RyanE Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 The hardest part, if I remember correctly (it was like 7 years ago, I used the HTTP get functions of an IP camera to make it work at the time...), was creating the configuration file for EventGhost. You did most of the mapping there. If I remember correctly, I just named my commands in the config file the same as room commands, then the Control4 driver just sent the room command names. RyanE msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 This is a superb question and I am glad you have raised it again Zaphod! As to why C4 itself hasn't come up with (and provides ongoing support of) a simple little Windows control driver solution is astounding to say the least given the sheer market penetration of Windows and the enthusiasts use of the HTPC never really going away.. and the reasons for that are simple. The ever changing requirements of the home media library and the ability to easily swap in and upgrade graphics cards. The HTPC is the ultimate flexible product. Of course enthusiasts will have one and it is likely enthusiasts will also have something like a Control4 setup in their home... So yes if someone could finally come up with a simple control solution that is robust and works and stays working ie is supported ongoing... that would be awesome! Then maybe AlanC could incorporate it into his XBMC driver? - a bit like he does with the Android/XBMX swap solution. My oh my now that sure would be SWEEEEET! Rock on C4 w Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 The customers don't want it. before you jump down my throat you and the members this form do not represent 99 percent of control4 customers. people don't have Htpcs in their houses they buy streaming devices and they're done with it Sent from my BBB100-1 using Tapatalk RyanE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 30 minutes ago, wappinghigh said: and the reasons for that are simple You are correct WAP, the reasons C4 hasn't created one are very simple. Also why in the WORLD would I want an HTPC? Makes much more sense to have a NAS and external players.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 15 minutes ago, msgreenf said: The customers don't want it. before you jump down my throat you and the members this form do not represent 99 percent of control4 customers. people don't have Htpcs in their houses they buy streaming devices and they're done with it Sent from my BBB100-1 using Tapatalk Dude I know all that! Dude we are all good. Whether or not "the customers" want it... is totally irrelevant. OK? The issue here (as always) is pushing the boundaries. Ya gotta support the enthusiast and early adopters because the filter down effect to the 99% of (other) control4 customers (as you call them) in the end is totally massive... That is just what I don't get about this company.. It's an attitude thing. Anyway. Lets not go there! W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 6 minutes ago, Cyknight said: You are correct WAP, the reasons C4 hasn't created one are very simple. Also why in the WORLD would I want an HTPC? Makes much more sense to have a NAS and external players.... So true. What you say is about a NAS and external players is so true.. So Why would you want a HTPC? Simply because you can push the boundaries... Why do anything? Why get up in the morning? All good dude. W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 No. All companies have limited resources and to focus on what makes money. This won't. Sent from my BBB100-1 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 6 minutes ago, msgreenf said: No. All companies have limited resources and to focus on what makes money. This won't. Sent from my BBB100-1 using Tapatalk Not always. You've got to spend a bit on innovation and early tech to know what's coming next. A few million here is worth a billion later on.. Pity Steve Jobs isn't still around to argue that one Dude. Wait didn't he start Apple tinkering around modding and breaking AT&T overseas calls? What's happened to 'merica? To many lawyers I guess. W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 I'm guessing making a generic Windows driver would not only not make money, it would likely be a support nightmare. Typically Control4 makes drivers for devices that have well-defined protocols. Windows is not such a device. If it was a huge money-maker and had a large demand, a 3rd-party would have made a for-cost driver for it. <sarcasm_mode>It's probably got something to do with the HDMI cabal causing it to not happen, because that would somehow break their model.</sarcasm_mode> RyanE msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 13 minutes ago, RyanE said: I'm guessing making a generic Windows driver would not only not make money, it would likely be a support nightmare. Typically Control4 makes drivers for devices that have well-defined protocols. Windows is not such a device. If it was a huge money-maker and had a large demand, a 3rd-party would have made a for-cost driver for it. <sarcasm_mode>It's probably got something to do with the HDMI cabal causing it to not happen, because that would somehow break their model.</sarcasm_mode> RyanE Here we go again Some of us just do things because we can.. For the challenge and the sheer love of it. If mankind thought about just making money all the time, or "support nightmares" or " large demands" all the time we wouldn't have walked the moon, or made a Tesla. There would be no blockchain/bitcoin and Wall Street wouldn't now be looking at making money out of the next crypto ICO... Cheerio Dude. All good Rock on C4 W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Here we go again Some of us just do things because we can.. For the challenge and the sheer love of it. If mankind thought about just making money all the time, or "support nightmares" or " large demands" all the time we wouldn't have walked the moon, or made a Tesla. There would be no blockchain/bitcoin and wall street wouldn't now be looking at making money out of the next crypto ICO... Cheerio Dude. All good Rock on C4 W So make something. Stop complaining and do something. That's how I started writing drivers. Now it's a profitable business for me Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 22 minutes ago, wappinghigh said: So true. What you say is about a NAS and external players is so true.. So Why would you want a HTPC? Simply because you can push the boundaries... Why do anything? Why get up in the morning? All good dude. W Why put effort in a lesser product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 1 minute ago, msgreenf said: So make something. Stop complaining and do something. That's how I started writing drivers. Now it's a profitable business for me Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk And stop begging others to come up with a solution just for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 10 minutes ago, Cyknight