Use your Pocket PC or Tablet PC as a wireless remote (New NetRemote Thread) - Page 20  

ErnRenner, the best rule of thumb in my opinion is that you'll get more punch for your money by using AMD instead of Intel. I'd go for a mobo with built in raid (I have used the MSI KT3 Ultra ARU and I'm now on the KT4 Ultra). Then you can add more disks as you go along. My AMD XP1800 with 256 meg 400 RAM can play MP3s on five of six zones at the same time and still play a DVD without skipping on the seventh zone (which is the home theater).

As for video card, go for an ATI Radeon, it can be from the lowly 7000 VE and up to the latest 9700, I'd say that video out looks about the same (I've got a cable from the HTPC/MP3 server to the TV in the living room, but only use that for browsing the library and playing the odd game, and for showing the kids' DiVX movies, I watch all my movies in the HT).

Allan_Khong, a: the reason for garbled buttons is that you need to download the pronto font (find it at Remote Central). Put it in the fonts directory under \\windows on your PPC.

c: you could look at Remote Central, they might have CCFs, and then you can change the IR codes to Internet Server codes. Or you could change to ZoomPlayer and find lots of CCFs many places. I've got one. :cool:

I'll chime in with a couple of more comments...

While AMD is cheaper, they also run hotter, and more heat = more fans = more noise. Noise was a huge factor for me building my HTPC so I went with a Intel chip with stock cooler. Almost whisper quiet. Comparatively, my friends AMD box sounds like small vacuum.

RAID is good if you need redundancy (RAID 1-5) or higher access speed (RAID 0). For example, if you have a huge MP3 collection, you'd want redundancy to ensure that that you don't have to re-rip 1000 cd's if your drive goes caput. I don't think that access speed is an issue for HTPC provided you have a 7200RPM drive and have DMA enabled.




It depends on what you want to do and the connectivity that you need. The lower end Radeons are fine for HTPC use, but you'll want one of the higher-end models if you do serious gaming. As for outputs, do you need components, TV-in, DVI, S-video? Hang around on the forum and read - there is a ton of information so it may take a little while to wade through everything.

Create a button in a CCF editor. Asign an IR action with an RC5x code set to system of -4, command 0, and data 0. The edit the IR name to the NICs MAC address in the form aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff.

-Dave

Dave, I didn't think about the noise, my HTPC is in a closed room, so noice does not matter. :) As for the RAID I don't use it as raid, I only use it to have more disk space, I belive it's called Stripe, or some fancy word like that. All it does is to let the disks on the raid controller show up as regular harddisks, so you can use them as that, not for redundancy or speed issues. And this is much cheaper than having to buy an extra IDE card after a while when the need for more disks and disk space rears it's head. :cool:

Ern -

There's lots of information to deal with these specific question within the HTPC forum itself. I'll give a few quick answers here, only because I can't PM you directly.



If you want PVR functionality, gaming, or to use Dscaler, then you'll need alot of CPU horsepower. If you only want to play DVDs and MP3, CPU power isn't as big an issue. I'd say 1GHz and 256MB is the bare minimum for light duties, and 2GHz+ and 512MB is the minmimum for heavy applications.



It depends on the TV, the card, the connection to the TV, and the resolution. I find 640x480@60Hz is fine for desktop use on my RPTV. Picture quality for DVDs is stellar, but I'm running component cables from my HTPC so I would expect it to be.



1080i is shorthand for 1080 Interlaced wihich is an HDTV native resolution (1920x1080).

There are better answers for these questions on the net (and on this very forum) so I'll stop now.:)

-Dave

Hi brohebus, that would be my main reason for doing this as well.

Wuick question or 2 for ya:
What software do you use to play the DVD once its on your HDD? I've got a Radeon 9000 so would I just load the ATI DVD player and open a file? If so how do I do that, ie. what file am I looking for?

Did the Sens find any money yet? Hate to see the TO/Sens rivalry die so soon.

Thanks,

Scott

Guys - these are great questions, but would you mind posting them on the main forum? There are dozens of us getting email notifications every time a post is put on this thread (like this one!). All these questions will be quickly answered if you post them in the main forum, in their own threads. Or, for really quick response, just check the HTPC FAQ. Sorry I'm I'm sounding preachy...

...ditto...

Okay, trying to get things back on topic...

Anyone have a NetRemote Zoomplayer CCF/GML they wan't to release? (Dave?) I don't want to start another if there is already is a good one.

