CAV6.6 / MC11 link software - Page 4

I just had a chance to install the new version and it works great! Thanks a lot.

I am having some trouble with this newest version. When I press and hold STOP, all goes well. The + and - work fine for finding a playlist. But that is where it ends. When I push play the LCD displays "No Playlist" and then that Source no longer works. I have to go into MC and select a playlist in order for the Source to work again.

Seems to work great for me! Thanks for this very nice addition.

I had to delete the "Recently Playing Nows" lists though as I don't care to scroll through them all. It also displays playlist groups as discrete items, which is a little confusing (I have my lists organized into groups).

I use MusicLobby also and it has similar issues with playlists (unsorted order, includes all the auto lists, and displays groups as playlists) so I ended up creating View Schemes for my playlist management instead. This way the hierarchy and order are displayed properly in MusicLobby and none of the automatic lists are shown. (Note: one of the setup options in MusicLobby is the path of the "base view scheme" such as Media Library\\Audio\\. It then displays only the nodes below that in the library view.)

If you added support for View Schemes, I would be a very happy man. You would need to be able to traverse the hierarchy using a combination of +, -, |<, and >|. The top list could be "Playlists >" and "Library >"; pressing >| would take you into the next level.

Just for reference, this is what my Viewlist Hierarchy looks like:

Audio
- CD Library
-- Artist (A-Z)
--- 0-9
---- (artist)
----- (album)
--- A-D
--- E-H
(etc)
-- Artist/Album
--- (artist)
---- (album)
-- Compilation Albums
--- (album)
-- Genre
--- (genre)
---- (artist)
----- (album)
-- Mood Explorer
--- (genre)
---- (intensity)
----- (beats per minute)
- Playlists
-- Folk
-- Jazz
--- High Energy
--- Instrumental
--- Relaxing
--- Jazz/Folk Mix
-- Soft Rock
-- Classic Rock
-- Kid's Music
-- Party
--- 60's
--- 70's
--- Dance
--- Hawaiian
--- Christmas
-- Internet Radio
--- Smooth Jazz
--- Lounge
--- Ambient
--- Classic Rock
--- Groove Salad
--- New Age
--- Trance
--- Top Hits

I am using MC 11.0.314.

Hyslopc, that sounds awesome. Consider Shuffle as #4.

Regarding Randycw's problem, I'm getting the "No Playlist" issue in my second zone (source 2 in CAV6.6) only when a playlist is already selected and playing in zone 1.

hyslopc,

Thank you, thank you!!

Just installed and I am playing with it now, just the fuctionality I wanted

I will let you know what I think after I have demo'd it a little closer.

cheers

Al

Interesting. I know that MusicLobby allows me to switch zones and choose a playlist. When I do so, it also switches the active zone in the MC UI (running in the background). Assuming that the playlist methods operate on the active zone, perhaps you can switch to the zone and then issue the command(s).

I just did some more testing and confirmed that if I set MC to zone 1, then from the keypad select zone 2 and choose a playlist, the keypad display shows "No Playlist", but when I switch back to zone 1 on the keypad, the playlist I choose is now playing. When I then change the MC UI to display zone 2, I can choose a playlist from the keypad in zone 2 and it works. When I switch the keypad to zone 1 and choose a playlist, I get "No Playlist", but the playlist I selected starts playing in zone 2!

That link points to you C: drive. Can you post the url again?

I just installed the latest version and it works great. I can freely switch between zones and select playlists in each. Brilliant!

Yep! Me too!

Yes, MusicLobby does have a Shuffle button that does shuffle a playlist everytime I click it (i.e. it doesn't toggle, it reshuffles). The list order is reflected in the Playing Now view of MC11, but the Shuffle mode of MC is NOT activated (?). I can only assume that there is API call for this.

Also, MainLobby Server has a Media Center plugin (which uses the MC API). According to the docs, the supported commands are:

PLAY
PAUSE
PREVIOUS
NEXT
STOP
SHUFFLE
MUTE
VOLUMEDOWN
VOLUMEUP
SETVOLUME~<<0-100>>
TOGGLECONTINUOUS
TOGGLEEQ - turns on/off EQ for Zone 1
CLEARCURRENTPLAYLIST
PLAYALBUM~<<filename>>
APPENDALBUM~<<filename>>
PLAYFILE~<<filename>>
NEXTZONE
PREVZONE

hyslopc,

First, thank you very much for your time and efforts in
developing this program. Your contributions are very
much appreciated by many of us.

I've been a Media Center/Jukebox user for many years and had a
Russound installed a couple of months ago. I finally got around
to configuring things to use your program, but I'm afraid it
doesn't seem to be working properly for me.

When I skip to the next song in the current playlist, the keypad
display doesn't update with the new song name for almost a minute
(the cav66.exe program display updates right away). Also, When I
press and hold the Stop button it will display one playlist name,
but I can't seem to scroll to other playlists or to play the
playlist. Pressing the menu up key displays "Menu Up".

