CONTROL4

THE PROFESSIONALS

Mark Reynolds, Vice President & General Manager EMEA at Snap One examines how the DIY market has impacted on the professional CI sector.

The rise in DIY technology has seen more and more consumers consider adding smart devices to their home to make life easier, safer, or more convenient.

Clearly, this is the biggest automation trend in recent times and presents a huge opportunity for our market. After all, there’s a huge difference between buying a bunch of retail smart gadgets versus using a professionally installed, fully integrated smart home automation system, like Control4.

Helping consumers understand and recognise how we can improve upon DIY solutions provides a huge platform for our industry to communicate and help consumers realise the full potential of what a professional automation solution can bring.

So, what are the areas where a professional automation solution can make the biggest advances over a DIY solution?

The size and complexity of the home is a big consideration in any project. The larger the property, and the more varied the building materials in use such as stone floors and concrete walls, then the less practical it is to scale a collection of smart devices for the home to operate in the same way as a fully designed system. ‘App acne’ and the use of multiple remotes also become more and more of an issue as a greater number of smart devices are added and demand to be individually controlled. In turn, more devices increase the stress on the Wi-Fi infrastructure to deliver reliable product connectivity and performance, without any buffering, lagging or drop-out issues.

We’re also seeing privacy and security concerns with DIY solutions on the market. When working with a professional, consumers can be sure that their network is secure, all smart home components are up-to-date and configured to minimise any security gaps.

The DIY market gives the industry a chance to showcase the power of pro system PERSONALISED EXPERIENCES

Increasingly, we are looking past the basic device control and universal remote functionality found in DIY smart homes to take the consumer’s experience forward and offer even greater, more compelling points of difference. Not only are we building out additional features to provide more and more personalised automated experiences, but also creating the features and functions that will come to define the next generation of ‘Smart’.

52 APRIL 2022 /Essentialinstall @Install_mag essentialinstall.com

Decent quality integrated audio is a big driver

With a fully integrated Control4 Smart Home, consumers can easily bundle actions that all work together without having to painstakingly program and install all of that themselves. Access and control of the system can be personalised to the right family members or made available to all at centralised locations for convenience and ease of use. Taking that level of personalisation even further, our industry can, of course, integrate technology to meet unique and truly custom solutions, whatever they might be. Consumers seeking a personalised, intuitive automation solution, have to look to a professional integrator and a professional automation platform for the answer.

Looking to the future, we have recently expanded the entertainment capabilities of the Control4 Platform to provide for the next generation of audio and video deployments with a suite of customisable features to fit any scenario. Ryff is the new name for our highresolution native streaming audio platform within Control4 and provides the highest in audio quality, decoding at up to 192kHz sample rate, at full 24 bit-depth, and includes MQA support. It also includes network-based audio synchronisation, to prevent echos and lag across multiple simultaneous zones, including those connected wirelessly. Ryff provides fine-tune controls like Crossover, Tone Control, and Delays, along with end-user controls like Parametric EQ, media sharing, and multizonal controls. The Ryff audio experience provides integration with 12 of the most popular streaming services including, Spotify and TIDAL. GOING REMOTE

We’re also seeing an increasing trend for remote control and management that is helping to migrate customers away from the limitations of the DIY option. Our Control4 Platform includes a suite of cloud-services to enable this access and convenience. For our customers, a 4Sight subscription provides fast and complete access to their system, whether at home or away. From their Android and iOS devices, including their Apple Watch, they have 24/7 remote access into their systems, with notifications and alerts to keep them informed. Meanwhile, Intercom Anywhere functionality keeps them connected from wherever they are, allowing clients to monitor and communicate with any room in their home, from their smart phone or a Control4 touchscreen.

Not only do Control4 integrators benefit from the alerts, and the Cloud backups and restores provided by 4Sight, but now also have native access to cloud-based features in the OvrC platform, our industry-leading, cloudbased management system. By enabling OvrC Pro on a Control4 Controller, integrators can provide network monitoring and management for troubleshooting, rebooting, self-healing and handling software upgrades without having to visit site. A key feature of OvrC is that there is no recurring software cost or sign-up fee, so integrators can easily incorporate it into customer service packages, resulting in no disruption or extra cost to the client.

Ultimately, customers are looking for a rock solid, reliable system that’s easy to use and can be accessed from anywhere, no matter the size of their home. A fully integrated Control4 Smart Home can be customised to their specifications and lifestyle. Hiring a pro means they’ll get all the right products for their needs, in addition to installation, maintenance, troubleshooting, and remote assistance. With the control and personalised automation experiences enabled through our Composer Pro and Composer Express combined with the power of our OS 3 user interface, Ryff: our high-resolution audio streaming platform, and 4Sight and OvrC: our cloud-services platforms, we can provide far more than any DIY or mass-market Smart Home. Beyond Smart, our Intelligent Platform is ready and fully able for the next generation of deployments.

essentialinstall.com @Install_mag /Essentialinstall APRIL 2022 55

THE PROFESSIONALS

Mark Reynolds, Vice President & General Manager EMEA at Snap One examines how the DIY market has impacted on the professional CI sector.