said: And stop begging others to come up with a solution just for you. I aint begging anyone to come up with anything dude. I aint complaining either.. I simply said a Windows driver would be awesome and sweet.. It's you guys with all the negativity here not me dude. (as to why it can't/shouldn't be done.. ) Go back an look at your recent posts. Enough of this already. Over to Zaphod.. Good on him for asking. Rock on C4 W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Wap, your perception of the market is just wrong. Sorry. I **STRONGLY** Guarantee that if you query 100 control4 dealers and ask them the number of questions they get about can you integrate (Apple TV/FireTV/Roku/Chromecast) to how often can you integrate a custom HTPC is like 100:1, meaning they probably, over the last year got hundreds of integrations of streaming devices and maybe 5 - 6 of HTPCs. The world has passed up HTPCs for streaming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 I used to think that an HTPC made sense but everyone has given up on it, even Microsoft after they killed MCE. I did build two of them and they still work quite well. But they are more of a pain in the butt to keep going as it takes futzing around with codecs, etc to get them running initially. Then you have to deal with updates - and occasionally you may have hardware issues like a SSD dying. But they are still the most flexible solution, particularly if you need to use a VPN or other measure to get around geographic restrictions - something that most Americans aren't that familiar with more commonplace for Canadians, Aussies, etc. But you can access any streaming service, don't have to worry as much about spats like the current Amazon vs Google issue, and if you can't get a video to play in VLC or MPC-HC then you won't get it to play anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazybuppie Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 I have successfully integrated with eventghost on a few occasions. Yes, most of the setup time is on the PC side. EG is not user friendly. I would do it for my own home, but probably not for a customer again. However, like everyone else, i have no need for an HTPC anymore. msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walterlara Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 I was able to get my mac controlled by creating a PHP file that would grab variables from an HTTP POST request (using chowmain's driver). Hosting it with my synology and enabling ssh2 php module. You can even use it to reboot servers or anything else that you could otherwise do via terminal. HTTP URL example (will open google.com in default browser): <your webhost>/cmd.php?ip=<ip of controlled computer>&user=<remotely controlled computer's username>&pass=<password>&cmd=open%20google.com The commands need to get encoded, which can easily be done by typing the entire command normally into chrome and having it encode it for you, then copy and paste that into the chowmain tcp event driver. PHP file (cmd.php): <?php $connection = ssh2_connect($_GET['ip'], 22); ssh2_auth_password($connection, $_GET['user'], $_GET['pass']); $stream = ssh2_exec($connection, $_GET['cmd']); ?> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walterlara Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 Forgot to mention that you can use this same method with variables. I was able to setup computer notifications for the office this way (even verbal). It's pretty responsive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 Thanks Walter - lots of ways to skin the cat here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 Here is a copy and paste of the window for MCE Connect. Client #2 at IP 192.168.1.253 is my Controller. It appears to be using a different port on the controller when connecting to send each command - I guess that the driver is closing the connection after each command. WIll this cause any issues on the controller like running out of ports or anything like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 It's thinking from left field and I know this is sometimes frowned upon around here but in my opinion the best way to control either a PC or a mac with an "outside control device" is via mouse emulation... Right now for example I am having great success on both platforms using my Steam game controller which was super easy to set up and can be ported between platforms to control the PC then straight onto games.. and of course there are other options like all of the other PC mouse pointer devices and mobile keyboard type devices out there... It is such a pity Control4 doesn't have an option here of a different type of handheld "remote" that switches into "USB dongle mode" to control a PC/mac. But we have all been told they don't cater for people like me who think differently and I accept that it's a commercial decision and all etc just saying it's a pity OK? So I'll just continue to swap between remotes... I mean lets face it aint a big deal really, as you can never quite lock away pretty much any remote for any device, as inevitably you'll have to reach for it sometime to get yourself out of a pickle and this is precisely why I keep saying a C4remote with built in backup IR blaster (or make that bluetooth for you Zaphod) is a bloody good idea - but hey lets not go there because there are folks around here who think the system is a pure as a snow flake, and as perfect and stable and well organised and bug free as a mission control NASA flight to the moon - and that once ya'll have Control4 in you never ever have to use an IR remote ever ever again... Rock on C4 W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 5 minutes ago, wappinghigh said: But we have all been told they don't cater for people like me who think differently and I accept that it's a commercial decision and all etc just saying it's a pity OK? so build it! There are 3rd party hardware companies that integrate with control4. Everything doesn't have to be first party. They have API's, they have partners. Do it! Be a commercial success! RyanE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 10 minutes ago, msgreenf said: so build it! There are 3rd party hardware companies that integrate with control4. Everything doesn't have to be first party. They have API's, they have partners. Do it! Be a commercial success! You never seem to read what I say dude.. (edit So I will go back and bold it for you)... I said I accept it was a commercial decision on Control4s part not to do it man so lay off with your wise crack remarks OK? ... If you mean third party companies that have remotes that integrate with Control4? Awesome.. Who are they? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 Who are these "third party companies"? Who could build a Control4 style remote with the additional functioning I mentioned? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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