wnpublic

Don’t have good answer but know that Luma hardware is Hikvision. Luma rebrands and charge 2-3x. We have Hikvision in one home and Luma in another. They’re both a PITA and dealers struggle to make them work seamlessly. The app for both (same app) sucks. Luma just slaps their name on the app and adds no other functionality. There are also sometimes resolution issues with C4 OSD. Luma has custom firmware for this but we needed to wait MONTHS for it — ie an upgrade to help the cameras play w C4 ***as promised in marketing materials***. Even with this custom firmware the interface is clunky and awful. There is no good solution for C4. My favorite is Nest which has usable app — but doesn’t integrate w C4. If you want Luma — I’d use hikvision instead to save money — same hardware and there are C4 drivers. 

Yes. First, I'm not 'spending thousand on Christmas lights'. Even if I were I'd still not want to pay for something that's not needed, especially when I also have to wait for someone else to do what I should be able to easily do myself in 3 - 5 minutes. 
As I've mentioned many times before, I don't have to hire a tech to visit my house every time I buy a new printer, display or keyboard. I buy it, the system recognizes it, I configure it, and I'm good to go.
Similar for Homekit and other stuff. 
C4 should be the same. If I buy a Hue or LIFX or Kasa or any other device I should be able to easily add it to C4 myself just as I can with other stuff.
HOWEVER, I'll gladly hire a tech for stuff that I can't do or simply don't do as well. Initial system install, adding more complicated stuff, etc. 
AND, my tech doesn't want to waste his time doing stuff that I should be able to do myself. He'd rather be doing stuff where he genuinely adds value not doing busy work just because C4 protects some things for him to do. He's not bored. He doesn't need more work. And he'd much rather do fulfilling work than busy work.

very fair clarification, thanks.  Removing the implicit blame from my post, then - this illustrates the problem very well with these efforts to get everyone on a single standard.

Great article, and it sounds great if it can be realized.  Not the first try at something like this, though.  As the article notes, I think the big companies are still going to keep some of their best stuff proprietary and require you to go through their UI to access it, while providing basic functionality through matter.

LOL.  I assume you're talking about Control4.
Control4 *proposed* their large network extensions to Zigbee (which are necessary for the large Zigbee networks in Control4 installations to not get bogged down with excessive messaging) to the Zigbee board, to become part of the standard.  It could have been part of the HA standard (which is only one of many Zigbee standards, most of which are not compatible with each other, due to varying security requirements, etc)...
It was sadly not accepted.
RyanE

Spend 150 bucks and get a home assistant blue.
https://www.home-assistant.io/blue/
you don’t need c4 for seasonal control of things like this; and Kasa control is easy with Home Assistant.  It auto-discovers the plugs; you don’t need a dealer for each one. 

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/tplink/
Who knows? You just might find out why people like me like it so much…

I mean from what I read large companies like Venmo, DoorDash, Roku, Southwest, Toyota, Spotify and Banks all had issues yesterday - so it is not just C4 of their lack of architectural planning and design.  Heck even Amazon had to stop a few warehouse/processing facilities.  Is it annoying sure it is but those companies likely have way more money invested in talent to design their systems and they all went down too.

Think of it like firing the assistant manager. Control4 was collecting and displaying the information to you in a consolidated manner, and handling a lot of the little stuff. Firing them, means taking it on yourself, you save the overhead costs and accept the time required to manage.
You don't have to fire them all at once. You can scale back to control some parts. Your budget, timeframe and wants.
Pop the doorbell for a Ring, easy enough.
Reconfigure the music to all Sonos, probably a few Ports.
Eccobee already can run in it's own app.
Setup your TVs for local video sources rather than distributed.
That leaves the lighting, which may be cheaper to leave under Control4 depending on quantity. Get a copy of HE to tweak, as a couple of the guys here for remote support.
You would likely need to go with Lutron RA Select or RA2/3. But yes, it can be replaced without invasive work.

