WhyPhy

As everyone else said, Lutron is the reference standard. They have the widest variety of fabrics, the quietest operation, and the longest battery life. But those things have a cost.

If low cost is more important than highest quality, then the new IKEA roller blinds are something to consider. They don’t directly integrate into Control4, but can be controlled via the Homebridge driver or with Google voice/IFTTT, but both are more hacks than full integrations. 

I agree that optical HDMI is the easiest solution. The newest game consoles require high resolution, high frame rate, and zero latency. 

I have one new in the box and can ship it out today. I’m in the US. You’re in Scotland?

I'm experiencing this LED blinking problem right now with every switch in house, but otherwise everything is working properly. My EA5 is running and I can control the switches via ZigBee without issue. I don't have a backup generator, but the power has gone on and off several times in the past hour. 

Air-gapping each switch reset it back to normal. I don't know exactly what happened to get every switch into this state and why they won't exit on their own, but it's annoying to have to do this to every switch in the house.

I’d pay more for voice control (Siri on Apple TV), more hard buttons, and hard button backlighting. 
 

Version 1.1 of the remote in a few months?? I’m guessing version 2.0 a couple of years from now. But existing users will still be upset. 

On 10/29/2019 at 1:36 PM, KWD said:

Not the correct wood background. Not buying it. 

Problem solved!

16 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said:

I hope you're kidding. The design of that remote is horrible.

I've owned both the Pronto Pro and Neeo and hands-down prefer the old Pronto Pro hardware. The Prontos have better button count, shape, spacing, and backlighting. They can be used in a dark room and without having to take your eyes off the TV. Not so for the Neeo. Of course the Neeo wins on touchscreen responsiveness and software, but it's also 10 years newer. 

But my main point is the that Control4 and Neeo could have done better. There's no need to "reinvent" at great expense to usability and functionality.

Dear Control4, you bought the wrong remote control company. You could have purchased a better hardware design 10 years ago and likely for a lower acquisition cost. It would even have had plenty of adequately-spaced hard buttons and backlighting.

For all of the doubters who said Control4 never leaks anything and that they would not use the Neeo hardware...it’s now official. 
 

https://www.control4.com/o/neeo

On 10/24/2019 at 3:21 PM, eggzlot said:

Photoshop can do anything but the now taken down photo had some odd purple LED light on top

That’s not an LED light, it’s a small red and white C4 logo on a black background on the LED screen. It most likely would serve as a home command to get back to the main interface. 

1 hour ago, EverAction said:

I'm saying that picture of the Neeo remote that was posted on Instagram (screenshots within this topic) have been seen before the Control4 purchase was announced. You can still bring up those photos on Neeo's website.

https://planet.neeo.com/t/m22yqs/neeo-launches-neeo-pro

That's not the same picture that was posted previously. What was posted on Instagram is a new picture of what appears to be the previously announced Neeo Pro. Please post where that exact picture from Instagram of two Neeo Remotes (one sliver, one black) with a Control 4 logo and wood-grain panel background was posted before the removed Instagram post.

1 hour ago, EverAction said:

Control4 doesn't pre-announce or leak anything, ever.

So back to my key point for this thread, everything stated here is bullshit until Control4 announces something.

 

I think you're missing the point that there's a difference between an accidental leak and a planned leak. This appears to be an accidental leak of a legitimate product product photo occurring before it was supposed to. No company is infallible.

Everything here is conjecture. The conjecture may or may not be correct. When/if an official announcement happens, we can then judge if the conjecture is BS or accurate prediction of a product prior to release.

23 hours ago, EverAction said:

So you missed the part where those images have been available for years before the Control4 purchase was even announced?

Like I said, everyone is basing their theories over old pictures. And guesses.

Wait, are you saying that Control4 released these exact pictures of the Neeo remotes years before the Control4 purchase? Or are you saying that pictures of the Neeo remote have been around for years? I haven't seen or been able to find any Neeo pictures resembling the one in the Instagram post.

Since the picture backgrounds of both the SR260 remote from the second post and the original "C4 Neeo" post are identical, it makes it more likely that this was a legitimate leak. Also, that looks like a C4 logo at the top of the "C4 Neeo" screen.

Any image can be faked, and this is obviously all conjecture before an official announcement. But based on the info available, it appears to be existing Neeo hardware with C4-specific software.

The existing Neeo doesn’t have a mic and there is no microphone button shown. Having a dedicated mic button is the only way to realistically do voice on a remote. 
 

https://support.neeo.com/hc/en-us/articles/203851862-Does-NEEO-include-a-microphone-for-voice-control-

It’s too bad there is no microphone for voice control of Apple TVs and the like. 

The original Instagram post is no longer available. Does it look like a Neeo? Anyone have a copy of the pic?

See the post linked below. These can be driven by Philips Hue light strip controllers, or the DMX controller referenced in the thread below.

3 hours ago, Don Cohen said:

This would imply it's a universal solution, that would work with any brand, model, type, age of garage door motor.  Some things I've read suggested that isn't the case, which is why I asked.

As chopedogg88 said, shorting terminals doesn’t work for MyQ door openers. To test that it work for you garage door, take a screw driver and short it between the two terminals on the door. The door opener should start moving the door up/down immediately, just like pressing the button on the wall. 

