wnpublic

There are lot of other forums out there when you ask a question over and over again, you get absolutely roasted as people don't think you are respecting someone's time who is answering you for free (40 replies in prior thread is a lot of folks giving help).   Just a bit of explanation.   Also,  when someone takes the time to basically answer detailed design questions with depth,  might be helpful to give them an occasional thank you.   Just some thoughts to think about...

you assume Apple TV there - but not everyone has one....

I think there is validity in your statement as long as you never intend on switching away from control4. Plus if you go with something like lutron and integrate to c4 the client pays for twice the programing. The upside is if you choose lutron lighting and zektor audio matrix you have the ability to rip c4 out and switch automation platforms where if you go native for everything you are most likely locked in forever since the cost of switching is prohibitive. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer really but just wanted to play devil's advocate on the advantage side.
 
If your c4 processor goes down your lighting would still operate and the integration is solid. I like both systems in the end.

Wow, the defensiveness is strong here. All I did was suggest maybe for this set of needs the OP should consider whether the juice was worth the squeeze - maybe compare a $50k plus investment to using a few different apps instead of three.  (Because give me a break - C4 users use at least three:  C4, C4 Intercom because they still can't manage to integrate that functionality, and Luma or whatever else is used for security NVR review).  It wasn't an attack on anyone's investment (financial or emotional).
Reminds me of how fraternities work - cognitive dissonance.  "I must have a good reason why I put a marshmallow up my rear and drank myself blind during hazing, so SIGMA CHI IS THE GREATEST AND I'LL FIGHT ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE!!" 

ABC - Anything But Chamberlain as they are hostile towards integration into smart homes. 

if you want to get in real cheap just buy a used HC250 for a few bux on ebay, get rid of the HC300.  you'll be on the same OS (v2) that you are on now.  Long term this is an AWFUL solution but short term if you just want your lights to work I am fairly sure for under $100-$150 USD you could get an HC250 and a remote programmer to set it up so the lights on your system work.
Then if you take that breather and figure out how deep you want to go you toss the HC250 aside, get an EA3 or EA5 and go from there.  But in the short term its quick and cheap.
As others mentioned its a system where you need a dealer to this heavy type of work - as a home owner you can buy software that lets you do a lot of programming changes but not hardware moves/changes/additions.

meh..i think i am going to go the kasa smart bulb route in this lamp - it's cheaper anyway...$16

It's a tarnished asset. 1/3 of it cost $200M in 2017 - now the whole thing is sub-$300M.  Nice service, but tough market.

The usuals will be along soon telling us everything is great. Meanwhile clients are lining up to replace DS2s with Ring or Nest Hello.

Are you talking to me when you say "he"? Sorry, I must of misunderstood, I thought these forums were for questions? I would think you would not have to respond if it irritates you, right?

But that is part of the problem. A nice metal surround or recess bracket, or something to that effect doesn't have to cost a ton of money AND doesn't have to be mandatory either. They could have at least provided an option to make the Chime look a bit nicer than having it look like every other cheap option on the market. I mean the C4 sales pitch is that isnt like the cheap systems, right? And price is relative, you can buy a fully functioning Chime doorbell for $59.99. The C4 Chime is still $400. My opinion doesn't matter, but just thought they could have designed it a bit better to make it more sophisticated looking and maybe provided an option to have it recessed, etc. by buying an extra $100 bracket or something to that effect. It doesn't have to jump to $1200 because someone wants it to look a bit more seamless. 

We have tried printing our names with a big arrow pointing at the button and putting that in the lighted part:
"The XXXXXXs ----------->"
Didn't work.
Then we put a big red dot on the actual button.
Didn't work.
Now we have put in the lighted part:
"This is the doorbell -------------->"
embarrassing but it works.

I have a similar situation...my Doorbird really struggles with the covered porch and just has poor resolution overall. Meanwhile the $100 Eufy doorbell I got for a side door looks amazing. Any one have experience with the newer versions of the Doorbirds with relation to picture quality? Love the flush mount look but would be nice to have a better camera as well. 

