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Author Topic: Another MC, SNL, and Pronto question  (Read 1113 times)

godavego

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Another MC, SNL, and Pronto question
« on: April 04, 2004, 11:39:48 am »

I just got MC10, and I'm trying to get things setup with Supernudelist, Girder, and my ProntoNG. Unfortunately, I seem to be missing something.  Several other threads talk through SNL, and it seems so simple.  Here's what I'm starting with:

- Pronto NG
- MC 10.0.106 RC1
- USB-UIRT
- MC9_131.ccf and MC9_131_USBUIRT.gml from MC data\extras dir
- SNL 2.0.0.6
- 750+ CDs ripped into MC

What I tried:
- Loaded MC9_131.ccf as my SNL device input file
- Tried to create a player.  Right away, I'm stuck.  SNL doesn't recognize the MC device, so it asks me to create one from scratch.  No problem, I think, but two more problems come up now. First, when I try and set "Number 0" to something, the dialog that pops up allows no action.  Second, the MC9_131.ccf does not define number or direction IR commands.  Where do I get those?

What do I need to do to get the MC device into SNL?  Without a device setup SNL won't let me continue.

Since I don't have an IR keyboard, how to I get the number and arrow keys into my Pronto?  With Girder help me there? Do I need to go buy one?  I found an Excel sheet that contained the raw Windows XP Media Center Edition codes for numbers and arrows.  Can I use those, and have Girder pick em up?

Once I get by this, I should be able to figure out how to import the list from MC.

My ultimate goal is to be able to select albums and playlists from to Pronto without requiring me to fire up my front projection system.  NetRemote is not an option at this time.  From I what I could see, there are several people who have done this, but I haven't seen exactly how it was done.

Thanks!
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bspachman

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Re:Another MC, SNL, and Pronto question
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2004, 07:00:21 pm »

Quote
I just got MC10, and I'm trying to get things setup with Supernudelist, Girder, and my ProntoNG. Unfortunately, I seem to be missing something.  Several other threads talk through SNL, and it seems so simple.  Here's what I'm starting with:

- Pronto NG
- MC 10.0.106 RC1
- USB-UIRT
- MC9_131.ccf and MC9_131_USBUIRT.gml from MC data\extras dir
- SNL 2.0.0.6
- 750+ CDs ripped into MC

Sounds nearly like my setup, but there are some significant differences that may affect what you are trying to do. First, you have a ProntoNG, while I have Marantz 5200. They both use CCF files, but because yours is a newer remote, there may be conversion issues with the CCF files.

Also, I've not tried more recent versions of SNL. I last used 2.0.0.2, so there may be differences there that I'm unaware of.

So...take my following comments & suggestions with a large grain of salt! :)

Quote
What I tried:
- Loaded MC9_131.ccf as my SNL device input file
- Tried to create a player.  Right away, I'm stuck.  SNL doesn't recognize the MC device, so it asks me to create one from scratch.  No problem, I think, but two more problems come up now. First, when I try and set "Number 0" to something, the dialog that pops up allows no action.  Second, the MC9_131.ccf does not define number or direction IR commands.  Where do I get those?

Because the SNL integration is a fairly specialized thing, I didn't include it in the CCF/GML combination found in MediaCenter's distribution. That's a big part of your problem :)

Quote
What do I need to do to get the MC device into SNL?  Without a device setup SNL won't let me continue.

It's a multi-part solution:
1) Add IR codes for numbers to your CCF.
2) Create a bunch of commands in Girder to interpret those IR commands
3) Use SNL to map the CCF IR codes to the SNL Player numbers

Quote
Since I don't have an IR keyboard, how to I get the number and arrow keys into my Pronto?  With Girder help me there? Do I need to go buy one?  I found an Excel sheet that contained the raw Windows XP Media Center Edition codes for numbers and arrows.  Can I use those, and have Girder pick em up?

You can use any valid IR codes that you aren't using for other equipment. Someone created a utility that actually generates valid IR codes based on a series of numbers (that's how the IR codes were created in the MC CCF/GML combo).

Quote
Once I get by this, I should be able to figure out how to import the list from MC.

Oddly enough, even this hasn't been trivial in the past. I've had to export my library to a CSV file, then dicker with the data a bit in Excel, and finally import the resulting CSV file into SNL. I hope that MC10 has slightly more robust exporting functions.

Quote
My ultimate goal is to be able to select albums and playlists from to Pronto without requiring me to fire up my front projection system.  NetRemote is not an option at this time.  From I what I could see, there are several people who have done this, but I haven't seen exactly how it was done.

I am again in the same boat. NetRemote isn't an option for me at this point either, so this rather convoluted work-around is needed. However, it's been bullet-proof for me once set up, and updating it to take into account new discs is much easier than the initial setup.

Feel free to PM me if you need more pointers...

Best,
Brad
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godavego

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Re:Another MC, SNL, and Pronto question
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2004, 10:30:26 am »

Thanks for the info.  I'm curious why the MC provided CCF file wouldn't work.  In theory, it's the same thing as what I would generate.  I didn't convert anything.  I loaded the ccf as-is to SNL.  My problem is that since I have the NG version of the Pronto, I don't have the capability of building CCF files from scratch.  ProntoNG uses a different format than what SNL supports.  I will start by loading an old version of the editor and see how that works.
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bspachman

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Re:Another MC, SNL, and Pronto question
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2004, 07:36:31 am »

Thanks for the info.  I'm curious why the MC provided CCF file wouldn't work.  In theory, it's the same thing as what I would generate.  I didn't convert anything.  I loaded the ccf as-is to SNL.  My problem is that since I have the NG version of the Pronto, I don't have the capability of building CCF files from scratch.  ProntoNG uses a different format than what SNL supports.  I will start by loading an old version of the editor and see how that works.

I finally remembered this answer. SNL only recognizes commands stored in the "Devices" side of a CCF file. The MC CCF file has all of the commands stored in the "Macros" side of the file because that's how the automatic IR code generator creates it. In order to have any of those commands available to SNL, you either have to alias or move the commands you're interested in from the Macro side to the Devices side.

More later,
Brad
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