Media Center

[Matt]

I have written a Windows Media Center plugin and RTI Driver combo that allows control of Medai Center via IP.

So far the following is available:
Full IR remote functionality
QWERTY keypad
Connection variable
Currently playing feedback (artist, album, track, length, current position, year, genre, etc)

We are in the process of doing some real world testing.  Stay tuned.

[Matt]

Hi All,

Our Windows 7 based Media Center driver is nearing completion and i'm looking for a few testers.

The driver is made up of 2 parts, a Media Center plugin and the RTI driver.

The driver supports full IR remote replacement via IP and feedback such as:

Artist
Album
Track name
Track index
Track/Movie length

And I even added Cover art as I know you guys love your cover art
And of course you can jump directly to any screen within Media Center.

I'm looking for a small group of both 32 and 64 bit testers.  Find me a bug and i'll give you a free personal license.

If you're interested, please PM me with a contact name and email address indicating you'd like to take part.

Thanks,
Matt.

[DLPaul]

Hey Matt,

 After installing Media Center plugin I can' run it , its crashing. I getting a message saying that "Unlock stopped working''.

Ok, Media Center needs to be running in order to work. lol

Paul

[Matt]

Hey Matt,

 After installing Media Center plugin I can' run it , its crashing. I getting a message saying that "Unlock stopped working''.

Paul

64 bit?

Does the plugin crash, or just the Unlock.exe?

[DLPaul]

Unlock only
 and yes 64 bit

[Matt]

Unlock only
 and yes 64 bit

Figured out the problem.  Was a compiler setting for the Unlock project.  New version will be emailed shortly.

[DLPaul]

one down, hopefully not many to go 

[speedownsie]

Details PMed

[speedownsie]

Using 64 bit 7 and XP8 with Ipad.

Haven't found a direct command with a problem yet.

Needs a 'now playing' -jump to.

So far, no cover art with or without scaling, but is available on screen in WMC.
Does the driver require certain sized .jpgs in the album folder?

The 'my music' jump is the same as the 'albums' jump.

When initally starting WMC, the default location is Music. It takes, maybe 10 seconds, for this home screen to respond to any command from the Ipad. Then when loading into the music choice, WMC defaults to albums category, but it automatically mutes audio output, this is indicated by the icon in the top right toggling mute solves it. My audio comes out of the Nvidia geforce gt580 HDMI. Only stereo.
Will expand.

The graph data source for now playing percentage is an empty bar, but graph data source for volume , tracks. - Caused by 3rd party flac plug-in
Button text for 'Now playing duration' stays 0:00. -Caused by 3rd party flac plug-in
Same for duration counter.

[Matt]

Using 64 bit 7 and XP8 with Ipad.

Haven't found a direct command with a problem yet.

Needs a 'now playing' -jump to.

I don't believe one exists.  I'll double check, but didn't see one available in the programming API.

So far, no cover art with or without scaling, but is available on screen in WMC.
Does the driver require certain sized .jpgs in the album folder?

No, nothing special about the JPGs. The way it works is the plugin acts as a web server and makes the coverart available to the RTI remotes/iPad.
If you have traceviewer you should be able to see the coverart URL being generated.  Failing that, with your XP disconnected from the network do the following:

1) telnet to your Media Center on port 13000
2) start playing a song that has coverart.
3) pause it
4) back in telnet type: update <and hit enter>
5) you should see a bunch of data about the current song.  In particular look for @COVERART=

Here's an example on mine:
@COVERART=http://DELLT7400:5050/coverart.jpg

So if I go to my browser and paste in http://DELLT7400:5050/coverart.jpg, i see the coverart.

Can you let me know if:
a) you get a URL
b) if it's viewable in your browser on your PC
c) if it's viewable in Safari on your iPad

The 'my music' jump is the same as the 'albums' jump.

Ok, guess I can remove one of those then.

When initally starting WMC, the default location is Music. It takes, maybe 10 seconds, for this home screen to respond to any command from the Ipad. Then when loading into the music choice, WMC defaults to albums category, but it automatically mutes audio output, this is indicated by the icon in the top right toggling mute solves it. My audio comes out of the Nvidia geforce gt580 HDMI. Only stereo.
Will expand.

The graph data source for now playing percentage is an empty bar, but graph data source for volume , tracks. - Caused by 3rd party flac plug-in
Button text for 'Now playing duration' stays 0:00. -Caused by 3rd party flac plug-in
Same for duration counter.

I'll look into the volume and duration feedback.

Thanks,
Matt.

[DLPaul]

I had no chance to play with beta 5, but I will say that Visible variables are needed based on selection. While playing movie I can still see text box with my last song played, goall is to show only correct feedback for current selection.

[DLPaul]

Can you let me know if:
a) you get a URL
b) if it's viewable in your browser on your PC
c) if it's viewable in Safari on your iPad
ok, after hour of fight wit telnet this is what I got :

After hour of fight this is what I got:

a. yes
b. yes
c. message "cannot open page" -Safari cannot open page because server cannot be found.[/quote]

[Matt]

Can you let me know if:
a) you get a URL
b) if it's viewable in your browser on your PC
c) if it's viewable in Safari on your iPad
ok, after hour of fight wit telnet this is what I got :

After hour of fight this is what I got:

a. yes
b. yes
c. message "cannot open page" -Safari cannot open page because server cannot be found.

[/quote]

Can you post the URL here?
Is your iPad on the same subnet as your media center?

[DLPaul]

Telnet shows "@COVERART=http://Rakieta-PC:5050/coverart.jpg" so my URL is "http://Rakieta-PC:5050/coverart.jpg"

My iPad is Wi-Fi only and its on the same subnet as my PC running MC.

[speedownsie]

Hi Matt, there's no telnet server or client services available on this PC, do they need to be turned on for coverart to work?

The flac files that have no file duration feedback, actually have no file duration in WMC. Alll songs are listed as 0:00. So don't chase your tail on this one. I've found non-flac files with duration and they feedback fine.