ILoveC4 Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 I have an EA5 (and several EA1's) that run my rather large project. I'm perfectly happy with system performance. I am very excited about the Apple Music integration. I'm trying to decide between just snagging a CORE1 to add to the project, or replacing the EA5 with a CORE5. If I'm happy with everything now, is there any real reason to replace the EA5? I used to jump to every new controller, but have got off that train and am truly happy with the EA5...but I also don't know what I might be missing. If anyone has any insight, I'd love to hear it. Going to get a new controller ordered today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 At some point the ea5 will be eol and won't get updates. This is first of likely other features that will require a core There are 2 ways to look at this: Get apple music for lowest cost - add a core 1 Plan for the future eol of ea series - core 5 Expect that if you buy the core 1 at some point you will still have to replace the ea5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopedogg88 Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 I would probably just stick with your EA5 for now, unless you need the z-wave radio functionality that is in the CORE 5, or if you needed more audio streams (CORE 5 has 6 outputs vs 4 on the EA-5) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 19 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said: I would probably just stick with your EA5 for now, unless you need the z-wave radio functionality that is in the CORE 5, or if you needed more audio streams (CORE 5 has 6 outputs vs 4 on the EA-5) Thanks, Ari. That's the way I'm leaning. For $15 I can get a DAC and use the Digital out from the Core 1 to add an audio stream. If I do this, I will also offload the OSD (which gets limited use, but some) to the Core 1 to free up that much more compute on the EA5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 23 minutes ago, msgreenf said: At some point the ea5 will be eol and won't get updates. This is first of likely other features that will require a core There are 2 ways to look at this: Get apple music for lowest cost - add a core 1 Plan for the future eol of ea series - core 5 Expect that if you buy the core 1 at some point you will still have to replace the ea5 Thanks, Mitch. I totally agree that the EA5 isn't going to last forever. Just trying to weight the cost/benefit analysis. I've had a Media Controller, HC800, EA5...lots of smaller controllers underneath all of them...I can appreciate that software demands newer hardware at certain points. Being happy with the EA5, I'm thinking I'll run with the EA5 + Core 1 for a bit and hope that I can ride that combo until the NEXT wave of controllers hits. I know the Core controllers are about 18 months old at this point, so probably 50% of the way through their lifecycle. I'm going to run with the Core 1 for now, get a DAC to leverage the digital audio out to my distributed audio system and offload the OSD from the EA5 to the Core 1. msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time2Jet Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 Thanks, Mitch. I totally agree that the EA5 isn't going to last forever. Just trying to weight the cost/benefit analysis. I've had a Media Controller, HC800, EA5...lots of smaller controllers underneath all of them...I can appreciate that software demands newer hardware at certain points. Being happy with the EA5, I'm thinking I'll run with the EA5 + Core 1 for a bit and hope that I can ride that combo until the NEXT wave of controllers hits. I know the Core controllers are about 18 months old at this point, so probably 50% of the way through their lifecycle. I'm going to run with the Core 1 for now, get a DAC to leverage the digital audio out to my distributed audio system and offload the OSD from the EA5 to the Core 1.Core1 has a digital coax output, not just the HDMI like the EA1. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 1 hour ago, ILoveC4 said: Thanks, Mitch. I totally agree that the EA5 isn't going to last forever. Just trying to weight the cost/benefit analysis. I've had a Media Controller, HC800, EA5...lots of smaller controllers underneath all of them...I can appreciate that software demands newer hardware at certain points. Being happy with the EA5, I'm thinking I'll run with the EA5 + Core 1 for a bit and hope that I can ride that combo until the NEXT wave of controllers hits. I know the Core controllers are about 18 months old at this point, so probably 50% of the way through their lifecycle. I'm going to run with the Core 1 for now, get a DAC to leverage the digital audio out to my distributed audio system and offload the OSD from the EA5 to the Core 1. That's a good approach. I sold a few Cores yesterday to customers who made the same decision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 1 hour ago, Time2Jet said: Core1 has a digital coax output, not just the HDMI like the EA1. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Right. So I'll run the that digital output through a DAC and RCA inputs to my distrubuted audio system. So I pickup an audio zone, offload OSD and can get Apple Music. #Winning South Africa C4 user 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 You don't need to do all that. You're existing audio pass out of your EA. 5. Will output the audio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 42 minutes ago, msgreenf said: You don't need to do all that. You're existing audio pass out of your EA. 5. Will output the audio I know that, I just want the additional audio out. msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time2Jet Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 1 hour ago, msgreenf said: You don't need to do all that. You're existing audio pass out of your EA. 5. Will output the audio Let me understand this. If you have a Core platform controller in the project (even as secondary) you can have Apple Music? I don't understand how this all works? