Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Olombo]

Hi

still happy with JRiver! But since my home cinema is now finished for some time new tasks must come up for not getting borried :-)

I would really like to switch my ambient light in the cinema off if movie is playing and on again if movie is paused/stopped.

2 ways to interact: some kind of tcp/ip via my knx ethernet interface (might be complicated?!) or use any kind of simple relay interface (various types existibg with usb or ethernet connection).

Any suggestions for an easy approach?

Thanks!

[Outlaw Audio]

I use a Logitech remote and Phillips Hue lighting.  Since they work seamlessly together, the solution was fairly easy. 

[Olombo]

Hi

I also had the idea using my remote. However I use a apple remote and flirc. Works nice! But how should it know if I just enter a menu or start/stop a movie? Here is same key for many possible actions.

[Outlaw Audio]

my routines are simple toggle functions.  There are four distinct states to the system

• Startup:  The system is booting/initializing and is not ready to accept input (House Lights at 50%, accent lights at 100%)
• Ready:  The system has booted and all components are ready to accept input (House Lights at 50%, accent lights at 20%)
• Play/Pause:  The system toggles from the ready mode to the play mode (House lights at 0%, accent lights at 10%)
• Stop: Same at the Ready mode except triggered by the stop button

The startup sequence begins when the system powers up.  After a timeout period (need to time how long it takes your HTPC to load and become responsive to input commands, the system transitions into the Ready mode.  From this point, macros associated with the play/pause and stop buttons take over.  When the play/pause button is pushed for the first time, the system moves to the Play/Pause mode.  Subsequent presses of the play/pause button transition the system between Ready and Play/Pause modes.  The stop button simply brings the system back to its initial state.  The system shutdown command turns the house lights back to 100% and the accent lights to off.
It's a dumb system with no handshaking or feedback, but has worked well for me.  YMMV depending on your system setup.  My other solution involved a smart brain controller from Kramer Controls.  They manufacture smart modules that can be custom programmed to communicate with JRiver via the MCWS interface.  Its more bulletproof but way more expensive and involved