The rise in DIY technology has seen more and more consumers consider adding smart devices to their home to make life easier, safer, or more convenient.

Clearly, this is the biggest automation trend in recent times and presents a huge opportunity for our market. After all, there’s a huge difference between buying a bunch of retail smart gadgets versus using a professionally installed, fully integrated smart home automation system, like Control4.

Helping consumers understand and recognise how we can improve upon DIY solutions provides a huge platform for our industry to communicate and help consumers realise the full potential of what a professional automation solution can bring.

So, what are the areas where a professional automation solution can make the biggest advances over a DIY solution?

The size and complexity of the home is a big consideration in any project. The larger the property, and the more varied the building materials in use such as stone floors and concrete walls, then the less practical it is to scale a collection of smart devices for the home to operate in the same way as a fully designed system. ‘App acne’ and the use of multiple remotes also become more and more of an issue as a greater number of smart devices are added and demand to be individually controlled. In turn, more devices increase the stress on the Wi-Fi infrastructure to deliver reliable product connectivity and performance, without any buffering, lagging or drop-out issues.

We’re also seeing privacy and security concerns with DIY solutions on the market. When working with a professional, consumers can be sure that their network is secure, all smart home components are up-to-date and configured to minimise any security gaps.

The DIY market gives the industry a chance to showcase the power of pro system PERSONALISED EXPERIENCES

Increasingly, we are looking past the basic device control and universal remote functionality found in DIY smart homes to take the consumer’s experience forward and offer even greater, more compelling points of difference. Not only are we building out additional features to provide more and more personalised automated experiences, but also creating the features and functions that will come to define the next generation of ‘Smart’.

52 APRIL 2022 /Essentialinstall @Install_mag essentialinstall.com

Decent quality integrated audio is a big driver

With a fully integrated Control4 Smart Home, consumers can easily bundle actions that all work together without having to painstakingly program and install all of that themselves. Access and control of the system can be personalised to the right family members or made available to all at centralised locations for convenience and ease of use. Taking that level of personalisation even further, our industry can, of course, integrate technology to meet unique and truly custom solutions, whatever they might be. Consumers seeking a personalised, intuitive automation solution, have to look to a professional integrator and a professional automation platform for the answer.

Looking to the future, we have recently expanded the entertainment capabilities of the Control4 Platform to provide for the next generation of audio and video deployments with a suite of customisable features to fit any scenario. Ryff is the new name for our highresolution native streaming audio platform within Control4 and provides the highest in audio quality, decoding at up to 192kHz sample rate, at full 24 bit-depth, and includes MQA support. It also includes network-based audio synchronisation, to prevent echos and lag across multiple simultaneous zones, including those connected wirelessly. Ryff provides fine-tune controls like Crossover, Tone Control, and Delays, along with end-user controls like Parametric EQ, media sharing, and multizonal controls. The Ryff audio experience provides integration with 12 of the most popular streaming services including, Spotify and TIDAL. GOING REMOTE

We’re also seeing an increasing trend for remote control and management that is helping to migrate customers away from the limitations of the DIY option. Our Control4 Platform includes a suite of cloud-services to enable this access and convenience. For our customers, a 4Sight subscription provides fast and complete access to their system, whether at home or away. From their Android and iOS devices, including their Apple Watch, they have 24/7 remote access into their systems, with notifications and alerts to keep them informed. Meanwhile, Intercom Anywhere functionality keeps them connected from wherever they are, allowing clients to monitor and communicate with any room in their home, from their smart phone or a Control4 touchscreen.

Not only do Control4 integrators benefit from the alerts, and the Cloud backups and restores provided by 4Sight, but now also have native access to cloud-based features in the OvrC platform, our industry-leading, cloudbased management system. By enabling OvrC Pro on a Control4 Controller, integrators can provide network monitoring and management for troubleshooting, rebooting, self-healing and handling software upgrades without having to visit site. A key feature of OvrC is that there is no recurring software cost or sign-up fee, so integrators can easily incorporate it into customer service packages, resulting in no disruption or extra cost to the client.

Ultimately, customers are looking for a rock solid, reliable system that’s easy to use and can be accessed from anywhere, no matter the size of their home. A fully integrated Control4 Smart Home can be customised to their specifications and lifestyle. Hiring a pro means they’ll get all the right products for their needs, in addition to installation, maintenance, troubleshooting, and remote assistance. With the control and personalised automation experiences enabled through our Composer Pro and Composer Express combined with the power of our OS 3 user interface, Ryff: our high-resolution audio streaming platform, and 4Sight and OvrC: our cloud-services platforms, we can provide far more than any DIY or mass-market Smart Home. Beyond Smart, our Intelligent Platform is ready and fully able for the next generation of deployments.

essentialinstall.com @Install_mag /Essentialinstall APRIL 2022 55