I'm using the latest version of MC11 as of a few days ago and my
controller and keypads have the latest firmware versions (2.10.16
and 3.01.01).

The source I'm testing with was previously configured for
a Squeezebox, if that helps. (btw, your program is evolving to
look very much like a Squeezebox embedded in a Russound keypad.
If you're not familiar with it, you should check it out at the
slimdevices site. You may get some ideas for your program.)

One suggestion for the next version: when browsing playlists, press
and hold the Play button to append the playlist to the Playing Now
list (instead of replacing it).

Again, thanks very much!

Always possible, but it's a brand new cable. I'll see if I can find another to test with.

Thanks for the response and help.

Does anyone have a copy of Russounds PC Power tool that they can send me? I need to change some of the CustomeNames on the CAV6.6 for the UNO-S2 Keypads, but it can only be done with this software.

That's a heck of a favor - the s/w costs $300+ !

Yeah tell me about it. After spending close to $3000 for the system, you can't even program every feature with out spending more on their software.

I'm about to head down this path, i.e. CAV 6.6, JRMC11, M-audio 1010LT and Russound ST2-XM dual tuner w/ AM/FM + XM. For those of you that also use Music Lobby, do you prefer to use this plugin for control of JRMC11 from the Russound keypads? What is the tradeoff?

I plan on also implementing WiFi touchpad control of the system thru the Cinemar suite using a Airpanel V210 on RDP from the HTPC running JRMC11. My understanding is that if I use hyslop's outstanding plugin, I will gain mny advanced functions at the Russound keypads, but will lose the ability to control the Russound from the Airpanel. Is this correct? What about the MusicLobby PPC option? Is this better than the Airpanel?

Ultimately, I'd like to have a wireless control that can control all functions of the system including JRMC11, CAV6.6 and ST2-XM. Airpanel is preferred but PPC will be acceptable. Moving the Airpanel from one zone to another will definitely involve a switch to a differenc access point. My understanding is that for devices like the Airpanel which are utilizing RDP, that roaming between different access points is not supported, that once out of range, either a reboot or re-establishment of the RDP session is required. My experience with RDP via multiple PC's on a wired 10/100 LAN indicate that it can be quite slow. This will be unacceptable in a V210 configured as an advance remote control! Comments?

Perhaps the ultimate solution can only come from a teaming between hyslopc and Cinemar?

Doug Frazee

I use both MusicLobby and hyslopc's plugin. You are right that you must choose one program that has control of the Russound (this app or MainLobby server), but I've been pretty happy with the compromise.

I can use my Airpanel running MusicLobby to browse playlists, change tracks, pause, and restart; but I can't change volume or change radio stations. I actually find the keypads more convenient for everything except browsing playlists.

If you decide to control the Russound from MainLobby, you must add scripts to display artist and song title on the keypads and trap keypresses. If you want to browse playlists, it gets much more complicated. I haven't figured out how to configure MainLobby to ensure that MediaCenter only plays when at least one keypad is on and playing (but I haven't tried very hard). This is a feature that I really like with hyslopc's program. I think it handles multiple zones better than MainLobby also.

One of the things I miss is not being able to send text to the keypads based on other events like caller ID.

One hybrid solution to consider is using hyslopc's program for the keypad interface, then use IR commands to control other aspects of the CAV6.6 and tuners.
.

The "architecture" I'm thinking of of building-out is as follows.

The Russound controller, ST-2 tuner, and a PC are located in the
basement where the cable, antenna, and data network are
distributed through a patch panel. The PC is connected to the
CAV6.6 and is running the cav66.exe program to provide basic
playlist display and control from any of the keypads.

The S-Video output from the PC would be connected to a modulator
that will merge the PC's video signal into one of the antenna
channels. I'll run MC11 in theater view mode and any of the TVs
in the house should then be able to display MC11 by switching to
a particular channel.

For control I'm using programmable URC MX-800 RF remotes where
every TV is. There will be an RF receiver in the basement that
can pick up button presses from any of the remotes. These will
be "flashed" to an IRMan IR receiver connected to the PC. MC11
has an IRMan plug-in, and thus should be able to respond to
anyone clicking a remote while watching the theater mode
interface.

What would be nice is if the CAV6.6 controller itself could
respond to IR inputs. You could then control volume and other
sources from any of the RF remotes.

I haven't bought a couple of the pieces yet, so any suggestions
are welcome!

You'll be using zone keypads, right? Why not just program the remotes to send IR Vol +/- to the keypads to control zone volume? For that matter, the keypads let you use IR passthru so that the CAV can control the HTPC via IR emitter - no need to use RF .... unless, that is, the keypad is not line-of-sight from where you expect to use the remote?