Exert from Interview with Glenn Mella - President Control4

Does a high-def user interface really matter? Control4 thinks so, which is why the manufacturer added a 720p output to its new home controller, the HC-300.

The HD output produces a “much richer GUI [graphical user interface],” says Control4 president Glen Mella. “Especially if it’s in a showroom next to a Media Center PC, we’re really right in there with the HD GUI.”

Browsing album art in HD is “notably different to the consumer” compared to the standard-def experience,” Mella says.

In addition to the HD feature, the HC-300 differs fundamentally from the other Control4 controllers by providing substantially more horsepower, a dual core processor and a lot more processing speed.

The dual processor, featuring both an ARM9 and DSP, not only enhances the speed of the controller, but essentially broadens the bandwidth of the system. “A lot of digital audio tasks can be offloaded to the second processor,” says Mella. “Today, the HTC can do three to five simultaneous audio streams. The HC-300 will do about twice that.

In addition to the substantive changes, the HC-300 looks and feels a lot meatier than its predecessors. The two things you hear Control4 dealers request are faster processor speed (solved!) and improved aesthetics (solved!). In a rack with metal components, the HC-300 looks great.

The HC-300 features a brushed aluminium chassis “that will have a lot more ooh-ah factor than the original products,” Mella says.

Like the other Control4 controllers, the HC-300 has built-in ZigBee wireless technology that allows it to interact with any ZigBee devices on the Control4 network, not to mention other hardwired IP-based Control4 devices.

What’s missing? Control4 still does not do any video encoding or distribution. We’ll see that “in the future,” Mella assures us. For now, Control4 can relish the fact that it’s launched a second-generation product - the HC-300 which is now shipping.

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