thecodeman Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 The touchscreen offerings by C4 are their weakest link in my opinion. I really like their software, controllers are awesome, good lighting solutions, etc.. I think they should scrap the mini touch, take the screen out and make a killer touchscreen thermostat or something out of the leftovers. Maybe having a 3rd party do the touchscreens would be better.x10000000000000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Touchscreens for PCs are becoming more prevalent so the price will drop. The Asus Eee Top is an all-in-one PC with a touchscreen that could work as a fixed C4 controller and the cost is less than $500 before software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C4 4 Me Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 The iPhone application is great, and as others have stated, is a better interface than any of the touchscreens C4 has done. I use it over both WiFi and 3G, and have never had any issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil12011 Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Keep in mind folks, when I give my opinions, it certainly doesn't speak for the masses or Control4. Yes we are dealers, but I also have Control4 in my own home and interact with it everyday. So I try to give some real world experience and what "I" would consider buying for myself. My setup HAS to work, and I would not settle for less regarding a customers home. That being said, the touchscreens are probably the only thing I have experienced signifigant issues with. I only have a MTS V1 at my place and happen to like it alot. It's in the kitchen and the Mrs. plays music and whatnot while she's in there. Even though it's given me fits, it's been one of the more problematic pieces I've had. Maybe I'm just a SR250 kinda guy, I love my remotes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Disclaimer: These are only my views, and I don't speak for the company.There sure are a lot of opinions about how Control4 should run their own company. Most of you are coming from quite a different perspective than a great majority of end users (or even many dealers) of the system. For dealers, the #1 thing they want to do is to get the system installed, and then have the system 'just work'.Mini-touches, despite being a bit 'long in the tooth', once they're installed, *for the most part* they just work. Yes, the v.2 mini-touch more so than the v.1. That said, I only have v.1 mini-touches at my house, and they do 'just work'.Wired touchpanels are solid, and are always *exactly* where you expect when you're looking for one. They're never lost, they're not easily broken since they're in the wall.I love the SR-250, and use those more than anything else when controlling the system, but a dedicated touchscreen still has a place in Control4's product line, and I suspect will for a long time.Unfortunately, for you to get to decide those things, *YOU* need to start the company and then you get to make the big decisions. Control4 is run by some extremely smart people. They're well aware of the tradeoffs of the current product offering, and IMHO will continue making the decisions that are best for the company.RyanE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I respect what you are saying Ryan but smart people from smart companies will listen to their customers and are willing to admit to mistakes and change the direction of the company when necessary. IBM is no longer really a company that is driven by making computer hardware - they are primarily a services company now.And then there are the folks that run companies like GM... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 One of the reasons I believe that the management of Control4 is good is because they *do* listen to customers. They're aware of issues with the product line, and I believe will continue to address them.RyanE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Good - here is a comment from one customer.LOOSEN UP A BIT AND LET USERS BUY A FULL COPY OF COMPOSERRELEASE VERSIONS OF NAVIGATOR FOR: PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry, etc.MAKE IT EASY TO FULLY COMMUNICATE INFORMATION BETWEEN C4 CONTROLLERS AND OTHER COMPUTERS SO THAT CONSUMERS CAN WRITE C4 ADD-ONSThat is all (for now)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipatlanta Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 As a businessman and an end-user of the product, I'm perplexed by Control4's strategy.I suspect the company sees itself as a hardware company, but yet they have a stranglehold on the software? Why not open up the software completely to 3rd party developers? Why not let end-users that want to dabble purchase full versions of Composer? You'd obviously sell a lot more hardware. As a dealer (I'm not), I'd favor that strategy as well - the products would get more exposure and more marketshare and let's face it - designing, installing and supporting a home automation system is something 95% of the public would go to a dealer to handle anyway - even if the end-users could do it all (with a saleable version of Composer). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 As a businessman and an end-user of the product, I'm perplexed by Control4's strategy.I suspect the company sees itself as a hardware company, but yet they have a stranglehold on the software? Why not open up the software completely to 3rd party developers? Why not let end-users that want to dabble purchase full versions of Composer? You'd obviously sell a lot more hardware. As a dealer (I'm not), I'd favor that strategy as well - the products would get more exposure and more marketshare and let's face it - designing, installing and supporting a home automation system is something 95% of the public would go to a dealer to handle anyway - even if the end-users could do it all (with a saleable version of Composer).I agree with you completely, but let's PLEASE not beat on this drum again....All it will do is spark major arguements and controversy about why end users should and shouldn't have it, and it is all just a big headache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Philipatlanta,Are you a businessman in the Home Automation / Custom Electronics arena?You're certainly welcome to your opinion, and there have been several companies that have tried exactly that route... open it up, put the product into wide distribution and allow end users to configure their own.Some of them are no longer around (including one who even had *print literature* that was nearly a direct rip-off of Control4's -- Stock photos that nearly matched, same color scheme, brochure layout the same, product line very similar, etc.). I think the main reason (IMHO) is that they couldn't get the exposure they hoped, because