usurp

I have a 2 bedroom house and asked for just lighting, climate and shutter control and maybe the ability to monitor my house from the web and have music in my bathroom. I got a quotation for over $20,000. I got recommended 16 dimmer switches totaling $3,500 3 ethernet speaker points totaling $3,000 1 HC-300 for $1,500 2 HC-200 for $2,000 18 wireless access cards for $4,000 2 entrance outdoor cameras with server for $4,200 and the list goes on and on... And its like wow wtf? I mean this was the first quotation and I can still go back and sit with them and discuss what I need or not need but the prices are double and triple the prices I can find online. So I hope if control4 people are reading this, they need to know they should give us the ability to set everything up ourselves. Of course not every Joe and Jane will be able to set it up themselves but at least for us geeks, let us do it ourselves. I managed to find the Composer Pro software online and it seems easy to use so why don't they just let us regular folks purchase a license for it and use it? Or at the very least why don't they monitor their dealers and make sure the prices stay fairly the same wherever they are...

well i was ready to move on but my wife really likes control 4 and the pretty ipad app (actually i like the ipad app as well) so thats why i was back checking up on control4. Oh well... thanks everyone.

This just depressed me. I finally figured out which system to go with and just like that I have to start again. I guess its back to looking at the x10

Ok, one more question. Does the dealer have to set it up every time I add a new switch or something or do they set it up the first time and then everything just works?

Which software, composer pro? Doesn't the home edition work the same way? Can't I buy composer pro used from eBay or something?

Wow that sucks. What stops me from doing the setup myself? I mean if I get an hc300 and some dimmer switches how hard would it be to set it up?

Hey guys quick question, is control4 DIY friendly? I'm cheap (or frugal is the right word) and would rather try and install everything myself. But checking the forums and some websites it seems Control4 are very closed and dont want users to be able to do stuff themselves. I need to pay for everything... So is it something I can buy and install myself? I'm a geek, I can't do any programming but I can understand some of it. Second question, now that 2.0 is here, is that a free upgrade or a paid one?

Well audio i don't listen much to at home and video I use xbmc with its own dedicated remote and not really interested in using it with the control4 panel. I saw a demo online of xbmc with control4 but seems too gimmicky. I just read about mycontrol4 and it seems kinda messed up that I need to pay to access my home network :S

Also another quick question, whats the boot time on the main controller and light switches? we get a lot of power cuts here and there is always a few seconds till the backup generator comes on. How soon after the power comes up do the light switches work and control4 work?

Hey guys, I just found out about Control4 today and I've been trying my best to learn as much about it as I can. I had my eyes set on X10 (which I found out about a few days ago) but now it seems Control4 is the better way to go except I am not sure it does everything I need. I need to be able to do the following: - control lights (i know it does this but can I have certain lights come on at certain times?) - control AC (it does this) - control my electric shutters. I want to be able to lower all my house shutters with 1 click. - connect multiple web cam which i can monitor from around the house and even online - connect motion detectors to turn on lights when it detects movement - have coffee pots or various electronic items come on at certain time I know X10 can do all the above but is it also doable with Control4? I will be using my ipad mostly to control everything. I noticed there is a Mac software for Control4 which sucks and no web interface which sucks even more :S