or will this be handled if I get the C4 or other media player.

2) Does the HC-200 have all the features of the HC-300 as long as I have the HC-1000 with it?

Jeff

The C4 system needs to be hooked up to your network to function correctly.

The HC-200 and HC-300 have the same processor and memory. The HC-200 does not have the same IO options as the HC-300. The HC-300 has 2 audio outs and 6 IR outs as well as a contact switch and a relay.

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And one more question, for now...

What do you guys suggest for storing videos-a NAS or standard hard drive? I will mainly be buying kids movies online and copying old movies (small family movies-not full features), all though now that I think about it, I will prob get into it more I might stop buying real DVDs, and only streaming or buying videos online, so want that option for the future as well. .

Thanks again!

Jeff

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Thank you guys for you help. I am getting a NAS and a Netgear 550.

What is the best site to buy movies from to store on the NAS and play through the Netgear? I like Itunes organization of movies, but not sure if I can take from there and put on NAS or play directly somehow? Plus they are expensive. I found another site called "THE MOVIES DOWNLOAD" but dont' know anything about it, other than an inexpensive annual fee.

Jeff

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Is there a more kosher way? I just want to get a few movies for my kids for now... so just looking for a good download site that is not too expensive.

Jeff

get them however you want, I was just ribbing Dan

Most people do as Dan said, rip movies they rent or borrow

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Is there a more kosher way? I just want to get a few movies for my kids for now... so just looking for a good download site that is not too expensive.

Jeff

get them however you want' date=' I was just ribbing Dan

Most people do as Dan said, rip movies they rent or borrow[/quote']

That's why I'm a Blockbuster member..:D

I know you were having fun with Dan. We luv you Dan...:)

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Buy a copy of AnyDVD and rip movies. Use Redbox or Netflix to get the discs' date=' and borrow from friends.[/quote']

If you plan to copy netfllix/redbox movie, why would you bother buying a copy of AnyDVD. isn't Torrent a copy of AnyDVD more completed? :lol:

I honestly don't feel bad about doing this. I don't distribute the digital copy, I just use it for my personal use. Most of all the movies will never get watched more than once. I paid my rental fee, so I feel good about it.

I know you were having fun with Dan.

I know you guys were just giving me a hard time, no worries.

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Buy a copy of AnyDVD and rip movies. Use Redbox or Netflix to get the discs' date=' and borrow from friends.[/quote']

If you plan to copy netfllix/redbox movie, why would you bother buying a copy of AnyDVD. isn't Torrent a copy of AnyDVD more completed? :lol:

I honestly don't feel bad about doing this. I don't distribute the digital copy, I just use it for my personal use. Most of all the movies will never get watched more than once. I paid my rental fee, so I feel good about it.

^+1, TRUE. as long as you don't distribute, that's fine. I remember my friend got RIAA's warning/threating letters of downloading music from Kazaa & Napsters back in the old days. He had his attorney counter sue them and his ISP provider and finally they owned him an appology.

I would say Copyright is SHIT in this country nowadays.

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So along the lines this thread is going, everyone should have no problem with me downloading ( torrenting ) a copy of composer pro ( as an end user ) and completely bypassing the whole dealer network right?

I paid for the hardware. So therefore I can steal from the dealer network, just as folks here are endorsing stealing from the copyright owners. That makes perfect sense in my books. ( not! )

If you expect us as end users to respect the dealer network, experience they provide, and the value of these professionals, then can we please stop recommending theft of other intellectual property.

Thanks

D.

PS: my day job and ultimately my livelyhood involves the creation of hardware and software. Intellectually property that I sell to feed my family. IP rights and ownership are a very passionate subject to me.

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Neter66, who do you think "we" are? Just curious...you refer to "us" as some sort of group, or as if "we" are Control4 or something...?

I paid my rental income, and only I (and my family) watch the movie.

I'm not going to argue this with you.

Your analogy is weak, and I'm not going to engage in an argument about it any further.

Now, I've got some browsing to do, I have a few hundred movies I haven't watched yet...I think I'll enjoy one right now =)

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So along the lines this thread is going, everyone should have no problem with me downloading ( torrenting ) a copy of composer pro ( as an end user ) and completely bypassing the whole dealer network right?

I paid for the hardware. So therefore I can steal from the dealer network, just as folks here are endorsing stealing from the copyright owners. That makes perfect sense in my books. ( not! )

If you expect us as end users to respect the dealer network, experience they provide, and the value of these professionals, then can we please stop recommending theft of other intellectual property.

Thanks

D.

PS: my day job and ultimately my livelyhood involves the creation of hardware and software. Intellectually property that I sell to feed my family. IP rights and ownership are a very passionate subject to me.

^If you think, pirating the intellectual impacts the food that you feed your family, then just simply find another business to work with. No one can put a gun in your head and say "YOU HAVE TO BE A C4 DEALER or what so ever.."

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Guys,

I am setting up next week and have 2 VERY important questions...

1) I will have DirecTV set up, and was wondering if I can put the DTV box in my media center (out of IR range), and just use the SR250 remote to control DTV through the C4?

2) I will also have the DTV "new" feature that allows me to pause a program in one room and resume it in another, is this same feature possible with the one SR250 remote??

Thanks for any info!

Jeff

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you plan to copy netfllix/redbox movie' date=' why would you bother buying a copy of AnyDVD. isn't Torrent a copy of AnyDVD more completed? :lol:[/quote']

I honestly don't feel bad about doing this. I don't distribute the digital copy, I just use it for my personal use. Most of all the movies will never get watched more than once. I paid my rental fee, so I feel good about it.

^+1, TRUE. as long as you don't distribute, that's fine. I remember my friend got RIAA's warning/threating letters of downloading music from Kazaa & Napsters back in the old days. He had his attorney counter sue them and his ISP provider and finally they owned him an appology.

I would say Copyright is SHIT in this country nowadays.

I love you man

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