ejn1

Only additional thought is customers change dealers all the time,  many times not because of the customers being bad or having bad intent.  The process of driver transfer, the administration of it,  the control the dealer has over it, is not very customer friendly or customer centric.   I thought in the driver development business, much of the cost is on the front end in development and the name of the game is getting a lot of sales afer this to recover costs and make a profit...   This does not appear a good way to do it sustainably, imo even if the OP has another backstory.

28 minutes ago, eggzlot said:

havent had this experience before but it is lame.  If a dealer sold me a Sonos speaker and it failed I could go to Sonos with the receipt for service, no?  I guess its tricky where BW sees the integrator as the customer and I am not against the dealer model but yeah to me a driver should stay with the home owner, not the dealer.  If a dealer goes belly up its not fair for BW to charge a customer just to move a license over to a new dealer.  

that said I've had issues with other drivers which is why when possible, especially for anything critical, I try to get hardware with native c4 support.  I tend to only use 3rd party drivers for "fun" things.

These policies certainly aren’t customer focused nor will help sell a lot of drivers….  How else can a customer (the real customer, not a reseller) have a valid license key?   This should be all that’s required to get this resolved.

25 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

Cause how do you authenticate anything?

And the driver is in another dealers account.  The Blackwire driver manager, when properly configured can actually automatically move between controllers without any issues

I guess my thinking is if the customer has a valid license key then that is enough?

20 minutes ago, therockhr said:

I've seen a lot of terrible analogies on here but this might be the most ridiculous.

Why on earth would Blackwire not allow a new dealer to move these drivers to a new controller?

Agree, it’s ridiculous 

+1 for Dawn.   She really knows blinds and customer service!

On 11/2/2021 at 6:11 AM, Destroyer of Worlds said:

Weirdly my connection from Control4 to TrueNAS (as it's now known) is behaving badly.

I checked TrueNAS: 

1) SMB service has checked allow SMB1

2) Sharing for Audio folder on NAS has IP of C4 enabled and is guest, guest only as aux params

3) In C4, Network File Storage under Monitoring / Properties of it has location with ... to select.  I can see my share, select my Audio folder.

4) On TrueNAS all Audio is owned by Guest/Guest and was given recursively to match SMB sharing of it as guest, guest only

5) Even tried to make Control4/Control4 owner of Audio and use Control and password for the connection.

 

4) and 5) result in no connection "offline".   So I cannot get to my audio in C4 and all DLNA options are horrible (either no search, or constant app dropping).

Ironically I can connect to my NAS audio from any PC/Mac that has it's IP as permissioned in the SMB sharing.   So that's why C4 can see it and select it.  Somehow it just cannot connect to it.

I have my C4 pulling my library from a TrueNAS device.  It’s working FYI.

6 hours ago, J to the D said:

I have decided to upgrade my existing Draytek router for a Draytek 2962 when they come back in stock. 

I would have wanted a SFP+ port vs SFP for better future proofing but otherwise looks like a solid router.

1 hour ago, Charlie Mackenzie said:

Hi there, we currently have a house with a C4 system (EA5, Traid amps, etc) that we are taking to a new house we purchased in New York. The house is fully finished so it is a retrofit. Dealer wants to outfit the home in all Araknis equipment including access points and replacing some of the in ceiling speakers.

Question 1 - I am questioning using a integrated type solution like Araknis or pakedge when we could use dell or cisco. Why are the integrated solutions always preferred? my concern is   maybe i don't want C4 or something like that in the future and now i have only "dealer" equipment. Why would one not use more open source type stuff for at least the network. I cant imagine dell switches for commercial purposes are lesser quality then Araknis as an example. 

Question 2 - How to handle the video. I am a huge proponent of having everything in one rack. This may not seem logical, but that is the way we like it. To that end, I am trying to decide how to get video to the TV in the room (and the associated audio to the speakers in the ceiling in that room). We could put the cable boxes in the rack and run something (what is that something? HDMI to cat 6 converters?) or video distribution. I don't want to go video distribution as it is expensive and gets out dated fast. I think I would rather put the apple TV behind the tv mount and have sources at the TVs. But then that gets to how to you get the sound back to the rack? Can a Ca1 help with this? does it just take it back via CAT 6? Not sure how best to use a CA1 I guess. We will have a bunch of control 4 light switches (just replacing normal light switches with C4 which will expand Zigbe). 

Question 3 - Anyone have experience with battery life in Lutron shades? I am debating wiring them in, but if the battery life is sufficiently strong, maybe no need. Also, I am not clear on how they connect to Control 4. If blinds are going across multiple levels of the house, how do they connect to control them? do I need multiple wireless hubs or whatever they are?

Question 4 - Subwoofers - How do they integrate with zones? if we have a living room that has a sound zone and we want a powered sub there as well, what are the wiring mechanics for this? what if the room is two separate zones as it is really a dining room and living room (with 2 zones) but we want the sub on with either zone. just curious on the connections/mechanics with this.

