C4 & Sonos & Ev & Music

[mstanic]

Okay, same stuff pretty much that everybody usually talks about here but I'm a bit frustrated. I have a full fledged SONOS and C4 system integrated with each other via the EV driver. As mostly everybody here notes, including myself, SONOS natively cannot be beaten by anything C4 has by way of audio control/streaming unless it's integration with Rhapsody is on par. I cannot get Rhapsody as I'm in Canada so this will not be an option for me. For starters, here is what I have...

C4 Amp x 4 channel

Sonos ZP90 connected to 4 channel amp (distributed to 3 bedrooms and dining room for audio)

HC1000

HC300 x 1 (main rack)

HC200 x 3 (each TV location including main HT downstairs)

Sonos ZP90 connected to main HT setup downstairs (can only be played in that area/zone though)

C4 dimmer/switches (22 in total incuding some two way switches, one 6 key touch pad and fireplace/fan switches)

C4 thermostat control

Sonos ZP120 driving outside patio/garden speakers (not integrated into C4 whatsoever)

Sonos S5 (not integrated into C4 either)

Apple TV V2 x 2 (main rack and HT room)

So, I guess it's pretty busy I would say. There is also a plethora of AV devices connected to it all but I just want to outline the main C4/Sonos infrastructure. My main concerns are as follows:

6 key touch pad:

2 buttons are setup to ignite the main HT to turn ON (I like this..works well)

The remaining 4 buttons, I would like to use for audio to turn ON in the 3 bedrooms and dining room)

I would like to do this using the SONOS ZP90 connected to the C4 amp but I do not get the option to select this from Composer HE for the room(s) in question. I can select it as an Audio Device (but there are a few that show up for the SONOS...which one)?

Also, can I direct it to a PLAYLIST (remember, I don't have Rhapsody but I have the EV driver)

EV Driver:

Thus far, not a great experience with this at all. Pulling up my iTunes library via EV is painfully slow. It takes forever just to queue up my entire library. Then, I have to scroll through each alphabetical header section to get to the album/track I want to play. Then, it just goes killer slow with respect to response (sometimes, backing out to select another album/track is not even possible). Overally, not a great experience with iTunes via EV. You also cannot use SEARCH when using an online music provider (for now, I'm using Napster & RDIO). I end up having to go back to native Sonos just to search the music I want to play from Napster and RDIO. Apparenlty, EV has indicated that these are known issues and they are awaiting C4 to address them so they can rewrite their driver to incorporate SEARCH.

At this point, my ONLY one touch setup that works is to select Radio stations from my TV digital box. This works okay but the music selection available is horrible. As well, it causes an issue in that usage of TV upstairs occupies this digital box so somebody turning on the TV and changing the channel will change audio being streamed and vice versa (someone already watching TV will have their channel changed when the on touch keypad is hit for audio by someone downstairs...not really ideal). How can I get a one touch key to select a radio station(s) from Sonos for example.

Anybody have any ideas on what I can do to create simple audio distribution via a one touch key (or a couple of keys if necessary). Any/all input would be greatly appreciated. I am running the latest version of C4 and the EV driver as this C4 setup is only a few weeks old. I also have the latest version of Sonos. Thanks ALL.

[qVAMPIREp]

Sounds like you just need some more programming\binding work. I can run both of my Sonos Zp90's off of my remotes, televisons and control panels for any room that has audio including selecting playlists etc. The search function for Napster won't come until C4 enables an iPad type pop up screen.

[wappinghigh]

Regarding the slow speed of scrolling through your library, what precise version of C4 are you running? When I first went to 2.0, there were problems, which were fixed by EV or C4 (don't know who) once 2.1 came out....

My set up is very much like yours. But I've never run things into a C4 amp. I use separate amps (Rotels with autosensing) for the Z90's. Having the EV driver is kinda cool, but our family still goes back to the old Sonos interface for music. I don't know why.. maybe it's what we grew up on and music is such a huge part of our lives...

Sounds to me like it is a programming issue as well. Every Sonos zone needs to be added into C4 individually. I watched my dealer do it a while back and it was kinda complicated. It needs to be done properly and whoever is doing it needs to know what they are doing....I'd get them out again to check things. They could then add the other zones in as well..

Regarding the kepad selection for audio in the bedrooms and dining, you do realise that to get individual separate zones in each room, you'd need 4 x Zp90's running into each separate input on the C4 amp.

