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Moved into a Control4 house, nothing works


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12 hours ago, RussDraper said:

Another update:

The system is much better after the dealer came out, whole-house audio works and using the app on my phone is an acceptable replacement for the broken tablets.  I haven't swapped the DirecTV for another media player or anything yet as we haven't had time, so for now we just use the theater and other tv's manually (remote controls).

I finally had a chance to dig around a bit.  Some helpful members here pointed me to how to get around dealer requirement, turns out the software I had needed a patch and now I can at least add devices.  For now I'll spend a little more on adding common light switches into the system, but I don't think I'll be upgrading Control4 much beyond what I have.  I'd upgrade many other things before I would pursue this more I think.  Thanks everyone for your help!

Wow going from getting rid of C4 to adding devices. Sorry but I think I just sh.t myself. Here I was on another post asking help with Epic driver ( none given ) and yet with the help of a forum member who has a PATCH one gets to dump dealer. Don't get me wrong I don't want the PATCH I like my dealer and saved my ass too many times.

"Thanks for your help"  yea

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7 hours ago, prabeau said:

Wow going from getting rid of C4 to adding devices. Sorry but I think I just sh.t myself. Here I was on another post asking help with Epic driver ( none given ) and yet with the help of a forum member who has a PATCH one gets to dump dealer. Don't get me wrong I don't want the PATCH I like my dealer and saved my ass too many times.

"Thanks for your help"  yea

Not sure where the hate is coming from, lets put it in another context: I don't to have to pay to perform simple tasks.  For example I don't want to have to pay a plumber to change an air filter in my HVAC.  I don't want to pay an electrician to plug in devices into outlets in my home.  I don't want to have to pay Comcast to change the channel or when I add a TV.  I don't want to pay C4 to add or change devices.  If I have to pay C4 every time then I would be replacing the system.  If the situation arises where I want to do something complicated or add substantial new functionality then I would potentially be ok with paying for it.  But coming from an environment that did everything that C4 does for no cost to something I have to pay for and have vendor lock-in isn't something I want to do.  If there is some minor cost that might be ok, but it depends on the situation.

C4 is a luxury convenience item, nothing it does is really necessary and can all be done manually.  For me the price point to justify it is probably lower than it is for others here.  I am a technologist, so I have a mindset of being able to do it myself for technology problems and can't justify the expense.  Right now everything that C4 does I had with my old (free) automation system, including an app on my phone.  I understand I am in the minority.  I didn't agree to have my house under someone else's control, the prior owner did.  That agreement ended when he sold the house to me.  If I can keep the system I will, but if it causes headaches I'll take it out.  If I can buy new hardware and add it to my system that is acceptable and I will keep it.

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You are not necessarily in the minority here - most of us on this forum that are end users are geeks and are comfortable doing things themselves. We are very often frustrated by the need for a dealer to do simple things like change your DVD player.  Most of us have given up this fight and have found ways to deal with it, like using an online dealer to remotely add things and then doing the bulk of the programming, etc ourselves. In the past HA was a very dealer-centric market as it was only for high end homes.  But that is changing and even C4 is allowing you to do more on your own - for example I don't think you need a dealer to add an Echo device to your system, or at least not to add Echo functionality for different C4 connected devices.

If you search back you will see that there are dozens of threads on topics like "Why can't I get Composer Pro..."

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RussDraper . . . I don't want to have to pay Comcast to change the channel or when I add a TV.  You most certainly do have to pay Russ, if you want to have Comcast on that added TV.  Cable box sound familiar?!  I understand what you're saying.  There are many end users on this forum that have enough tech savvy in them to integrate what they want (and with a little help from forum dealers, tie the bindings together remotely).  Don't get me wrong, I understand where you are coming from, but don't think that we are all naïve to believe that you're not paying for many services in life.  Being a technologist is great, but what about the many other things in life that you pay for (when you could do it ALL yourself)?  Do you change your own oil, spark plugs, radiator fluid, transmission fluid, brakes?  For some of us, these are simple tasks.  But for others, they would just rather pay and make sure it was done by a professional.  The experience you have in doing your own thing (albeit with a little help, here and there, from us online integrators) will keep your costs in that minor range.  Just be glad you didn't buy a house with Crestron!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/23/2017 at 6:22 AM, GT Slider said:

RussDraper . . . I don't want to have to pay Comcast to change the channel or when I add a TV.  You most certainly do have to pay Russ, if you want to have Comcast on that added TV.  Cable box sound familiar?!  I understand what you're saying.  There are many end users on this forum that have enough tech savvy in them to integrate what they want (and with a little help from forum dealers, tie the bindings together remotely).  Don't get me wrong, I understand where you are coming from, but don't think that we are all naïve to believe that you're not paying for many services in life.  Being a technologist is great, but what about the many other things in life that you pay for (when you could do it ALL yourself)?  Do you change your own oil, spark plugs, radiator fluid, transmission fluid, brakes?  For some of us, these are simple tasks.  But for others, they would just rather pay and make sure it was done by a professional.  The experience you have in doing your own thing (albeit with a little help, here and there, from us online integrators) will keep your costs in that minor range.  Just be glad you didn't buy a house with Crestron!

