Just got the email! interesting acquisition, Makes sense though!

Very interesting. No doubt to help make BakPak a more powerful tool.

I do like what C4 is doing with acquiring established companies to help them build up and improve divisions within the company. They decided to improve their internal driver development, so they acquired the best driver development company at the time in Extra Vegetables. They decided to bring networking “in house”, so they bought Pakedge. They decided to improve their amplification and speaker mix, so they bought Triad.

All good as long as one believes in complex control and monitoring systems that introduce additional points of failure. I have put down that Kool-Aid. A great way to sell more stuff, but is this what people really need and want? Just asking.

Conversely, there are clearly a bunch of companies (Axius, OVR, and now this) that want to be the 21st equivalent of monitored security. I'm not clear if it's a good move to make a typical home so technically complex that it requires paid 24x7 off-site monitoring in order to function properly?

My guess is to obviously make BakPack more powerful, but to also have even more indepth overview of the systems in place in the house, therefore lowering the cost of tech support on C4s end.

My guess is also kill the monthly fee of ihiji and make it an even better proposition for 4site.

You think there's a choice?
Clients demand uptime and throughput. Understanding that Netflix comes from the internet, and they (or someone) pays for it monthly, isn't a concept they care to concern themselves with. "I just want to watch a movie."

We've all had the "What's your Netflix account login?"..."I don't know my son set it up."

But here we are. Installing dozens of entertainment devices, IoT that all want WiFi, everyone with 3 or 4 portable devices, relying on a some ISPs service to make it all work. And we get the call.

He said 'control and monitoring systems', not content delivery. Content delivery needs uptime and throughput. Control systems don't need to be online, or that fast.

In my experience, IP-based control systems have not been better or more reliable.

I read the press release, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out. When they bought Extra Vegetables, there were tremors through the industry, because they removed some of the competition with one administrative decision. Be interesting to see how this plays out.

Most people can and do get along just fine without all the "fluff" we install for a living. :)

IoT is getting straight ridiculous IMHO. None of it is necessary of course. And most of it is pretty useless other than being something else to use up a bit more of your time in a day.

But when you buy fluff, you are going to need fluffers to keep that fluff as fluffy as fluffing possible.

And that, kids, is why Control4 bought Ihiji.

The real question is will C4 ever update those ancient looking remotes? Ugh.

They Dont Need to!

I agree with 3P, they dont need to. It sure makes selling Total Control much easier with those ugly ass dated looking C4 remotes!

what business are you going to be in in ten years?

Because with that opinion it wont be this one.

Fast? not really, but online certainly.


then you are doing them wrong

+1

I think most here are adopting IP control even. I have been doing it reliably and successfully for 2 years now! I avoid IR like the plague. Once you do systems that are IP based IR based systems take forever.

You will put yourself out of business if you don’t do IP and connected Systems. Smartphone control is no longer an options, it’s almost the norm (with a physical remote of course)

LOL... Well, at least we can agree on that. I will definitely be out of the industry in 10 years.

the SR-260 is a nice remote. I wish they would update the custom buttons so you could name them on the remote, but other than that, they are fine.