If we get a few CCF/GML packages done, maybe we can ask for a section on RemoteCentral. Anyone working on anything else? I'm assuming Ben is in charge of the Media Jukebox one.

Gavin

I have CCF/GML combos for serial control of an Anthem AVM-2 pre/pro and a Panasonic plasma, in case anyone is interested.

Because NetRemote is designed to display CCF files, does that mean that we are limited to the graphics formats (i.e., bitmaps) capable of being displayed on the Pronto?

In other words, is there any way we can leverage the superior quality of most PocketPC screens to enhance the graphics in our CCFs?

The CCF portion of NetRemote is limited to bitmaps due to limitations in the editors. However, afterworking on the skins, Ben informed me that the 'skin' portions can be GIFs or PNGs which are not limited to the 256 colour Pronto palette. However, the rendering engine on the PocketPC doesn't seem to handle transparency well which I suspect that a true alpha channel requires 8 bits to handle the extra channel - transparency is rendered as white. I've attached a sample skin using both PNG24 and GIFs. Ben also informs me that the PNG24 format will not work with the Win32 version, so you're stuck with PNG8...which is probably adequate for most people's needs as most PPCs use 8,12, or 16 bit color depths for their display.

Currently no. It would depend on Ben implementing the code in NetRemote *and* the creation of a CCF editor that would allow you to use the new graphic formats. Stewart Allen of Tonto fame has been approached by Ben to work on some NetRemote specific extension to Tonto's CCF editor, and hopefully this feature shows up one day as a result because having a deeper palette and some transparency support would rock.

-Dave

 

pnggifskin.zip 14.37890625k . file

I have a pretty basic Zoomplayer panel - it covers the transport controls, power (open ZP), DVD NAV and screen controls (centre, zoom) and a corresponding GML. I can't post it now because it is on the HTPC and I have no power in that part of the basement due to some reno work - out of service until the electrician/drywaller (me) gets some time this weekend to finish the job.. The good news is that I'll also have some in-wall rear speakers and better connectivity to the living room and patio upstairs for multi-zone media (installed a bunch of RCA, IR, and spekaer wire) as a result which was half the reason I started looking at NetRemote to begin with.

My other CCF/GML projects are x10 controls which are 80% done and an automated DVD ripper/ ISO mounter for DVD Decryptor and Daemon tools (50% done).

-Dave

Hi Mastiff & Brohebus,

Many thanks for the advices. I'll try them out.

Hi!
This is my setup for ZoomPlayer, but I can't take the credit for the buttons. They are downloaded from RemoteCentral, I just can't remember who made the original. I know that's bad form, but I never knew I would share this with anybody.

There are a few norwegian words here and there, but they should be easy to weed out and understand what the function is. The events might crash with something you already have on your system, so remember to deactivate other groups befor you try it out. Maybe you're lucky, you'll just have to see. But it should work right out of the box.

Another problem is that it's not using the full screen, it's converted to the Marantz, but the buttons were put there when only the Pronto was available, so it will not fill your screen.

 

zoomplayer.zip 53.3984375k . file

Tor,

Thanks!! Nice screens - the Norwegian adds to the fun. FYI The graphics are the ubiquitous "Daniel Tonks" ones. I'm using them too.

I do like the way that you have "enlarged" the pronto canvas. I assume you are just selecting all objects and shifting them down a known amount. and then reusing the space created at the top?

Gavin

No, Gavin, I used the Marantz editor, which gives you a larger canvas to play with. My MJB/MC9 panel on the other hand is shifted up. :cool:

Ben, I'm trying to get Netremote up and running with my 2.X slink-e, but I can't seem to get any IR out of the system. A couple days ago I tried to set things up and got commands running through the Slink-e, though it didn't seem to get sent via the IR blaster.

Now I am trying to get netremote to talk to NRIRServ and the slink-e's communications LED (the bi-color one) isn't flickering at all. NRIRServ is up and running and connected to the slink-e serv (it pops up in the tray on the server the moment nrirserv is started). But there isn't any indication of an active connection to nrirserv from the netremote client.

Can you elaborate a bit on the netremote IR passthrough protocol? When netremote starts up, does it establish a tcp connection and keep it up, or does it generate a new connection for every button press? I don't see an active TCP connection (using the netstat utility in the dos window on winXP), but lot's of time_wait ones, which could be the result of a lot of connect/disconnects of sockets. I'm hoping there is supposed to be a single TCP connect and I have some obvious problem here that I'm missing. :-)

I am not running with girder, just nrirserv for now. And the client is a win32 version (I figured to debug using this until my axim arrives).

