hi!

i'm also curious about the rewritten version.

ps: someone cracked the airplay key: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/04/11/apple-airplay-private-key-exposed-opening-door-to-airport-express-emulators/

would be a killer feature in linkplayer!

intheory wrote:

ps: someone cracked the airplay key: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/04/11/apple-airplay-private-key-exposed-opening-door-to-airport-express-emulators/

Yes, I saw that this morning and have bookmarked the page. Will see if the open source code is easily reusable. That would be really a good feature for LinkPlayer.

p.

Hi Phil,

Airplay in the next gen of LinkPlayer would be a great feature, so would faster power-on from remote devices such as Avant which seem to take longer than others. I use LinkPlayer daily to distribute N.MUSIC and N.RADIO around my house via ML and it works brilliantly, so very much looking forward to next gen.

Having beta tested the original I'm also very happy to beta test the new one too!

Best regards,

Rob

Any news on the next generation Linkplayer? It's been 9 months since the last version now, looks like it's time for the baby to be born....?😁

I know it is long, but it feels even longer for me spending most of my weekend on my computer! I didn't expect the rewrite to take so long.  Anyway, not complaining at all as this is still very interesting and the progress are good so far despite a few issues.

As of today, I have worked on:

- a brand new core architecture, simpler, more maintainable and scalable. Most of the features of this architecture will not be apparent when I release v2, but it makes room for these features to appear later.

- Some interface tweaks, which include a MUCH better management of the full screen mode: When set to Manual mode, The AV key on the remote can be used to control wether a source appears in full screen or not. Video sources (TV, DTV, PC...) are full screen by default. Audio sources are not. Pressing AV before a source reverses that. Very much in line with B&O's logic. The full screen mode has a slightly updated layout that shows larger CD pictures and is more balanced on large screens. Also the top row can appear in overlay over videos and photos for a few seconds. Looks elegant.

- The virtual remote switches to a mini menu allowing to navigate playlist with the mouse when at your computer. I am also planning to have a floating mini palette that display the song info and picture when not in full mode.

- Better handling of "sleep" mode.

- Adapting LinkRemote, with much reliable connection, and some new features that will prevent some users getting confused when controlling from a different room. Oh and Dot Matrix font on iPad.

- A brand new Preference window. This looks secondary, but this will be the most visible change. Thanks to the new preferences, LinkPlayer will be much easier to setup. Rather than choosing the individual settings, you'll in simply describe your system and LinkPlayer will adapt itself automatically. A Red/Amber/Green light system will also make it easier to self diagnose problems. Oh, and I did spend hours making this window look really good!

- Completely rewritten Beoport/Masterlink driver. In V1, I was trying to replicated the messages exchanged in the PC version without really understanding them. But I now have a better understanding of these messages and I am able to build my own logic. The main difference as well, is that in the past I was recognising incoming messages by matching them to a "signature". But every B&O TV or Hifi send slightly different messages, and I constantly had to update these signatures. I have since found out that I can only look at a very small portion of each message to understand what it means. This will increase the compatibility and reliability. Here again, the whole engine use much less code.

- New LinkMusic source. Will looks and behave very similarly to the current one, but rewritten with much less code. The main feature is that it will preload the next song, so that there is less gap between songs. Previously I developed all internal sources independently from each other. In V2, most of internal sources will share the same code, so more sources (LinkMusic, Video, Photo...) will be controlled in exactly the same way. I am also achieving this with much less code, so it will be easier to maintain, enhance...

- Easier control of LinkPlayer with PUC or AppleRemote.

- Better handling of long presses on Beo4 arrow keys.

- etc...

---

Some of the features that this new architecture will eventually allow is the management of an external sound card. But this feature will not make it in V2.0. 

The problem with Beoport, is that is needs to be connected on the sound output of the Mac. So when you use your Mac, and do not have external speakers, you get no sound. I am planning to introduce a feature that will allow the distribution to use a second sound card, so that the mac sound output can remain free, allowing the Mac speakers to be active for the normal usage. In the future as well, it may be possible to listen to a source on your Mac, while streaming a different source to link rooms.

This weekend, I did work on reprogramming the Video source (while watching Eurovision). I am now going to reprogram the Photo source.

The main issue I am facing is with streaming sources, like LinkRadio and Spotify. Today, that's were I have spent the most time but was unable to achieve reliable results. Audio programming of streaming sources is considered the most difficult thing on a Mac, and not well documented, so I am blocking here a little bit. Will probably have to do a bit of reading...

Will post some screenshot sometime.

p.

Sounds an amazing amount of work

You are fantastic

And we all remain in your debt !

Phil, amazing work.  Thank you.

PhilLondon wrote:

- Better handling of "sleep" mode.

[...] updated layout that shows larger CD pictures and is more balanced on large screens. Also the top row can appear in overlay over videos and photos for a few seconds. Looks elegant.

[...] Better handling of "sleep" mode.

[...] Oh and Dot Matrix font on iPad.

[...]- Better handling of long presses on Beo4 arrow keys.

The attention to detail is staggering.  Incredible, on this day and age.

Hi Phil, 

It sounds amazing that you building v2 from scratch. Can't wait to test it... :-) I use LinkPlayer every day and it's an amazing piece of work. Couldn't live without it...

I have my MacMini connected to a BV8-40. I use PC to activate LinkPlayer. 

There is a couple of things I would love in the new Player, if it's possible...!? :-)

1. Let's say I'm watching a movie in Plex. I pause it and go to DTV to watch the news. When I'm done and want to go back to Plex again, I press PC and is able to resume the movie without returning to the main menu. Is it possible to make this? Maybe assign another button to be the 'GO BACK TO MAIN MENU'-button for all programs under LinkPlayer!? For instance the Red button?

2. Is it possible for you to make an easy and quick "screen-refresh-rate' changer on the main menu, until Plex integrates an automatic-changer into their player???  :-)

It's an amazing job you are doing and I probably have a million questions more or so... if you ever need more beta-users to help test the system, I would love to help. :-)

Regards
Claus