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Since Josh.ai pricing isn't posted on their website, I'm sure I am not really authorized to post their pricing publicly. Its possible, pricing varies per territory or country as well. However, they give their dealers full autonomy in pricing to the end users. I will say, my full unlimited license sells for $1200 annually which isn't very expensive when you look at the support you get. Roll that into the annual service contract you provide the client and you have a pretty maintenance free scenario. Obviously, the pricing is cheaper when grouped into longer periods or smaller projects.

None of the Josh licenses are $14,000. Even a lifetime unlimited rooms license. A few quirks? Do a quick google search on the vulnerabilities and privacy concerns. Plus, ask some of our clients if they really enjoy using Alexa. I bet not one of them would even consider using Alexa as a primary control interface. At best, its a gimmick that works sometimes and frustrating at others. Josh.ai works and clients love how easy it is to communicate with it. It is solid enough to be a primary control interface so I don't need touch panels everywhere which designers love. It's not for everyone, I get it. I don't make financial decisions for my clients though. Just because I might find something expensive personally, doesn't mean one of my clients won't value the benefits of a secure voice control system that works. When you start removing touch panels and do the math, all of a sudden the license costs aren't that bad. Plus, at 50 points, dealers are free to sell those at whatever price they want.

I did a regular super bright LED TV in a recessed pocket in the wall mounted on a flat bracket that was pushed out slightly to allow the face of the TV to sit right at the face of the wall. Then, I had a local mirror company make a frame with a piece of two way mirror glass in it. This was mounted on the wall in front of the recessed pocket. We did a stand off so there was a gap of about 1/4" to allow for hot air to escape from the recessed pocket and I opened vents in the top of the recessed pocket. The TV was painted black and the pocked was painted black. From the front, it just looked like a framed mirror on the wall. When the TV came on, you could see it clearly thru the glass. Sound was tied into the ceiling speakers thru sonos and IR worked thru the mirror glass. Overall, it worked out well. I told the client that the TV would likely die faster given the brightness and contrast was cranked up but since the TV was only a few hundred and the mirror was only a few hundred, they didn't care. Total all in cost was under $1000 for a 43" TV. Obviously, overhead lighting has to be dimmed or turned off to reduce glare. This wasn't a primary TV but more for news etc.

Check out JOSH.ai for voice control. The system knows where you are and allows you to speak normally, give multiple commands and without mentioning location. Multiple JOSH units are able to determine who is supposed to be listening. Plus, way more security and privacy. Full integration with Control4 as well. There are some great videos on their site and on youtube.

In terms of quality and cost of ownership, I would do Lutron all day long. Most Lutron dealers go beyond the standard warranty and offer a lifetime warranty on the motors for all wired shades. Super quiet, hem bar alignment and overbuilt. Easy to set up, especially when you're using Millson brackets. Full integration with Control4, Josh ai etc. When you decide to add lighting, you simply expand the system and add Lutron wireless devices. Very wide roller tubes for large windows and very small foot print for inside mount. If you do Lutron Triathlon battery shades, same build quality plus long battery life. Buy once and forget about it. No brainer if you ask me.

Anyone have any info on the new upcoming handheld remote? Supposedly its around $600 or $700 dollars and due to be released within the next few weeks. Spy photos? Specs?

Make sure the Control4 app is the latest version. Delete your system out of the app by selecting the edit option and go the bottom for delete. Make sure the ipad is on the correct WiFi network. Start by adding a new system and make sure the email address and password used match your account settings. Go to my.control.com and select owners and try signing in to verify your account information. The web log in and app log in will match.

All my drivers were correct. My expectations were completely different based on a conversation with them at Cedia this year, so I was off to a bad start right out of the gate. The single cat issue was never resolved. It should have worked according to holo. Both tested fine but only one sent power for some reason. The sip issues. The intercom agent taking 4 tries before it registered. I spent an hour cutting in the back box thru the siding with a fein tool for nothing. It was just a bad experience. I really just wanted to give other dealers who have installed the control4 door station a heads up before they jump right in. I'm sure I could have figured it out back at the office without the pressure. I was expecting plug in and bind in connections, add notification to button press and done.

