alanchow

Zappiti update is now complete. Made some last minute additions so that the experience is better than ever.

MAJOR UPDATE Version #20200424 - 24-APR-2020 ⦁ Grid View ⦁ Cover art support in Grid View and List View ⦁ Added Favoriting support (only in grid view) ⦁ Added ability to programatically select movie through composer programming ⦁ Changed Red, Green, Yellow and Blue commands to be programmable. ⦁ Removed Zappiti logo from missing artwork ⦁ Added 'Auto Room Select' functionality. This will allow end user to utilise Zappiti app to select media and have the driver automatically turn the room on upon detection of playback. ⦁ Added 'Room Off After Seconds' functionality. This will allow end user to utilise Zappiti app to select media and have the driver automatically turn the room off x seconds after the state changes from playing to stopped. ⦁ Fixed Page Up & Page Down (Zappiti API is incorrect) ⦁ Added Home command (its an undocumented API call) as mappable button ⦁ Changed driver to send BACK command and HOME command on OFF. This will resolve issues where it may be in menus which have music playing in the background.

Yep. Update the driver and you’ll be fine.

MAJOR UPDATE You asked for it and here it is. Chowmain's Ultimate #Hikvision driver for Control4 has been upgraded to support cameras connected directly to NVRs with live stream support, PTZ controls, events such as motion detection, native Control4 push notification snapshots and more!https://www.chowmainsoft.com/hikvision-control4

Chowmain - FREE Blustream ProMatrix Driver for Control4 The Custom Pro 4K Matrix achieves new levels of both performance and flexibility. AV installers can now easily specify their desired I/O structure and choose the additional control features required for a specific AV project. The Custom Pro Matrix has been specifically designed to operate in challenging AV environments. Its robust housing and interlocking board configuration make both installation and maintenance a seamless experience. Advanced optional features include audio breakout, simultaneous HDBaseT / HDMI outputs, RS-232 pass through, and a web browser interface module for enhanced control and configuration. Features IP / RS232 communications Full two way feedback. Full matrix switching Two way volume control / feedback EDID manipulation Audio source control FAQ What products will this work for? This driver is designe to work specifically with the 16x16 Blustream Pro Matrix. How do I find out more information about the driver? Please see the links below for more information about the driver. Chowmain Website How do I buy the driver? This driver is free of charge Who do i contact for technical support? This driver is supported by Blustream

Honestly if you want to make a 1:1 image then Win32DiskImager will work https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/ It won't expand the filesystem should you use a bigger SD card. Note you'll need to open up your HC-250 to access the SD Card. By doing so you do so at your own risk and any damage is on you.

Also worth noting is that you can rescue these controllers if they fail as the controllers have built in redunancy to flash the OS back to the factory state. As such having a backup of the project is the most important thing to do at a minimum.

The 1GB SD cards fail over time so its a good idea to upgrade them to at least a 2GB one. DD the SD card and expand the file system and you'll be good.

I know it can play files from a NAS but why would you want to zip / rar them? Anyway its probably something you should ask Zappiti themselves as i have only been using their products on our test bench. http://zappiti.com/support.html

Chowmain - FREE Venstar ColorTouch Driver for Control4 The Venstar ColorTouch is a high resolution digital thermostat with a full color touch screen display. The new ColorTouch has built in Wi-Fi. Now it's even easier for you to control your comfort and save money on energy use from anywhere in the world - even your couch. The ColotTouch allows you to install your own pictures to use as the thermostat's background. Manage your pictures and other settings using our ColorTouch Desktop App thus allowing you to turn your thermostat into a digital picture frame. Note this driver will only work with wifi enabled ColorTouch models. Features FREE (sponsored by Venstar) Control4 SDDP enabled Driver will auto rename itself to match Venstar’s name. HVAC Modes - Heat, Cool, Auto Fan Modes - Auto, On Error reporting on Navigator Commands - Away Mode - Set mode to Home/Away Events - Home Mode Activated, Away Mode Activated, Error FAQ What cool things can we do with this driver? This driver can also set the thermostat to home or away modes. This driver react to changes in home and away modes. What products will this work for? This driver was developed for the ColorTouch product line but has the same API as other Venstar products. How do I find out more information about the driver? Please see the links below for more information about the driver. Chowmain Website How do I buy the driver? This driver is sponsored by Venstar and is free.