Regarding Rhapsody outside the US, you do realise there are work arounds to get this?

BTW you haven't swapped the ZP's around by any chance? Each needs to be individually bound via the exact correct MAC address to the appropriate zone you are grouping with C4. Also everything is running on the HC1000..right? Just a thought....

The other thing to check is your network. Make sure everything is grouped on the same switch and something like a simple problem like an antivirus/firewall program isn't stuffing things up. I'd get a network scanner. If you use a mac, I've found IP scanner by 10base-t interactive very helpful....

[codex]

Have to say I mainly use the EV driver for volume control, switching everything off or for starting the radio/playlist from a keypad press. For all other things sonos I use the ipad/iphone controller, it's just so good that anything C4 related is going to be clunky by comparison. Having said that my main C4 interaction is through ipad/iphone anyway, so switching apps isn't too much hassle, if I had C4 touch screens I might say something different.

I have a complete sonos system that was connected to C4, so no C4 amp at all. My biggest gripe is that I can't connect zones with the EV driver, so can't have the same music in kitchen and dining room for example.

[mstanic]

Thanks for ALL the responses..much appreciated.

In general, my system works well as I can play music via C4 and use the C4 interface for control (albeit, I prefer using the Sonos interface just because it's so much better and the SEARCH functionality is there).

As for the issues I reported, here is what EV specifically said in a ticket I opened with them:

With respect to streaming online services, there is no SEARCH mechanism available when I use Napster for example. EV's answer to this is as follows:

"Search will not be possible on any device until Control4 makes an on screen keyboard available. This is not something we have control over."

The other issue has to do with searching my iTunes library. It takes forever just to load it and then I have to scroll to get from Header Section A to Header Section S for example. EV's answer to this is as follows:

"The iTunes Library through Sonos on the iPad/iPhone app problems is down to an error in the existing iPad/iPhone app and is being resolved by Control4."

Here is are some things I really want to figure out:

PLAYLISTS: How do I create them, where do the files get stored and can I direct one of the touch keys (from the 6 touch keypad) to start/stop a PLAYLIST I create. For example, I know that I can create PLAYLISTS via RDIO streaming service (I create them logged into my account online)and then pick them up via EV. However, I also want to create my own PLAYLIST(s) from my iTunes library for example. How do I go about this and get it to play/stop from a button(s)?

Yes, I am aware that having one ZP90 connected to the C4 amp will not give me seperate audio zones. I'm okay with that for now as I can pick which zone(s) is active thus playing music. However, I want to use a key(s) to ignite a PLAYLIST or RADIO station for each zone individually (3 bedrooms, dining room) and for ALL zones at once.

Yes, I have heard of a workaround(s) for Rhapsody outside of the US. However, it seems that RDIO is working okay for me and I am totally greatful to EV as they incorporated RDIO into their driver for me and put this into their latest release a couple of weeks ago or so.

I'm pretty sure (not at home now to verify) that I am running the latest version of C4 and I know I am running the latest version of EV and SONOS.

Note, I access and control all of this from an iPad(s) and from my iPhone. Perhaps, some of these limitations EV is waiting on C4 to address are not apparent using C4 displays/remotes?

Thanks for ALL the input thus far. Just trying to get familiar with the C4 system day by day.

[qVAMPIREp]

PLAYLISTS: How do I create them, where do the files get stored and can I direct one of the touch keys (from the 6 touch keypad) to start/stop a PLAYLIST I create. For example, I know that I can create PLAYLISTS via RDIO streaming service (I create them logged into my account online)and then pick them up via EV. However, I also want to create my own PLAYLIST(s) from my iTunes library for example. How do I go about this and get it to play/stop from a button(s)?

You create the playlists in Sonos using your PC and the Sonos player softwware. The playlists are stored on the Sonos player (I believe) and visible on C4 remotes, touchpanels etc. with the Extra Veggies drivers.

I'm not sure about playing a playlist with a button press. It doesn't make much sense to me since you can't see which playlist is selected. Maybe you could cycle through them with some fancy programming? The buttons seem to be more of an event control mechanism rather than a selection device for music\movies. To be honest, I'd just use a C4 remote instead so that you can select playlists, radio stations, control the volume etc. without being blind. Chance are that the programming complexity and reliability wouldn't be worth the hassel (My 2Cents )