CEDIA 2013

DISH announced today that the company plans to integrate Control4 home automation technology with the Hopper Whole-Home HD DVR system. This means that Control4 systems will soon be able to fully take advantage of all the capabilities of the Hopper and DISH’s satellite/streaming services.

To make it easier for Control4 integrators to incorporate DISH Hopper receivers into Control4 systems, DISH is going to implement Control4’s Simple Device Discovery Protocol (SDDP). SDDP allows a Control4 system programmer to easily find compatible devices on the network and integrate them into the system.

Although drivers for DISH’s Hopper already exist within the Control4 ecosystem, DISH’s agreement to share the company’s Application Programming Interface (API) programming instructions with Control4 now makes it much simpler to integrate higher-end features of the Hopper not previously accessible with existing Control4 DISH drivers. The benefits of this are truly huge for the end user, as well, because, according to Eric Anderson, Control4 Senior Vice President, Products, the “homeowner can access and enjoy their favorite programming, see what’s ‘now playing’ and get access to the guide with their Control4 remote, touchscreen or smart phone app.” In other words, instead of being limited to changing channels and accessing the program guide from Control4 remotes, touchscreens, or smart devices, Control4 system owners will now be able to manage DVR recordings, browse the VOD catalog, and purchase Pay-Per-View content directly from those control devices.