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[TomNKY]

GC DJ a JRiver Media Center Remote app for Windows Phone 8 is now available at the Windows Phone 8 store. After discovering the limitations of mobile apps and being able to be a continuous UPnP controller, we ditched that approach and went PURE JRiver Media Center APIs.  It's much nicer than it was, faster and more feature full. Now it's easy to Browse and Search. Commands exist to perform display commands when viewing video and images. IT interacts with zones and while the old version was audio only this is full video and image as well. It has interest in all those other media centers, it's optimized for use with MC 18. IT is at the store at

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/gcdj/cc5573ed-099f-4e42-84d7-1d1fc581d222

You can learn more about it at our website as well where in the product section is a full runthrough of using the app to control your MC from your Windows 8 Phone.

http://www.groundcontrolcommunications.com/page6.php

There will be more to come with this app, but the focus is now on getting the RT and Windows 8 tablet versions completed and that is not too far down the line.

[StFeder]

Screenshots are looking promising and I'd like to test, but I'm unable to establish a connection. The test runs fine and gives me a green plus. GCDJ shows two IP Adresses. The left one is red, the right one is green. I tried to play around with my MC settings (mainly enable/disable password protection) and disabled my software firewall. No chance to get it working. GCDJ shows a blank control interface for a very short time and then switches back to Servers.

Any ideas what I am doing wrong? I'd really, really like to test your app!

nMedium works.

[TomNKY]

The Green plus indicates at least one IP is accessible.  It passed the Lookup of the key with JRiver to obtain the two addresses.  The first red one is the remote address so there has to be some problem with the firewall or port? Make sure you have the same port number as in your JRiver settings and that port is opened in your router firewall to allow access. The second IP since it is green responded to an Alive command so it is local to the same wifi your phone is on.  Only a couple things I can think of then.

1. When in the Server Page high light the server, click the heart appbar icon to indicate you'd like to use this server as your default.  Then click the check to indicate use right now.

2. If that goes to the blank playing now and bounces back then remove the password / user from your webserver setting on the server. At the moment cannot determine a way to pass the user/password via MS webclient as it is defined at microsoft to be invalid to do so via an URL.

[bennyd]

I bought the app for my Nokia Lumia 920, but I'm having troubles to get it work properly.

I want to use it to get the music started in my bedroom which is a dlna zone on my MC server.

When I choose his zone, it always flips back to the server selection page, no matter what I do.

The only zone which seems to work is the main player on the server (the other zones are all dlna renderers)

[StFeder]

Thanks for your reply.

The first red one is the remote address so there has to be some problem with the firewall or port?

I deactivated my software firewall(s) completly.

Make sure you have the same port number as in your JRiver settings

Of course I double checked this before posting

that port is opened in your router firewall to allow access.

I did. I'm not absolute sure if I did it the right way, but because nMedium is working, it should be possible to access the port.

1. When in the Server Page high light the server, click the heart appbar icon to indicate you'd like to use this server as your default.  Then click the check to indicate use right now.

I did.

2. If that goes to the blank playing now and bounces back then remove the password / user from your webserver setting on the server. At the moment cannot determine a way to pass the user/password via MS webclient as it is defined at microsoft to be invalid to do so via an URL.

You mean to deactivate the "Media Network -> Authentication" in MC and the autenthication in GCDJ? If you do: I did

It still doesn't work

[bennyd]

I bought the app for my Nokia Lumia 920, but I'm having troubles to get it work properly.

I want to use it to get the music started in my bedroom which is a dlna zone on my MC server.

When I choose his zone, it always flips back to the server selection page, no matter what I do.

The only zone which seems to work is the main player on the server (the other zones are all dlna renderers)

By the way, before you ask, authentication is turned off

[TomNKY]

I bought the app for my Nokia Lumia 920, but I'm having troubles to get it work properly.

I want to use it to get the music started in my bedroom which is a dlna zone on my MC server.

When I choose his zone, it always flips back to the server selection page, no matter what I do.

The only zone which seems to work is the main player on the server (the other zones are all dlna renderers)

Well we're both running Lumia 920s so that reduces variables to consider ;-)
The zones you are running, are they other audio cards?
What kind of DLNA zone device in the bedroom?
Another MC?
When in the MC you connect to with GCDJ, it show up in MC's Playing Now / Overview panel?
Is it listed by the same name in GCDJ?

