Topspin14m

If you just want to display the webpage from Tempest on interfaces, the Control4's webview driver will work fine.
If you want the variables and all that, then you'll need the paid driver.

Don't conflate expensive with quality 

Very interesting!  Thanks for the answer guys.

I think that the Samsung Terrace Partial Sun is the best outdoor tv at the moment, when factoring in cost. The one downside to it versus a Seura (that I’m aware of) is that it is IP55 vs IP56 rated. In reality that probably doesn’t make a huge difference, but the Terrace can only withstand low pressure jets of water (vs. high pressure).

As I said earlier, the only technical difference between the Terrace full sun and partial is the heat dissipation (and a lot of weight). They both max out at the same brightness. I haven’t had an issue with the partial sun version and heat even on a roof with direct sunlight.

For me, I wanted something reliable that could withstand the New England winter while also not costing $10,000. The Terrace has completely lived up to my expectations.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think that the Samsung Terrace Partial Sun is the best outdoor tv at the moment, when factoring in cost. The one downside to it versus a Seura (that I’m aware of) is that it is IP55 vs IP56 rated. In reality that probably doesn’t make a huge difference, but the Terrace can only withstand low pressure jets of water (vs. high pressure).

As I said earlier, the only technical difference between the Terrace full sun and partial is the heat dissipation (and a lot of weight). They both max out at the same brightness. I haven’t had an issue with the partial sun version and heat even on a roof with direct sunlight.

For me, I wanted something reliable that could withstand the New England winter while also not costing $10,000. The Terrace has completely lived up to my expectations.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is pretty off topic but I owned basically every version of the highest end Harmony remote and I would not compare them with what C4/Savant/Crestron or even URC are offering. The appeal of Harmony was that you could set it up and program it all yourself without a dealer. So it sold well because it was the best consumer grade universal remote. That was all well and good but the technology was pretty crappy. It had no feedback from the device it was linked to so the macros would often get out of sync. Meaning, if the IR blaster unit missed a device then you would have a Tv on but no Blu-ray player. If you then hit the power button again it would turn on the Blu-ray and the Tv would turn off. Add in a receiver that needed to switch inputs and it could get messy. For me that was annoying but quickly fixable. I got Harmonys for my in-laws and parents (who are not tech savvy) and set it all up, but they would still get super confused and frustrated every time it got out of sync.

I suspect that we on this forum are largely not C4’s target client base, which at its core includes people who are not tech savvy and don’t want to tinker. They just want everything to work. Harmony was kind of a disaster for those people.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is pretty off topic but I owned basically every version of the highest end Harmony remote and I would not compare them with what C4/Savant/Crestron or even URC are offering. The appeal of Harmony was that you could set it up and program it all yourself without a dealer. So it sold well because it was the best consumer grade universal remote. That was all well and good but the technology was pretty crappy. It had no feedback from the device it was linked to so the macros would often get out of sync. Meaning, if the IR blaster unit missed a device then you would have a Tv on but no Blu-ray player. If you then hit the power button again it would turn on the Blu-ray and the Tv would turn off. Add in a receiver that needed to switch inputs and it could get messy. For me that was annoying but quickly fixable. I got Harmonys for my in-laws and parents (who are not tech savvy) and set it all up, but they would still get super confused and frustrated every time it got out of sync.

I suspect that we on this forum are largely not C4’s target client base, which at its core includes people who are not tech savvy and don’t want to tinker. They just want everything to work. Harmony was kind of a disaster for those people.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is pretty off topic but I owned basically every version of the highest end Harmony remote and I would not compare them with what C4/Savant/Crestron or even URC are offering. The appeal of Harmony was that you could set it up and program it all yourself without a dealer. So it sold well because it was the best consumer grade universal remote. That was all well and good but the technology was pretty crappy. It had no feedback from the device it was linked to so the macros would often get out of sync. Meaning, if the IR blaster unit missed a device then you would have a Tv on but no Blu-ray player. If you then hit the power button again it would turn on the Blu-ray and the Tv would turn off. Add in a receiver that needed to switch inputs and it could get messy. For me that was annoying but quickly fixable. I got Harmonys for my in-laws and parents (who are not tech savvy) and set it all up, but they would still get super confused and frustrated every time it got out of sync.

I suspect that we on this forum are largely not C4’s target client base, which at its core includes people who are not tech savvy and don’t want to tinker. They just want everything to work. Harmony was kind of a disaster for those people.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is pretty off topic but I owned basically every version of the highest end Harmony remote and I would not compare them with what C4/Savant/Crestron or even URC are offering. The appeal of Harmony was that you could set it up and program it all yourself without a dealer. So it sold well because it was the best consumer grade universal remote. That was all well and good but the technology was pretty crappy. It had no feedback from the device it was linked to so the macros would often get out of sync. Meaning, if the IR blaster unit missed a device then you would have a Tv on but no Blu-ray player. If you then hit the power button again it would turn on the Blu-ray and the Tv would turn off. Add in a receiver that needed to switch inputs and it could get messy. For me that was annoying but quickly fixable. I got Harmonys for my in-laws and parents (who are not tech savvy) and set it all up, but they would still get super confused and frustrated every time it got out of sync.