I have installed Holovision Model100 viking phone only doorstations before with Control4 but never the full intercom models since the C4 door stations were great. Once C4 switched to those HUGE and ugly, only 1 finish with large black pointless square in the middle units, we decided to switch to the Holovision. Installed the first one yesterday and here are the PRO's and CON's based on my experience. Model installed was the MODEL120-Viking-SIP-IP Camera PRO - looks gorgeous and tons of finishes available. PRO - Faceplate build quality and size are awesome PRO - Feature rich if you can get it to work and configured within the Control4 environment. CON - Expensive! CON - Even though we were told single CAT capable, the unit actually requires 2 CAT's. One for the cam and one for the viking card. We ended up splitting the only CAT into 2 four conductor cables for pins 1,2,3,6. We ended up having problems getting POE over both cables for some unknown reason. Both tested fine but could only get POE to one device or the other using any outputs on the switch. CON - Units can be tricky to get into back box based on tracer board layouts behind the unit. All the contacts on the tracer board are exposed and its tricky to maneuver around the back box screw terminals to get the unit into the back box. I worry I'm going to short something out on the metal box. The boards really aren't in the best location behind the unit and tend to be on a flimsy metal arm. CON - Unit is NOT plug and play like the Control4. This for me was the toughest part. I don't do SIP and related every day like the engineers who built this thing, so although it is likely easy for them, it really wasn't for me. What should have been a 1 to 2 hour install dragged on all day and ended with the unit going back to the office. CON - Too many people involved in making this work. First, you need to buy the Holovision unit from Holovision. Then, viking driver and IP camera driver from Houselogix. Then, you need to run NetCam installer to find the camera. This isn't on the Holovision site anywhere and the only way to get as far as I can tell, is Holovision has to email to you. Then, you need to configure the SIP card with Viking IP software. Again, not on the website anywhere so yet another call to Holovision. Another issue is the Viking with IP instructions aren't on Holovisions site either. The unit shipped with a small piece of paper but not clearly written. There was also a 2" CD but those only work in pop out disc trays. I'm not sure who still uses those! I couldn't load it so I have no idea what was on it. If you're not familiar with all these areas, one you get in there and start having problems, you end up bouncing from company to company looking for support and they all point at each other. CON - Third party SIP and Communication agent are buggy with Control4! As they state, its not supported. I added the Holovision to the intercom group 3 times with no luck. Fourth time I removed the driver and re added with another power cycle and it worked. Definitely not confidence inspiring. At the end of the day, I was expecting plug in and connect via SDDP or similar and be off and running. Although I was able to get the touch panel to ring once and the camera on the network, I was never able to get it all going at the same time. The programming drop down and events were confusing to figure out for the holovision unit. There was no "when the only button on the unit is pressed" event, instead there was a drop down list of about 10 things. Most of them made no sense. I'm sure I could have figured it out eventually, but 6 hours into a 1 hour install and many hours of hold music later, I finally gave up and requested an RA to send the unit back. I think if companies like Holovision are going to offer a compatible product to Control4 dealers, or Crestron or Savant or whomever, its not just the actual product that needs to be engineered for us, so does the installation and support. That all needs to be factored into the design, cost and delivery. Pointing fingers to the driver manufacturer or company who made the camera etc isn't going to work, especially when there are a bunch of options out there and more coming daily. If third party software is involved, then have it right on your site under the product downloads section with instructions. I'm sure your company doesn't want to get tech support calls all day on this stuff, so make sure the tools we need are right there. I'm not sure I would consider trying one of these again in the future. Perhaps in a more controlled environment at some point at the office. They really are nice looking and feature packed. But, it definitely was a much different experience than installing the Control4 DSC exterior door stations.