THawes

I have never really bothered trying to integrate cameras into Control4 (outside of DS2's at customers, and the Chime I am using myself now) because the interface, video quality, etc is lacking as has already been mentioned here.

I've used a Hik NVR, Milestone XProtect (great, free up to 8 cameras), and am currently using the Surveillance Station on a Synology NAS for my cameras, which I've been happy with. There is a web interface, a desktop app for Windows, and reliable iOS and Android apps that allow you to view live streams, see motions events/receive notifications, and watch recorded footage.

On 3/5/2020 at 3:04 PM, BraydonH said:

If I open the app and its already on the SXM favorites it will usually load a blank list. Then I just switch to channels and back to favorites and they are all there.

I have this issue as well. Clicking on Favorites (even if it is already selected) immediately refreshes the list and shows the favorites.

On 2/25/2020 at 3:30 PM, rf9000 said:

Thanks. But how much memory would that use? I could see how much an unlimited plan would be I guess

It just depends on how often you are looking at them remotely.

On 2/24/2020 at 2:18 PM, eggzlot said:

but none of my cameras are directly open to the internet - just to Blue Iris.  So I think security wise I am fine, 

Bear in mind, if these cameras are allowed to get out to the internet (even if you are not doing port forwarding to allow remote connections in to them) they can phone home and be connected to remotely. An adjustment of your NAT or firewall rules for the network you're on, and instantly they are more secure than before.

Again, they might get bored quick watching - but hey, figured I'd throw it out there!

I'm not familiar with any of the cellular-based security cameras that are out there, but if I had to do something similar:

• Grab a GL.iNet router from Amazon, they support adding a cellular modem via USB or you can bridge it to a hotspot, if you needed to. They support several client/server VPN options as well if you wanted to setup a site-site VPN - again, depends on your needs. These things are cheap, too ($25-$80 depending on the model you want) https://www.amazon.com/s?k=glinet+router
• Use standard IP POE cameras and throw an NVR there or do recording locally inside the cameras.
• You can put that all on a UPS 

1 hour ago, Amr said:

A trivial question I keep asking and can’t get a clear answer for? Can I use any Airplay Speaker as an Audio Zone in C4?

No - Airplay with Control4 is a way to get music into the system, from your iPhone, iPad or computer. It is not used as an output of audio from the Control4 system.

1 hour ago, msgreenf said:

HDMI....

My argument was only hypothetical, but yes I agree you might need better distributors if big box stores are constantly beating your distributor on price.

16 minutes ago, Cyknight said:

So a dealer should go get a TV at Costco and sell it for more?

Sure, what do I have to gain by going to a distributor and buying it versus going to Costco, Best Buy, Amazon and buying it? Especially if it's a better price than whatever the local AV distributor is?

Just now, jakblak said:

Thanks for the suggestions.  I'll pass them along to our UX team.

Ah, nice! Thank you - nice to have a line of communication like this . There was one other thing I noticed in the 3.0 app that seems like either a bug or missed opportunity, but I'll send it in a PM to stay on-topic here. 

Mine initially was acting a little strange after the upgrade - couldn't change anything on it. I forgot about it till I saw this post and it seems fine now, so

33 minutes ago, jakblak said:

I can imagine several different use-cases, particularly for 3.0 and favoriting, but what kinds of things things did you have in mind? 

Shortcuts to different actions would be a big one I think:

• Execute a lighting scene
• Open/close a garage door
• Arm the security alarm

1 hour ago, turls said:

While you are at it please consider some type of iOS Widget support...competitors have it, and it could be pretty useful.  Unless this was added in 3.0, I won't be able to load it just yet.

Yes, a widget would be a nice addition as well for quick access to certain things.. I've found myself using them more and more recently.

It was not added as part of 3.0, as far as I can see.

Yeah, I always wanted to regularly use the Apple Watch app but it was so unreliable and inconsistent that I really couldn’t get into a habit of using it.

I hope it comes to 3.0 in an improved form - I’d love to make use of it.

On 5/23/2019 at 2:59 PM, Matt Lowe said:

motion sensor in the front yard for feral and bad neighbors relieving their animals in my front lawn. The sprinklers always seem to come on at the worst of times.

 

This is brilliant.

One tweak to the app that would be nice is to show the wallpaper on the room selector too. It shows it in the settings menu where you choose wallpapers, and it is a nice touch. But not when you’re actually looking at the list of rooms to switch into.
 

I updated the house this morning, process was as smooth as it typically is. I removed the last speaker point I had out of the project (been around since my HTC and the 1.6 or 1.7 days - it was time!) and kicked off the update.

New UI is nice, ability to customize it on the app is cool. Beyond that, we shall see.

PM sent.

4 hours ago, BPFUNK said:

I see there was an update to the free IT-100 driver recently...does this now support the new security proxy?

Yes, updated IT-100 driver has the new security proxy now.

As far as I know, the DirecTV IP drive still does not control the power of the Genie Mini's, unless I missed an update along the way. I can't control the power of the ones at my house...

Easiest way to manage this is with either cloud keys as others have suggested, or run a UniFi controller in the cloud or at your office (if you have the infrastructure to support it).

We run one controller that is publicly accessible and all of our client sites report back to it. Enables us to see any customer issues before going on-site and we can manage everything from one place instead of 40+ and not have to worry about cloud keys going bad (we were doing this before cloud keys were a thing, so we've just continued to do it).

Cloud keys also solve this, just a different alternative.

They're either working on Google Home support or they are not. I don't see how they could tell us they're working on it without announcing it, that's ... sort of the same thing?

58 minutes ago, zaphod said:

Great, thanks.  What about the question regarding persistence of connection of the client that initiated playback.  Is this required with Spotify Connect?

No persistence required. Once playback is started, the phone/tablet is really only acting as a remote control. The stream is between the Control4 controller and Spotify.

HC-250 running as director, does not support Spotify Connect. This is the setup at my parents and Spotify Connect does not work there due to the 250.

HC-800 running as director, does support Spotify Connect. I'm running this at my house.

1 hour ago, jreinardy said:

I'm intrigued by the Z2IO, I was not aware of the product until now.

If I have 2 garage doors, do I need a Z2IO on each, or is there a way to have a 2nd contact switch talk to a single Z2IO?

It is a relatively new product (I forget when exactly it was released...).

You would need 2 of them for 2 garage doors.