I suspect that we on this forum are largely not C4’s target client base, which at its core includes people who are not tech savvy and don’t want to tinker. They just want everything to work. Harmony was kind of a disaster for those people.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

IMHO Harmony was great tech for the early 2000's but not for 2020's

X2! Would love to see some C4 screenshots of the functionality.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Not sure about the Assure 2, but in the past the August card for Yale and C4 driver work too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

True but it also depends on your application. My Yale lock is attached to an outdoor fence so it is outside of my Zigbee, but not my Wi-Fi, network. So there may be situations where the august card (and Wi-Fi) will work better than Zigbee.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well said above..  A couple of additional considerations....
- Performance / Cost ratio may be higher with the Unifi setup and future upgrades
- Unifi GUI likely offers more network transparency, ease of management and control for the end user
- and many users, including myself, use it with C4 systems with no issues.  For someone already with a Unifi setup, it seems logical to stay put and just find a C4 dealer that is comfortable in working in that network environment which there are many.

This has been resolved and actually it turns out that the functionality was never broken. They instead changed the library search function to include Tidal results. So if you search that, you’ll get the Tidal/qobuz results all in one place.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think we all have to admit that home automation companies utilizing a group of components designed to work together have to sunset technology at some point. It’s happened with Sonos, Bose, Apple and others. It’s just a fact you have to live with when you buy into these environments. If you want your system to always have the latest and greatest features, you have to keep replacing and buying new components.

It stinks when it happens to you - I spent so much money replacing Connect Amps with Amps. But it’s the nature of the beast. I could have stayed on S1.

Control4 just can’t be expected to code around aging controllers forever. We’ll always be able to say ‘why can’t they just release a version of OS X.X without that one feature so it can keep running on HC800s,’ but at some point the software gets so cumbersome it’s just not feasible/too expensive for C4 to support it all.

I think we all have to admit that home automation companies utilizing a group of components designed to work together have to sunset technology at some point. It’s happened with Sonos, Bose, Apple and others. It’s just a fact you have to live with when you buy into these environments. If you want your system to always have the latest and greatest features, you have to keep replacing and buying new components.

It stinks when it happens to you - I spent so much money replacing Connect Amps with Amps. But it’s the nature of the beast. I could have stayed on S1.

Control4 just can’t be expected to code around aging controllers forever. We’ll always be able to say ‘why can’t they just release a version of OS X.X without that one feature so it can keep running on HC800s,’ but at some point the software gets so cumbersome it’s just not feasible/too expensive for C4 to support it all.

It's not just automations.  It's the system as a whole.  Control4 has pretty sophisticated processing units -- you don't get that with a SmartThings or Hubitat hub.  Start loading 200 devices into a $100 hub and you'll find that the connections break.  All of a sudden random switches start disappearing and have to be reconnected once every couple weeks.  You get lag when you try to turn things on and off.  The polling is off -- it says switches are on that are really off.  It just gets overloaded.  Then you have to look at the connection methodology.  Many DIY devices are basic wifi devices.  Do you want to have 70+ light switches taking up your wifi IP addresses?  Probably not.  Z-wave?  Well that's really slow and clunky.  Lutron Caseta is good, but limited to 75 devices, including remotes.  If you want a higher end Lutron product?  Well now you need a dealer.  
It's just all about scale.  

It's not just automations.  It's the system as a whole.  Control4 has pretty sophisticated processing units -- you don't get that with a SmartThings or Hubitat hub.  Start loading 200 devices into a $100 hub and you'll find that the connections break.  All of a sudden random switches start disappearing and have to be reconnected once every couple weeks.  You get lag when you try to turn things on and off.  The polling is off -- it says switches are on that are really off.  It just gets overloaded.  Then you have to look at the connection methodology.  Many DIY devices are basic wifi devices.  Do you want to have 70+ light switches taking up your wifi IP addresses?  Probably not.  Z-wave?  Well that's really slow and clunky.  Lutron Caseta is good, but limited to 75 devices, including remotes.  If you want a higher end Lutron product?  Well now you need a dealer.  
It's just all about scale.  

1.5 years ago I was running my own DIY system with state of the art products throughout.  I assure you -- I have no blind spots.  I had over 100 items mapped in Smartthings and HomeKit.  I don't work for C4--I was open to any product and I was fully prepared to go DIY again in this house.  That said, you get to a point where DIY hasn't progressed enough and you start pushing the limits with these systems.  At over 100 devices in SmartThings, it was getting clunky.  Hubitat had similar issues.  Z-wave stinks.  Zigbee is okay, but more limited on the DIY front.  Wifi doesn't scale well.  To build a really good system, you need to use a variety of different connection methods and that just gets really complicated without a central processing system that has heft and great support.
Ultimately, DIY is designed mostly for people who want to dabble and set up a few switches/smart thermostats/maybe a couple cameras.  Once you start pushing it, that's when you will have problems.  In contrast, C4 is designed to be a whole home solution by people who are accountable when things break.  Big difference in quality.  

