Some LinkPlayer news...

I have been working many hours, every day, on LinkPlayer since the beginning of January. Originally I was just planning to add a few new sources and fix a few bugs. While this work was almost done, I had problems finishing it as I realised the code of LinkPlayer had become very difficult to maintain.

For those who have followed the project from the start, it was just suppose to distribute N.MUSIC from a Mac, and as I figured out how the Beoport box was working, I could not resist pushing its limits and turning LinkPlayer into a more complete AudioMaster, MediaCenter, with LinkRemote, etc. Its rather simple interface now hides a huge number of lines of code.

So, two weeks ago, I decided to bite the bullet and to rebuild LinkPlayer completely, using a much better internal architecture, and a much cleaner code. The new architecture is optimised to take into account all the things I have learned since the start of the project, and the feedback/issues that were reported to me.

While the next version will look and behave very much like current one, this new architecture will also allow me to build some new features in the future. It will make it easier for me to fix bugs that are reported to me and improve LinkPlayer's reliability.

Development is going fast, as I can reuse a lot of the logic, and I think the first version will be released sometime beginning of March. It will probably be a public beta before being a final version. It will have a few new sources and features, but its full potential will not be visible until I implement the features I have in mind.

Philippe

Phil, LinkPlayer is an absolutely fantastic product.

BeoLink PC2 is 10 years old now, and can be flash-upgraded into BeoPort. 

People are amazed at the things Roku and similar products are doing right now.  When I consider I do that all and more with LinkPlayer, MacMini, BeoPort, Beo4 remote, and Master Linked products, I can't help but think that B&O created amazing infrastructure, some of it going back decades, and then just failed to build on the foundation.  What a missed opportunity for them!

You have, though, and thank you for pushing the limits of BeoPort.

PhilLondon wrote:

So, two weeks ago, I decided to bite the bullet and to rebuild ... completely, using a much better internal architecture, and a much cleaner code. The new architecture is optimised to take into account all the things I have learned since the start of the project, and the feedback/issues that were reported to me.

Been there :) Done that :)

Often the best way ... happy to be a Beta tester for your Mark II

Good luck and once again  !!! THANK YOU !!! 

Hi,

I'm glad to hear that you are back on track with LinkPlayer. I have only tested it so far, but the main reason that I have not jumped inis the lack of integration with the Indigo home automation system http://PerceptiveAutomation.com

They are Mac based and very responsive so they should be a good bet!

Phil,

It is probably very late in your development cycle, but here is my wishlist:

1.  Airplay as implemented here on a Pioneer product:

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/p/35235/317735.aspx#317735

2.  Ability to change the sort order of sources in LinkPlayer ... for instance I use Plex but hardly ever use Hulu, so I would drag Hulu to the bottom

3.  Ability to put to sleep my Mac Mini.  Today, when I am done watching Front Row (FR), I exit FR, go to Plex, and select the "sleep" option in Plex, which puts the Mac to sleep, which triggers our projector to turn off.

Thank you, and very best of luck on the children's book apps.  I've passed the link on to my sister, who has kids.

I must say I would prefer the next gen. Linkplayer to do fewer things, but to do them perfectly, seamlessly, without bugs.

I'm not looking for more than NMUSIC and NRADIO playback throughout the house, with full display on BeoCenter 2 (still not working) , display on BL3500 (there's nothing else than the source at the moment), ability to play by albums/artists in Itunes mode.

I still use BMLink as it is far more stable and complete in my setup, the real "plus" of Linkplayer being:

- voice over 

- audio master capable

- a true interface on the Mac screen

- Linkremote

Let's cross our fingers and hope the new Linkplayer is an instant hit!

@ParMan

I have the intention to include some Home Automation functions in LinkPlayer. The new architecture will allow this. But this is still in a very distant future.

@ZavierItzmann

I have started to investigate around Airplay video, I may be able to implement it, for non DRM videos, but I will not be able to implement Airplay audio unfortunately. It is in my To do list.

I have just finished implementing the possibility of changing the order of sources in the menu and I can also say that the new version will handle sleep much better than the current one.

@Chrisreunion

The aim of this coming version is indeed to provide a more stable solution. Of course there may still be some bugs remaining when released, but due to is cleaner, more modular architecture, it will be easier to fix them when identified.

@spiros

Had to stop working on LinkPlayer for about 3 weeks, but I have been back on it since last weekend, and it is moving in the right direction. Looking good!

PhilLondon wrote:

I have started to investigate around Airplay video, I may be able to implement it, for non DRM videos, but I will not be able to implement Airplay audio unfortunately. It is in my To do list.

That seems strange to me :) my experience to date has been that most Apps seem to be easily Audio enabled, but Video is a bigger challenge.

Then I thought about it a bit ... where as I am sure you have though about it a LOT !

LinkPlayer is of course a remote :) it is not a player (in the sense of pulling a source and playing it on the iDevice).  So I guess that's the essential difficulty . . . .