We are a Control4 dealer, and I have to say they have come a long way from their humble beginnings. As in integration product for a residential project, there isn't much you can't do. And name a lighting control product that does everything Control4 does that costs as little as it does. I even love my little in-car FOB that I've programmed to toggle my front door light, turn all the lights on or off, and a little welcome home scene that has some lights on, and turns on one of my favorite DirecTv music stations.

I like C4 for what it is. I am getting used to its limitations. My biggest gripe, and I am sure I am not alone, is the inflexible GUI. I cannot even put a "3D" button on the remote.....well I can....if I map it to the * or # button. I cannot relabel buttons on the TP interface, which can be annoying.

We moved our touchpanel business to On Controls and iDocx from URC. Most of the stuff that On Controls is doing, nobody else is doing. Or if they are RTI, does one, URC does another etc. We are using URC for hard button remotes and On Controls for everything else. It programs very easy.

Things On Controls is doing that no one else does:

Universal Delays. You can set your delays to say .5 seconds. Then everytime you build a macro it adds a .5 second delay between each command.

Cloud Sync'd. The clients file is saved on the cloud. If the client get a new iPad/iPhone or Android, they just download the app, and sync to the cloud. No file to worry about backing up. It's always there.

Remote Access. YOu can modifly a clients programming remotely.

Web App. There is no need for software to program On Controls. You go to mycontrolbuilder.com and design your template. This allows you to use a Mac, PC, or Linix. You can also use the clients computer or a hotel lobby computer if you are in a pinch.

Android, Apple, and Amazon. Their App works on Apple and Android.

Replace Devices. You have a ability to very easily change your programming. For example, when the codes for each device are entered into the Database, they try to keep them similar to each of the competing device. For example, if you client is changing from a Denon to Integra receiver, click replace devices, and it puts the integra commands in the exact same location as the denon commands. Macros and all. This allows you to cut and paste to make a multi-zone system in minutes. Sometimes you have to do a little tweaking to make sure the commands are right, but it works very well, and saves me a ton of time.

Modular control modules. All of their control boxes are modular. For example, if you need 6 IR ports, and one RS232, you just buy one IR box and one RS232 box. You dont have to buy a box that has all kinds of ports just to get RS232. Also IP control is native to the network.

Gestures. You can assign commands to gestures. for example, when we set a system up, while holding the ipad landscape, you have all of your normal GUI buttons. When you rotate the iPad to portrait, you then activate gestures. This allows you to swipe right to fast forward, then double tap to play. this makes operating the DVR and going to through commercials very easy. This is very usable, and any of my clients that had a touchpanel previously love this feature. I had a guy who took his elan panel to the exercise room, and the FF button was so small, he could never hit it while running on his elliptical. Now he takes his iPad, and swipes the screen to FF...he freaking loves it.

I have been using On Controls along side RTI, URC, and C4 with dual plug emitters.

They are going to be having a new GUI coming out soon too, and they are always adding new features.

If you guys have any questions in regards to On Controls, let me know. I have about 30 systems under my belt.

Mike

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LoL, Having not any experience with C4, is this true?

I do know when we visit the Aria in Las Vegas that the in-room C4 is what I would call mis-programmed. One has to navigate back to a specific screen to execute a TV OFF command/macro.

A control system is only as good as the person controlling it.

I do know when we visit the Aria in Las Vegas that the in-room C4 is what I would call mis-programmed. One has to navigate back to a specific screen to execute a TV OFF command/macro.

You've been very vocal here and elsewhere about how well OnControls works for integrating stuff together. I'm tempted to try it out just because you're so adamant that it works so well. We bid a job against it last year and won, opting to use C4 instead. I'm thinking it should be pretty easy to pull together some JAP for video matrix, RR2 for lighting, maybe a Russound/Nuvo DA system with RS232 control for audio? Is there a good place to do some additional reading? What have you pulled together in the system you (I assume) have at home?

Very very cool. So when you integrate this with URC, those two systems don't "know" about each other? You program them both independently, and then whether you pickup your iPad or the URC remote, both can work the system?

I've had great luck with Bitwise Controls. They are very reliable and stable, they have good tech support, they hit a good price point, there are no device license fees and the available template packages are great.