A cheap simple solution for auto turning on/off amps and other devices and peripherals

I am currently planning a budget whole home audio system, Initially I plan on having 4 zones, Lounge, Master-bedroom / Bathroom, Kitchen. This will consist of using Logitech Squeezebox Server software installed on my WHS box and software Squeezeboxes (SqueezeSlave) installed on my HTPC in the lounge and on the WHS box itself which will serve the kitchen. I will be using iPeng’s new iOS device playback which I recently wrote about, for the master-bedroom / bathroom as I will use my Apple iTouch in a dock connected to a local amp.

The problem I wanted to solve was how would I automatically turn on and off the amp serving the kitchen? This amp will be hidden away in the cupboard under the stairs and connected to the WHS boxes audio out, which will be in the same location. Possible options were an audio signal sensing amp that can automatically turn itself on when an audio signal is detected. However these types of amps are more difficult to source and can be more expensive, plus I’ve heard that on some of them if you are listening to music too quietly they can turn off when you don’t want them to.

Another option could have been to use an amp that had IR control, however IR isn’t much good when the amp is in a cupboard, although I do have a Logitech Harmony RF remote control so I could have used this I guess. The other idea I had was to use active powered speakers in the kitchen and not use an amp for this room at all, but even then I’d need to be able to turn on/off the powered speakers, or just leave them turned on all the time? If you are looking for a small pair of active powered speakers by the way, after reading many reviews on the Internet, the Audio Engine A2 and A5 speakers sound great!

I also looked on the Squeezebox forums there are some plug-ins for turning amps on and also some diagrams of circuits you can make to achieve this, but they all sounded like to much effort. I then saw something called the Intelliplug and then searching on eBay I saw the E-On Power Down plug which is based on the Intelliplug. There are 3 types of E-On PowerDown plugs so make sure you purchase the correct one, which in my case was the Desktop Computer PowerDown plug, there is also a TV and Laptop PowerDown plug.

E-ON Desktop Computer PowerDown Plug:

What these plugs do is allow you to turn on and off automatically connected devices and peripherals, such as monitors, printers, scanners, broadband modems, speakers, sub woofers. So if your PC is turned on any connected peripherals are then automatically turned on. If you turn off your PC (S5) the peripherals are automatically turned off.

This is a scan of the instructions on the box:

My WHS sleeps, it is not running 24/7 I use the excellent WHS add-in called Lightouts which allows my WHS to sleep when there are no active clients on the LAN. If a client turns on, for example my HTPC the WHS will then also automatically wake from S3 Sleep.

The E-On PowerDown plug works with S3 Sleep! So when my WHS sleeps it would turn off my amp, if the WHS wakes it would turn on the amp. I bought two of these plugs on eBay for less than five pounds delivered which was a great deal!

 

 

www.phaze1digital.com

iPeng iOS Playback– Sync options

With regards to my last post here, looking in the Squeezebox Server options there are some delay settings in the sync options. I increased one of them to 15ms from 0 which has slightly improved the issue of iPeng on the iTouch being a little out of sync. However its not perfect and when skipping through tracks it can become out of sync again but its better than what it was (I think).

Logitech Squeezebox Server – Settings.

It looks like they have based this new iOS playback feature using SqueezePlay. I did have SqueezePlay installed on my WHS initially and SqueezeSlave running on my other HTPC machine. I did not really notice any major sync issues then.

I then later uninstalled SqueezePlay on the WHS and installed SqueezeSlave instead as I wanted to run it as a service. Again with SqueezeSlave on both the WHS and HTPC boxes I have not noticed any major issues with sync. Only now using iPeng’s new playback feature has this become something of an issue. But for £2.99 to add an extra audio zone you can’t go to far wrong!

I renamed my iTouch here to iTouch – Kitchen

Changing this delay setting here affects if the iTouch is in sync or not with the other two SqueezeSlave players. However getting this value just right is tricky and I found when I thought I had it correct and all the players were pretty much in sync, but then skipping to the next track on the album the iTouch could come out of sync again. Some tracks start with everything in sync other tracks start and the iTouch is way out of sync. It still needs more investigation I think.