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 20 minutes ago, Time2Jet said: Let me understand this. If you have a Core platform controller in the project (even as secondary) you can have Apple Music? I don't understand how this all works? Correct. It does it all via ip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 I was under the impression that a Core controller needed to be the master. ill have to reread the email blast again. But no one I deal with wants Apple Music anyways, so may just let this all play out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 18 minutes ago, lippavisual said: I was under the impression that a Core controller needed to be the master. ill have to reread the email blast again. But no one I deal with wants Apple Music anyways, so may just let this all play out. Nope. Doesn't have to run director Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time2Jet Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 15 minutes ago, lippavisual said: I was under the impression that a Core controller needed to be the master. ill have to reread the email blast again. But no one I deal with wants Apple Music anyways, so may just let this all play out. Was my understanding as well, but @msgreenf has his finger on the pulse of this stuff far more than I do. It's surprising to me from a sales standpoint that they will allow an EA series to stream Apple Music so long as there is a Core platform processor in the project given this is another opportunity to move toward deprecating the EA platform. I did sell a Core 1 today for this exact scenario, but I thought I would be using the Core's digital coax out to the matrix. I feel pretty stupid even though it'll still work the way I sold it. Control4Savant 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 10 hours ago, Time2Jet said: It's surprising to me from a sales standpoint that they will allow an EA series to stream Apple Music so long as there is a Core platform processor in the project given this is another opportunity to move toward deprecating the EA platform. Surprising to some that it's not actually Control4's (or Snap One's, or ADI's) default policy to screw over the customer as early as possible... In all seriousness, in my opinion and experience, Control4 does not (and has not in the past) deprecate things for marketing or sales reasons. The deprecations I've been around for, were mainly technical issues (insufficient ram/flash/CPU/OSD resolution) for new technologies (like Android, or before that, Adobe Flash), parts availability / supply chain issues (especially during / after covid), and 'long tail' support of platforms that, although the controllers themselves could work for years, were too expensive to continue supporting with new OS releases. The EA series will certainly reach that point, as will every other controller series eventually, but fortunately today is not that day. RyanE NOTE: I'm not speaking for the company when I say these things... msgreenf and South Africa C4 user 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control4Savant Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 8 hours ago, RyanE said: Surprising to some that it's not actually Control4's (or Snap One's, or ADI's) default policy to screw over the customer as early as possible... In all seriousness, in my opinion and experience, Control4 does not (and has not in the past) deprecate things for marketing or sales reasons. The deprecations I've been around for, were mainly technical issues (insufficient ram/flash/CPU/OSD resolution) for new technologies (like Android, or before that, Adobe Flash), parts availability / supply chain issues (especially during / after covid), and 'long tail' support of platforms that, although the controllers themselves could work for years, were too expensive to continue supporting with new OS releases. The EA series will certainly reach that point, as will every other controller series eventually, but fortunately today is not that day. RyanE NOTE: I'm not speaking for the company when I say these things... IMO I completely disagree. It was one of the factors considered when I switched preferred lines and has continued to be true the past few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 11 minutes ago, Control4Savant said: IMO I completely disagree. It was one of the factors considered when I switched preferred lines and has continued to be true the past few years. what hardware do you use that has NEVER gone EOL on anything? RyanE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 34 minutes ago, Control4Savant said: IMO I completely disagree. Can you give me a single example of when Control4 deprecated hardware for marketing or sales reasons? RyanE Andrew luecke 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekohn00 Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 32 minutes ago, msgreenf said: what hardware do you use that has NEVER gone EOL on anything? I have this solar calculator that only does simple math. Does that count? RyanE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 my 386 can't run Windows 11...what the hell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 14 minutes ago, ekohn00 said: I have this solar calculator that only does simple math. Does that count? no, but if you tried to do the functions of a TI-83 on it, you wouldn't be able to. Like if you want your EA to keep on doing what it did yesterday it will! But if you want more advanced stuff, you have to upgrade and more advanced stuff takes more resources Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew luecke Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 7 hours ago, Control4Savant said: IMO I completely disagree. It was one of the factors considered when I switched preferred lines and has continued to be true the past few years. The SR250 remotes were released 2010 or earlier and still work. So there is still hardware supported for at least 14 years... Apple only supports their computers for 7 years. Also systems don't suddenly break as a new C4 OS is released. There's still (too) many customers out there with old hc series hardware and hardware with physical knobs. And most drivers written 15 years ago still work (provided you turn logging off) Are you still running host hardware which is no longer supported by Apple and is no longer getting security updates? There are still a lot of customers actually using ancient drivers too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time2Jet Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 I'm not sure the comparisons are fair. Control4 is a luxury home automation platform that requires a significant investment. I mean, I guess you could compare it to a furnace? I opened a can of worms here by mentioning deprecating the EA controllers. What's the reason why an EA series cannot handle Apple Music. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 17 minutes ago, Time2Jet said: I'm not sure the comparisons are fair. Control4 is a luxury home automation platform that requires a significant investment. I mean, I guess you could compare it to a furnace? I opened a can of worms here by mentioning deprecating the EA controllers. What's the reason why an EA series cannot handle Apple Music. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk As bas been previously stated it can't decrypt the apple encrypted steam. Apple music is the only service that encrypts its streaming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.