[TomNKY]

Thanks for your reply.
I deactivated my software firewall(s) completly.
Of course I double checked this before posting
I did. I'm not absolute sure if I did it the right way, but because nMedium is working, it should be possible to access the port.
I did.
You mean to deactivate the "Media Network -> Authentication" in MC and the autenthication in GCDJ? If you do: I did

It still doesn't work

If you write me at support at groundcontrolcommunications  com we can exchange info to test this out further without placing IPs, keys, etc on the forum. I'll see about setting up one of my servers so we can test if you can connect to it and put together some of the Webservice commands to test on a browser to see what we can learn.  Networking is always such fun ;-)  I am at the moment 'awash in eye drops' prepping for an eye surgery in a couple days so I'll be popping in and out at my computer, but we';ll figure this out as time provides. Anything we learn will help me figure ways to spot more in the code and indicate what might need to be tweaked.

Auto jump to the Server Screen was originally intended to be a convenience feature to indicate a connection problem, MS had me tweak it at the 11th hour when submitting and I hope this hasn't provided an unexpected behaviour.  If we can get you to stay on the main screen, the logging setting would let us exchange the query and responses so I'd know exactly what was happening or hadn't happened.

Oh1 just for snickers, could you try checking Use Preferred On and entering the IP that was green into the preferred IP field in GCDJ's settings for the server you set up? Click the save disc icon in the server edit page.

let's see if we can assure the program is steered towards a specific IP. Help eliminate some variables.

Thanks
TOm

[bennyd]

Well we're both running Lumia 920s so that reduces variables to consider ;-)
The zones you are running, are they other audio cards?
What kind of DLNA zone device in the bedroom?
Another MC?
When in the MC you connect to with GCDJ, it show up in MC's Playing Now / Overview panel?
Is it listed by the same name in GCDJ?

- The zones are external devices (Onkyo receiver & Philips Streamium), so no other soundcard ord other MC clients
- The names are the same as in MC and I see it switch in MC to the correct zone, but if I leave it in MC to one of these zones mentioned above, GCDJ never starts anymore (always reverts back to the server Selection)

[TomNKY]

- The zones are external devices (Onkyo receiver & Philips Streamium), so no other soundcard ord other MC clients
- The names are the same as in MC and I see it switch in MC to the correct zone, but if I leave it in MC to one of these zones mentioned above, GCDJ never starts anymore (always reverts back to the server Selection)

Thanks for the info... Hmmm gonna have to see what I can setup to test this. I have a bluetoothed speaker zone which I'd imagine is more like the soundcard zones. And MC zones in other rooms and suspect they are operating differently as well.  Your Onkyo & Phillips sound like pure DLNA, gonna have to get creative to simulate it.  I still find Zones occasionally perplexing ;-)

[TomNKY]

Oh, for those of you preferring to have Authentication, got some input from various sources and have hacked in what appears to be a fix to get that working. I'll get that out to the Windows Store as the first patch, after I test today, need to make sure I patched all the command calls and test them individually before submitting. MS takes about 4-5 days to process through a submission.

I'll try and get that out tomorrow because by Wed I won't be able to see a thing very well until my eyes readjust from my surgery. Hmmm bet all those years programming is responsible to mucking them up in the first place ;-)

So I can get more of the built in feedback, I'm thinking I'll stop that jump to the Server Config page so that everyone can access the Settings Panel and turn on the logging. That will allow me to retrieve more info to help anyone trying to work through any difficulties they have. Thanks for all the feedback.

[TomNKY]

Version 1.1.2.0 has been submitted to the store, we'll see how quick they process it ;-)

Authentication is in and tested with the various commands.

Took out the auto jump to the Server edit page. Now if you experience a problem you can turn on Logging go through the process of setting up the server and if can't connect, go to the settings, about page and there do a send log. It will provide enough info for me to better gauge what responses I got back from the webservice.

Thanks again anyone that's provided input !

[StFeder]

I'm on Lumia 920 too
But I'm not at home for some days... I'll let you know, when I'm back again!

[StFeder]

New version is online. Already installed it.

Still my left IP is red. But it doesn't switch back to server settings any more. I'm now able to use nearly all functions. Volume control is working.

I'm not able to switch between different zones. The handling is not very intuitive. I'll have a look at your website (which contains a manual) and report back when I played around a bit...

[bennyd]

With the new version my dlna zones are now working properly, thx for that.

