RyanE

You should probably tell Snap/Control4 this - not post it on the user forums...
I coukdn't tell you otherwise by the way: the merged dealer site is US only. 🤣

A .c4z is just a .zip file.
I assume original poster's issue is that they have file extensions turned off on Windows, and they're seeing 'filename.c4z', when in reality, the true filename is 'filename.c4z.zip'.
RyanE
 

I started with EA5, then added a Core5, then added a CA10.   Speed bump from EA5 to Core5 was noticeable but not dramatic.   Speed bump from Core5 to CA10 was MUCH more noticeable but, if I'm honest, not dramatic for common user functions.   The reality is that, most of the time, your system will be idling and there won't be any human perceptible reduction in response time / "latency" for simple things like "turn on light."   It's all instant.   Things where you notice speed are "batch mode" things like switching rooms on T4, bringing up screen of lots of security camera feeds, etc.   If you tinker with Composer, you do see MAJOR speed bumps from  stuff like refreshing navigators, making backups, rebooting, etc.--- but these are kind of "developer" improvements and not "user" improvements.
To put it in perspective, when trying to "benchmark" different hardware, I run a script that does an action 10,000 times as fast as it can--- not a real world thing that you would do.
Since you asked the "forget about money, what is best?" type question, the answer (today) is Core5 + CA10 (keeping in mind that the CA10 is just a brain box and you still need a Core or EA box for media and I/O).

Edit: 100% agree with other comments: if you can upgrade for "few hundred,"  Do it.  No brainer.  But if the plan is to EBay the EA5 and pay MSRP for Core5, you're prob looking at few thousand, so not a no brainer for most people/projects
.   

LOL so secret even Control4 doesn't know about it.
 
Silly.

purposeful so you don't accidentually hit it

I will say, the core units and ca10 units are definitely  much faster.
One of our drivers (so far) actually detects and processor, and if it's one of those two, it doubles the speed of initialization (the driver requires a lot of connection commands)

I appreciate this.   I'm the kind of guy who, if I am going to buy a new computer/phone/car, I want to buy a JUST RELEASED model-- feels like I'll get more years of use versus buying something that might be about to be replaced.   I was worried that CA-10 (being a few years old now) might soon get replaced.  And it might.  But the Core5-->CA-10 swap was a BIG BIG improvement.  Going from EA-5 to CA-10 would be even more dramatic.   So if you feel like you're suffering now, I'd encourage you to upgrade.   
That said, as I asked above: why do you think you need to upgrade?   Sounds like not a pressing issue if you are happy to wait, which is great.

Control4 does not EOL / discontinue support for controllers very quickly, and as others have said, it makes more sense to go to a CA-10 for the large project, and keep the EA-5 for I/O and Audio.
Sure, the Core 5 is newer and 'top of line', but you don't need the newest controller for a secondary controller, and the CA-10 is the best primary controller for large projects, much better at running the project itself than any of the Core controllers.
RyanE
 

I have an EA-5 and a Core 5 and recently added a CA-10.  I have more than 1000 drivers, 20+ TVs, 50+ audio zones, etc.    The point is that a CA-10 has MUCH more memory and processing power than a Core5, but Core5 doesn't have much more I/O capacity than an EA-5.  So (CA-10 + EA 5) is better than Core 5 in all use cases that I can imagine.  Make sense?
A CA-10 would just be the "brain" and your EA-5 is an I/O and A/V "slave" and its CPU will be idling most of the time.   

I guess a question is: why do you think you need to upgrade at all?  I'll bet CA-10 would get you more of a boost.

Unless you have use for existing EA5, instead of replacing it with a Core5, get a CA10 instead and keep your EA5 in service.  You'll see a much bigger boost in performance.

Well, when it's only $30/month (paid year round, although service is only from May 15 to October 15), vs. approx. $300/month for culinary water (for the size of my lot), I can put up with a *lot* of hassle...

RyanE

For starters, the Neeo uses a completely different Wifi chipset than your phone, a completely different OS, a completely different Wifi antenna setup, etc.
You're literally asking why apples are not oranges.
Certain network setups work very well with the Neeo, and don't experience issues.  Others, not so much, unfortunately.  
I'm sorry you're having issues with your Neeo, but network performance is dependent on a lot of things, most of which are different between your Neeo and any other Wifi hardware.
RyanE

Same problem, same answer really: you may be fine, likely will be, but it's not guaranteed - nor will it fall under warranty if it blows the dimmer of course.
Though in your case, if it's working fine on an existing dimmer, changing it to a keypad really won't change anything from the 'bulb's' perspective

Yes, leaving the switches and adding additional boxes for keypads should work just fine, but be more 'wall clutter'.
RyanE

Got it, thanks.  Currently, it has replaceable bulbs that are non-dimmable, so maybe it's best to swap it out for dimmable fixtures.
I guess another alternative is to leave the existing C4 switches in place and add configurable keypads that don't control the loads -- is that correct?

