Quote:
Originally Posted by
NicksHitachiÂ
My first Global Cache unit off eBay was DOA so I arranged a replacement and a additional one for the living room.
I've prob got 40hrs on setting up interfaces now and "coding" feedbacks etc. I understand now why custom crestron or control4 setups are sooooo. $$ey'.....
The panels are looking good, brotha! I don't think I've ever said anything here on this Forum, but more than a couple of years ago I used to be AMX and Crestron certified and really enjoyed designing the systems and interfaces to meet (exceed) a client's custom control needs. So I remember the early days of developing custom GUIs and the complexity of tracking status state of equipment with Boolean variables, current sensing, signal sensing and other methods when bidirectional feedback was not available, let alone products with Metadata feedback. I used to curse every electronic component that only had toggle power codes vs. discrete on and off. Same goes for discrete selection of inputs on TVs, projectors, etc....that stuff used to drive me crazy!
Things have certainly come a long way since that time and it's really cool for people to finally recognize the value in all of this automation stuff. I recall having conversations with clients that were "on the fence" over a stupid $250 DTMF phone card for their automation system that would allow them to call their real home or vacation property to activate an "arrive" macro with just a couple touches of the phone buttons so the house would be at the proper temperature, the jacuzzi would turn on and get to temperature, lighting would come on, etc. Now people seem to wonder why they can't get live video streaming from their toaster and a text message when their toast is done....
Anyhow, my point is that if you are open to suggestions I can give you a few pointers that will make your control GUI function a bit better. I am only hesitant to offer this advice because I don't want to squash your self-education "discovery" because if you are like me, you like to fall on your own sword many times during the learning process to truly understand what works and what doesn't when designing an interface.
I will give you a couple of tidbits, though:
- Since you are going for a landscape approach, the natural inclination will be to hold the iPad with both hands. I would recommend you put the channel up / down buttons for one thumb to reach and volume up/down buttons for the other thumb to reach. This makes channel surfing and volume adjustments very easy. When Bluray is selected, the channel up/down buttons become track skip forward / reverse, fyi.
- I totally realize this is a work in progress so this might already be corrected....the position of the volume controls and mute button should be consistent from page to page. Right now the mute button is moving around a bit. Same is true for lighting control.
- I am not familiar with iRule, but hopefully there is an option for "drop down" menus. If so, I would make some icons across the top for lighting, sources, security (if you have IP streaming cameras or an integrated system such as GE Networx), surround mode, etc. So one quick press of the "lighting" button will drop down a menu to allow you to select a scene or arrow buttons for raise / lower. It's quick, easy and really frees up more space on your GUI for other stuff or larger buttons
- For all shuttle control (i.e. play, pause, stop, scan forward / backward, record, etc.) I would get these buttons in a control circle (with play/pause in the middle) and dramatically enlarge the buttons to make your life easier. To free up some room on the DirecTV page I would consider adding a button that says "keypad" to pull up a pop-up menu of all the number keys. Between your favorites icons and the guide with page up / down there tends not to be a ton of demand for the keyed buttons to be available on the top page, but YMMV...
So if you want me to shut my yap, just say so...but if you would like a few more pointers after you have developed the GUIs a bit further, I am happy to help. If you want, you can PM me your e-mail address and I can even send you some professionally produced touch panel simulations that work in a normal browser window. It might be a good source of layout ideas when you see the professional solutions.
Theater is looking great...I'd love to hear it in person one day. Your post in my thread about your 21" IB sub has me a little more than hugely intrigued!!
