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[Dean Roddey]

I just wanted to let you guys know that our CQC 1.4 release is getting very close now and it includes our first foray into media management. This release will include (among others) support for the JRiver on-disk repository for media browsing.

We couldn't quite squeeze in UPnP support for this release, so that will come in the next drop. So just the on-disk repository for now (via the exported XML file.)

Here are some snaps from our 'sales demo' system, that I'm updating to make use of all of the 1.4 goodies. This is using the JRiver repository driver for media browsing. There is a link under each one for a full sized view (though still a bit ratty due to JPEG compression.)


Full Sized Version


Full Sized Version


Full Sized Version


Full Sized Version


* These are not fixed interfaces, they are drawn with the CQC Interface Designer and the look and feel and content are arbitrary (i.e. it's not a 'skinning' system, it's a completely open ended system designed for custom automation purposes.) The images used are all just chosen or (mostly) created by me for use in these interfaces and uploaded to CQC for use.

The 1.5 release will be pretty targeted towards UPnP and a couple other features, so we should be able to get to UPnP support of JRiver relatively quickly. We think that these new media features, in conjunction with our extensive core automation capabilities, let's us provide a huge amount of functionality all in one, tightly integrated package.

[lambert282]

What is CQC?  Do you have a web link?  At first glance it sounds like the sort of functionality NetRemote & Girder can provide.  How is CQC different?

[JimH]

Hi Dean,
Thanks for your work on this.

Charmed Quark's site is here:

http://www.charmedquark.com

I'd describe CQC as home automation software that allows you to control most of the things you have in your home.  This is a growing field and will get steadily easier and less expensive.

Dean and CQC are well known over on AVSForum.

[Dean Roddey]

What is CQC?  Do you have a web link?  At first glance it sounds like the sort of functionality NetRemote & Girder can provide.  How is CQC different?

CQC is basically an industrial strength version of that, yes. It targets the high end of the DIY market and the low to mid end of the custom install market (for now, later the high end of that as well.) It is designed to be extremely flexible and powerful and very robust, to compete in the Crestron/AMX space, where it has to be able to adapt to any set of devices, scale up to various sizes, be fully networked, secure, and to run 24x7 without problems.

For most other solutions, you have to integrate multiple products together to get a full solution. We are really trying to provide everything under one roof, highly integrated, so that you just have one company to deal with, one price, and one learning curve.

[dcpete]

I'll give a plug to Dean and CQC.  I was an early Beta tester of CQC.  It's a very powerful and reliable way to control AV equipment in a fully distributed manner.  I'm excited that Dean has added MC support and is looking to do UPnP as well.  Way to go Dean!  Keep up the great work!

Chris

[Dean Roddey]

Actually, Chris was THE first user of CQC besides me. This was like version 0.4.2 I believe. Back then, in order to run a macro I think you had to rub two sticks together or something like that. He provided invaluable assistance back then by taking a chance on the product in such an early stage of development. It's hard to even believe it's the same product anymore.

[Dean Roddey]

CQC 1.4 is now available on the web site. The major new goodies in this release are:

• Media Management. The biggest ticket item in this release is CQC's first steps into the media management world. Our driver architecture has been extended to support 'media drivers'. This allows CQC to provide browsing of media repositories and control of media renderers, and to coordinate them into a coherent media system.
  
• Graphical Interface Features. CQC's user interface designer/viewer system has been extensively improved in this release. Interface widgets were added to support the new media management features, to allow you to view cover art, to browse media categories and cover art. The 'action system' was extended to include the interface widgets themselves, allowing you to create very dynamic interfaces without any programming. The new toolbar widget is a very convenient way to provide access to more buttons than you have physical space for. And a new simple animation widget allows you to easily represent the active states of devices under control.
  
• Elk M1 Support. A new driver is available for the Elk M1 and M1 Gold automation panels. It supports both the serial and Ethernet based connections. The M1 is a very popular automation panel that is very reasonably priced.
  
• Escient Fireball Support. The first media repository device supported in our new media architecture is the Escient Fireball, which is a single zone, media repository and renderer for CDs and DVDs. You can browse the Escient cover art database and control it during playback.
  