Overall I’d highly recommend iPeng if you have real Squeezeboxes or emulated ones like me. Its certainly the best app I have installed on my iTouch to date.

Update: Below is a response from the iPeng developer.

@CW-KID

Syncing is currently not really supported. It can work but it's - as you have found - not reliably keeping sync. We're working on that.

www.phaze1digital.com

(UPDATED) iPeng now has iOS device playback!

I’ve been using iPeng for a while with my Logitech Squeezebox Server and emulated Squeezebox’s (SqueezeSlave running on HTPC and on my WHS). This has given me a two zone audio setup where I can play music in sync in the two rooms! iPeng is a remote control app for Squeezebox on iPhone / iTouch / iPad.

iPeng recently released an in app update (£2.99) to enable playback to the actual iOS device itself. So for £2.99 I now have 3 zones which is my iTouch in an iPod dock in the kitchen. The update works but I think there is some room for improvement, I found that the iOS device lags and is not fully in sync with the other rooms. Also I had to exit the iPeng app a few times as it seemed to lock up. But it does work and I can stream my MP3’s to the iTouch.

You can read more about iPeng’s new update here.

Happy 2011, iPeng Users!

Here’s the first new release in 2011 and it brings you a long-awaited functionality for iPeng: Playback.

How Does it Work?

iPeng Playback will make your iOS device show up on a Squeezebox Server like any other Squeezebox Player and you control it just like that, too. With iPeng Playback your iOS device will have essentially the same music management capabilities as all your other players, so you can queue up tracks for a playlist or just play an album or even use plugins like Dynamic Playlists.

http://www.phaze1digital.com/

Control your Z-WAVE modules in Media Center - Power Controller MCE

I’ve been testing out some Z-Wave kit recently, for those that don’t know Z-Wave is a home automation protocol / standard, think X10 but its much newer and works on RF signals. For more information about Z-Wave see here.

Initially I was thinking about using Martin Millmore’s Power Controller MCE add-in with Byebye standby equipment which is available in the UK. But I really wanted to try Z-Wave rather than Byebye standby. So I contacted Martin and after this a plan formed and thanks to a generous donation from my friend in Hong Kong (Thanks Tom), I was able to purchase enough Z-Wave equipment for myself and for Martin to test and develop with.

We each had an Aeon Labs Z-Stick with is a USB dongle “When attached to a host processor, it becomes a Z-Wave communication device, which exposes the Zensys API (SerialAPI) through integrated USB.” This basically allows the PC to be able to send commands and receive status updates from the Z-wave devices around your home.

If I was to choose again however I would have purchased a Euro version of the ControlThink ThinkStick USB dongle instead, as this is meant to work much better with software such as mControl and the Melloware Z-Wave Commander iPhone / Android apps. As these use the ControlThink SDK.

One important thing to keep in mind is that US Z-Wave and European Z-Wave products work on different RF frequencies so ensure you are buying the right equipment for your locale.

I also purchased a mixture of Z-Wave Lamp dimmer modules and appliance modules and also an in wall dimmer switch. These were purchased from Z-wave-Products a UK website.

Once Martin had received his test equipment he was able to use an Open-Source Z-Wave SDK rather than the ControlThink one and greatly expand and develop the functionality of Power Controller MCE to include control over Z-Wave devices. I did quite allot of testing on the various software versions that he sent to me and came up with a few ideas as well.

 

Development is still on-going and Martin is working on updating his Android phone application, but you can find a released version and more information of Power Controller MCE with Z-Wave support on the Millisoft website here.

You can turn devices on and off, dim lights and lamps if they are connected to dimmer modules, you can create Zones like Living Room, Master Bedroom and then group the devices in to the correct rooms. You can create scenes for example All Lights On / Off or dim lights for a Movie scene. Set scheduled events.