23 hours ago, sonic30101 said:

If they are built in myq you also need a $20 relay adapter since shorting the keypad wire doesnt work on those units.

Can you provide additional details on the extra relay needed for MyQ? Does it work by open-circuiting the wired MyQ keypad and then short-circuiting the terminals for “short-to-close”?

If you have to have Apple music, Sonos is probably the best option. You can do basic controls and favorites through C4, but have to use Sonos for specific searches, etc. Of you don’t have to have Apple Music, the native integration services mentioned in this thread are your best option. . 

2 hours ago, JEC said:

Hi WhyPhy! Did you get a chance to test out the sowilo lights? They look good for my application.

Thanks.


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Yes, so for so good. I got the Bifröst-84 (the less-bright version) for a tray ceiling accent light. For now, I'm using the stock Philips Hue light strip pro controller and power supply. Because of that, I'm not getting full brightness out of the 5 meter strip. The Philips power supply is only 24 watts and the 5 meter Bifröst-84 requires 72 watts for full brightness (about 15 watts/meter). But that's OK for this application as it's only an accent light.

I'm looking to do some higher brightness Bifröst-147 lighting elsewhere. I'll need a separate power supply capable of 20 watts/meter to power those.

I'm still working through DMX control vs. Philips Hue control. It's good to have the flexibility to do either for now.

22 hours ago, msgreenf said:

And how does price compare?

Sent from my BBF100-2 using Tapatalk
 

For a total Homeworks QS Ketrasystem, I don’t know how costs compare. I looked into Ketra before the Lutron acquisition. Rough estimate was about $130/bulb or $250/fixture, plus $750 for the controllers. And obviously numerous hours for DMX driver integration. A Homeworks QS dealer could give a better perspective.  

5 hours ago, BraydonH said:

Definitely go for a panelized lighting solution. If you want the best dimming experience around go with 0-10v dimming products. Sounds like you have the budget for it. Right now (In my opinion) there is nothing better than a Control4 0-10v Panelized Lighting Solution with Hardwired RS485 keypads. This is (in my opinion) the Rolls Royce of lighting solutions.

I disagree that C4 panelized is the Rolls Royce of lighting. It doesn’t even offer native tunable white color temperature adjustment. 

Lutron Ketra is the most-capable lighting system I’ve encountered. Each fixture is individually addressable even though multiple lights are on a common power circuit. There are photo sensors in each light to continually monitor and adjust for consistent light quality throughout the bulb lifecycle. From a light quality and capability standpoint, there is no equal. It has extremely high CRI and full color adjustability as well. The Ketra controller can do automatic circadian-based adjustment of the lights throughout the day. Officially, Ketra lights only work with Lutron Homeworks QS, though DMX integration is also technically possible.  C4 can obviously work with both Homeworks and DMX. If price isn’t a significant factor, Ketra is the way to go.

Hopefully Lutron will release a RadioRa2 version at some point. Or C4/SnapAV launches a competitive product line. 

Ditto. I wanted to do LumaStream for efficiency and tunable white, but ultimately decided it was too restrictive going forward as technology evolves. Also, I couldn’t get all of the fixtures styles (i.e. chandeliers and such) to be compatible, and didn’t want a mixed solution. 

If cost isn’t an issue, LumaStream is fantastic. If it does every thing you would ever want, then go for it. You won’t get the energy efficiency or dim-to-1%-brightness capability from Control4 switches and standard LED bulbs. You won’t get as good tunable white either, but there are some dim-to-warm LED lights that allow some degree of white light temperature adjustment. It’s also difficult to find high CRI LED bulbs. LumaStream has 95+ CRI if I recall.

You can control LumaStream with Control4 through a DMX interface. The low-voltage wired keypads would make the most sense for that (they don’t directly control the lighting loads, just send commands to C4 controller.)

As far as Crestron vs. C4, both are great and more than capable...as long as you have a good local company you can count on to make it work and respond to support requests  

The nice thing about Andersen Veriliock is that the sensors are built into the latches, so no modification is required to the window, and they can be retrofit into existing windows. The downside is that the retrofit is even more expensive vs. factory-install due to having to replace the regular latch with the security sensor latch. Also, the sensors are only compatible with certain product lines (Andersen E-series, A-series, 400-series.) I had to upgrade a few 100/200-series windows to a higher series to get sensor compatibility (but also got a better quality windows.)

I had Andersen Veri-lock sensors installed in all of the windows throughout my new house build. They are similar to Pella Insynctive. Verilock doesn't require a special hub. Andersen Verilocks uses the Honeywell security sensor protocol. Elk has a Honeywell module that works with the sensors; the Elk M1 security system provides the C4 integration.

What I like about Veri-lock is that it notifies if the window/patio door is lock/unlocked and if it's open or closed. Locked or not is great for security, open/closed is great for automating HVAC (no need to run AC if windows are open.)

As far as it being worth it, I'm not so sure. It was close to $3k to have the sensors added to all of the windows. I'm not sure I'll ever get that much value out of them. I had to make the decision in early in the house build process, and I did it "just in case" because it would be even more expensive to retrofit. If security and being eco-friendly are extremely important to you, go for it. Otherwise, there are probably better ways to spend you money.