Jshap1 Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 This is my first post in this forum and I have had my Control 4 system for six years now. I really liked the system at first but have felt stuck over the past year or two in terms of functionality. My installer has told me that I am unable to update to the newer versions of the programing. I'm looking for thoughts and opinions on the best steps to start enjoying my system again. I currently run the HC800 with 4 six button keypads and most of the house on the control 4 lighting 4,300 sq ft). We also run two TV setups with 5.1 audio and two channel speakers in 3 other rooms. In addition I run the climate with two Control 4 thermostats and the security system. I have been told that I am out of space on my current setup and would need to add equipment to handle more functionality. We recently finished our basement and have added another TV with 7.2 audio and a second zone with one TV and two channel speakers. No lighting controls in the basement. The receivers we use for the control 4 system are two Sony DA2800ES which have built in Control 4 functionality. My dealer told me that these receivers are part of my problem in updating the system (not sure if this is true). We also run a Control 4 four zone amplifier. The music is run through two separate Sonos boxes one for upstairs and one for down stairs. I would like to start to scale the system up but am having a hard time understanding what my current constraints are. Any help or thoughts are much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonic30101 Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 If you give up the control ports on the receivers then you can just use them as regular receivers and change the drivers and upgrade to the current OS version. Depending on what is connected to them you may need a c4 controller, an IOX, zigbee2IR to control any devices connected to them for serial or IR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronlonnborg Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 Sound like that guy trying very hard to update ya to EA stuff. I am currently running 10.2.5. 1 HC800 and 2 HC250. I use ROKU for my 4K to TVs. And have a Pioneer 4K receiver for Surround sound. I have the HC audio output going to my 4 rooms thru a Niles 12 channel amp. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronlonnborg Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 Oh yeah, the old HC1000 is now a media serve for all my MP3 and 4K movies. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert C8 Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 Hang on a bit more T4 touch screens coming out with Alexa and C4 are testing 3.0 which HC250 will not be able to run its like buying a new car with C4 at the present time - change is a coming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokead Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 21 hours ago, ronlonnborg said: Sound like that guy trying very hard to update ya to EA stuff. I am currently running 10.2.5. 1 HC800 and 2 HC250. I use ROKU for my 4K to TVs. And have a Pioneer 4K receiver for Surround sound. I have the HC audio output going to my 4 rooms thru a Niles 12 channel amp. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk i agree. I'm running HC800 as my primary with a 250 and EA1 on the latest OS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jshap1 Posted November 9, 2019 Author Share Posted November 9, 2019 I had a Control 4 Pro dealer come out and review my situation. He confirmed that the Sony receivers are my problem to getting upgraded to the current OS. He recommended a Control 4 C4-EA5-V2 ($2,140.55). My question to the board is what controller should I go with to take that functionality out of the Sony receivers? Can I go with EA1 or do I need EA5? What is the difference between the two? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSTRONG Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Difference between the controllers are as folllows EA1 Usually a 1 room controller EA3 for 3-5 rooms with 3 stream of audio EA5 Whole home controller with 5 Streams of audio https://www.control4.com/solutions/products/controllers/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 The Controllers at the moment are a issue as the EA Controllers are out of date - Just 720p Video out put If you can wait until January/ February we could see new controllers This only a guess I would buy a HC800 ON EBAY until everything is sorted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSTRONG Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 But what video are you playing from the ea controller ? msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Video front my CCTV Cameras That's why we have stayed with a HC800 The EA5 is over priced for old Tech We have 4 T3 Touch Screens Which show all our Cameras Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Video front my CCTV Cameras That's why we have stayed with a HC800 The EA5 is over priced for old Tech We have 4 T3 Touch Screens Which show all our Cameras And not watching security cameras at 1080p is a must? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KWD Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 5 minutes ago, msgreenf said: 15 minutes ago, Gary Leeds UK said: Video front my CCTV Cameras That's why we have stayed with a HC800 The EA5 is over priced for old Tech We have 4 T3 Touch Screens Which show all our Cameras And not watching security cameras at 1080p is a must? I've upgraded mine to 8K so I can do a daily mosquito census to know when to respray my property. Maybe they have a fly problem? Neo1738, msgreenf, crazybuppie and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSTRONG Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 My Security cameras look great on the little 7 and 10" touch panels. When we want to see high quality detail, we will turn on the TV's and display the video from the NVR I would suspect most would use a monitor or the TV when they need more detail then the little touch panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 I've upgraded mine to 8K so I can do a daily mosquito census to know when to respray my property. Maybe they have a fly problem?ROFL. On a t3 you won't be able to tell 720 from 1080 from 4k or 8k...it's just trying to keep up w the number game crazybuppie and JSTRONG 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSTRONG Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Exactly right. Its a little 7" touch panel! Its not meant to watch video on it. A quick glance to see who is at your front door maybe.. msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Love the reply's - NVR is something you look at every now and again Camera Jump to TV from a C4 TRIGGER straight away is useful. Hence why buy a EA when a HC800 works with a 3.1 T3 Shows all video at glance unlike the EA Controllers Just old tech Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Not really thou. All the audio circuitry is newer and supports hi res on ea but not hc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jshap1 Posted November 11, 2019 Author Share Posted November 11, 2019 I already have HC800. I need an EA as the controllers I have are embedded into my receivers. Since those receivers can't be updated I need a controller that gets me to the new OS or my system is pointless. I don't care about the video resolution as I run everything out of the receiver which supports 4K. Does anyone know how difficult it is to program the controller for my system? Or what kind of programing would be needed to eliminate the controller from the receivers and use the EA unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 1 hour ago, Jshap1 said: I already have HC800. I need an EA as the controllers I have are embedded into my receivers. Since those receivers can't be updated I need a controller that gets me to the new OS or my system is pointless. I don't care about the video resolution as I run everything out of the receiver which supports 4K. Does anyone know how difficult it is to program the controller for my system? Or what kind of programing would be needed to eliminate the controller from the receivers and use the EA unit. Isn’t the hc800 enough? Do you need extra controllers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BraydonH Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 You can keep the HC800. It still works great on OS 3.1 - I still have one at my own house. You will need to get rid of any HC-250s, Old touch Panels, and swap the driver for the sony recievers. You may need an IOX, Z2IO or another controller to control things now that the receivers arn't going be be able to do that. Upgrading to an EA5 is a good idea, but don't think that you HAVE to buy an EA5. Your HC800 is still suporrted and will work fine. Now for how much longer will the HC800 be supported is unknown, but as of today its fine. Heck I bet the HC800 IR outputs aren't even being used and if you really got a craft dealer he could likely splice IR out of the HC800 to a Cat5 cable in the room and upgrade the system with little to no extra hardware required. maybe not though. Have them run the OS3 Updater and give you the OS3 upgrade Report generated from Composer. That should clearly outline what products you have that are no longer supported. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jshap1 Posted November 12, 2019 Author Share Posted November 12, 2019 Good suggestions BraydonH. I am still a bit confused on my system as I have the HC800 but don't have any HC-250s. I believe I didn't need them as a version of it is built in to my Sony ES receivers. I'm looking for the best option to update my system to the new OS3 and can't do it since the technology in my receivers is no longer supported. It sounds like I can still get the OS3 with my HC800 which is great. I believe I need to deactivate the controller in the receivers and add a controller to take over that functionality at each receiver. One of the receivers is on my main rack and the other is in a different location in the bedroom. The proposal I received was to add an EA5 to the main rack and an EA1 in the bedroom location by the standalone receiver. Does this make sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 2 hours ago, Jshap1 said: The proposal I received was to add an EA5 to the main rack and an EA1 in the bedroom location by the standalone receiver. Does this make sense? Yes, though you could push to keep the HC800 and not get the EA5. Note that you would loose: -Onscreen on the HC800 (may or may not impact you -Audio quality for distributed audio (no HD audio on HC800 outputs - whether that is important to YOU is another matter). And this wouldn't be a 'hard' upgrade. A little time consuming to get the firmware on the Sony receivers if memory serves, though you could see if you can do this yourself (not sure mind you!) and kill off some sitting around labor cost. Adding the EA1 is little effort, but depending on the location you may need a network switch (as you now have to feed the receiver and the EA1) and an HDMI to feed the EA1 into the receiver. Oh and maybe a powerbar if it's full at the location.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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