Keepin’ the thread clean, nice. Just a coincidence that it aligns with dealers’ economic interests, I’m sure. 
 
To repeat:  streaming device on the back of the set.  Use the money saved for something else. 

I decided to go the route of a matrix  yrs ago when streaming wasn’t really prevalent. I upgraded the matrix to 4K a few yrs ago. I now have roku sticks local at each TV and only use the matrix to distribute sky around the house and 2 inputs are empty.. Works a treat but as the sky mini boxes can’t do 4K I’m not sure I’d bother if I was starting from scratch. 

I would say use Shields instead of Apples, but this actually gives you BETTER quality than ANY video distribution system will.  Direct connection to source always wins.
Distribution is nice for whole-house synchronous if you want that.  Some systems (Netplay 😉) give you some cool popup / overlay / notification stuff in C4 as well.  But everyone should consider streaming devices at the TVs as the baseline solution.  It isn't "going cheap", it is the best quality.

Apple TV’s slapped on the back of each set, wife and most non-weird friends see no difference and use the $$ saved to spend a couple weeks in kauai.

Apple TV’s slapped on the back of each set, wife and most non-weird friends see no difference and use the $$ saved to spend a couple weeks in kauai.

Apple TV’s slapped on the back of each set, wife and most non-weird friends see no difference and use the $$ saved to spend a couple weeks in kauai.

I really wish they'd 'release' the recent 'summary view' addition for drivers in Pro to HE as well. Far from perfect, at least it shows you any programming a device is associated with.
This is both ways - it'll show any programming on buttons when selecting a keypad, it'll show any programming that is triggering a light to go on when selecting that light (or changes a TV input when selecting the TV etc etc)
Not perfect, but at least it's something.
And yes, even better if the programming detective suite would be available in HE as well.
We're happy to send a pdf 'print' of all the programming to a client on request, but it would be better if the end-user could just grab that themselves

I've only been selling Ubiquiti for 5-6 years so I haven't seen this wild and crazy product portfolio everyone seems to mention.

Ya, I'll admit that part isn't great.
I'll see what I can do in that regard because that would be beneficial for advanced homeowners.

Thanks.  Good lord, that is terrible.
I did find a sort of workaround - they will show up in when/then portal and then you can go find the device/event in HE.  But man.

Yep, hope they stick with it. 

In Early Access coming soon, a cool looking 13" HD touchscreen for $299 and a 7" for $199 with several table top and wall mount options.    They state now for digital signage or to run Unifi Protect but no doubt it will evolve to intercom's etc.  
Amazing to see what they are doing on design and pricing in relative comparison to C4.

Dryer is pretty easy, put a current sensor on it's power cord.
https://www.supplyhouse.com/Fantech-ACCS40-AC-Current-Sensing-Switch?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyu67vuC76gIVxkXVCh3eFA2FEAQYBCABEgJOM_D_BwE#reviews-content

This is a good point.  It is unlikely that all dealers make this clear, and by "making it clear" it would have to be in some paperwork the end customer agrees to and/or signs.  Otherwise actually enforcing these policies (by removing the end users access to the driver) is legally shaky at best.
To be enforceable, there needs to be a EULA attached for the customer detailing this policy.  
Otherwise, just ditch the policy and always make sure the end customer has access to the driver, which is the more customer friendly approach.  IE, if the original dealer is unresponsive proactively issue a new license.  Path of least resistance....
Yes, as a vendor the dealer ARE our customers.  However, the end customer is actually the one who is paying (via the dealer) for the driver.  Both parties need to be served.

Lighting is the thing that works best!  If you’re already happy, go for it. 

Maybe. Maybe that is why I can buy tp link kasa open box items for $10

A good savant dealer will make a better savant install compared to a bad C4 dealer who will put together a poor C4 system.   The opposite is true as well a bad Savant dealer will put together a crummy system and a good C4 dealer can put together a good system
i only have 2 degrees though so maybe I am wrong.