salum

Anon2828, thanks for the detailed response. Unfortunately I'm not an expert in lighting design, and I'm having difficulty deciding between 6", 4", or 3" recessed lights and figuring out the spacing. My integrator provided a lighting plan for the 3" entra lights, but unfortunately they couldn't get samples out to me in time for me to decide if I wanted to use them. And furthermore, their lighting design didn't include measurements (ie how far from the wall, how much spacing between each light, etc). It's just light fixture icon placements on my kitchen remodel plan. Perhaps my electrician would know how to interpret that. My house has existing 6" recessed lights everywhere. For consistency, I am considering keeping the 6" recessed lights throughout the new kitchen remodel rather than changing to 4" or 3" (even though the 6" look more outdated). Given my time constraints, I'm probably going to pick new construction housing thats available at local retail stores (either 6" or 4"). From there I'd go to the retrofit LED option. I like the LED lights to be a little recessed and not completely flush with the trim. But I understand that the more flush it is, the more light can spread. Lots of things that I unfortunately did not have the time to find a lighting design expert to explain. Now the issue becomes figuring out spacing with the 6" and 4" cans. 6" cans I'm reading its 3' from the wall (or 2' off the cabinets) and then space them every 5 feet (we have 10 ft ceilings). My existing kitchen actually has the lights about 43" spacing. Our ceiling drywall has been removed, so we have all our ceiling joists exposed and can make a good decision on lighting placement. I have found traditional bulbs annoying. They usually flicker and die out. But I'm not sure if thats because of my traditional builder grade dimmers. Eventually I will be adding control4 dimmers throughout the house. The main reason for not sticking to integrated LED is we are very particular with our color temperatures. We cannot decide on the temperature until the kitchen is complete with paint and furniture. I will look into the Philips wiz as an option

Hello, Doing a remodel on my home and my integrator has suggested installing new canned LED lighting fixtures (Tech lighting Entra 3” canned lights) and trulux tape lights. Anyone have experience with this brand? They are quite expensive at almost $150 a fixture. Would you suggest Is it cheaper to just go a standard Edison type fixture and purchase LED bulbs. And then bulbs these days aren’t as expensive, and you also have the option to swap them out for different colors/temperature bulbs. The trulux tape lights have that “dot less” look. Any other suggestions? Thanks

What does this mean for the average consumer. Will Ubiquiti beef up their security and things get better from this point forward. Or are we at risk for hackers to potentially gain access to our network and subsequently our security and camera systems? Can they access our photos and documents on our servers, etc. I'm a networking novice so would hope someone would explain this in layman's terms.

Another question about control4. One of my control4 dealer said he likes to keep security separate, and not integrate with control4. His reasoning is that its a critical feature, and shouldn't be tied into your home automation. Another control4 dealer said it's not a big deal. If control4 goes down, your security still functions. Any compelling reason to go one way or the other? To integrate or not integrate?

That goes without saying. Which is why I'm here to be educated. The dealer that isn't a lutron dealer, is pushing for control4. But the 2 dealers that are BOTH lutron and control4 dealers, they are pushing lutron. I think I should have clarified that last point that the lutron dealer is both lutron and control4. So then if you have a dealer that sells both Mercedes (lutron) and BMW (control4)...but is pushing Mercedes (lutron)...why? Is it better or do they get more kickbacks from the factory.

One of my dealers that quoted me priced out lutron dimmers the same as control4. They didn't get into the technical details as to which line of dimmers the lutron or control4 ones were, but my guess was radiora2 since the dealer isn't authorized for homeworks according to the lutron dealer locator website. I messaged them after I learned about the difference between forward and adaptive phase dimmers, and they said that the control4 dimmers were the original dimmers and not the essential line. The second dealer quoted me the control4 essential line. I just assumed they were giving me the same dimmers as the first dealer for half off...until I came to these forums and got educated. I talked to several dealers around my area, none of them explained the difference (but again, I didn't know to ask until I came to this forum). I have a 3rd dealer (who is not control4 authorized), who is insisting I not do control4 and just do lutron radiora2 and then do separate stuff and possibly RTI (I won't even get into this). Too many people telling me too many different things. But nonetheless it was good reading here because now I know to ask about dimmer types and I decided against the video matrix thats to the posters in this forum. Now the question is do I roll the dice on the essential line of dimmers. Yea, casetta wasn't an option since it's more DIY and wouldn't handle as many devices in my home. I don't mind the lutron devices, but I guess programming might be more complicated for the dealer (and hence more labor hours). But whats interesting is the dealers I have talked to that are on the lutron dealer list are pushing lutron, the ones that aren't are pushing control4. So who do I believe.