Heres an update as of today. With the additional functionality implemented its my new favorite integrated media player solution for Control4 for local content. Grid View Cover art support in Grid View and List View Added Favoriting support (only in grid view) Added ability to programatically select movie through composer programming Changed Red, Green, Yellow and Blue commands to be programmable. Removed Zappiti logo from missing artwork Added 'Auto Room Select' functionality. This will allow end user to utilise Zappiti app to select media and have the driver automatically turn the room on upon detection of playback. Added 'Room Off After Seconds' functionality. This will allow end user to utilise Zappiti app to select media and have the driver automatically turn the room off x seconds after the state changes from playing to stopped. Sneak peak of grid view and favoriting below.

Probably in a week. Yep. BD 4K ISOs run fine. Check out their website and you can see what they support.

Sneak peak of the next update. Note also supports grid/cover art view but its easier to navigate in list view.

Probably best to post this in the driverworks section of the official dealer forum. https://forums.control4.com/tt.aspx?forumid=98

These are difficult times for everyone. With integrators and customers in lockdown the home automation industry is slowing to a standstill. So how can we make the most of this time? We at Chowmain we have decided to assist by providing additional resources to the industry which includes Driver trial extension increases (from 7 days to 90 days) Integrator Employees - Employees can learn about, test and enjoy our drivers in their home during these periods. Consumers - Integrators can reach out to customers to add value to their home automation system by installing trial versions of our drivers remotely into customer homes so they can live with the drivers for 3 months without any commitment. Staff discounts (from 25% to 50% off) We want to make sure that integrators have the opportunity to get to know our drivers so what better way than providing it at a heavily reduced price for use in their own home. Lists of drivers that can be installed remotely without additional hardware. Advanced Announcements - Chowmain’s Advanced Announcements driver expands the announcement agent by providing integration with web based text-to-speech engines. This gives you futuristic dynamically generated voice notifications over your Control4 system without any additional hardware. Imagine waking up to your home whilst it tells you the weather orhow many phone calls & doorbell presses have happened since you left. Advanced Custom Buttons - The Advanced Custom Buttons app for Control4 T3 Touchscreens and any HTML5 compatible browser features up to 12 custom buttons. Each button can be dynamically labelled through the Control4 programming tab and can provide LED feedback for button state. Call to Prayer - Assists Muslim Control4 home owners who want to program their home for adhan (or azan) - the call to prayer which happens 5 times a day. Contact Us - The Contact Us application for Control4 T3 touchscreens provides dealers with a professional looking contact us page on the T3 touchscreen. You can customise the company logo, company contact details, google map and provide a clickable URL to your company website Event Logging - The simple to use event logging driver stores programmed actions in a file located on the controller. This can be used to monitor the log access to the home, activities within the home, troubleshoot problematic systems and more. This data is viewable via an inbuilt web browser or via a network folder location. Experience Button Suite - The Chowmain Experience Buttons Suite adds various programmable pulse/toggle/radio buttons to Control4 for use under the Watch, Listen, Security, Comfort and Services menus. Find my Remote - This simple driver will add a button to your Control4 touchscreen which when pressed will make your SR-250 or SR-260 remote beep. Notitication Suite - Chowmain's Notification Suite of drivers offers 3 notification drivers in one package which enhances the way Control4 informs you of events that happen within your home. Drivers include email SMTP, Push Notifications for Windows 10/iOS/Android/PC/Mac/Linux with camera snapshot uploads. Use it for doorbell camera photos, alarm system notifications and more. IFTTT Maker - The swiss army knife of drivers adds two-way IFTTT communications to Control4. Adds Amazon Echo, Push Notifications, SMS's, Phone calls, Tesla, BMW, other connected cars, twitter, emails, facial recognition, geofencing/location and so much more to Control4. Weather Forecast - The Chowmain Forecast.io and OpenWeatherMap drivers brings current weather conditions and 2 day forecasts into Control4 for use in the home automation system via the internet services. This is useful for automating services within the home based upon the external environment without the need for additional hardware. Scheduler - The Scheduler application for Control4 T3 touchscreens provides consumers with the ability to schedule anything in the Control4 system straight from the T3 touchscreen. No expertise is needed!