I did DIY for 5 years when we had a smaller condo.  It's a lot of work.  The stuff generally isn't as stable -- so I was constantly fixing things.  I realized that C4 allows me to do my own simple fixes, but when something needs to be rewired or replaced and it's more complicated, rather than lose my whole day, I call my C4 vendor and they fix it for me.  I don't need to sit around surfing the internet, downloading GitHub code, rigging a raspberry pi and all that stuff.  Also, C4 is way more stable than what I was using before (Smartthings).  Plus, now that I'm in a bigger place, all those problems would be magnified -- I'd have even more devices to install and maintain.  Ultimately, I just didn't have the time.  
Why not build your own kit cars instead of buying a car?  Kind of the same thing.  If it's what you love doing and you want it to be your hobby, then sure go DIY.  Or if you just want to dabble and install a few Hue bulbs here and there, no need for C4.  But if you want a full solution in a bigger home, it's just a ton of work otherwise.  
Plus, then I sold the condo and guess what happens?  You have to transfer the stuff to a new owner who might not be as tech savvy.  Instead of leaving a card and saying "call this guy," the only tech support is you...  It's a pain.

I did DIY for 5 years when we had a smaller condo.  It's a lot of work.  The stuff generally isn't as stable -- so I was constantly fixing things.  I realized that C4 allows me to do my own simple fixes, but when something needs to be rewired or replaced and it's more complicated, rather than lose my whole day, I call my C4 vendor and they fix it for me.  I don't need to sit around surfing the internet, downloading GitHub code, rigging a raspberry pi and all that stuff.  Also, C4 is way more stable than what I was using before (Smartthings).  Plus, now that I'm in a bigger place, all those problems would be magnified -- I'd have even more devices to install and maintain.  Ultimately, I just didn't have the time.  
Why not build your own kit cars instead of buying a car?  Kind of the same thing.  If it's what you love doing and you want it to be your hobby, then sure go DIY.  Or if you just want to dabble and install a few Hue bulbs here and there, no need for C4.  But if you want a full solution in a bigger home, it's just a ton of work otherwise.  
Plus, then I sold the condo and guess what happens?  You have to transfer the stuff to a new owner who might not be as tech savvy.  Instead of leaving a card and saying "call this guy," the only tech support is you...  It's a pain.

I did DIY for 5 years when we had a smaller condo.  It's a lot of work.  The stuff generally isn't as stable -- so I was constantly fixing things.  I realized that C4 allows me to do my own simple fixes, but when something needs to be rewired or replaced and it's more complicated, rather than lose my whole day, I call my C4 vendor and they fix it for me.  I don't need to sit around surfing the internet, downloading GitHub code, rigging a raspberry pi and all that stuff.  Also, C4 is way more stable than what I was using before (Smartthings).  Plus, now that I'm in a bigger place, all those problems would be magnified -- I'd have even more devices to install and maintain.  Ultimately, I just didn't have the time.  
Why not build your own kit cars instead of buying a car?  Kind of the same thing.  If it's what you love doing and you want it to be your hobby, then sure go DIY.  Or if you just want to dabble and install a few Hue bulbs here and there, no need for C4.  But if you want a full solution in a bigger home, it's just a ton of work otherwise.  
Plus, then I sold the condo and guess what happens?  You have to transfer the stuff to a new owner who might not be as tech savvy.  Instead of leaving a card and saying "call this guy," the only tech support is you...  It's a pain.

It's been a very long time.....I posted and others commected long ago about the connectivity of the ap....disconnecting consistantly while in us when the iphone screen ws closed or yu left the ap for a period. Well, earlier this week the latest update nor provides smooth always connected state while using the ap. I've used it now a few times and it is a great experience. I can go the screen on impulse and it is there and active and responsive. No waiting 3-4 seconds for it to reconnect. It has improved in small increments the last couple updates but now it's just about perfect. It's like it used to be. THANK YOU to those involved making this happen!

Distributed system typically means:
A matrix, the ins and outs, send this signal to that at this level. Allows individual and group controls.
A bunch of amps, or multichannel amplifier. It's where the matrix sends to, and the speakers wire to.
Sources, if streaming they come from the processor. If traditional (cd etc), or TV stereo sound, they all go into the matrix, old school stereo style.
Control points: Keypads, touchpanels, voice, app, remotes ....
If a surround is part of the deal, then the surround receiver gets connections from the Matrix, and from the video sources (cable box, etc). And all room speakers attach to it, and HDMI out to the TV.

Here's why people say Sonos:
Sonos amp, wires to speakers.
Soundbar at the TV, connected to the TV, sources connected to the TV. Wireless connections to the rear speakers and subwoofer.
App for control.
A lot less involved.
Distributed can be cheaper, can be better quality, can offer more options and solutions, can be more integrated, can be more intuitive from touchpanels for guests, can be more customized, can be more data private, can be more stable, can be....

Control4 is not a DIY intended brand, Sonos is.
If you want to expand into more integration, that's different, talk to your dealer, Sonos has some integration ability.