ashwinmj

1 hour ago, Amr said:

No, it’s only u, are u using a DHCP reservation or you made a static IP for your FireTV?

I haven’t done either, but it has been picking up the same IP address. It could still explain the disconnect that happens on Fire TV restart, but my understanding is that is wouldn’t explain the disconnect on the controller restart. 

The only option that we see to pick the Fire TV is from a drop down box in the driver properties, that lists all the Fire TVs. This list gets empty on controller restart, and the specific Fire TV disappears on the restart of a Fire TV. 

We're able to get the TV to display a photo sideshow, after the timeout of the Control4 on screen interface. 

Is there a way to enable/disable the screen saver through programming? What I want to do is - depending on certain conditions (like time of day, status of lights in the room) room off takes the TV to the screensaver. At other times, room off turns off the TV. 

9 hours ago, zaphod said:

That sounds strange, but you should also be able to rescan in Composer HE so if you have that you don't need your dealer - assuming that you don't then have to redo the connections.

Even if I do it in Composer HE, it seems like a clumsy solution to have to go into Composer every time the controller of Fire TV restarts. This doesn’t seem to be a problem with any other device apart from the Fire TV. 

Is this a limitation of the driver and it’s happening with everyone, or is it something only I’m facing? 

Every time that my controller restarts or my fire TV restarts, I lose control of the Fire TV from C4. My dealer says that it’s because the driver doesn’t see the Fire TV any more, and he has to rescan for Fire TVs in composer. Once he does that, it works fine. Is anyone else facing this problem?

It’s not practical to have my dealer do this every time either the controller or Fire TV restarts. 

I’ve been using this https://www.amazon.com/J-Tech-Digital-Scaler-Multi-Resolution-Splitter/dp/B07F7M1SQL/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=j-tech+hdmi+scaler&qid=1628188534&sr=8-4 and it works great. Although I’m using it as 1 in 1 out, to downscale 4k to 1080p. It’s priced really well. 

I’m planning to buy the Samsung M5 smart monitor (https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/monitors/smart-monitors/27--smart-monitor-with-mobile-connectivity-ls27am500nnxza/). It has the Tizen OS just like the smart TVs, along with the same apps and App Store. I can’t find any drivers for this monitor though. Would I be able to use the IP driver of any other Samsung Smart TV with this monitor to get IP control, or would I need to use IR for it? 

The driver central page for the August driver also shows that the August lock history can be accessed on C4. I don't see a way to access that at all. Do any of you?

If I remember right, when my dealer first installed the driver, the status wasn’t updating at all. He said he had to delete the driver and add it again. It started updating the status (although inconsistently) only after that. 

2 hours ago, lippavisual said:

I always setup a separate volume on the NAS specifically for surveillance.  Much easier to overwrite the video files within its own volume.  Otherwise, if it’s on the main volume, performance can take a hit a bit.

By separate volume, could it be on the main drives, or a completely separate drive? I can easily add a separate drive meant only for this. 

5 hours ago, msgreenf said:

You would need dedicated Chromecasts but ambient mode photos is a built in capability. You can install Google photos on your iphone and have everything auto sync and update

@msgreenf Do you know if I can use the newer Chromecast with Google TV for this as well, or does it need to be the simple Chromecast without Google TV? I saw that the Chromecast that’s sold now isn’t 4k, but the Chromecast with Google TV is. 

And with either of these, can I initiate the ambient mode for the slideshow via programming? 

@msgreenf Thanks! This sounds like a great option. It's inexpensive hardware, and sounds like everything would work great from there! I'll try this out.

8 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

Google Photos and Chromecast ambient mode 

Thanks! Do I need a dedicated chromecast device to trigger this, or is there a way in programming to trigger it via the TVs built in chromecast capability (I have a 2019 86” LG, 2017 65” Sony, and a 2021 43” Samsung). 

@Cyknightthanks! I’ll just get a separate drive for the photos. Sounds like the best solution. 

I had set up the Synology NAS to be the NVR as well, using the Synology Surveillance Station. Would you recommend against that? Even if I get a separate surveillance hard drive in the NAS only for this?

4 hours ago, lippavisual said:

Just remember when using a NAS, that it will constantly keep the drives spinning.

I always recommend a small usb NAS or drive just for pictures.

But to each their own. 

I have empty slots on my NAS - would it be a good option to add a small SSD to it just for the photos, or would you still recommend a separate drive for pictures? I’m fine using a separate device if that’s what’s recommended.