• JRiver Disk Repository Support. JRiver Media Center 11's disk based media repository is now supported as a CQC media repository, so you can browse the repository via category and cover art and invoke a renderer to play selected media.
  
• Zoom Player Support. Zoom Player is now supported as a media renderer, and is a very powerful combination with a file-based media repository like JRiver above, with CQC providing the coordination.
  
• Undo in Interface Designer. The user interface designer tool now supports Undo, which allows you to safely experiment or to recover from accidental changes.
  
• Z-Wave Driver Improvements. The Z-Wave driver was vastly improved in this release, and now is very quick and very reliable. Z-Wave automation via CQC now shows what Z-Wave is capable of.
  
• JPEG Support. You can now import JPEG images into CQC for use in interfaces, in addition to the already supported PNG and bitmap formats.
  

The web site is being reworked for the new version, with a much nicer look and easier navigation. There is a new 'Quick Tutorial' now, which is online instead of being in a separate Word document. It's the fastest way to evaluate CQC. Use the Learn tab, and then select the Quick Tutorial link and you can step through it. It will take you through a hands on installation and configuration of CQC. It will only be able to skim the surface in that short a time, but it will give you a good feel for what CQC is and does, what tools it provides, and so forth.

Feel free to give it a whirl. It's available for 30 days unencumbered, so you can play with it without any limitations . The new media stuff and the powerful new command system really crank CQC up to the next level. It now probably has the most powerful back end out there in the software-based world. The front end has now pulled even with the competition in terms of power and flexibility. And now we offer media management in the same package.

[Dean Roddey]

I'm sure this has probably asked a thousand times but I can't seem to find the answer...

I installed JR on my development machine so that I could work on the driver. Now that's done, I'm ready to set up a real CQC media server, and I want to just start over on another machine and toss the temporary stuff I put on this development machine.

Can I move the license from one machine to another? I don't really want to keep anything from the current one since I ripped in fairly low quality because of disc space limitations and it was just temporary anyway. In the new one I'm going to be ripping at high quality.

Well, actually I would like to keep keep the database itself, since I did a lot of work on genres and such. So can I export the database, without the actual media data, move JR to another machine, then import that stuff in and start over with the ripping?

[JimH]

Hi Dean,
The license info can be found here:

www.jrmediacenter.com/purchase.html

You may need to use a restore for the new PC.

If you copy your files to a new PC, just import.  If they're tagged, you'll get a similar library on the new PC.

[Dean Roddey]

Actually it's only the meta-data I want to keep, not the media files. I'm going to re-rip them now at high quality. I just want to keep all the work I did to clean up date, get cover art, etc... Can export the database, move it over to the new machine, then import the database? It'll be missing all the actual files, but that's ok since I'm going to re-rip them anyway.

[JustinChase]

Dean, yes you can backup the database on your dev machine, install MC on the new machine with the restored license, then import the backed library.  Like you said, you will be missing the actual files, and you can re-rip them, but do you plan to rip them in the same format?  i.e. mp3?  If not, the library will show incorrect extensions.  i.e. you library now shows path/file/name.mp3, but if you rip into ape format (I definately suggest some sort of lossless) you will have files with path/file/name.ape.

What you'll want to do once you have all of the files re-ripped is just do a find/replace on filename and replace .mp3 with .ape and it will correct the filenames to match the correct files you have re-ripped.  Of course .mp3 and .ape may not be right, but the method will work.  You just have to make sure that you re-rip into the same directory structure as on the dev machine.

You will also want to backup the actual cover art folder(s) on the dev machine as you'll need to move it to the new machine as well.  make sure to put it in the same place on the new machine so the library knows where to look.

Finally, if you have custom view schemes and playlists, i think you'll have to back those up also, but can't remember now where they are stored, so you'll have to do a bit of looking around.

If possible, i would suggest you install MC on the new machine and back everything back up before wiping it off the dev machine, to be sure you got everything.

good luck, and I'll be taking a look at your software in a few months when i get back to the US and actually have a home again.