I plan on doing everything LED for longevity. I recall in my previous home a lot of my LED bulbs dying, and I would always blame the LED manufacturer. But after doing some brief research on forward vs adaptive phase switches...maybe it was my switches that killed them. Despite this, one of my dealers says he has had success with LED fixtures on the essential line of dimmers. But they are forward phase, and from what I understand adaptive phase is better for the LED electronics. But the adaptive phase are nearly double the cost. At that point then maybe its worth considering lutron. I was only considering control4 due to the cost being so less...but now I understand because it was the essential line.

Essential line was what I was quoted by one of the dealers. I came from humble beginnings, so its in my nature to be price conscious . I also tend to over-research into what I'm buying and not necessarily take the dealer's word. But I do respect that dealers are a business and need to make money.

Also, I was quoted about $79 a dimmer, so about $5 off MSRP. Not sure if thats great.

I got quoted for control4 essential line of dimmers. Not the decora/ original line. That's another discussion. Since essential line is fairly new, how are people doing with their LED bulbs? I saw the decora have adaptive phase and it mentions LED. We plan on only having LED lights in our home. Any thoughts on the decora vs essential? I don't care for engraving my single switches and dimmers, but keypads would need engraving.

Have you noticed any sound delay in relation to the video?

Thanks guys. After hearing everyone out here, I think I'm leaning towards control4 lighting. I've looked into the video matrix and video over IP, including Just Add Power. I just can't justify paying that much per source and device. I may look into it in the future.

Thank you guys for all the responses. I didn't consider the sound coming from in ceiling speakers and not the TV as sounding off, but we watch TV casually. If anything, I'll have sports on in the background. Anytime TV has my full attention, we will probably watch in a dedicated theater once that is built. I'm not a big fan of soundbars on every TV, as I'm not a serious audiophile. In that case built in speakers will suffice. But I wanted to use the in ceiling speakers just to limit clutter. I still have to figure out if radioRa2 dimmers are compatible with homeworksQS. It seems as though it's not.

Thanks for the response! So the house is about 12,000 square feet, and will be probably about 13,200 once the playroom/theater is finished. Networking: I was leaning towards your suggestion here since most dealer recommended whatever they were comfortable with. It's just I've heard a few horror stories of ubiquiti, but maybe because its more common than the dealer controlled equipment due to its price point. But again, I've had great experience with it. Lighting: The few dealers I've spoken to have offered a flat project fee given the scale of my project, which is why I'm not considering the hourly basis for programming. From what I was told, control4 can do the same lighting features as lutron...if not more. You can program control4 keypads to do virtually anything (turn on TV to a certain channel for example)...but lutron it's strictly lighting. But I don't intend to have my keypads do anything aside from lighting and motorized shades (which I plan to do in the future). Again, this limits me with lutron. I counted all my switches, dimmers, and 3-way switches...and I have approximately 178 total switches. I'd say about now will I convert them all to control4 or lutron switches? Highly unlikely, as there are certain switches like storage closets that do not need to be smart. So out of those I counted about 45 dimmers and 21 switches and 41 3 way switches totaling about 107 total switches. Do the 3-way switches count towards my total for radioRA2 200 device limit? Or now am I in the homework's range. Keep in mind I'll probably do 30-40 motorized curtains in the future. Video matrix: I'd prefer it to be scalable. Managing 14 devices would be a pain, but our Apple TV does auto software updates, so I think its not as big of an issue. The issue becomes audio/video syncing. Thats my major issue. I do like the idea of other fun things you suggested like PIP camera with doorbell or text messaging to TVs...but ultimately not sure if this is worth the cost. Audio Matrix- So we don't have cable. Just Hulu, Netflix, HBO max, etc. We only stream. So Apple TV's, Smart TV apps is probably what we will use. I'm ok with stereo sound in the locations we watch, so I'd want to extract audio from the Apple TV or smart TV and play it in the 2 in ceiling speakers in each of the respective rooms. The kitchen TV, however, may need to play on more speakers (because the kitchen TV is in the breakfast nook which has 2 in ceiling speakers...but its open to the kitchen which has 2 in ceiling speakers). Same with my office or my wife's office. We both have 2 speakers each, so we would just play the sound through the speakers. I don't need them to play in the TV "and" the in ceiling speakers. Theres only 1 TV in the basement setup with 5.1 which has its own dedicated receiver. That id want to utilize all the speakers. Problem is that TV is in a common area where there are 2 bar TVs. Again, audio/video matrix would be nice here to sync video and sound...but in reality, how often am I going to use the bar TVs? Not entirely sure I can justify the cost of a matrix for this. But I like the flexibility to be able to do it in the future....so while my dealer is working...I figure I can prepare myself in the event I change my mind.

