I plan on using control4 for basically Four room harmony system. With just a few little perks. Ie an ip camera and lock integration. Plus I already have 1080 video distribution setup throughout. I just need it to send a few ir commands here and a few serial commands there. My guests don’t understand hdmi distribution and normally choose to abstain from watching rather than battling to get the right tv on to the right hidden device. I hope the ea-1 can handle this. My dealer says it’s possible to use a single controller with an 8x8 vid matrix, so I hope my setup will satisfy.
ok, well, good luck. How is the ea1 going to handle changing all those sources to the endpoint tv’s? At minimum you will need an ea1 at each endpoint tv and probably an ea 3 or 5 at the hdmi matrix to control all the source inputs.
Unless your dealer is going to have the ea1 as one of the 8 inputs, keep in mind that means only one person can use the control4 UI and will have to switch to the room they are in (pain in the ass)…
Sounds like your dealer really doesn’t understand your needs. But few rarely do.
To control 8 rooms independently and to take full advantages of an HDMI matrix switch (I have one myself) you will need a controller in each room for onscreen UI, or at minimum rs 260 remotes in each room, bound to the room, but will require major programing to dynamically change the room based on which rs 260 is in control of the UI.
I think you are probably heading down a road you are not going to be happy with…
Nope. I’m very well read on the subject. He only spoke of 8x8. I have 4x4. Yes, one input will be ea1. And I’m not exactly looking for independent use. Normally when a second monitor will be on it will mirror a source. As long as they’re aren’t caps on room numbers on the ea 1, thy plus a card access will give me enough ir
Ok. Hope it works out for you… For the price of the CA Zigbee2IR you could put actual 250s (used) in each, but heck even old 200s will work (can get these cheaper than CA devices)… Then get streaming audio, on screen video, etc.
Keep in mind the CA Zigbee2IR is limited to a fixed number of IR commands, and they have to be cached. It’s a great device, when it works…
Can’t wait for 2.9 and the major 3.0 releases coming up, should be some really cool stuff coming down the pipe.
Phew. Honestly I was looking for approval. I think it can handle my basic system.
Sorry for trying to help. Good luck with your basic system.
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I meant that to be sincere.
It sounds like you’re ready for a pretty sophisticated set up, but you want to control costs.
This may sound strange, but one option to consider is simple control (formerly called Roomie remote). It does have a monthly fee, but it’s very low compared to anything from control 4. It’s great at IR and IP control. It doesn’t have anything to directly control Z wave or zigbee, but there is a quite good smart things integration as one of the founders of the company has SmartThings. It might give you more what you’re looking for at a much lower budget provided you’re able to do the set up yourself.
It’s starting to get some really good reviews in tech journals and it’s been out for several years. Might be worth a look. The only thing is that you do you have to have an iOS device to run the app.
CEPro article
Official site:
I don’t think roomie is an option. I don’t believe they support multiple IR locations and I know they don’t sell a physical coffee table remote. I don’t want all guests to have to download something before use.
I also don’t understand everyone’s aversion to using control4 just for their home controller. I’ve purchased my system bit by by for four years, but have only heard of control4 in the last two years. Their “room” selection concept is the only one of its kind I believe. Unc has something similar. Plus the onscreen control of hidden devices makes it operable by children and grand parants.
two main reasons people don’t like control4 in DIY forums.
A) sold by dealers, installed by dealers, with substantial markup
B) can’t do much yourself, have to pay said dealer for everything
Which both come down to 10x the price of DIY, not including the free labor costs of DIY.
So, even though control4 is a great solution, it is clearly not aimed at DIY and probably never will.
However, if you want to replace your remotes with one central remote and on screen hdmi display, it works better and cheaper than pretty much anything out there. And the new ea1 combo kit is at the lowest price point a “room” setup from a dealer has been.
Most of the customer’s I’ve dealt with that have control4 don’t want DIY, want to pay people to make sure it just works. Real HA should never get in the way, it should just work… Easy and simple.
I love my control4 system, but only because I have worked with many dealers and have access to my system. If I couldn’t control my own system, it would be out on the curb tomorrow.
Ultimately it comes down to apples and oranges… DIY vs Dealer solutions.
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What Patrick said. I have a number of posts on the forums where I’ve mentioned that if I had the money I would’ve bought a control4 system. But you see people in the forums complaining about the $10 a month fee for Lowe’s Iris. Different people have different priorities, and some value money more than time.
By the way, Roomie also has a rooms concept. And you can set up multiple controllers but you will require a subscription for each. That’s not that different from control4, either. But you’re right, there’s no physical button remote. At our house, we now do most things by voice with echo, which is also an available integration for Roomie– – that solves the kids and visitors issue nicely for us. 
But every household is different. You need to find what works for you.
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