Its probably best for you to utilise the experience button drivers and program it to fire a preset in programming. Control4 provides a color picker for composer's programming which we utilise to set RGB values. You can utilise groups rather than individual lights for programming multiple lights to work in unison. Again use the above method for the color picker in composer to get exact colors.

This is the reason we have not delved into it. Also there isn't enough demand for us to warrant investing R&D into it unless the manufacturer themselves wants to fund the development.

Yes. Please look at the screen shots for examples.

I didn't say i didn't. I said I can't talk about Mini apps for Zappiti as it depends on Zappitis API roadmap. Also note that you can add network storage to libraries on the system for expansion.

Zappiti has a NAS / Ripper http://zappiti.com/zappiti-nas-rip-4k-hdr.html The 16TB i mentioned is the internal HDD limitation for the 4K mini i have and that is not a limitation of Zappiti in general. I currently have a 500GB hard drive in there (as its just one i use for development). I can't talk about Mini apps for Zappiti as it depends on Zappitis API roadmap. I can say that it is Android based, can run android apps like Netflix and Youtube and has Google playstore on it. Having said that it is not Android TV based.

I agree. We tried to get around it by downloading each individual movie meta data but the larger the database the longer it took (on average of 2 movies per second). Made for a terrible experience. We have given this feedback to Zappiti so lets see if they can solve the problem.

I understand that. We have a Cinema One on our testbench which is both server and client.

I've been testing and developing drivers for media players for the past 15 years now and have come to find some preferences. This all depends on the user though and i'll try to summarise it here. Kaldeiscape Pros Highest quality Easiest to use Highest quality movie store Event feedback is by far the best Server / Client model means that you can have multiple clients access the same library throughout the home. Control4 driver supports library browsing and is smart enough to select the first unused client available in that room Cons Requires seperate server to client Most expensive Bluray discs need to be inserted into a Vault for playback of digital copies (due to legal complications) Zappiti Pros Hardware can playback every codec/container/format i have thrown at it including 4k HDR Bluray ISOs with menu Storage can be on your own NAS or on internal HDD (upto 16tb on the Mini i have) They have a NAS / Ripper if you want something easy to backup your own content. Control4 driver supports library brownsing Cons Navigation through Control4 doesn't provide cover art through menu's (only on individual movie page) - This may change in the future if the API changes to support it. Event feedback is not as detailed as Kodi or Kaleidescape. LIbrary is on the client meaning you have to maintain multiple libraries if you have multiple clients. Kodi Pros Its software so you can install on various forms of supported hardware depending on your requirements! From as low end as a raspberry pi To a high end HTPC Storage can be on your own NAS or on internal HDD. Event feedback is fantastic Control4 driver supports library browsing. Cons Experience can vary depending on hardware it is installed on Requires user to maintain it LIbrary is on the client meaning you have to maintain multiple libraries if you have multiple clients. Plex Pros Its software so you can install on various forms of supported hardware. From as low end as a raspberry pi To a high end HTPC Server / Client model means that you can have multiple clients access the same library throughout the home. Different users can get access to different content as well! Control4 driver supports library browsing. Cons Client / Server model Server needs to be extremely powerful as it needs to transcode content so lower end clients can play it back. As such experience can vary depending on hardware it is installed on Requires user to maintain it Event feedback is not as detailed as Kodi or Kaleidescape. At this point in time my personal preference is Zappiti. If i wasn't invested into Kodi at my own home i would invest in Zappiti myself and will be what i recommend to integrators who want to find a replacement for Dune.

Yep does HDR and Atmos. This sucker has played literally everything I’ve thrown at it. What I do like about this is that it will do TV Shows broken down into Show->Season->Episode as well.

Mhh I wonder how long it takes before they will be in court for that They have escaped from it since they’re based out of Europe.