Are any professional installers here familiar with Control4? I have been seeing a lot about them lately in CEPro and they are a sponsor at CEDIA this year. They have some great IDEAS on their website but no hardware to be found at all. www.control4.com

Same old, Same old. Doesn't look exciting, just one more product that you have to use predetermined product and a predetermined set of logic. Whoopy! But then again the website is just vague enough where I wouldn't have any idea.

But have you all seen the article in CEPro? This is the new compnay from the founders of PHAST. They claim that this is an open architecture IP based system and make some pretty bold claims that they were amazed at how little had been done with home automation since they left and went to the hospitality industry. The reason you see no products yet is that CEDIA is supposed to be the main unveiling and has at least got my interest peaked.

Yup, if you check out the management bio on their website there are some pretty potent people there that could do a lot for this trade if they hit the nail on the head. I think one of their big points is that Crestron and AMX both have a huge stake in the corporate level where as Control4 will start off hitting the residential segment. That combined with the latest IP based technology, this sounds very promising. Hopefully they get some talented industrial designers in there to make the hardware residential (ie. wife) friendly. They best thing they could do is is make the programming as simple as possible. I don't want to have to learn another language to provide my customer with a bullet proof control system that is easy enough for the mother-in-law to operate. See you at CEDIA!

Excuse me for being negative but aren't these the same guys that almost destroyed AMX and made Crestron the defacto market leader in control technology?

Believe what you wil about PHAST... Fact of the matter is is that it was WAY ahead of its time, and released WAY too early. The products that are left in the AMX lineup (Except for the DMS keypad) are all great stable products now. I've heard some real good things about control4 so far, and will definatly look at it, but I just dont feel IP control is ready for Prime Time right now.

My criticism wasn't of the current AMX but of the Phast version of it. I think these guys are great at marketing but I would hesitate, to say the least, to be an early adoptee of their product.

Todays Landmark Hardware (PLBAS-8, AS16, CF-10, IR Cards, etc etc etc) is the same as it was 7 or so years ago. THey had major Software/Firmware issues.

I agree that it was a catastrophe, and I agree that this new system looks cool... But so did PHAST when it cameout. I'm going to wait a while before getting excited.

You guys are kind of getting right to my point. Wouldn't you prefer a system that is built from the get-go for today's standards? Something designed out of the box for residential use? Something that you can learn in about a weeks worth of training or even better a 8 hour seminar at CEDIA? I guess I'm still making assumptions about Control4, but I have high hopes. I would rather learn a programming language that I may already have a little understanding of based on HTML and IP protocols and something that haas a much better chance of making it's way into the future of our business - you may not be too confident in IP right now Impaqt, but no doubt you can appreciate it's movement into current and future hardware configurations. IP protocols built into A/V will bring forth a set of standards that IT professionals have been using for, what, 15 years? Wouldn't you prefer to run Cat-5 through out the house with RJ-45 terminations at the interface and head ends? How about retro-fits? WiFi sure can save a hell of a lot of labor running wires into existing homes. But still, I am also skeptical about a new company coming in and challenging AMX, Crestron and ELAN. Can they possibly provide the braun, the technology, the marketing and most importantly the support these companies have worked so hard to maintain? I would definitely be afraid to make the commitment with Control4 over the other guys. Point is simply that I'm ready for a standards based system that is easier to program and consumer (homeowner) friendly. If you consider all the implications of an IP based system and all the advantages it offers across the board, time, materials, manpower, UI, remote log-in, etc, it's hard not to get excited for the future IP holds for us.

Please dont put Elan in the same sentence with Creston and AMX. They dot begin to compare. When your touchpanels selections are ONE, and your interface design is propretary off the shelf graphix, its really not a control system.. Its a glorified remote control.

The other thing I wanted to say is this... About 2 years ago, I put a lot of support into "The future of IP control is here today and it is Xplore"!!!!!!!! I worked clodesly with them, pushed the product, loved the product, and even installed a couple systems.

But when it came down to integration, programmings, and maintinence, there was a lot to be desired. SUre I could program the user interface design in Flash, but the integration into the control box was very hush hush for some reason and therefore I could NOT go in and make minor revisions to IR drivers, Conditional events, or logic. This was unacceptable to me, and today, Xpore is gone....(No, I'm NOT saying I had anything to do with that part of it.... But I would gather I'm not the only one who wanted more control of my programming)

I havent seen much change on the COnsumer side of the industry over the past 2 years in regards to IP integration. The only thing we really have that utilizes IP are Music Servers. Integra/Onkyo have an ethernet port that doesn not support control of the Receiver.... B&K has an ethernet shaped RS232 port.... Sony Has Ethernet on their $30k Qualia 004 Projector and thats about it.......

The AMX systems I'm installing today play very nicely with IP Control, with the products available today,and the stuff that will cme along tomorrow no doubt. and I plan on sticking with this tried and proven technology until someone proves to me that I cant do something I need to do.

LOL sorry about the Elan thing - you're right :)

Have any of you looked at a company called Homelogic.
They already do what Control4 is claiming. The system is easy to use. The interface is slick. Best of all there isn't any programming involved. It makes Premise Systems look like a calculus exam. They even have these small devices called Edge Bricks which control lighting, HVAC, and security. The setup time is literally 10 minutes.

I would think that everybody should be very careful about wanting control without any programming knowledge and that will be a breeze to put together. If it sounds to good to be true, than it is. If there is no programming involved by you, than there is programming involved by somebody else, which dictates what products you end up integrating and how they think things should be controlled, which is almost never right for your end user.

The industry is changing. Its not about the gear my friend its about the service. The gear is only the platform to which you sell your services.

wow.... That was freakish.... I remeber Dan Kippycash saying the EXACT same thing. Xplore was selling Set it up and go systems where I could not easily go back into the program and make adjustments and additions.....

They are now gone....

I will not deal with another system like that....