LollerAgent

Just now, therockhr said:

any brand channels you would recommend?

Muzata brand on Amazon is what I use.

11 minutes ago, therockhr said:

So do you all use strip channels to put the LEDs in just leave them bare?

Strip channels - always.  Especially if you're doing toekicks.  I may not do them on top of cabinets.

11 hours ago, fleon said:

Don't get Philips Hue right now.  Huge bug that started with a January update.   You'll get a lot of popcorn lights (lights coming on at different times).  If they fix this, I am a huge fan of the Hue lights.... until they do, I have 11 Hue hubs that are totally screwed up.

 

 

Don't think I'm experiencing this issue.

8 hours ago, Neo1738 said:

Hard to explain here but above cabinets in the back facing up, under cabinets towards the wall but facing down, and under toe kicks facing down but always towards the back of the cabinet depth wise. 

I mounted my toekick lights facing the back of the cabinet to reduce the glare on the floors (I have shiny flooring).  I also tried the 90deg aluminum channels which worked well, but ultimately I redid them all in regular aluminum channels facing the cabinet.

1 hour ago, ejn1 said:

I have 10Gbe connections for a few internal networking connections like NAS to PC to Switch.   But if you were buying or installing a new network, I would at minimum install 2.5Gbe switches with SFP+ and maybe even some main MTP fiber runs within the home.   It creates a lot of optionality for now and in the future.

I would skip 2.5Gbps all together.  Just go straight to 10Gbps if you feel you need >1Gbps.

2 hours ago, ekohn00 said:

Add a couple of kids playing COD, Netflix and a Peloton these days and you definitely will see the need for > 100Mbps. Remember these are also residential services, so models are based on getting services at a price. Unfortunately the quality of service is very dependent on carrier and area. I'm lucky to have 1Gbe FIOS with minimum delays to any data center (benefit of NOVA), but you can go 10 miles away and it's all cable and horrible delays and low BW. That's residential service. One could always buy dedicated internet for $1000's per month....

You may see spikes north of 100Mbps, but nothing consistent.  I have first-hand experience with operating an ISP and I am familiar with residential usage patterns, etc. There are of course always outliers, people who excessively torrent, people who are infected with malware that consumes bandwidth, etc.

My household is all streaming, we have Peloton, we game, we stream music, etc.  We hardly ever (if ever) average >100Mbps.

4 hours ago, RAV said:

ISPs are just ripping people off today charging for speed people don't need, why not, it doesn't cost them more if you don't use it anyways.
Buy the jumbo popcorn, it comes with refills.

ISPs "trick" folks into thinking they need 1Gbps (or whatever), when they know, in reality, the average household rarely needs even >100Mbps.  It's all a marketing strategy.  Most eyeball networks are vastly oversubscribed for this very reason. 

44 minutes ago, C4 User said:

Does anyone know if Brilliant Smart switches can be integrated with C4? These switches look really nice. See www.brilliant.tech for their website.

Have you looked at Orro?  Chowmain has a driver.

8 hours ago, Khemiicalz said:

Watching.

There is no need to do this.  You can use the forum's "Follow" feature.

1 hour ago, CharlestonC4 said:

I am losing my fight with Art Mode on my 2021 Frame TV.  IP paired thru Control4.  

I am using a NYCE motion detector to invoke Art Mode.  The motion detector is working great, but the programming is not.

Are you using an external sensor because you want Art Mode invoked before someone enters the room (eg, the TV's internal sensor isn't able to trigger/detect motion soon enough)?

4 hours ago, Cyknight said:

Oh and yes I have a Neeo. Even my kids (who grew up knowing touchscreens on phones, tablets and indeed C4 screens) don't use it unless the other remotes are not (easily) found.

Same here.  My family (wife/kids) always grab a SR260 over a Neeo.  It's just more functional.

15 minutes ago, tmj4 said:

Is there a way to know which version I'm ordering? What battery method are you using?

The new revisions of the motors look different.  The ones pictured in the link that RAV posted are the new ones.

I just use the battery tube that holds AA batteries.  It's easy to hide the tube in the window frame.

8 hours ago, RAV said:

Are you aware of this part? I haven't tried it, but very economical.

https://store.somfysystems.com/somfy-clever-diy-tilt-blind-motor-kit.html

 

I use these motors in one room of my house that already had traditional wooden slat blinds.  They work well.  I had to have one motor replaced (under warranty) and the newer revision of them is MUCH quieter.  

No ethernet link at all?  I wonder if the NIC got nuked by a surge.

2 hours ago, BubbaDuck said:

To be extra super clear - the ChowMain driver talks directly to the Shelly devices on the local network via Wifi. It’s 100% local control and the Shelly cloud is unnecessary/optional. I tore out all of my personal Vera Zwave devices and went Shelly as the integration is superior. Real press and hold to dim and other goodies the Vera integration never could do.

