Don Cohen

Just to wrap this up, I went ahead and ran an optical cable from the TV to the AVR, and will forget about ARC.

Interesting...

Also, on the ARC issue. The Sony AVR had a setting for audio output - it was set to Amp, and I chose TV+Amp. That didn't make any difference. Is there any special trick to get this working?

Ok, this is weird - I tried a third flasher I had used with a Sling Box (I know - that's one of the things I removed in this renovation!), which actually doesn't flash red, and this one worked! This one I had bought elsewhere - it actually splits into 2 emitters, and I just put the one on the Cable Box. Are there different types of IR emitters? The ones that flashed were extra from a Z2IO I had, or some other device. Those didn't work. This one did.

Thanks Mitch. HDMI Control is Off on the AVR, Bravia Sync is off on the TV. I don't see any other related settings as yet - is this called something else on these devices?

I appreciate the reply and suggestion. But what doesn't make sense is that this driver was working perfectly with the Cable Box until I replaced other components and connections. The Cable Box is the same, the IR connection to the EA-1 is the same, and the Driver is the same. What could cause this to occur? Could other connections and configurations somehow have created this problem?

I did some upgrades to my Family Room, based on a Sony 900E TV (IP Driver). I had a very old non-HDMI Onkyo Receiver (IR Driver), and used the TV's built-in apps for Streaming. Spectrum CATV, with an Arris DCX3600-M box, using an SA8300 Driver in Control4, IR control from an EA-1. Cable, Bluray Player and EA-1 connected to the TV using its HDMI ports. Generally worked well, but the Onkyo would shut down and lock up, the TV's built-in apps were funky at times, etc. I replaced the Onkyo with a Sony STR-DN1080, and added a Roku Ultra. Now everything connects to the Sony AVR, which is connected to the Sony TV via HDMI3 (ARC). Had to physically and virtually reconfigure everything, but it all turned out well. Except (there's always something!): The Cable Box isn't responding to the IR commands anymore. The IR emitter hadn't been moved, and when I turn the room on, I see red flashes from it on the Cable Box, but it doesn't turn on. If I turn it on manually with the Spectrum Remote, the up/down channel buttons on the SR260 do not produce red flashes. I tried a different IR port on the EA-1 (confirming that the correct one was selected in Composer Pro) - no change. I got a new IR emitter and tried that as well - no change. Rebooted both the Cable Box and EA-1 - no change. This is bizarre - everything that I changed is working well, while the Cable Box, which has the same IR connection to the EA-1, hasn't changed, and somehow stopped working properly. Suggestions??? A secondary issue is I can still get OTA Channels on the Sony from a rooftop antenna, and can control this with Control4. But even though it is using the ARC HDMI port to the Sony AVR, I can't get sound from the TV to the AVR. Is there some specific setting, connection, or configuration that I have to do to enable ARC functionality? I understand that ARC can be funky, but want to make sure it's not user-error. I can connect a Digital Optical Cable between them if need be, but would like to understand this better.

Interesting - thanks for that. I realize the limitations that Ring has in terms of Control4, but I am curious if a Ring Doorbell does any better in this regard.

PM sent.

Thanks for the reply. 15 seconds is pretty poor, similar to what I'm seeing with the DS2. My system is not especially large, with both an EA3 and EA1, so in my situation, it's hard to think an EA5 would improve this particular function. I also have a separate motion sensor out there, which sends me 2 emails, with snapshot images from the DS2 whenever someone approaches the door - Amazon deliveries and such. That works well, with no appreciable lag. But responding to a doorbell push is impractically slow. I suppose I could have the motion sensor also initiate an intercom session with the DS2 whenever someone approaches, so I can talk to them if need be. But even there, it seems like both audio and video are delayed enough, so that even this isn't particularly responsive (although I haven't tested this fully following the recent OS updates). I may try one at another doorway, where I only have a regular doorbell, and the Chime would fit well. It would have to be WiFi, though, since there is no nearby ethernet. Thanks again.

Is the Intercom function any faster with the Chime, specifically with the Android C4 App? With the DS2 mini, it is so slow that by the time my phone rings, the person has already walked away from the door. They have improved the App so that I just have to unlock the phone, and then tap on answer (which is great) but there is a long delay from when they ring the bell until my phone rings.

