Upgrading and Improving

We were contacted by a client who wasn't happy with his Control4 system, installed by another AV company.  He asked if we could pay him a visit to take a look at his setup and come up with some options to improve it where possible.  He also wanted to control the system from his Ipad if possible.

As you can see from these photos, the Cinema room design looks (and sounds) great, with a fantastic Pioneer plasma in a 7.1 arrangement. Those front speakers are the Kef Ci9000ACE range.  

There are three at the front, two for the surround rear channels and two HTS9001's for the surround sides.  I must admit that after testing the system out with 'The Dark Knight' on Blu-ray it was a real struggle to get back to work! 

There were ceiling speakers in each bedroom on the first floor, driven by a Control4 audio amplifier back in the rack.  There was also a Netgear EVA8000 media player, a Sony AV receiver for the Cinema room, Sky HD and a Samsung CCTV recorder.

We did find a number of issues that needed to be resolved:

1. The speed and performance of the Control4 system was unacceptable for what the client wanted it to do, and the firmware needed a few updates to get it to work with the latest equipment.
2. The HDMI signal to the plasma screen was occasionally cutting in and out.
3. The wireless Control4 touchscreen wasn't working.
4. The music management wasn't working.
5. The movie playback wasn't working either!
6. There was no UPS or power management in the head-end rack to protect the equipment, just a mess of white plastic power strips and cables galore.
7. The rack cabling was really messy at the back, and needed some attention.
8. There was very poor wi-fi coverage throughout the house.
9. The old Control4 mini-touch screen wasn't going to cut the mustard with the new Control4 software, so it needed to be changed for the latest model.  See here for how we did this: http://limelightautomation.blogspot.com/2011/08/rip-mini-touch-screen.html

Our proposed upgrades and improvements were accepted by the client straight away so we got started.

Firstly, we upgraded the Control4 processor to an HC1000.  A system this size, with eight rooms of audio and plenty of media management needs the fastest processor to keep it all running smoothly.

We then swapped out the old Netgear POE switch hanging on the back of the rack for a simple Cisco small business ethernet switch mounted on the front, and installed a simple POE injector for the new in-wall touchscreen.

The EVA8000 was exchanged for a Dune HD Duo, a nifty new media player that we also equipped with 4 terabytes of internal hard-disk space, so the client could browse his digital movie collection with ease.

We also installed an APC UPS at the bottom of the rack, to protect the expensive AV equipment from mains spikes and surges, and keep the system running in the event of power failure.

The HDMI-over-Cat5 sender behind the plasma screen was swapped out for a much better version from Vision HD, and the original Sky HD box had developed a fault and was upgraded for a Sky HD 1TB model.

We installed a couple of Apple Airport Express wireless extenders to improve the wi-fi, and added the Control4 MyHome app to the clients Ipad so he could control the whole house AV with it from anywhere inside the house.

The rack got a good tidy up - power cables were shortened, old  and unused cables were removed or replaced, various missing screws were replaced, and the shelves were spaced out a bit more to allow the equipment a touch more ventilation.

All in all the project was a great success.  The client was very happy with what we did, and has not reported any problems, touch wood.

The client had this to say to our Control4 rep:

"Dear Hamish, thank you for putting me in touch with the guys at Limelight Automation.

Finally, I have the Control4 system that I expected.

Adam and Sam were extremely knowledgeable and polite.  Our Control4 system now works smoothly, and they explained all the features and functions perfectly.
I would suggest that, if anyone wants to have a Control4 system, then call Limelight Automation".