App Control of Masterlink Products Using Beolink Converter NL/ML

[Guy]

Thanks @patcherley  – being very new to the NL/ML Converter setup pages I was convinced that I was doing something wrong, but it would appear to be normal behaviour.

Many thanks also @Carolpa

It’s useful to hear that Radio sources seem to have been skipped – understandable when you consider Encore/9000c.  I will set up the system later this week, re-connect the Essence and try the helpful workaround in your last paragraph.  I will report back, hopefully with positive results! 😀

[XavierItzmann]

I can confirm Rolf’s post «In the old BeoMusic App the BV 10 is displayed as an icon. In the new app this functionality seems to be no longer active, as I, as well, get only the BLC on display».  I only started using the B&O app about 2 yrs ago and likewise in my experience it only displays a photo of the BLC, regardless of the setting.  A couple of months ago I reconfigured my whole setup and left only one device ML’d to the C: the BS5.

And so I re-confirmed that even if you only have one device connected to the BLC, you can’t get the app to display an icon of the BS5, even if you so set it on the BLC’s settings.

That, plus my recent discovery (via Andy’s command-based app he issued a few weeks ago) that devices such as Beoplay A6 and Beosound Essence Mk2 fail to recognize the C’s push to the network that it has changed tracks —or, perhaps, the C’s failure to even send such an update—, really underscore that the C is now under the barest minimum possible functionality maintenance.

This, plus the concern raised months ago that the C’s poor old memory is constantly being rewritten to with useless failure log messages —thus condemning the device to an early, unnecessary death— tells us that the C is probably not long for this world.

[Guy]

Carolpa wrote:

workaround: if you add the Essence mkII to the setup, you could add the ML sources of the BC2300 as Essence mkII sources (In the Essence configuration: Link to other products; Connect to primary Beolink product; check the boxes for the available sources in Content-Sources-Local) Then it is possible to start the BC2300 Radio on the Essence mkII

That works – many thanks indeed @Carolpa

FM Radio from the BC2300 is now playing on the speaker connected to the Essence, and I am able to use the app to change stations and play/control the CD player too.

Just one anomaly, even after selecting (what I have named) ‘FM RADIO BC2300’ as a source for the Essence mkII  in the app, the app then shows the source as ‘B&O Radio’ (with the station logo blank, obviously).

[Guy]

XavierItzmann wrote:

And so I re-confirmed that even if you only have one device connected to the BLC, you can’t get the app to display an icon of the BS5, even if you so set it on the BLC’s settings.

Many thanks for that confirmation.

XavierItzmann wrote:

This, plus the concern raised months ago that the C’s poor old memory is constantly being rewritten to with useless failure log messages —thus condemning the device to an early, unnecessary death— tells us that the C is probably not long for this world.

I must have missed this concern because I didn’t have a BLC when it was raised.  It’s not ideal but can’t you just go into the BLC’s ‘Tools’ menu occasionally and clear the system log?  (Having said that, the only entries in my BLC system log are from today and I don’t remember clearing it after my experiments last week)

[Guy]

Guy wrote:

XavierItzmann wrote: This, plus the concern raised months ago that the C’s poor old memory is constantly being rewritten to with useless failure log messages —thus condemning the device to an early, unnecessary death— tells us that the C is probably not long for this world.

I must have missed this concern because I didn’t have a BLC when it was raised.  It’s not ideal but can’t you just go into the BLC’s ‘Tools’ menu occasionally and clear the system log?  (Having said that, the only entries in my BLC system log are from today and I don’t remember clearing it after my experiments last week)

I just checked the NL/ML Converter’s ‘System Log’ today and all the 9 Oct messages have disappeared.  Perhaps one of the recent SW updates* makes the Converter clear the log data daily to avoid filling the memory?

* EDIT: Actually I don’t think there have been any SW updates since 2015, so now not so sure about this!

[Guy]

I have just been testing further NL/ML Converter functionality while I have the equipment set up:

• Firstly I used ‘sources visible on ML’ to set ML sources ‘TV’ and ‘DTV’ as Essence NL sources ‘B&O Radio’ and ‘Music’ respectively (Music accessing tracks from my QNAP NAS).  I can select/control these using Beo4 on the BC2300 – using TV/DTV source selection.
• I added an ML BeoLab3500 ‘link room’ and get the same Beo4 functionality there.  Interestingly I can listen to an Essence source in the link room whilst listening to BC2300 sources in the main room.
• The NL/ML Converter sends the correct time to the BeoLab 3500 for display (once selected in in Converter menu)

[Guy]

Guy wrote:

The NL/ML Converter sends the correct time to the BeoLab 3500 for display (once selected in in Converter menu)

The NL/ML Converter would also appear to have updated the time on the ‘hidden’ clock in my one-way BC2300!  Read about that in this thread.

[Carolpa]

Guy wrote:

Guy wrote:

XavierItzmann wrote: This, plus the concern raised months ago that the C’s poor old memory is constantly being rewritten to with useless failure log messages —thus condemning the device to an early, unnecessary death— tells us that the C is probably not long for this world.

I must have missed this concern because I didn’t have a BLC when it was raised. It’s not ideal but can’t you just go into the BLC’s ‘Tools’ menu occasionally and clear the system log? (Having said that, the only entries in my BLC system log are from today and I don’t remember clearing it after my experiments last week)

I just checked the NL/ML Converter’s ‘System Log’ today and all the 9 Oct messages have disappeared. Perhaps one of the recent SW updates* makes the Converter clear the log data daily to avoid filling the memory? * EDIT: Actually I don’t think there have been any SW updates since 2015, so now not so sure about this!

I checked my 5 BLC: all show todays logs only.
Actually I do think they have pushed (minor) changes/update(s) to BLC’s before (without notice, without date change of latest update).

 

The changes to the B&o app seams to me a (possible) logic vision:

• the BLC becomes/is the ML connector and should be used with the previous types of products (Essense mkII, Beoplay 6, BS35, M3, etc…) and should be setup as the described way around.
• the BeoConnect Encore becomes the USB intermediate to connect older products/sources the the Mozart platform where these sources are an integral source of that Mozart product.

I use BLC’s a lot and the best and easiest way to controll and use is, to have only one ML product connected to a BLC which is integrated as Primary Beolink product to a NL device.

 

[Guy]

Carolpa wrote:

I checked my 5 BLC: all show todays logs only. Actually I do think they have pushed (minor) changes/update(s) to BLC’s before (without notice, without date change of latest update).

Thanks for checking that and confirming.  I did think 9 years was a long time without a SW update!

Carolpa wrote:

I use BLC’s a lot and the best and easiest way to controll and use is, to have only one ML product connected to a BLC which is integrated as Primary Beolink product to a NL device.

That makes sense for the most ‘controllable’ setup.  I continue to be quite impressed with the Converter and look forward to expanding my system.

[Author]

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