One of the best things that you can do which was my idea! Is you can assign keyboard key combinations to Z-Wave devices. So for example I can assign Ctrl+Alt+A to my lamp and it will turn off Ctrl+Alt+B to turn it on Ctrl+Alt+C to dim down and Ctrl+Alt+D to brighten etc.

I can then teach my Logitech Harmony IR remote control these key combinations using a standard MCE 2005 IR keyboard. I added a dummy Lighting Controller device in the Harmony software and assigned my newly taught key combinations to this device. I can then control the lamp with the Infra-Red Harmony remote control! Event better I can insert these key combinations in to activities. For example on my Harmony remote I have a My Movies activity, I added in an IR command to dim the lights 50% so now whenever I enter the My Movies activity the lamps in the lounge auto dim down and if I exit the activity and enter another activity they go to full brightness again.

There is also a WHS add-in for Power Controller MCE, this allows you to install the Z-Wave USB dongle into the home server and then on each Windows 7 Media Center PC you can install the MCE add-in and each one of these PC’s will then be able to control your Z-Wave devices via the USB dongle on the WHS box, Sweet!

If your a Media Center user and taking your first steps in to Home Automation with Z-wave or Byebye standby? Power Controller MCE might be a good place to start. I think over time you would probably want to move on to something more sophisticated like mControl or HomeSeer but it you want simple control over a few Z-wave lighting and appliance modules and to be able to link it in with Media Center and your existing universal remote control then I’d definitely recommend taking a look at Power Controller MCE.

I’d like to thank Martin for his hard work so far coding and also to Tom for his generous donation which has made this possible.

 

www.phaze1digital.com

My Movies–Missing metadata whilst playing a movie?

This article applies if you are using My Movies for Windows Home Server. If you are using a standalone My Movies Server / Client on Windows XP / Vista / Seven and you do not have a WHS then this does not apply to you.

Do you have missing metadata on the native Media Center overlay screens whilst playing a movie?

Play a movie once it starts press the info button on your remote control to bring up the Program Info.

This is how it currently looks on my laptop, you can only see part of the UNC Path and a Dolby Logo

Click here for larger image – Program Info

Click here for a larger image – Synopsis

Click here for a larger image – No Synopsis

If you see the same as the above screen shots, then you could be missing the My Movies Media Center MetaData Connector. A rather dated and I thought not a completely clear description of the MetaData Connector can be see here on the My Movies website.

To install the Metadata Connector browse to the following folder on your Windows Home Server

\\servername\Software\My Movies\Media Center MetaData Connector

In here you will find an exe called Media Center MetaData Connector.exe, probably best to close your Media Center program down before running the exe.

Note:- If your Windows client does not have the Windows Home Server Connector software already installed you will get this error:

After clicking the Create button you will see this dialog.

If you are using the My Movies client / MCE add-in then I would go for the first option. If you are using the native My DVD’s (MCE 2005) DVD Library (VMC) or Movies Library (7MC) only I think you would go for option two.

So I select Yes on this dialog as I will be using the My Movies client / MCE add-in on my Windows 7 PC’s.

After clicking the Yes button I was presented with this dialog box.

I then clicked OK on the above dialog and I was simply left with the first dialog box showing on the screen this one:

So at this point I was a little confused as to what was going on? Had the installation finished?

I then opened Media Center and opened My Movies Library and nothing had change I still had no metadata whilst playing a movie.  Looking on the My Movies forum it was suggested that selecting Yes does not work (Thanks Tony). So I tried again and this time selected No. I then saw the following dialog boxes.

Click Yes

Click OK

I then went back in to Media Center and My Movies and started playing the same film again, this time I had the metadata showing as you can see in the screen shots below.

Click here for a larger image

Click here for a larger image

Click here for a larger image

Click here for a larger image

Apparently there is also a problem with Windows Service Pack 1 that breaks this functionality, I do not know why of have any further details on this, perhaps Brian can enlighten us.

 

www.phaze1digital.com

New intro videos available on VIPID

Hello just a quick update, there are two new custom intro templates available on VIPID, one is a Warner Brothers one and the other is a Lucas Film one.