Question 5 - any views on wiring suggestions. I realize without plans this is hard - but consider a perfect AV closet in the basement and only a few speakers have been run. I now need to get access points to all floors, more speaker wires to all floors, and whatever the video solution is in question 2. Welcome any feedback anyone has who has contemplated a retrofit like this. I am comfortable putting holes in drywall. Just would like to minimize to the extent possible. We have drywallers and painters coming afterwards.

 

I realize I can ask the dealer some of these things, but I like to be a very informed consumer so i am not just taking one dealer's opinion here. Thus I welcome all your expertise. 

Battery life on the Lutrons have been over a year in a second home for me but it all depends on use.   I'm guessing with daily use you are looking at 9 months or so...   Very easy to change also on the Lutrons (I have the Serenas).

On networking,  I think it all depends on how comfortable you are with it and your needs.   If you are a networking capable person and want a step up and dont require cloud access or nice gui's (that can be more than just gimmicks), then Mikrotik / Ruckus are great options.   If you want a prosumer option with a lot of user features,  Unifi is great.   I would not be investing in either of the brands you mentioned but dont have direct experience with them so leave for others and forum readings on those

1 hour ago, ILoveC4 said:

I should add, I’ve got 1gb up and down, Fiber, and the RK-1 is great. I use it at my main house as well. 

I assume most prosumer+ routers will pass 1GB with fiber or Ethernet with no firewall settings active.   When you start to add advanced firewalls then I think you run the risk of a bottleneck. 

They probably have a million+ Ubiquiti installs in the market compared to like a 100 Pakedge installs   I don't believe its all cost driven.   

10 hours ago, shawkyns said:

agree, but unleashed is relatively new for ruckus. not an option when I had my first one or second. back then they wouldnt even upgrade the firmware without a service plan. 

look, if what you have works for you, then great.. but the OP was asking about getting out of ruckus for UNIFI.. I am offering a point of view.  been there, done that.  I am not arguing that if I had four ruckus AP's I probably would NOT have switched IF unleashed had been an option, but then again I would have had to buy at least three more ruckus AP at about a grand each, and at the time a zonnecontroller as well,  even without that UNIFI still offers better cover and throughput with multiple AP's, and at a fraction of the cost. I can upgrade everything to WIFI6 once they become available and still be at less than a quarter of the cost of a new ruckus unit.

the truth, from my point of view, is that you are paying a premium for ruckus. I dont think that the performance justifies that, and I dont know that is is THAT much better than unifi.  There used to be a website, forget the name, that compared the performance of various networking products.. they did a UNIFI AP vs a Ruckus AP at one point, and I dont remember the performance being that much better to justify the 4x cost premium. cant find the website now though, I think it got pulled years ago.

Thanks, I was just clarifying for others outside of the OP that may read and get the wrong takeaway around costs.  I'm a big Unifi fan and the gap is closing with the latest round of APs and surely if comparing list to list price on cost/benefit ratio,  Unifi wins in my view as well.   But, if you are paying list for Ruckus gear, you are likely the worst purchaser on the planet or have monopoly money and don't care .   Also, having a multiple AP Unifi setup with their controller (which I still use for backbone network) is a large gap, imho with Unifi still versus Ruckus.    Tracking multiple client movements and see how Ruckus does handoffs to stay at max strength and also see how quick it move devices to the proper AP and manages interference / bands between APs.   Was just pointing out that just standing near a single AP and speed testing only tells a portion of the performance story.    

If the OP prefers to drive a Ford over a Porsche, that's personal preference

16 hours ago, htdesigns said:

Yep - seen that. This is a retro and solid stone, so would prefer not to drill it. Thanks,

I cut into solid stone in order to set a back box for my DoorBird.   Wasn’t overly difficult.

4 hours ago, Control4Savant said:

Agreed... but I think thats THE point. You should have multiple APs for an advanced high speed network. If AP brand #1 is 4x less cost and has the same performance it would be silly to buy the more expensive APs. It's also then a benefit to having the same managed switches and routing that Rukus can not provide.  

Ubiquity does pretty much have zero corp. "support"... it's the power user base that can help get quick answers to some of the most complicated networking stuff.

The point on number of APs is valid, but i think we are missing a critical point...  The Ruckus controller handles all of the client handoffs and settings interaction between APs and thats also a critical element of a multiAP environment.   As much as I like Unifi and the value it offers,  its controller software is not in the same league as Ruckus.   So sure, put a Unifi AP in every room and go stand underneath it and test speed, it will measure well but move around the home and track how the controller moves APs with you, you will find the average strength throughout higher with the Ruckus system imho.   Now is Unifi is good "enough" , there is no question it is.   Many folks with Ruckus don't want good enough though.

