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[GrantDG]

Well,  I'm kind of excited and kind of scared about this one - but here goes...

For the past few months I've been working on a full featured interface plug-in for Media Center which will allow remote control over HTTP - including a companion website to enable use out of the box.

It is now at a stage where it's ready for some BETA testing amongst the savvy Media Center users out there.

The Media Center HTTP Remote Control has the following features / functionality:

• A built in web server;
• A full featured, built-in website, for the control of media playback - and access to many Media Center functions;
• The built-in website uses the goodness of JQuery to provide a very Web2.0 experience;
• The ability to extend the built-in web site as the user requires;
• Password based access security;
• A standards aware data/API implemention which allows data to traverse as XML, JOSN or even JSONP;
• Because of the standards compliance, the webserver is itself extensible for other uses;
• The remote control server has been specially built with web performance in mind - and enables extensive control of the amount of data which is passed between the server and the client;
• The ability for the end user to tweak the performance of the web server;
• The ability for the full control of media playback, either via the built in web site, or by any other HTTP aware component;

lastly, and perhaps most importantly for J River Media Center users:

• The Media Center HTTP Remote Control enables editing of any (editable) field whiin the media center - remotely!

Download the BETA of the HTTP Remote Control Web Server from: http://bellecamp.com.au/Products/MediaCenterHTTPRemoteControl/tabid/78/Default.aspx. This page also has links to log issues or enhancement requests.

I've got a few additional enhancements up my sleeve, but I'll see how this goes before I release them upon the world...

[jeroen020]

OK I just discovered this and installed in on my MC13 machine (Vista x86). It is incredibly, incredibly cool. Install was straightforward and now when I go to the IP adress of my MC PC I get the Remote Control screen.

It really is magic to be able to control most relevant aspects of MC remotely from any device in my LAN via a regular web browser. I tested it on an Iphone, Mac and PC and they all work. The screen updates near-instant, it counts seconds accurately, when I change a track on MC itself the browser updates itself, I can view my playlists, I can access the controls on several browsers at the same time. And being able to edit stuff, just wow!

All in all for a first step this software already ticks so many boxes it's incredible. I've also tried out xpTunes and Rivermote for MC but you already offer some distinct advantages over those two.

Now for some thoughts/suggestions/remarks:
- I think a lot of people will be interested in using their Iphone / Ipod Touch browsers which are capable enough for all your features. In landscape it actually works pretty well, but the control buttons are way to small to use. Having a skin which is Iphone optimized would be great.
- Zone control. If you could find a way that you can switch the active zone that you're controlling, this would truly make this into a killer tool for MC. Imagine walking around your house with your Iphone or laptop and be able to control any music playing anywere.

Iphone support/themes and zone control would be completely awesome to have that would make me use this on a daily basis even though it's beta. Some remarks with less of an impact:

- It's great that playlists are nested instead of just offered in a massive list as some other apps do. However when it's 2 layers deep, the playlist don't show. Also playlists directly in the root don't work for me (.e.g Top Hits).
- When expanding items in the structure (e.g. under library) it takes a while before it opens (up to 20 seconds for longer lists). Is this/could this be cached?
- What is the max/recommended length of the tree list? I get an error now in my library after it only shows 1/3 of my genres
- Under 'Current playlist' you can view and right-click to act on the now playing list. It would be useful (e.g. for Iphone) if you'd be able to play a file from the list directly by click (or having a play button for each track in the list)
- 'The Media Center HTTP Remote Control' is a very appropriate name but not very sexy... If you'd like this to take off maybe something more catchy would be good.

Just some initial thoughts after playing with this for 30 minutes. If you prefer I add this to your forum as well, let me know, but I figured posting here would help bring some well deserved attention to your work.

Edit: just found there's a more end-user oriented track elsewhere on the forum. Will check it out and add any applicable comments there.
Feel free to ignore this post here...

[Osho]

Wow, I just discovered this plugin. This is super super cool! I have been looking forward to something like this for a long time. I think you should put an announcement in the MC13 forum as I don't think many users check the Plugin development board regularly (like me).

