Multi-zone audio

[kevind]

Greetings,

I have been researching for a while on this subject and have seen several good options for quality multi-zone audio. My personal choice is to pursue the use of HS as the audio server going out to multiple amps controlled by the ocelot, distribution amp and the secu16IR.

I recently followed the discussion of using dual sound cards with onboard sound being used for homeseer announcement...essentionaly an intercom system...excellent idea. sorry..off topic.

However, in my humble opinion and not being a homeseer or computer GURU, multizone audio capabilities lack severely in a simple basic requirement.

User friendly interface.

The media player 9 plugin and the new "untested" Winamp plugin NEED to have multi-zone "On-Off" AND slide "Volume Control" as a standard interface feature.

I use a pocket PC to control my audio. I should be able to control volume AND on/off right from the plugin.

If I have to turn the music on from the plugin and then go to homeseer and use the interface there to turn on the various zones and volumes...well...that sucks. Pardon the expression.

There has been much discussion on this very topic so it seems to me we should be looking at this seriously. Let's see about an update for Media Player. I would MUCH rather see functional updates over album cover tweaks.

How much to get something like this done ASAP?

Thoughts?

[kevind]

I should add that a handheld true plug-in with the on/of volume support would be an excellent option.

[Rupp]

I would email the developer/keepers of the respective plugins and voice my recommendations. The yet to be released WinAmp plugin is Dale Higgs @ synthesize_NO_SPAM@synvb.com

And a simple email to HST either Rich or Rick for the Media Player plugin.

Another viable option would be to write your own asp pages to control WinAmp or download one of the front-ends that are already done. SnowCrash is one such example.

-Rupp
Isn't Disney World a people trap operated by a mouse?

[smoothtlk]

You can do all that now (multizone, volume, on/off) with the combo of MediaCenter and MusicLobby. Also there is a PPC version.

[Rick Tinker]

The WinAMP plug-in Dale is working on already has separate controls for each instance of WinAmp.

The MainLobby combination is fine as a standalone solution, but the HomeSeer integration is not quite there yet. In other words, you have to run MainLobby on the system that you want to control things from. With Audrey and other non-standard OS browsers out there, this is not possible. If the ML server could be expanded to be a web server of sorts so that the custom designed ML interface could be served up to any browser capable of handling Flash SWF files, that would be great.


Regards,

Rick Tinker
HomeSeer Technologies

[smoothtlk]

Rick,
I think the ML solution you wish for is now called MainLobby Server. Larry from this forum built a Homeseer plugin for the MLS. There are a few excellent Flash 2 way switches and sliders that look and work great with Homeseer.

A new slinke plugin is expected today (also coded by Larry - Thanx!!). I have been testing it for a week and it rocks. No more DCOM! Much faster than DCOM. Just click and instant response. Should allow for fast multiple "volume up" calls for smooth control of linear functions. Tonight I am going to try coding Homeseer to interact with the MLServer / SLinke plugin.

The MLServer looks like it will be a central architecture component of MainLobby to accomplish your thoughts on central served / thin client applications.

This stuff is really coming along quickly. It is in the foreground of my whole HA / Theater / AV distribution system.

I am keeping all the logic in Homeseer and all the UI in MainLobby. I would say it's 2 months away from being considered a tight coupling.

One of these days, I'll post some screen shots. Big pizzaz factor for newbies / visitors.

[dale3h]

Kevind, if you could please email me (synthesize@synvb.com), we could talk one-on-one about the features you wish to see in my upcoming Winamp plugin. I am pretty sure that my plugin already has what you need, but I need to confirm. Thanks!

  Best Regards,
    Dale Higgs (Synthesize)

  Website: http://www.synvb.com/

[mcascio]

Hi Rick,

David is correct. MLServer is exactly what the Lobby Suite was missing a few months ago. It will allow us to transition to running the suite in a standard web browser compatible with Flash 6+.

With the new plugins for MLServer you can control the server computer and send Homeseer events/commands/etc from any computer on the network - and eventually the PocketPC. All with 2way interaction.

Dan Reicher, the author of MLServer, just joined the Cinemar team - so you'll be seeing even more great progress over the next few months/weeks/days.

We'll have to touch base soon. I haven't had a chance to catch my breath for over a year now, and it doesn't look like that's gonna change with all the exciting things in development.

[Rick Tinker]

Mario,

Thanks for the post - I havd not had much luck working with the ML and the server, and I did get a little lost tracking you down at the various forums that you(we) frequent!

I did not get an answer to my question posed to the server author regarding whether the client PC will require ML to be running on it, so barring an explaination I assumed the worst.

What you have written makes it appear like it will do what I want, which is actually what a majority of the people looking for a highly graphical interface for HomeSeer will want!

Although Audrey is (I believe) stuck on Flash version 4 and thus will not work as a client, that is exactly the model I am looking at - a non-standard browsing device like an Audrey being able to run the ML GUI.


Regards,

Rick Tinker
HomeSeer Technologies

[Krumpy]

Rick,

As far as support of the Audrey, I would be happy if all she could display is the ML graphics as a graphic bitmap. Flash is probably too slow.

So if Mario would allow us to export the graphic into a jpg (or just use some screen capturing tool) and then wrap a ASP page (with hot buttons) around the buttons, it would be good enough for me. Would probably also be faster then displaying everything with regular ASP..

With the Audrey and older style touch screens I would not require moving graphics, etc. Just the basics....

[dale3h]

Just wanted to let everyone know that SeerAMP, my Winamp plugin for HomeSeer, has been released. Please check in the updater for more information and the current package.

  Best Regards,
    Dale Higgs (Synthesize)

  Website: http://www.synvb.com/