1 hour ago, RAV said:

Other means:
AppleTV will link to iPhoto well, put you have to navigate the interface to select and play
Cheap flash media player plugged into an HDMI on the TV, with preloaded photos.
Roku and a channel app, https://www.rokuguide.com/channels/photo_apps

Apple TV would’ve been perfect. All the pictures are on our iPhones right now. Making a shared album and making that a slideshow would be awesome! But navigating manually to the photos app means it’s something that’ll never be done. If there were a way to automate it, that would’ve been perfect! 

I do have a roku I can use for this. I’m not sure if I’m missing something, but which app does the link recommend to use for this? 

Another option would be to use Amazon Photos on my Fire TV (which I have at each TV), but it’s unfortunately not available in my region yet. 

Thanks @South Africa C4 user. I think this should be good enough for what I need. I’ll try it out. 

@South Africa C4 user awesome! That works. I have a controller with OSD for each of the three TVs that I want to do this, so I guess that part is covered. Is it still the same set of photos for all locations in a project, despite having dedicated controllers?

Where do the photos for the screensaver get saved? Can it be on a NAS? How do I set up the screensaver (under agents?)

Thanks! 

Is there a way display a slideshow of pictures on a TV, and initiate the slideshow via programming? 

Ideally to pick up pictures for the slideshow from a specific folder in the iPhone Photos app, but if not from any place to which pictures can be uploaded. 

I saw a couple of posts related to this, but they’re quite old and am hoping there’s a good solution now. 

1 hour ago, ILoveC4 said:

10 seconds?

About the same as with me. It varies from 5-10 seconds. It's the same delay whether I'm sending a lock/unlock command from C4 or just waiting for an update on the status from C4. 

@eddy.trochez my snapshot URL is the exact same format, but the stream number is 1. How do I find the stream number? I looked at all of the camera settings, but couldn't find it. 

The only relevant thing I find is number of streams - that's set to 1. I don't see anything about the stream number. 

6 hours ago, ILoveC4 said:

It seems consistent so far, but I will do more testing. I have noticed it’s slightly delayed. I have 4 kids and a zillion people through here all the time, so we will stress test it for sure. 

Sounds, good. Please let me know what happens. 

Before you fixed the bindings, was it not working at all or was it unreliable? 

How long a delay are you noticing?

2 hours ago, ILoveC4 said:

I had reset the bindings and failed to redo one of them.

So before you fixed the binding, did the status never work or was it inconsistent like in my case? 

it works I’d say 90% of the time for me. But that’s not reliable enough. 

5 hours ago, ILoveC4 said:

I’ve got it working right now. I’m doing some testing with Home Assistant for a vacation property (where I’ll also deploy the August lock) and it’s pretty fantastic. I’m really intrigued by it. 

@ILoveC4 how did you get it to work? 

The August lock is amazing! It’s only the C4 driver I’ve been having trouble with. 

@mujtaba.khokhar I did check with my dealer - the Art Mode mini app was already been connected to "Samsung App Switcher->MiniApp 16". Is this what you were guessing hadn't been done? If it is, then any thoughts on what else might be going on?

My TV is QA43LS03AAKLXL. When the TV auto discovers and we try to auto install the driver for it, it gives an error something on the lines of the driver for this device has been developed but isn't available in the C4 database. So we're manually installing the driver for QA43LS03AAWXXY. I assume these are the same TV, but with a few regional differences. Could this be a cause for the problem we're facing? 

I've been using the August lock with C4 for a few months now. Most of the time the August lock status updates in C4 (although after a delay of about 10 seconds). But once every few days, I find that the status doesn't update in C4.

I've reported the issue to Cinegration, and they said that they're checking it. They said the original developers who worked on it are no longer with them, so it would take about 2 weeks for other developers to familiarize themselves with the code and make the fixes. However, that was 2 months ago! They said the problem is likely because the August APIs aren't giving them the right info so it's out of their control, but whenever the status doesn't update in C4 I find IFTTT still gets the right status. IFTTT I assume uses the same August APIs as well. I told Cinegration this, so it isn't a problem with the APIs and I haven't heard from them since.  

I'm not sure what the solution is - I'm considering using IFTTT to simulate the August lock driver and forgetting about the Cinegration driver. The Cinegration driver has a 5-10 second delay to update the lock status (when it works) and to trigger the lock from C4. IFTTT on the other hand is very quick. And IFTTT also has info on whether the lock was unlocked by anyone/specific users. All this is tempting me to go the IFTTT route completely.

I don't see why the Cinegration driver can't do what IFTTT does.

@eddy.trochez I've taken a video similar to what you sent earlier here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dkab9Qii_aAvDCn11eRWF2ui1mVGPCOO/view?usp=drivesdk. The problem with loading of videos is only in the screen where all cameras are shown. If I tap a particular camera to view only one at a time, it loads quick. And this problem is seen only in iOS, not on Android, the T3, or the on screen interface on the TV.