Thanks,
Mike

I can't get the new version, it just won't download. I can connect to netremote.org (congratulations, btw!) but the file deos not come. GetRight say "server busy", IE just gives up. :cool:

Tor - I think you are suffering from the b*****ds who decide to exploit MS-SQL - www.netremote.org is gone now. Out of interest, what is the Marantz Editor - ProntoEdit of Tonto? If so what model number should I use?

Ben - Bad timing with the release :mad: . I wanna play with the feedback. Out of interest, your description suggests that you can only get feed back on demand (pull) - I assume I can still push from girder (track time's etc).

As for a version 1.0 Request - any chance of button name pass-thru for NOP (-1,0,0) IR codes? Also is the Web panels stuff still broken? Or is it me? Any chance of pushing feedback (URL's) to them?

brohebus/Ben - Let me know if you want me to play with the UIRT too. Is it the NRIRServe on the site?

Cheers, Gavin

Reall? I found NetRemote.org the first time, but then it was gone... The Marantz Touch Screen editor is very simiarl to the Pronto Edit, but it supports larger screens. I think the model is the 9200, if I remember correctly. :cool:

Ben,

I don't think the SLink-e API is different for the different revs, but if you could look that would help. I've never used the IR blaster before, so there is probably some IR issue responsible rather than a coding problem, esp. if other people's Slink-e use works fine.

Ok, this is what I thought might be going on. Yes, I would move to a keepalive version, and that will cut down quite a bit on lag time in the various network drivers. I'm not a PPC programmer, but it may be possible to set certain socket options that adjust the timeout for these sessions.

The big issue I think is coming out of standby. Normally, if you have a long lived connection but no keep alives, then that connection is usually still established. If the server has disconnected it for some reason though, you may go through a timeout that will delay things. If Netremote can tell it's going into standby, then maybe it can disconnect the connection before doing so, and on wake-up then reestablish a connection. But again, I'm not sure how the PPC environment works for this sort of thing. Windows may also have a similar set of options.

Also, running different NRIRserv's on different ports could be a way for NRIRserv to support multiple clients without having to be multithreaded. But one nice thing with a slink-e might be also to select all zones or just one zone for IR Xmit to support zoning of Netremotes in a similar way to IR zoning. Then different instances of NRIRserv could talk to different IR zones... Another approach could be for Netremote to pass the zone in the command I guess, where Netremote would select the IR zone instead of NRIRserv...

I'm not sure how any of this would work with a UIRT, which I think is a single zone device... But maybe you could support multiple zones with multiple UIRT's... One day people will make all these things be USB connected, and not have to deal with the serial port model, since USB interfaces to PIC's are now widely available.

Well, I did when I ran it from a client next to the system running NRIRserv. Because I could look at the debugging info from slink-e serv and see the byte count going up.

It's hard to check that when you are in a different room as I was yesterday, but the light on the back of the slink-e wasn't blinking, which made me think it didn't work.

Is there some debugging option that can be set on Netremote to tell if it successfully contacted NRIRServ and got the command sent through, or on NRIRServ that it got a connect, recieved an IR code, and then sent it to slink-e serv? A log file for what was going on would be helpful (when debugging was enabled).


Thanks,
Mike

PS I found an IR Linc adapter which looks like a single port version of the xantech IR extender for the slink-e from smarthome that should make interfacing the old slink-e to a xantech IR system a snap. I got it for $20 from smarthome which is a lot cheaper than the $99 IR extender from Nirvis. If this doesn't work I can still use it with my Ocelot which is another thing on my list of things to set up, but if it does it's cheap way of getting IR out. Should be here in a couple of days, and will be able to debug a lot better with that doing the IR blasting.

I still can't download anything. Has antybody got the new version? Please post as attachment if you've got it (the PPC versin). I'm waiting for the paranoid button mode. :cool:

Ben - not sure if I am doing something wrong or if I have missed so much development that I just am way behind. I don't have song info on my buttons anymore. The artists name, album, total time, and elapsed time buttons are not working anymore.

Either is the mute button that showed the status of Mute on or off.

As well, there seems to be a very large delay between button presses for controlling MC that varies along with the "time out delay" in millisecs. If the delay is set to "0" seems that the button is totally disabled. I can't seem to get a response that is anywhere near the expected response time for a remote.

I am testing the V973 Win32 version on my laptop for the time being.