I'm not sure; I guess it depends on what options the 950G Driver offers. Here is a quote from the Documentation for the 900E Driver: I also realized that I didn't need a specific HBO Max Driver for the Roku, as I can at least access it with Control4 using the "Roku Channels" option, which lists all of the Apps installed on that Roku device. Having a specific driver will be a bit more convenient, but at least one doesn't need to wait for that to be able to access HBO Max on a Roku.

If you're talking about using the Sony TV's built-in Apps, this is already possible. I have a 900E Series Sony, installed the HBO Max app on it, and using the Bravia App Selector Driver, was able to add this to Control4, same as I have done for other Apps I use on this TV (Netflix, Amaxon, Acorn TV, Peacock, Hulu, etc.).

I obtained the 8-digit PIN using the Control4 App on my Android Phone. I then logged into my Ecobee Account on my Windows PC, went to Apps, and entered the PIN there. After a few confirmations, I was able to relink the accounts. I've had to do this multiple times in the past, but this is the first time with an 8-digit PIN, along with some extra confirmations, so now perhaps it'll stick. Time will tell.

I have a Home Theater, using a 'scope' (2.35:1 aspect ratio) screen. It is ideal for watching most movies, which usually have that same aspect ratio. But some movies, and a lot of regular TV and streaming content have 'narrower' aspect ratios: 1.78:1, 1.85:1, 2.00:1, 2.20:1 and so forth. When viewing this type of content on a scope screen, of necessity, there are black 'pillarbox' bars on each side. Even with a good screen and projector, these areas will appear grayish rather than black, which has a negative impact on the perceived picture quality. So many of us utilize 'masking' solutions of one type or another, to blacken those areas. When I initially set up the Theater, I installed 2 curtain rods, one on each side, hanging black velvet curtains from them. I could then draw them in to cover those pillarbox bars, which enhances the picture quality significantly. But I tired of having to go up there to draw them in, open them up, etc. First world problems, for sure! So I ended up installing a motorized curtain track, hanging the black velvet curtains from them. This comes with an RF remote to open, close, and stop the curtain movement. I then obtained a Bond Bridge to replicate the RF commands, integrating this into Control4 with the Chowmain Bond Bridge Driver. I was then able to create "presets" for each aspect ratio, by issuing a 'Close' command, followed by a Delay of the appropriate number of milliseconds, and then a Stop command. I use an SR260 in this room, and assigned these presets to numeric buttons on the remote, since they aren't used for anything else in that room. I can then close to the appropriate position for whatever I'm watching with the push of a button. I am also using the madVR Envy, an external Video Processor, which among its other functions, will recognize the content's aspect ratio, and automatically scales the video output to maximally fill the screen. They will eventually have a Control4 Driver, and I'm hoping that I can program it using this Driver such that the appropriate curtain preset will be triggered based on the content's aspect ratio, making the process completely automatic. Here's a simple YouTube Video showing it in action:

A year or so ago, I added an Axxess Motion Sensor above our Front door, and programmed it to send an .mp3 announcement to the T3 in our family room whenever it detected motion. I also programmed it to have the T3 'jump' to the DS2 mini Camera by the front door, and send a pair of snapshots from the DS2 by email. It has worked flawlessly until recently. Now, I sometimes get the Announcement, while most of the time I don't. I get the emails 100% of the time. And every once in a while, the camera video doesn't load on the T3, with the little camera with a slash through it at the center of the screen. This started not long after the 3.2 upgrade, but as best I can recall, not coincident with it. All Drivers and Firmware are up to date. I have rebooted the T3 and Director, but the performance is still hit and miss. If I create new programming on some other event, just to test it out, putting in the action to make the announcement, and hit 'Execute' in the programming interface, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Is what I'm describing the same thing as what you indicate TS is aware of, or is this something different? As I said, it was 100% reliable for over a year, but now has become undependable. Thanks.

Update: I tried to re-link again, and for whatever reason, this time it worked. I had given it a half hour or so before posting, but whatever glitch there was went away. I'm good to go now.

Thanks for the quick reply - I had already done this, and I included the Error Message I received: "We were unable to link Control4 at this time.Please try again later."

