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Photos by Anna Bruce
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It can be very satisfying to complete a big DIY project, especially when it’s a home theater and control project you spend months planning and building. There’s a grand sense of accomplishment one gets when it’s finally time to sit down, press the button and watch the magic happen.
And then there’s that other sense when you press the button and… yup, nothing happens. It’s all too common, and it’s something like that that turned this DIY project into a professionally-programmed Control4 project. Justin Tsuchida of iHomeIntegration in Burke, VA, was asked to install some home theater seats in a mostly DIY project. An electrician did some of the wiring, but most everything else in this multiroom area, which included a large home theater and a bar room with TVs and audio, was all done by the home owner.
It all looked nice, but it didn’t work.
When Tsuchida arrived, the homeowner had already spent hours fighting with an off-the-shelf universal remote (including six hours on the phone with technical support).
That’s not a big surprise, of course. Getting a serious home theater, multiroom audio and video distribution system and lighting to all work together with a simple learning remote is a challenge that devices like that aren’t suited for. Tsuchida arrived just in time.
He suggested that the homeowner scrap the Harmony remote and move instead into a Control4 system. By this point the homeowner didn’t need much convincing—he knew he was in over his head, so he gave Tsushida the go-ahead. Tsuchida based the system around a Control4 HC300 processor and used an Episode matrix switch and Netgear GigE switch to help rout signals around the space. Now instead of a frustrating remote, the homeowner primarily uses his iPad to operate everything.
Check out more pictures of the system here.
Learn More: What’s the Best Place for a Control Panel.
Learn More: Home Automation FAQs.
Homeowner-installed Equipment:
Optoma Projector w/media Box
Focupix 110” screen
Pioneer Receiver
Proficient in-wall speakers
Belkin Surge Protector
PS3
Sony Bluray player
Apple TV
Verizon Fios boxes
Samsung TV’s 55 and 46
iHome Integration-installed Equipment:
Control4 HC300
Control4 IO Extender
Control4 iPad License
SnapAV Matrix Switcher
Netgear GigE Switch
Binary Interconnects
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Dave, I agree the build and installation look very well done—better than I could do. I think there are issues with the home theater design (based on the pictures alone of course), but clearly, it appears the homeowner has some skill. However, the “project” isn’t complete if it doesn’t work. I personally don’t have anything against a person doing their own system, and in fact I have a couple Harmony remotes, but with any DIY project, it’s important to know when you (or your available tools) are in over your head. In this case, consumer-level control wasn’t up to the task for what looks like a pretty complex multiroom system.
This all seems incredibly unfair to me. Just because the Harmony remote wasn’t up to the task doesn’t mean that the DIYer’s project “failed” or that the project scope was “over his head”. It was the Harmony that failed. In my opinion, the project is actually quite spectacular. Kudos to the homeowner.
There are many affordable remotes out there that can easily handle this type of control—ones that a DIYer could very easily program—but alas, they aren’t available without hiring an integrator.
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Grant - I understand what you’re saying, but don’t I agree with it.
I get chippy when things such as this are cast as “See? DIYers should leave it to the professionals” when DIYers don’t even have access to the same tools. Perhaps this DIYer, had they been able to buy, install and program a Control4 system on their own, would have been completely successful. I have RTI remotes that I am only able to use to about 50 percent capability simply because I am *denied access* to the tools to make them fully functional (still absolutely love them by the way!) If I were the homeowner, I’d be extremely proud of what I was able to accomplish.
My simple point is this: it always seems incredibly self-serving of the industry to hold itself to a higher standard when it holds all the keys.