Ben, thanks for the quick reply. I can't believe I forgot about that - I had had it set for some debugging last week but forgot about it.

The log file is interesting. One thing that would help would be timestamps for the events in the file, so I could match them against specific tests done.

Also, showing the TCP connects (from what Ip and what time, and the IR code sent) would be great. Maybe I'm not reading the info properly, but the log info is focused on the ir signals being sent and not on the network side of the request.

I do see some signals sent at 58 Khz, which is matches the replaytv's IR frequency, so that probably means the codes I got from remotecentral were accurate. I'm also trying sending signals to my Sony DVD player, but that doesn't respond either... :-( So I think there is some IR issue here that the IR Linc will correct.

Well, now I have to tell you more about what I'm doing. :-) Yes, the Ocelot is currently plugged into the same system. But that won't be the case permanently. I have an old Dell PC that runs the HAL 2000 automation package. It controls a bunch of X-10 controlled lights, and will also control a couple RCS thermostats once I get the time to install them. It also runs slink-e server for CDJ access (I rewired my house with some fairly extensive CAT5 and RG6 wiring that I use for sending data, serial info, IR, and CATV around). Even though the SLink-e is in the A/V rack in the family room, I have very good luck with remoting the Slink-e RS232 over the a CAT5 path from my office upstairs where the automation system is.

I'm getting ready to build an HTPC soon that will sit in the A/V rack, and then I'll move the Slink-e connection to it. It'll also be connected to the Pioneer HDTV RPTV I have, and will eventually have an HDTV reciever card in it (I already have an off-air antenna mounted in my attic and patched downstairs in the A/V rack through the RG-6 network waiting for it). The new lower cost HDTV cards that can output directly through the systems AGP card through a software HDTV decoder seem to be the best approach to feeding an RPTV to me. This system will also run girder and NRIRserv as well.

I have been waiting for a good case (looks like the new Antec Fusion will fit the bill), and the new dual DDR400 P4 chipsets to come out so I can free up the guts of my current primary workstation to go into the HTPC. This way I always have the fastest system for my desktop.

The Ocelot is plugged into the HAL2000 system and I use it now as an X-10 interface. I find it very reliable, and it will eventually also control sprinklers, outside lights, and a bunch of other things. The reason I want have the Ocelot tied into the xantech system is a crude way of communicating between the A/V systems and Hal 2000. So for example, if HAL detects no one is at home, it can send an IR signal to girder to power down the A/V stuff. Likewise, when Netremote wakes up the A/V system and selects TV or DVD viewing is about to commence, it can send an IR signal to HAL 2000 that will command the X-10 light controls to a specific mode. Also, when I tell Hal 2000 to operate the house in "party mode", it can send an IR command to the Russsound system to lock out the keypads in the house.

I find the approach to integration a lot cleaner than having every control system send IR commands directly to equipment and to the X-10 devices. This allows each system to maintain a context of what's going on and act accordingly rather than trying to coordinate a discrete set of lower levels commands. At least that's where I'm going - it may not work as neatly as I've described it after it's built. :-)

Sorry for the verbage, but I think you can see why I think Netremote is such a powerful addition to my systems! Particularly with multiple PPC's in different parts of the house...

Thanks,
Mike

Mike:

I can add timestamps and connect info to the NRIRServ log - good idea!

Ben - is there any way we can set it up so that I can upload releases of NRIRserv directly to your site?

Mike - about how we're using sockets: it's using UDP datagram connectionless communication. It actually is multithreaded - one thread for the UI and one for receiving messages from NetRemote. I'm hoping we won't need a single thread for each client - the current architecture will support multiple simultaneous clients. But, if it ends up being necessary, we can change it. I do like the idea of embedding zone info in the packets. We can add that, too.

- Dave

Very interesting! Well, netstat on my winxp machine showed syn sent every so often - I was sure it would have been TCP because of that. Just goes to show you can't trust windows.... :-)

UDP makes a lot of sense for this sort of use. No connection issues to worry about, and the commands should be able to fit in one packet.

Dave, thanks for changing the logging a bit - that will help a lot. Zoning would be great to add, but no pressing need for it, at least from me.

Ben, what were the driver timeouts you mentioned? UDP shouldn't have that problem...

Thanks,
Mike

I think Ben was talking about adding a generic timeout mechanism to each of the drivers in NetRemote for when it's trying to talk to Girder, Media Jukebox, and NRIRServ. People were complaining about having NetRemote lock up, requiring reboot of the PPC, if communication failed.