This is correct.

1 hour ago, Andrew luecke said:

It's possible.  Lots of companies such as SONOS actually increased their prices already (and lots of other prices in various industries have increased already).  

C4 has raised their prices.  More than once.

12 minutes ago, CTMatthew said:

Now that's interesting - I've only seen the ability to join specific rooms, not rotate freely through active sessions. I'd be delighted to have missed something. Can you elaborate on how you're doing this?

Ahh - yeah, I see what you're saying now.  I'm not sure if rotating freely through active sessions is an option or not, but it may be with some annoying programming.  I'll have to check.

I typically have programming in place that defines which sessions I want to join.  For example, if I'm playing music in my master bedroom, I may have a double-tap on the "Music" button in my master bathroom automatically join "Master Bedroom" (if there is an active session in the master bedroom).

56 minutes ago, CTMatthew said:

Lol, no it's fairly popular! It also has my favorite multiroom feature - "join" which just roams the network to join ongoing sessions and makes a great hard-key button on a keypad. 

For two channel I have BeoLab 9s and BeoLab 3s with some BeoLab 6002s in a closet waiting for some future use. Then I have a BeoPlay A6, BeoPlay M5, BeoSound 1, and BeoSound 2 around the house.

I'm sure you already know this, but "join" functionality is easily achieved using native C4 audio as well using the "Room Control' driver.  Super handy, and we use it *all* of the time in our home.

C4 native audio here.

EA5 Digital/Analog outputs -> Triad AMS24 inputs.

Triad AMS24 outputs -> Triad PAMP/Episode amps.

Several other things in my house are used as sources and are fed into inputs on the AMS24 including audio return from a few TV's, audio output from dedicated 5.1+ HT zones, etc.

I also run AMS24 outputs -> HT 5.1+ zones input so that my dedicated 5.1 zones can serve as WHA zones and play C4 native audio if needed.

41 minutes ago, 416to305 said:

Guys you're supposed to help me make Sonos better not talk me into spending thousands more replacing it all! That's my biggest issue, we have 12 Sonos speakers, and 2 rooms have the full blown sound bar, sub, surround speakers, etc so I just hate to replace it all.  That BluOS looks cool though as my biggest thing is running speaker wire is not realistic as my house was just built and I don't want to start getting into all of that especially after having Sonos for many many years and always being wireless.  Was actually going to post on here asking what people do if they want C4 audio but can't run all new wires. I'll mess around and check into the options, thanks!

The Triad One may be an option for you.  It's similar to a Sonos AMP in that it allows you to have "wireless" C4 native zones.  You still obviously need to connect speakers to the Triad 1, but it just needs a network connection (wired or wireless) beyond that.

Yawn.  All was well until someone here decided to revive a 2yr old thread.

16 minutes ago, eggzlot said:

For the long term I find using a Roku/ATV/Android box just better as those hardware companies provide way more support and updates.  Eventually LG will not update the OS on your TV and it will be hard to gain some features, newer apps, etc.  

Same.  I use Roku behind every TV (even new ones with smart apps, etc).  A few reasons:

- Roku (Ultra) is almost always faster/snappier to respond, browse, etc.
- Provides a common interface to all of our TV's which my family likes
- C4 support is solid (miniapps work, control works well, etc)

2 hours ago, pinkoos said:

The other reason I was looking at a mesh system is that it seems, at least from my reading, the nodes (ie, "APs") don't need much (any?) configuration, I'm not sure

I was looking at systems that have ethernet backhauls so that I can use the wired ethernet connections in the nodes to optimize connectivity and speed

If you have hardwired AP's in decent locations, you do not need mesh.  There is no point.  

If you have 2 conductor speaker wire going to each speaker, you will need to run a new cable from the speaker to your amp(s)/rack.  

It's very rare for speaker cable to go "bad."  Was it cut/damaged?  At your amp, have you tried switching the right speaker (the one that doesn't work) to the left output?

12 minutes ago, South Africa C4 user said:

This is an interesting post.  I have a 10,000 plus square foot house.  Concrete construction over 4 floors.  An extra 3,000 square feet outside with coverage.  I have 12 APs.  Reading the above, it sound like I have too many?

I have no issues with WiFi or Zigbee except that once every 2 or 3 weeks all of my APs CPUs go wild (100% CPU usage) and I have to reboot all of my APs to get this sorted…

Any thoughts?

I wouldn't say you have too many.  I wouldn't even say the OP has too many without knowing more about his configuration. 

It really depends on how they are configured (power levels, neighboring channels, etc).  What you don't want are 12 AP's cranked up to maximum power levels causing interference, etc.  It's not uncommon to have a very high number of dense AP's (with finely tuned power and channel configuration) in non-residential environments.