If I could make some suggestions:
- An option to add a folder of songs while replacing the current content, now I have to go into the menu first to clear, then insert
- A more intuitive way to switch to zones and to show which zone is playing (maybe via live tiles per zones)
- A shortcut to browse for music, not very intuitive right now.


Thx again for the swift support.

[TomNKY]

Glad to hear we got the zone folks working.

I very rarely use zones. When do you switch zones normally? Which page of the program would it be most convenient to change them? I know it's not obvious at the moment but when viewing video and images you have the ability to tweak the displays and rotate images on the fly by sliding the main screen up to reveal buttons to change display, views and rotate images. I hope in a future version to panorama the main screen and provide unique control modes for TV Shows, TV DVRs, Image slideshows etc...

I tend to keep the app open, when it is shuffled background, lockscreened etc... it stops all updates and queries and is pretty much doing nothing until awakened.

A new version will be on the way for a couple problems, the folks using authentication are missing titles in the album page. That is the only query that doesn't take a token for authentication, so I've found a fix for it. Also I guess some light themes are having problems with icons. I know the fix on that as well just has to tweaked in several spots.

Can't get it today though I'm off for eye surgery in a couple hours so won't be able to play computer today  ;-)

[bennyd]

Glad to hear we got the zone folks working.
...

The way I use zones is:
- Every night I turn on a playlist to the zone 'bedroom' which auto stops after 1 hour
- When I have a BBQ I use the zone 'Garden' which is a wireless Pioneer DLNA speaker
- When I'm in my living room I use the zone 'Onkyo Receiver' as this is placed in my living room

It would be nice that the app shows in the main windows which zone is playing and that on startup of the app it remembers the last zone and shows that zone.

[TomNKY]

The way I use zones is:
- Every night I turn on a playlist to the zone 'bedroom' which auto stops after 1 hour
- When I have a BBQ I use the zone 'Garden' which is a wireless Pioneer DLNA speaker
- When I'm in my living room I use the zone 'Onkyo Receiver' as this is placed in my living room

It would be nice that the app shows in the main windows which zone is playing and that on startup of the app it remembers the last zone and shows that zone.

I definitely can make it remember the last zone, I'll have to see where we can squeeze in displaying the zone. ( I kinda wanted that too ;-) MS is rather picky about not tweaking some areas of the screen

By the way, in a couple days the next revision should be on the Store. There is a tweak to fix an inadvertent bug for folks that are using authorization, the Album Page wasn't showing tracks.  Also a few icons were not showing up well when in Light Theme. And I added that idea about Replacing with all items in a folder. You don't have to clear in the playlist screen and then add all in Browse.  That's about all I could get into the fix, seems I only can go a couple hours at a time so far with the eye surgery ;-) 

[bennyd]

Thx for that, looking forward to the new release

[goatherder]

rpalmer68 pointed me here - thanks dude New WP remote... woohoo.

I've been looking for a Windows Phone client that'll allow me to play back MC tracks on the phone outside of my firewall (using jR tokens, authentication is enabled) for a long time. Gizmo functionality, basically. As much as I'd like to give credit to (and buy the apps of) the other guys who've made WP remotes, none have managed to do this so far and it's the only thing I want. Is this app capable of that?

I use zones at home but not in MC - I just use the Sonos + iPads for that so that working or not doesn't bother me.

[StFeder]

Any progress in development? It now works for me, but needs some design polish (looks like concept state right now, eg. for me it doesn't show a play button, but a pause button which acts as play and pause, but always looks as pause; the text of controll buttons doesn't fit into their buttons circle) and it's not running fluid. Sometimes it shows "wait" or something like this, eg. after hitting stop.

[tauping]

I'm with goatherder - the only thing I'm looking for is a way to play music that I have in MediaCenter through my Windows phone so that when I'm sitting out on my deck with my Sony bluetooth speakers and my phone I can access my entire collection - not just what I've loaded on to the phone.  Any chance of that with this app - or does anyone know of another app that can do this?

[StFeder]

You may try Linada. A pain if you try to remote control MC via this app, but it works good for streaming some things from MC to your WP. The free version is good enough (at least for my needs) and can be found here. It works for audio and pictures (but for pictures better get nMedium), but I couldn't get it to stream videos to my handy. I only did a quick try for videos without investigating.

[goatherder]

... but Linada can't control devices outside the firewall, right?