IP Integration for Russound? Outdrive??

Don, I have been in the same boat as you about trying to decide over the last couple of months. I have narrowed my decision down too two systems. Russound CAV or NUVO Grand Concerto. I have choose the NUVO I do believe simply because the keypads are easier to see, more advanced, and because of the full 8 zones. There is a solution for Nuvo and Russound owners to get full data to keypads via your PC MP3 files, Nuvo or Russound Tuners, and to a PDA or PC. Casatools is the name, check it out casatools dot com. I really like the software interface. This is the best solution out there for Russound and Nuvo owners. The Software is around $250 and if you need a TCP/IP module I believe they are around $200. Again, all metadata to keypads without programming anything and the coolest part is you could walk around the house controlling everyzone with your Iphone, PDA or PC, etc...

Oh yeah, Casatools looks alot better than outdrivesystems plus it's cheaper.

You can do the same with Casatools. You can control from a PC and or a PDA. I don't know if they have released the software yet for the PDA's but I spoke to a tech with their company and they Showcased Casatools two weeks ago in Orlando controlling from PDA's. Nokia N800, N810, ITouch and IPhone.

well I spoke to casatools again and they stated to use the PC over the Barix. The Barix can not support internet radio and something else they said. You just need a basic sound card with analog out unless you want digital for 5.1 recording cd's and dvd's. You will need the computer connected to the Russound/Nuvo via a serial (RS-232) PC Card. One connection for the Russound and two on the Nuvo is using a tuner as well. The new software for the PDA interface is scheduled out in Q2 of this year.

Might be oversimplifying this a little bit, but why not look into a Logitech Squeezebox as a solution? With their new Duet ($400) you could just put their controller box between your PC (or NAS) and your Russound and then use their Wi-Fi remote for full music collection browsing. Plus they have really good support for web interface (PDA, Playstation Portable, or any other web browser).

Seems like a good and very inexpensive solution...

have you read about CQC or Cinemar products? I think you are limiting yourself if you choose one of the talked about products so far.

I really think you should research them they both have Russound drivers (Russound is connected to the HA PC through RS232) and they are well known, well supported full HA DIY software solutions.

I have a Windows Vista media center PC that I use in my theater but the HTPC is located in a rack in the basement that hold my Russound controller.

All my Music is located on my NAS server. If I use this pc for my Media center, can I still use this machine to host CasaTools?

I downloaded and set up CasaTunes and I cannot get it to turn on and control my Russound? Everything else in the software is working fine.

Any suggesstions?
Thanks

did you hook up your PC via RS-232 to the Russound?

Well of course..Silly I got a reply from Casatools tech support and I am working through it now. I am going to see if the com port is being taken up by some thing else

am looking for more names and brands of serial ports, 8 -16 ports. Any help in recommending brand names?
Those I have seen, do have the ports in front, with USB and some power supply, which makes an HTPC setup very ugly. Just visualize serial cables sticking out.
Suggestion will be appreciated.

Thanks.
gto.

Moxa..

George,

Search for some of my recent posts. I have commented on this very subject before.

I use the Moxa brand units - www.moxa.com. I use the NPort 5610-8 and -16 models (8 or 16 ports). These are 1u high 19" rack mounted units. The units ship without the ears attached, and come with rubber feet in the box, so you can stack it on top of your AV gear if not using a rack. The serial ports are 8-pin RJ45 jacks, and all jacks (serial ports and LAN port) are all on the rear of the unit. The power supply is built in, so a standard IEC(?) pc-style power cord is used. The front panel has a nice backlit LCD display and a few menu keys so you can configure the unit from the front panel, or use the included software utility, or just telnet or web-browse into it. The front panel also has tx/rx status leds for each port. Very versatile.

I have one mounted in my rack with 3 CAV6.6s, SMS3, ST2, Directv H21, and a few Sony CD changers (the H21 and CD changers use MidAtlantic custom RSA shelves), The NPort 5610 is mounted just above the sat rx in the rack, and it matches the rest of the equipment perfectly. Almost looks like it was made for the Russound system.

I also bought their pre-assembled 4-ft RJ-DB9 serial cables. Plug and play into the back of the Russound equipment.

I simply loaded the serial port drivers into my laptop, and COM4-12 map via IP over my lan to the NPort. I can now access the Russound equipment from anywhere in the home, both the program the system with PC Powertools, or programs such as Casatools.

I have about 25 of these units in the field running 24/7/365 on a critical communications network, and have had zero failures. I've compared a number of manufacturers, and Moxa is the best value/$. Some have front mounted jacks, others have external power supplies, others have no front panel display or access.

Besides remote serial port access, I can also telnet into the ports and talk to the equipment via a simple telnet window.

The 8-port unit runs around $700, and the 16-port unit is about $900. Check out Neteon.net , a distributor. I have dealt with them for years. Great support.

A few pics are attached.

Eric

Thanks. I am looking at the moxa with Ethernet interface, or the WTI APS-16, or WTI CMS-16.

Thanks.
gto.

Well I have been able to get CasaTunes up and running with the help of tech support, which btw is great. He took the time last weekend to help me. Of no fault but my PC did not want to release the com port, everything installed great and I must say this software is awesome!!!

I have been looking for this type of solution for a while now and I never knew it was out there. It gives you complete control over your music via the keypads, which is real easy to control and also via a web browser. It even has a cable box remote control layout on the web browser which controls my Fios box without any configuration!!! Incredible , how did it know that??

I purchased ML sometime ago, but the learning curve it takes to get it to work is too much for me currently. Its a nice piece of software, but I just do not have the time to learn a programming language.

This is out of the box, it looks great and it works!! This software finally releases my music which has been trapped in my server for some time.

Everyone that has music on there computer and have a Russound or NuVo system should be using this software you will not regret it!!

Hey all, i've got a grand concerto and love it, but really need to access my music files from my pc which is in the room next to the media closet which holds the concerto. What exactly to i need to put into my dell xps400 to connect the two with casatunes. I think i need a new sound card for rca outputs maybe? I'm not the most knowledgeable on pc stuff, so a newbie walkthrough would be great! Thanks in advance.

With firmware version 4.x.x the Control 1000 now supports two way operation with real-time RNET meta data displayed on the iPhone and iPod Touch interfaces. Firmware upgrades are free of charge and can be obtained directly from our Web site.


So far so good, the upgrade went well, crossed my fingers at the time though

Just fyi

So I take it that Russound bought this product from Outdrive Systems and has rebadged it?

It would appear so as the Outdrive Systems website has been taken down and the product (tch1) from Russound appears nearly identical.

Or you could use this and put the serial port on the network.

http://www.lantronix.com/device-netw...s/uds1100.html

That kind of solution would be much better for me since I have a wired and wireless network in place already.

If someone had an iPhone app that would send the strings to an IP address we would all be good to go.