You hit the nail on the head to my point, the argument is I can CHOOSE to pay or I can CHOOSE do to it myself.  I can change my oil myself, I have done it in the past, but I choose to pay someone.  I can choose to do the car repair work or I can choose to pay someone else.  I don't have to pay Comcast to install the cable box, I just plug it in!

Same thing with C4, but there is no choice, the only other choice is none at all.

This is a long thread for something that is resolved for now.  I am amazed at the backlash from the community (not very welcoming, I have never seen this with any other product/service).  I did pay a dealer to come out and fix things for now, but if it breaks in the future and I cannot fix it, then I will replace it with a DIY solution.  Since that is the only real choice I have and I cannot justify the cost.

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You hit the nail on the head to my point, the argument is I can CHOOSE to pay or I can CHOOSE do to it myself.  I can change my oil myself, I have done it in the past, but I choose to pay someone.  I can choose to do the car repair work or I can choose to pay someone else.  I don't have to pay Comcast to install the cable box, I just plug it in!

Same thing with C4, but there is no choice, the only other choice is none at all.

This is a long thread for something that is resolved for now.  I am amazed at the backlash from the community (not very welcoming, I have never seen this with any other product/service).  I did pay a dealer to come out and fix things for now, but if it breaks in the future and I cannot fix it, then I will replace it with a DIY solution.  Since that is the only real choice I have and I cannot justify the cost.

 

No offence, but with all due respect, thats almost like saying you would replace a reliable truck in need of tuneup or (an engine overhaul) with a smart car while boasting the smart car can tow boats and campers because you have the "skills" to make it happen. You can spend all the time you have gearing a smart car to tow like a truck but you won't get anywhere fast.

 

No one here really has a problem with your opinion of the dealer model. Some of us just aren't able to handle disagreeing with you. When you find a comparible solution to c4 (or better) for next to free (or your budget), and actually works flawlessly please pm me. I will join that forum and make lots of friends and get free or cheap advise and make fun of everyone from the forum that wasted their money on trucks or upgrading them.

 

Sent from my C6906 using Tapatalk

 

 

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38 minutes ago, dcovach said:

No offence, but with all due respect, thats almost like saying you would replace a reliable truck in need of tuneup or (an engine overhaul) with a smart car while boasting the smart car can tow boats and campers because you have the "skills" to make it happen. You can spend all the time you have gearing a smart car to tow like a truck but you won't get anywhere fast.

No one here really has a problem with your opinion of the dealer model. Some of us just aren't able to handle disagreeing with you. When you find a comparible solution to c4 (or better) for next to free (or your budget), and actually works flawlessly please pm me. I will join that forum and make lots of friends and get free or cheap advise and make fun of everyone from the forum that wasted their money on trucks or upgrading them.

No, I am saying IF IT BREAKS.  Right now it is fine, and I will leave it.  But what I have now isn't working flawlessly, it is mostly working but some things are not.  I presume your system does work, because you pay someone to maintain it or install it.  So my equivalent saying is "if this old truck breaks I will replace it with another truck that I can repair myself".

I am comparing it to the previous (free) system I had before.  I had multi-room A/V with automation, lighting control, garage door openers, cameras, security system, voip calls from front door and more.  It was an open-source system called LinuxMCE.  It was entirely setup by myself and there were no dealers for support, only the volunteer developers.  Most people would not go this route, but it was what I was used to and had prior without issue.  So in my case I prefer a system that I can work on myself, as that is what I am used to.

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Understood. All apologies if i responded inappropriately. We could go on and on about this topic but it is what it is.  I'm a dealer but its besides the point.  If linuxmce works for you and you have all hardware and loads of free time to do it, good on ya. I can't begin to imagine how much time you spent on your last sytem and to say it compares to a c4 sysyem.  I get your point about wanting to be hands on. Its fun. If you spend time reading this forum and search for the features you want, you may be impressed and find what all the diy systems are lacking.

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