More > Media Center 14 (Development Ended)
Netbook as a Remote aka Tremote
glynor:
I just thought I'd say a huge thanks. I haven't had time to fully investigate this yet (I've been having a crazy two weeks in the lead-up to leaving for a week long vacation for Bonnaroo), but this looks like exactly what I asked for over in that other thread.
So, I'll give you a preliminary and as-of-yet untested "Thanks a lot!"
Listener:
Jim,
I tried the V14 preview Tremote feature. I think it will be useful to me. Thanks for adding a feature I and many others have requested and will enjoy.
There are some odd omissions in the preview:
- The playing now display on the remote PC doesn't show what's playing and with progress.
- The volume control slider and the Play/Pause and Stop buttons don't work.
- The display on the server PC does not change to fit what's displayed on the remote PC.
I'll be interested to see how the finished versions works.
Thanks again.
Bill
JimH:
--- Quote from: Listener on June 09, 2009, 12:57:41 pm ---Jim,
I tried the V14 preview Tremote feature. I think it will be useful to me. Thanks for adding a feature I and many others have requested and will enjoy.
There are some odd omissions in the preview:
- The playing now display on the remote PC doesn't show what's playing and with progress.
- The volume control slider and the Play/Pause and Stop buttons don't work.
- The display on the server PC does not change to fit what's displayed on the remote PC.
I'll be interested to see how the finished versions works.
Thanks again.
Bill
--- End quote ---
Bill,
Thanks for the feedback. Volume control should be working in the next build. Maybe a couple other things. It will probably take 4 or 5 builds to get it to the point where it's pretty useable.
Would you (or anyone else) please describe how you expect to use this? It might help us implement it more effectively.
Thanks,
Jim
DiiPii:
well here's how I intend to use it:
Scenario 1) control audio output from my HTPC from the kitchen using my HP touchsmart that sits there
Scenario 2) use my Fujitsu tablet as a wifi remote from anywhere in my house
Listener:
--- Quote from: JimH on June 09, 2009, 01:03:16 pm ---Thanks for the feedback. Volume control should be working in the next build. Maybe a couple other things. It will probably take 4 or 5 builds to get it to the point where it's pretty useable.
Would you (or anyone else) please describe how you expect to use this? It might help us implement it more effectively.
--- End quote ---
At present, I (mostly) play music from one dedicated Music PC in my home office running MC 12. I have 3 zones defined in MC for 2 PCI soundcards and a USB audio device. Each audio device plays music in a different room: office, library and living room. In the office, I can use the use MC 12 directly. (Or my wife can use UltraVNC to operate the Music PC UI from her computer in the office.)
In the library. I currently use a laptop running UltraVNC to control the UI of the Music PC. I'd like to use the Tremote instead of a VNC client. From the Tremote, I need to be able to
- change from one view scheme to another to select music.
- Look at at the Playing Now list.
- Look at the Recently Ripped and Recently Imported lists to pick something I just got.
- See what's playing and how far along I am in the current selection. (duration and position.) I can't see the MusicPC from the library so I need the playing now info displayed on the Tremote.
- Use the Play/Pause and Stop buttons. I use that a lot. I occasionally use the Rewind, Fast Forward and the position slider to jump around in a file. I never use the volume control; it is always set at the max.
- Change the current zone from the office to the library. It would be a huge annoyance to have to walk back to the office to change the zone; I'll probably use the Tremote even without this feature but I'll be calling you names every time I have to get up and walk back to the office.
- Customize the Tremote menus so that I've got the same set of commands on the bottom menu that I have on MC on the Music PC.
Using the VNC client requires fairly frequent horizontal and vertical scrolling to see all of the screen image on the Music PC. I think that the Tremote should fit properly on the laptop screen. I'd also expect UI actions to be smoother and less clunky with the Tremote as opposed to the VNC client.
I think that my wife might use the Tremote. The VNC client is just too techy and clunky for her to use.
--- my advanced wish list
It would be very worthwhile to be able to use more than one Tremote with each one controlling playback on a different zone. I realize that this might be in a later, more ambitious project but I'm reporting what I'd use.
It would also have great value to me to be able to fix any tag error from the Tremote. I find that being able to fix a tag error immediately makes the editing process painless. I realize that this functionality gets into the multi-user issue.
Bill
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