Totally awesome!

Osho

[Osho]

In the web interface, I see that we can browse Audio library with Artists/Albums. Would it be possible to also browser Audio Library with Genre/Artists/Album hierarchy?

Thanks,
Osho

[GrantDG]

In the web interface, I see that we can browse Audio library with Artists/Albums. Would it be possible to also browser Audio Library with Genre/Artists/Album hierarchy?

The "Library" tab will show any View Schemes set up under the "Audio" View Scheme, just create the desired view in MC and it will show up in the Web Interface.

Does that answer your question?

[Osho]

The "Library" tab will show any View Schemes set up under the "Audio" View Scheme, just create the desired view in MC and it will show up in the Web Interface.

Does that answer your question?

Yes, this does answer my question. Thanks.

A bug report: sometimes, I keep getting a message box titles "System sleep" in the browser window - it keeps telling me that "No activity has been detected from a server for a while, the system has been put into 'sleep' mode. Hit OK to reactive". If I hit OK to reactive I get the same message again. I am using latest MC13 on Windows Vista 64 bit - the browser is Firefox 3.5 on the same machine (testing from the same machine).


Another question: I see that the list of artists/genres etc. under Library tab is only using half of the vertical space in the browser window (I have my browser window maximized on a 1920x1200 desktop). Is it possible to make it use the entire browser window?

Thanks,
Osho

[Osho]

Another bug : in one of the Genres, there are many artists in my library. I get this message ". Max tree list limit reached " at the halfway through the artists list and I do not see the rest of the artists. Any way this could be fixed?

Thanks,
Osho

[GrantDG]

A bug report: sometimes, I keep getting a message box titles "System sleep" in the browser window - it keeps telling me that "No activity has been detected from a server for a while, the system has been put into 'sleep' mode. Hit OK to reactive". If I hit OK to reactive I get the same message again. I am using latest MC13 on Windows Vista 64 bit - the browser is Firefox 3.5 on the same machine (testing from the same machine).

I've seen this happen sometimes in my testing - I'll see if I can replicate it consistently...

Another question: I see that the list of artists/genres etc. under Library tab is only using half of the vertical space in the browser window (I have my browser window maximized on a 1920x1200 desktop). Is it possible to make it use the entire browser window?

That 'window' relies on css absolute sizing to do it's stuff - I should be able to upgrade it to take into account to full window size using jQuery. Thanks for the suggestion!

Another bug : in one of the Genres, there are many artists in my library. I get this message ". Max tree list limit reached " at the halfway through the artists list and I do not see the rest of the artists. Any way this could be fixed?

That's not a bug - it's a feature   ;-)

Go to the config (in MC > Services & Plugins) and change the "Max Tree List items" setting - it defaults to 60, I think, but you can probably take it up to about 150 - 200 safely. See what works for you.

[Osho]

Another bug that I noticed - some unicode characters (from non-english languages) such as हंसकंकिनि - appear as question marks (??) in the webpage rather than their proper rendering.

Thanks,
Osho

[GrantDG]

Another bug that I noticed - some unicode characters (from non-english languages) such as हंसकंकिनि - appear as question marks (??) in the webpage rather than their proper rendering.

That's related to character sets and encodings - part of the process of converting the data for going over the wire relies on UTF-16 encoding, and I'm not sure that these characters lie within this character set...  I'll see what I can do, but can't make promises on it (it was a challenge enough supporting the character set I do)

[lpr]

I'm unable to try this with MC 14, is it just for MC 13?

Thanks.

[GrantDG]

The installer only works with MC13 installed, but the software works in both (if you have both 13 and 14 installed it works fine and will appear in both)

I'm not sure about adding MC14 support to the installer - as the main reason for the software was to enable remote control - a feature which is now built into MC14

[txgardener]

I'm unable to try this with MC 14, is it just for MC 13?

During install I changed the path from ...13... to ...14... and it worked well in 14.