Hello All, I'm looking to do whole home automation, and I was hoping to get advice/suggestions from this expert community. I humbly admit my knowledge is limited, but thats why I am here to ask for suggestions. I'm looking to do whole home automation. I currently have about 14 TVs in the home, 11 of which are wired with component, cat5e, and coax. 3 only have coax. I'm looking to expand in the future with a finished playroom/theater, where I'd add maybe 3 more TV's for a gaming area and dedicated home theater. Out of those 14 TVs, we will probably use 4 fairly regularly, maybe 5 once the playroom/theater is finished. Currently the home has an RTI component 6x6 video matrix with RTI controllers, but that is now old equipment. I've decided to use control4 for my home automation. I wanted a unified app that controls every part of my home (lights, music, TV, security, cameras, and HVAC). First problem I encountered is I have a carrier infinity system, which doesnt play well with control4, so now my unified solution is no more. I've had some dealers say that I should keep my security separate, because if something goes wrong with control4, my security will still function. I've read mixed things about this since control4 is just controlling it, and if it goes down, my security should still function fine. So I'm ok with integration into control4. The 3 main issues I'm encountering and would like advice on: 1) Networking gear. Some of my dealers use ubiquiti (and I save significant money which I can put towards the purchase of OTHER equipment). Or I can just purchase more access points. I know that its on the do not use list, but from what I understand, its because there are more advanced features that need configuring that some dealers may not know how to do. Some of my dealers love ubiquiti, and have in fact moved away from pakedge. Some of my dealers swear against it, including some folks in this forum. This is where my knowledge is limited (I don't understand multicasting, vlans, subnets, etc). Thats all foreign language to me. Also, can too many access points be a bad thing and cause interference? I have used ubiquiti in my previous home, and I have had great success. But my previous home had DIY products. And I understand my limitations as a consumer, and need something that just works and has no issues. 1B) Should I run new cat6 cabling around the home for wifi 6? Should I run new cabling into TV locations? Is fiber worth it, or too delicate? I understand fiber can be overkill, but if I plan on living in this house for 20+ years, is it worth it for future proofing or just redo wiring when the time is right. Is fiber worth it since you can get HDMI over IP with visually lossless compression that doesnt need 18gbps? But I know myself, I want to get everything done now and probably will not want to upgrade stuff in the future as it requires a lot of work. We just moved into the house and have projects we want to do now, so we are motivated. We may not be motivated in the future. 2) Lighting. I had a quote from control4 lighting and lutron lighting. Lutron was about twice the price, but if you factor in the cost of the control4 EA-5 controller, the price difference decreases. The reason I say this is because if I get locked into control4, its game over if I leave the ecosystem. But lutron I have a safety net in that if my control4 causes issues or im dissatisfied, I can still have my lutron lights functioning. I don't see myself switching automation brands (going from control4 to savant or creation), but who knows. If anything, I may go back down to nothing and just have a bunch of smart controls (since my HVAC will be separate, security can be separate, lights can be separate, etc). So in your experiences, is it best to just save money and go the control4 route because its really worth it to save money? 3) Audio matrix: I have in ceiling speakers in most my rooms with TVs. I want the TV's to play sound into those speakers and not the TV itself. So I was quoted for audio extractors that would tie into my sound system. Here is where my knowledge is limited. If my TV's have 1 data port, wouldnt that be providing the internet to the Apple TV or smart tvs? Or can you run both data and audio extraction onto the same cat5e data port. Is there bandwidth issues? Or do they extract audio and send it through the component wiring? Is that going to cause audio delays with the picture? I'm completely ok with Apple TV's at every location as long as there is no audio delay with respect to the video. 4) Video matrix: It's something I don't need, but part of me wants. I was ok with putting Apple TV's on each TV, and expanding in the future as I see fit. But I've been told by one dealer that the Apple TV software updates can cause issues with control4. I don't like Roku because of the ads. And also, I have most apple products, so I like to stay within their ecosystem. Would it be nice to have a rack mounted his, hers, and kids Apple TV? sure. But I do not want a video matrix because I like to have flexibility for expandability. What if I decide I want another tv on the matrix, but im stick at 6x6. But most importantly, video matrixes at $5000+ are not worth the price. But if I started out with 2-3 TV's with HDMI over IP? Could that be more reasonably priced? Maybe 8k is more standard in 4-6 years, so is it not worth it since the equipment will be antiquated by then? But at what point do you say hey, 8k isn't worth it, my eyes can't tell the difference between 4k and 8k on my 55" kitchen TV. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated, as it will certainly help me make my decision. Thank you!