In other words, if it's a pre-fab light fixture (no replaceable bulbs) there is a decent change you'd be fine with a keypad dimmer, provided it's set to a minimum on of 99% and minimal ramp time. There's no guarantee mind you, though 'successrate' for those is high in my experience.
Fans etc, anything with a motor, computers (tvs) should never be on a dimmer to begin with.

Actually, I should actually add, drivers such as the ELK M1 V2 driver Explicitly detects if the unit is a Core/CA10, and optimises performance for it by doubling the connection speed. This improves recovery after a panel reboot / controller reboot. 
It's like a computer though, depends on the efficiency of the drivers you're going to run too.
Even recently, we've had huge performance gains in many of our drivers as an example (on most installs their not noticeable, but, it lets you push the boundaries a bit more if you're using a slow controller)
 

For the most part, this is correct.
The main differentiation between the CORE1 / 3 / 5 are the number of audio outputs, although with each output, more CPU is used for supporting independent streams on those outputs, so more CPU is required.  Of course, with larger form factor, we can also add more IR / RS232 / Contact/Relay, etc.
IMHO, CORE 3 and 5 are very similar in terms of what size system they'll support due to CPU / RAM.
That said, I think offering a controller for every situation is overkill personally, and I think 1/3/5/CA10 is not a bad lineup...
If I were a dealer, I would only install CORE5(s) / CA10 (if needed) all the way, because it simplifies inventory, makes for more straightforward rack mounting (full width), and limits having to worry about 'do we have enough X' (audio / IR / Serial / On-screens, etc.).  If it's overkill for some percentage of jobs, so be it.
RyanE

Now you need the CA100. 
RyanE

For the most part, this is correct.
The main differentiation between the CORE1 / 3 / 5 are the number of audio outputs, although with each output, more CPU is used for supporting independent streams on those outputs, so more CPU is required.  Of course, with larger form factor, we can also add more IR / RS232 / Contact/Relay, etc.
IMHO, CORE 3 and 5 are very similar in terms of what size system they'll support due to CPU / RAM.
That said, I think offering a controller for every situation is overkill personally, and I think 1/3/5/CA10 is not a bad lineup...
If I were a dealer, I would only install CORE5(s) / CA10 (if needed) all the way, because it simplifies inventory, makes for more straightforward rack mounting (full width), and limits having to worry about 'do we have enough X' (audio / IR / Serial / On-screens, etc.).  If it's overkill for some percentage of jobs, so be it.
RyanE

You are taking me back 3 to 4 years when I felt (and loved) all of these improvements after moving an EA5 to a CA10 in 2 houses.  I will also say that within a few months this simply felt normal and now, a couple of years later (I am sure that) everything has slowed down considerably (probably back to where I was with my EA5 as Director 4 years ago).  I am assuming this is because my project has continued to grow (significantly) and the OS is using more resources… your iPhone example is a good one.  I am upgrading from an iPhone 12 to an iPhone 14 plus tomorrow and am hoping that my C4 app will become more zippy with the upgrade as it has slowed down significantly again in the last couple of months (primarily the last app update or two).
On the topic of iPhones, another big improvement I noticed when I upgraded to a CA10 was the iPhone App loaded way faster.

While this was common and very possible on the old matrix amps Control4 had, this isn't a universal truth. ie the C4 power amps and Triad amps don't handle this well at all.
The amp must be RATED for 4Ohms to be able to do this.

It's SCIENCE I'm doing over here, Ryan.  Geez. 😉   I hear you.

As I mentioned before, since they're entirely different CPU architectures, it's difficult to compare apples to apples as far as CPU usage, RAM / RAM speed, etc...
The main thing I noticed were that Director restarts were a *lot* faster, Navigators started up faster, and system upgrades (which I do a lot for beta) were also faster.  Navigator / Neeo responsiveness a bit faster, but less noticeable because they both cache a lot of system data.
I hope it helps with some of your odd / lingering system issues.
RyanE

I have been following this thread with interest (as a user with 2 really large systems and a CA10 running each).  Both must be touching the 2,000 drivers and devices number. They were both way over 1,000 last time I checked (a few years ago).
A few comments for what they are worth:
1. Sounds like you have various issues that are not necessarily inter-related;
2. While I don’t have as many Apple TVs as you have, they work perfectly on the latest native driver for me.  Your comment about the remotes connecting and disconnecting regularly sounds like a faulty driver causing some sort of C4 refresh (a good dealer should be able to diagnose the root problem - unlikely, in my view, to be the Core5 or the AppleTV driver themselves that are causing this.
3. I moved from an EA5 to a CA10 as my Director (in both houses) and the difference in performance for a large system was exponential.  I hear you that a Core5 becomes a very expensive OSD, IO extender and music box… I had 2 EA5s and multiple EA3s and EA1s in both houses and replaced one of the EA5s and it did feel costly for what I was getting but I still did it… 
4. the big advantages I got out of moving to a CA10 was much faster project load times, much faster navigator refresh times (even though they are slow with my large setup) and noticeable General performance improvements.  The redundancy features were a nice bonus that have never been used but make me feel better about things!  I have only good things to say about the CA10.
good luck