their product was not well enough known for retailers to pick up, and dealers would not pick it up because they allowed the end user to install, cutting out the dealers.It's a fine line, and although Control4 does listen to it's customers, complaining and suggesting to Control4 on these forums to change it's basic business model is pretty much irrelevant.I'm done with this topic. Feel free to rant on in my absence.RyanE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stantheman Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Hello, could someone tell me if there is in fact a 30day trial period for the control4 ui for Ipod. What is the procedure to aquire the trial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Hello, could someone tell me if there is in fact a 30day trial period for the control4 ui for Ipod. What is the procedure to aquire the trial.There is a 30 day trial. Your dealer needs to install the driver in your project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stantheman Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Thanks Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
club411 Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Seeing it in action the iphone app blows the 10.5 and the 7" away. Like 3x as fast and always on you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedi7001 Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 I fought it and fought it.....ended up purchasing the application and wish I would have done it sooner. It makes the C4 experience all that much better. Now if C$ would just allow 2 iPhones under one license, my wife could use it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdvr Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 I understand your feelings, but that is not a Control4 decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tebery Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 Once you have one license, you can't get the 30 day free trial on a 2nd phone. I wanted to see if my wife would use it, before I purchased a 2nd one. Oh well, she will have to do without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stantheman Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Question, I have the iphone app but I'm having a problem when I try to identify, I get an error message, Unable to authenticate this device with your home automation system. Please verify that you have a valid Control4 License for this product. Dealer has added driver I see it in composer he, should there also be a license under subscriptions in 4sight? I wanted to try out the 30 day trial license..Any suggestions.Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecodeman Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Question, I have the iphone app but I'm having a problem when I try to identify, I get an error message, Unable to authenticate this device with your home automation system. Please verify that you have a valid Control4 License for this product. Dealer has added driver I see it in composer he, should there also be a license under subscriptions in 4sight? I wanted to try out the 30 day trial license..Any suggestions.ThanksYes, the key needs to be added in the subscriptions page on 4sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stantheman Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Ok, I added the key in 4sight but still same message, I also rebooted controller still same mesage. I can see controller in iphone app, ip address, navigator version 2.3 still unable to identify. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stantheman Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Got it,,,working fine now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonian Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I've had the iPhone app for a few months now and absolutely LOVE it. I think it's the best way to interface with the C4 system. It's snappy and responsive. As for battery life, I just bought the Griffin PowerDock 2 for $25 and put several of those around the house. So it sits on my end table while I'm watching TV. My dealer wanted to sell me the 10" touchscreen, but that just makes absolutely no sense to me. The iPhone/iTouch is smaller, but I can get on the internet, check mail, play games, use apps, etc...And with the Apple Slate/Tablet hopefully being announced Wednesday.....THAT would be AWESOME! Now that would be a 10" controller I'd be happy to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob323 Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 :(Perhaps I got swindled but I downloaded the C4 app on my iPhone from the Apple Store for free (so far, so good). Then I learned that in order to 'authenticate' my iPhone as a UI device to my C4 system, I had to 1) buy a C4/iPhone 'authentication' license for $300 and 2) call the Geek squad out to enter whatever info they have to enter to link the iPhone to my C4 Director and the license (not so good). However, for three weeks or so I got really hooked on the C4 app. The iPhone app is VERY good, performance is great and I didn't experience any iPhone/C4 interference/performance issues at all. But then ..., I dropped my iPhone on the pavement last week and shattered the screen, took it to BestBuy for repair where I have a Geek Squad Black Tie Protection contract for the iPhone and had it repaired - or at least I thought I did! BestBuy actually replaced my iPhone with a refurbished iPhone which was ok until I discovered that the refurbished phone wouldn't work with my C4 system - i.e., it wouldn't 'authenticate'. (Seems I've been here before, huh?). In any event, when I called to schedule a Geek Squad repair/reinstall for the refurbished iPhone, I was told - 'sorry, it's C4's policy that since the $300 authentication license is tied to a specific (and only one specific) iPhone, you'll have to buy another $300 license for the refurbished phone'! (Yes, they really did tell me that!). I've now escalated to BestBuy who's, in turn, escalating to C4 to waive the authentication license fee for the refurbished phone. I'll post the results of that escalation once I know the outcome.Question: Has anyone else run into this C4/iPhone 'authentication license' issue and, if so, were you able to reach acceptable resolution? This policy makes no sense to me as a consumer and is one of the most user UNfriendly policies I've ever experienced! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 That is not the case. You can transfer the license to a different phone.You just have to 'un-identify' the phone with the driver in Control4, and identify with the new phone.It does involve a dealer, but you should not have to purchase a new license.RyanE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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