Click HERE to see a sample Warner Brothers custom intro clip

Please let me know if you have been using the VIPID service and what you think about it?

http://vipidme.com/

http://www.phaze1digital.com/

Control your Mouse cursor with your Logitech Harmony remote control

I saw an interesting post on The Green Button here that linked to another interesting post on the Logitech Harmony forums here. What was being discussed was two additional Microsoft Media Center devices that are listed in the Logitech Harmony device database, one is called “Special Edition” Windows Media Center which is a Media Center PC device that has an extended command set, the other device is an MCE Keyboard which maps all the keyboard keys and commands.

I wasn’t aware these two additional devices existed and when program Logitech Harmony remote controls for use with Windows Media Center PC’s in the past I’d used the standard Windows Media Center device from the Harmony database.

I recently purchased a second hand Logitech Harmony 555 as I really like this particular discontinued model and I’d used the 550 USA version of the same remote before in the past. The newer Windows Media Center SE device in the Harmony database has support for mouse cursor!

The new device can be added as follows:

Device type: Computer -> Media Center PC

Manufacturer: Microsoft

Model: Windows Media Center SE (Copy and paste in this device name in the Model field)

Add the new Windows Media Center SE device to your device list in the Harmony software

Click for larger image

The below instructions are from the Logitech Harmony forum post, I will go through each number below and add a few things as well.

Below you will find the instructions to create a mouse control activity.

1: Create a Generic activity only using the Windows Media Center device.

Answer Title: Adding an Activity that does not fit into any category in the Logitech Harmony Remote Software

Answer Link:

http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/logite​ch_en_amr.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=121...

For the input select the following option

I don't need to set the input on my Microsoft Media Center PC

2: Program the activity to leave on the unused device.

Answer Title: Setting a Harmony remote to not power off devices when switching between Activities

Answer Link:

http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/logite​ch_en_amr.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=123...

3: Rename the activity to Mouse Control

Answer Title: Renaming Devices and Activities on a Harmony remote

Answer Link:

http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/logite​ch_en_amr.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=378...

4: Change the button mapping

Use the Map the Mouse Up,Down,Left<Right to the direction buttons.

Map the Mouse Left Up and Mouse Left Down to the Volume Up and down buttons.

Map the Mouse Right Up and Mouse Right Down to the Channel Up and down buttons.

Stuart’s instructions -

1. Add custom Activity

In the Harmony software go to the Activities tab and add a new Activity.

Select No - manually add an Activity to my setup and click on the Next button

Select the Activity category Utility and click on the Next button

Select Generic Activity and click on the Next button

Confirm that you would like to add a Generic Activity by clicking on the Next button

Choose the device(s) you would like to add by clicking on the Add button. When you have finished adding all of the devices, click on Save

I just added the Media Center PC device at this stage.

If you would like to have the Harmony remote set the device to an input when you select the Generic Activity, then choose the input for the device, otherwise select I don't need to set the input and click on the Next button.

Here I selected I don’t need to set the input on my Microsoft Media Center PC

Review the settings for the activity. If the settings are correct select Yes, these settings are correct and click the Next button

Complete the setup of the activity by clicking on Done

After adding a Generic Activity, when you select the Activity on your Harmony remote, none of the buttons will be programmed. You will need to customize the buttons in your Generic Activity. For more information on customizing the buttons on your Harmony remote, please search our knowledge base with the term "Customize buttons in an Activity"

Once completed, you will need to update your remote. Click on the Update Remote button and follow the onscreen steps

On this screen click Next and then Done

Your new Generic Activity will now be listed under the Activities tab in the Harmony Software, click the Settings button.

Select Rename Generic Activity and call it Mouse Cursor and save this change.

Go back to the Generic Activity settings and then select Change Options and select Leave On, save this change and click Done.

From here click Customize Buttons

In here you need to assign the mouse cursor commands to the various buttons as shown below.

Change the button mapping

Use the Map the Mouse Up,Down,Left<Right to the direction buttons.

