HomeAutomationNerd

My Office integration so far is minimal.
I've got:
LG OLED TV as my main monitor. Just got the IP Control working, so I can automate turning it on/off. Overhead canned lights, on a C4 switch.  Security Motion sensor In-ceiling speakers (not yet integrated with the PC for sound).  Blinds When I'm done for the day, I hit the "off" keypad button as I leave the room. That shuts the blinds, kills room audio, kills the lights, turns off the TV, and enables the Motion Sensor to control the lights using the Security Lighting driver. This has been mostly as a learning experience for me, and isn't actually very useful... 
 

would be very nice to remove unused buttons

There is not currently a way to do this, as the buttons that are shown are based on which proxy the device is using (cable, in this case), not the specific device itself.
RyanE
 

What's funny or sad whichever way you want to look at it is those buttons have never been needed in a system since the proxy came out! I guess one could argue for the CC button for the occasional use (95% of cable/sat boxes this is done through the menus and not by a command), but having the input button basically defeats the whole purpose of a control system/universal remote.
 

New update to the C4 app today seems to load faster (with better startup feedback), but shortcuts still don’t work. Even with the app already loaded and connected they don’t work. Hoping this is resolved and the shortcuts become functional.

I think the thread got off track. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the official C4 app is what’s generating these shortcut options. Hoping it’s a sign of things to come. Would be a great addition.

Unfortunately they just don’t work properly. iOS tries to open the C4 app to carry out the command and with OS3 taking so long to connect it never works. I am also yet to find out how to push commands into this list. It seems to have a mind of its own. There are better ways to get C4 items into shortcuts by linking it the the HomeKit. 

The good folks over at Annex4, via their Facebook chat, were able to help. 
The problem:
the MAC Address wasn't bound.  The user (me) skipped that step in the docs, thinking IP Address was enough.  Anyway, once this is done the on/off controls work like a charm. 

There are various devices you can use to split audio off HDMI to PCM. You can also convert eARC to HDMI with an HDFury device. Those Triad 1's output analog I think so you could go from one of those to a matrix. If it were me I'd run wire and centralize the audio distribution.

If you put audio from a video source into a controller to distribute you will get a horrible delay between audio and video due to the encoding of the audio by the controller.
If you can't run wires as Pounce suggests above, you would be better off IMHO taking the audio from the TVs into the audio matrix in each area and tuning them to the same channel if you wanted the football on in different zones.

If your great room cable box is with the matrix, grab it's audio there. And you could add a Roku or similar there, add HDMI switching to share the HDMI to the TV and grab audio from the Roku into the matrix as well. (I know, the apps are in the TV would be nice, but then there's practical....)
If your great room cable box is at the TV, then yeah, you'll need to create a way to get TV audio back to the matrix, or maybe move it and use above.
To get great room around to other matrix's that gets more involved. Any digitizing will create delays.

I have several instances where I take the audio from the TV and feed this into a matrix amp.  In some ways I prefer it this way as it leads to fewer sync issue, BluRay player or even a Cable box. This also simplifies the wiring as the only audio connection is from TV Out to Matrix input.  You may have to use a dummy audio switch to do this. 
Needless to say I don't have centralized video distribution, my audio is somewhat centralized, but I have 4 channel amps in my pool cabana and office.  I am also going to deploy a 4 channel amp in the Master Bedroom suite so that I can have additional zones in the bathroom and walk in closet.

I use digital coax from my computer to my matrix amp.  I think my PC has the coax out so I don't need a spdif to coax converter for my C4-8AMP1-B amp.  I don't think there is any driver of the sort that you are suggesting although it doesn't seem much different than Spotify Connect or AirPlay.
You might be able to do this with AirPlay - check out this article: https://drfone.wondershare.com/mirror-emulator/airplay-for-windowns.html.
Then you would just need ShairPlay on your C4 system.
Using the input for the controller may cause a bit of a delay which might be an issue depending on what you are doing.  

ShairBridge isn't necessarily Wifi - it is over your LAN.  My PC doesn't have wifi but wired ethernet.  Same with my C4 controllers.  So when I use ShairBridge from my PC to C4 it is using wired ethernet.  
Obvi, that is not the case when using my phone as the audio source rather than the PC.