Out of nowhere, I woke up this morning to find that every voice command to Alexa results in "x-device is not responding." Everything was fine yesterday. No other network or connectivity problems present. 4Sight is active, and confirmed to be active when I log into 'customer.control4.com'. Other non-Control4 voice commands to Alexa seem to be working fine (what time is it and so forth). Control4 works fine via SR260, Android App, etc. I rebooted both devices - no change. I re-discovered devices - no change. I disabled the Control4 Skill within the Alexa App, and tried to re-enable it, receiving this error message: "We were unable to link Control4 at this time. Please try again later." I checked status.control4.com and no problems are currently identified there. Is anyone else experiencing problems? Any suggestions on what else I can try? Or is it just a matter of there being a glitch somewhere and I have to wait it out? Thanks.

Here's an update: I bought and installed the Bond Bridge, and it was quite easy to pair it with my Motorized Curtains. Controlling it from the Bridge seems so far to be 100% reliable. I then added it to my Control4 Project, and once again, control so far is perfectly reliable. So it seems, if this behavior keeps up, that the Remote was the source of the problem, as several of you suggested, and as I had hoped. Programming wise, I was able to start the curtain opening, add a delay of any number of seconds, and then a stop command, to control where I want the curtain to stop. I'll need to play some actual content, to fine-tune the actual stop positions I'll need for 1.85, 2.00, 2.20 etc. How precise and consistent that stop position will be, and whether it will be accurate enough, remains to be seen, but I'm hopeful. Appreciate the help I received here.

Appreciate the last 2 replies. Garage Doors are controlled by Z2IO and direct relays. No baby monitors, alarms. The Bond Bridge will be delivered Sunday, so I guess I'll know shortly how this will work out. I can still 'go dark' to further trouble-shoot, but if the Bridge resolves the problem, it won't be necessary. Thanks - will update the thread when I know more.

Thanks for the reply and info. I'll go ahead with the Bond Bridge, and hope for the best. Much appreciated.

I appreciate the reply. Hopefully you're right. I'll likely go for the Bond Bridge and see what happens. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. The EA1 that serves the Zigbee mesh is in another room, so definitely not close. There is an EA3 in the Theater Room, but as I indicated, the server is not on this device. I've only had this set up for about a week, and haven't noticed any issues as far as proximity to the motor (which is usually around 15 feet away). The basic functions for open and close, for 2.35:1 and 16:9, work perfectly. It's just the intermittent ones that are sometimes flaky since I have to Stop along the way. I understand what you're saying about getting things working right before integrating, and have been thinking the same thing. On the other hand, I won't be any worse off controlling it through Control4, since open and close will be just as reliable as they are now. And if the problem I'm seeing is because of the remote, where the buttons are bit close to each other, perhaps creating some cross-contact, then the Bond Bridge will solve this. Any other input or thoughts appreciated.

I recently installed a Motorized Curtain Track, to mask the sides of my scope screen when watching content narrower than 2.35:1 aspect ratio. This YouTube Video shows it in action. There is a hard stop inserted into the track, to limit the excursion to the narrowest (16:9) Aspect Ratio. But sometimes I'll watch 1.85:1, or 2.00:1, or 2.20:1, and need the Curtain stopped in an 'in-between' position between fully open and fully closed. It comes with an RF Remote, which has 3 buttons on it: Open, Close, Stop. This works fine for the most part, except sometimes when I hit Stop for those 'in-between' positions, when it will reverse direction rather than stop, or keeps going rather than stopping. This only occurs perhaps 10% to 20% of the time. I've worked with the manufacturer and we've been unable to identify the cause of this somewhat inconsistent behavior. Is it possible for the RF Remote for this device, which reportedly operates at 433.92MHz, to be experiencing interference with the Zigbee network? That's on 2.4GHz, as far as I know, so my uninformed thought would be that there wouldn't be interference. But being a bit out of my depth here, I wanted to be sure about this. He asked if I had any other RF Remotes that would be in operation, which might be interfering. I do have a MadVR Envy Video Processor, which uses an RF Remote, but this wasn't even turned on when I was doing this testing. And I think my Roku Premiere+ also uses an RF Remote, but again this was not in use at all while I was testing. My eventual plan is to get the Bond Bridge, and the Chowmain Driver, so I can control the curtain's movement within Control4. But I would like to better understand what the problem is now before doing that. It is possible that the curtain's Remote itself is the source of the problem, and the commands generated from within Control4 and Bond will be more precise, but I can't assume that. Any ideas on the potential for Zigbee interference, or any other cause for the occasional glitch in response, would be appreciated.