2 hours ago, shawkyns said:

I cant, that is the point.  Unless you are willing to sign up for some ridiculous service plan, which might make sense in a enterprise environment, ruckus wont cover a larger home with any efficiency.  If I had unlimited funds, I would have paid the fees they charge and out in two or three AP's from ruckus with a zonecontroller to manage it, but in the long term, heck even in the short term that would have been more expensive then just ripping them out and replacing them with distributed AP's, running UBNT, so no service cost.

the entire unifi system cost less than the cost of the ruckus AP I was using, and the cover is much better.  I also considered cisco, but that had the same problems as the ruckus, expensive service contracts, super high up front cost.

Not sure I'm following.   I have 4 Ruckus APs on Unleashed with no service plan and no controllers needed.   Ruckus provides free firmware updates as well.   The only thing they don't do is sit on the phone with you and troubleshoot issues without a service plan (good luck getting that with Ubiquiti either and for those who would purchase, they dont offer).   

3 minutes ago, OceanDad said:

Ruckus cost is as long as a piece of string.  There's plenty of gray market or lightly used commercial Ruckus equipment out there for fairly close to the official Unifi cost.  Certainly not 5x the cost.  If it's your own project, that's where I'd be purchasing.  Different story if it's a customer install and you definitely want to have warranty etc.  Personally, I've not had a Ruckus WAP go bad (now jinxed).  I'm not sure that I've ever even had to do a reboot.

Not saying that Unifi is a bad choice - far from it.  But if you want new Ruckus AP's you don't have to pay $700.  

 

 

Agree completely but not everyone is comfortable with above...    I will say this, the new Unifi APs are nothing like the old AC-Pros and are all sub $200.   I mentioned in another thread that I could not justify not using the built in AP in my Dream Machine in my second home.   It was that good in a smaller home setting.

But no doubt Ruckus is a clear step up and their Unleashed GUI is simple with amazing performance.   It also marries up with a Unifi backbone network well but sometimes folks just want everything tidy single branded with one GUI.   I understand just dont see many folks replacing Ruckus with Unifi but the OP has limited Ruckus APs (probably dated also) and might benefit from better coverage with cheaper Unifi APs. 

1 hour ago, ekohn00 said:

  But for home use, you'll get the same service for a fraction of cost....

Agree with your comments on great value and their new APs are vastly improved but on above statement, i would say instead "you'll get sufficient service for a fraction of the cost"...   Not sure I would say same.

1 hour ago, ILoveC4 said:

They’re in stock right now and they’ll let you buy up to 4.

https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-wireless/products/unifi-6-long-range-access-point

Unifi just has such an incredible UI. I’ve never seen anything networking platform with as informative and intuitive customer experience. 

I’m not sure I would buy multiple LR versions as their strong antenna can conflict with each other 

53 minutes ago, kblackston said:

With the Ruckus I have, wifi has horrible coverage, it goes up and down, could be a bad AP on it, but I won't known until I try a different system

When I changed APs from Unifi to Ruckus I'm pretty sure I had to readopt all of my wifi devices.   Control4 is likely on ethernet or zigbee so shouldnt make a difference but some of your IP addresses if devices are wifi likely with change.   If IP changes,  C4 will need to be updated.

Out of curiousity,  which Ruckus AP do you have and how many?

2 hours ago, sonic30101 said:

Toslink out is lower audio quality than hdmi but otherwise it should work without issue

Thanks,  was more worried about any C4 snafu's that can creep up that I'm not familiar with.   Probably nothing to be concerned with you as you say.   On Toslink,  its a TV output but a side bar,  I have always read that HDMI is the worst way to transmit high end digital audio due to high jitter (assuming bit rate / bit depth is not truncated). 

Thanks again.

Curious for thoughts on this one...   I have a FrameTV with a one connect box.   I also have a Denon AVR that is used now for HDMI switching and TV/Music audio to a pair of KEF LS50's.   I have some higher end separates not in use but not 4K HDMI rated.   Is there any watch outs or concerns using the one connect box for all HDMI switching and then running a digital output from the one connect box to the AVR to handle all audio outputs for both Video and Music?

Thanks!

This has also happened to me on several switches...

Hi, Is Somfy Tahoma now working with Control4?   The base unit appears to be available now for sale in NA and I was told a driver is available.

Thanks.

There is a for sale section in this forum... maybe post there?

32 minutes ago, wnpublic said:

you should expect to need some maintenance a 2-3 times a year.  You won't just be getting Control4 - you'll be getting a switch or two, possibly some cameras and NVR, maybe some HDMI extenders, etc.  Stuff is gonna break/need an update/need rebooting.  Just part of the cost you need to figure in.

agree, you will not be able to just set it and never have to call the dealer.   It's the C4 business model.  

I was counting the minutes until that post    Took longer than i thought!