But C4 dropped the ball again on the design, in my opinion. If spending the money on a C4 system over these cheap Amazon/Best Buy/ door to door salesman systems, then the Chime should look like it. it should look more high end or "estately", not just like a cheap wireless doorbell that protrudes from the wall. At least make something that has the option to be built in or something that looks a bit richer. I'm sort of forced to use the Chime now because of its capabilities, but have to sacrifice the looks I guess. I just think it looks cheap. 

The beauty of Tasmota ...

not defending C4 - had the Ds1 was awful and I skipped over the DS2 for other hardware from another manufacture.  that said the image may be acceptable depending on the stated resolution of the camera, the lighting involved, your network settings, etc.  Yes the lens is super important but there are factors further down the chain that are out of the control of the C4 hardware like compression, lighting, etc.  

Ubiquiti is unreal. We basically only spec ubiquiti for all our projects and it never misses a beat. Nothing but good things to say about their products. And the fact that they have Unifi Protect to go with the networking side of things makes it even better. Probably the best security cameras i've installed. The unifi protect app is also very user friendly. 

so as an update, is there any word on a replacement for OS2 control4 for pc?  New computer computer and got caught with my C4 down.
 
They really don't do a lot to protect my investment.  They are definitely a sales, sales, sales organization.

List / settings / config / light sensor on the remote itself

what is your budget?  these 200 series and 400 series models may work - the 400 series model was super close to the size of the DS1.  I had a DS1 and I removed it for a 400 series from Holovision and I just had to make the cutout a drop larger for the slightly larger back box.  They aren't cheap though that's for sure.  You are paying a premium for tons of metal options and a "fancier" face plate over doorbird guts if you will
https://www.eholovision.com/solutions/doorbird-solutions/

I run pfsense with ubiquiti APs. Here is the bottom line. Assuming you are going to have a separate vlan for IoT devices, then just make sure they are all on that vlan (including C4). If you do that, it works well. Now if you want to do some more complex stuff like allow casting, airplay, or Sonos across VLANs, then there are more issues. But that has nothing to do with C4, and you can google out solutions to each. 
 
As long as you keep C4 and all the devices it controls on same VLAN, it will work fine. And pretty much out of the box.

In this downtime I programmed my home system to do a couple things when I leave. A double tap on my essential switch delays 15 min, then turns off my lights and puts the computers to sleep (using chowmain's generic tcp comand driver and eventghost)
When I come back home my motions set off a WoL packet to wake my machines and turn on my lights. Additionally any computer activity will turn off the lights in other rooms. This is done with MCE Controller desktop software and the User Activity driver both from Charlie Kindel.

Having done an API, C4 should just make an HTML5 GUI and be done with it so we don't have to resort to this.

I would wire for AC as well.  This will definitely widen your options.

First,  and this is just my opinion, but the place to save money is not on one of the most critical aspects of you new home infrastructure.   In this day and age, even if you weren't installing a Control4 system, home networks are being heavily taxed with home school, work from home, more and more streaming, more and more wireless IOT devices, etc. This means they need to be rock solid or your experience is not going to be pleasurable. 
PFsense makes great stuff, but if your dealer knows zero about how they work or how to configure them properly then your experience and system performance may not be very pleasurable. 
Araknis gear is... ok... I'd consider it budget gear compared to the majority of equipment available on the market. Its a bit more expensive then Ubiquiti gear with a bit less reliability and features.  Ubiquiti makes good gear at a decent price but the margins are absolutely horrible, like $10 or less, on any given piece of equipment.  This is why a lot of dealers hate the them. Personally we educate our clients on all of this and don't sell them on individual equipment costs but package costs that include our expertise, which allows us to make up some of that margin.  We still lose some of the margin but our clients are getting quality networking gear, at a reasonable price, installed, configured, and eventually monitored by a single source. All of this leads to a better overall experience. 
Shopping individual components of an install really is the worst thing you can do as a consumer, it might save you a few bucks on the front but what you lose is much bigger.
In the end if they aren't comfortable with anything other then Araknis and you're not then you may need to look for a dealer who carries other Unifi or other equipment.  Just remember the grass isn't always greener and quality rock solid networking equipment that's well thought out comes at a price.