Map the Mouse Left Up and Mouse Left Down to the Volume Up and down buttons.

Map the Mouse Right Up and Mouse Right Down to the Channel Up and down buttons.

Logitech’s instructions mention nothing about left and right mouse buttons! So on my 555 remote I assigned the Mute button as LeftClick and the Prev button as RightClick

That’s it your done!

Now you can select the Activity called Mouse Cursor and use the Harmony remote controls directional / volume / channels buttons to move the mouse cursor around the screen and if you also added left and right mouse buttons as I did you can select items and right click.

I am sure there is much more scope for other new customisations with these Windows Media Center SE and MCE Keyboard extended command sets.

www.phaze1digital.com

My Movies for iPad - controlling My Movies for Windows Media Center

Brian Binnerup of My Movies has released a new YouTube video of My Movies for iPad in action controlling Windows Media Center.

I have to say the remote control looks very impressive indeed! You can control multiple Windows Media Center PC’s and 5 Windows Media Center Extenders per PC.

Watch the demo video:

My Movies for iPad–Control Media Center

Learn more about My Movies for iPad on the My Movies website here.

 

www.phaze1digital.com

Change the default windows audio device within MCE

I added a Denon CD Receiver (AMP) to one of my 7MC PC’s today to power some in-room speakers. I used the analogue stereo 3.5mm port on the back of the motherboard to the phono line in Left / Right ports on the back of the Denon amp.

I then needed a way to be able to change the default windows audio device from within the Media Center user interface, (Speakers) audio device for the Denon amp and (HDMI) audio device for the HDTV.

I tried to do this in the past using Vista Audio Changer but found it didn’t work 100% as it would minimize Media Center and then using a macro open the Playback audio devices dialog box and change the default audio device, it was hit and miss to say the least.

I then found a Windows Media Center add-in called Audio Renderer Updater on this page here. I installed it today on one of my 7MC PC’s and it works great, no minimizing of Media Center or any of that malarkey, it just switches the default windows audio device perfectly every time!

You can download the English version from here and the French version from here.

 

www.phaze1digital.com

WHS V2 Vail = Fail – Tell Microsoft your thoughts on them removing Drive Extender

You have probably heard by now that some bright sparks at Microsoft have decided that removing Drive Extender from Windows Home Server Version 2 (Codename Vail) is a good idea! Well its not and it will probably kill off the WHS platform in my opinion.

I was reading this post on the subject at http://usingwindowshomeserver.com and in the comments I noticed a link to a thread on the Microsoft Connect (Beta) website.

You will need a Connect account to access this page or you will get an error, but I highly suggest if you want to vote and express your comments to Microsoft this is probably the best place to do it. So please take the time to register and get on Connect if you can. You can find the thread on Connect here.

https://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer/feedback/details/624029/add-drive-extender-back-to-vail

There are currently 2852 Votes in favour of keeping Drive Extender in Vail and 37 against. There are currently 775 comments that have been posted by users.

Click here for larger image

The comment I posted on the Microsoft Connect thread can be seen below and clearly expresses my disbelief in this announcement.

I am totally shocked and amazed that Microsoft would think that removing Drive Extender from WHS V2 would be a good idea. Duh which idiots make these decisions?
I just got the link to this Connect thread from this blog post here:
http://usingwindowshomeserver.com/2010/11/23/microsoft-announces-the-removal-of-drive-extender-from-windows-home-server-code-name-vail/
Microsoft please read the user comments on the above blog post and the many other blog posts on the Internet, where this news about Drive Extender being removed has been announced.
The comments left on this Microsoft Connect thread are only a tiny minority of users who have a Connect login account, there must be 1000's of others who also want to see that Drive Extender does remain in the WHS product, who can't post here.
I certainly won't be upgrading to WHS V2 if Drive Extender is removed and neither will our Media Center customers.
Sort it out Microsoft and get your act together !

Stuart aka CW-KID

Microsoft Windows Entertainment and Connected Home MVP