When AMX will take care of its programmers ?

vincen

Hey

I know it'll probably once again get me kicked out of that censored forum but I hoped that AMX being part of Harman would at least change that but it looks not So no hope that AMX starts to take care a little about its programmers by releasing and updating dev tools regularly ??

• IREdit: bullsh*t program since years that crashes every 2/3 captures making the already boring process of IR capture yet not more annoying. Problem is there since years but it looks like AMX forgot the existence of that software not updated anymore: Last update is nearly 10 years old:mad:
• Hot fix: why are they not avalaible on website ? when you are on site and in hurry or in week-end no one is avalaible to send them at amx !! Why not publish them with adequate warning about their use ?
• Modules made by AMX: why are they most of them so bad and works so poorly ? and why damn source codes are not avalaible ? so at least we can tweak or adapt them to get them working !!! No excuse about NDA with manufacturers (the C company releases nearly all its modules with source code ! In fact I often chech modules at C website to find the trick when I don't succeed to control a new equipment !
• AMX releases NX processor: great product with crazy insane power but you can't exploit it ! Duet Caf? has not been updated since the release of these new processors making it impossible to use their Java Engine to go beyond limits and restrictions of NetLinx language
• and so on......

As this post will probably be censored, copy of it on my forum

Have a nice sunday

Vinc

ericmedley

If I understood what was relayed to us at last years Developer's Conference IREdit was somewhat 'farmed out' as far as app development is concerned. AMX commissioned a lot of the work and the cost of upgrading it was pretty crazy. I'm not defending them or whatnot. It's just the information that I think was relayed to us. At the time I thought it was yet another shining example of how dangerous the whole business concept of "leveraging technology" is. I've personally been involved in several companies that were bitten in the butt on this issue: Suddenly having to take on the responsibility for supporting/upgrading/retooling technology they didn't create and don't have the resources to keep up. I found it constantly ironic that all the 'cost savings' gained by not having to actually pay for all the development could get eaten up in mere days as well as the long-term damage to your reputation because you end up looking like a buffoon.

All this to say that for me IREdit still works. I do get a .net framework error upon launch but I ACK the error and it seems to function fine for the duration of the flight. It's been a long while since I've needed to capture because I'm pretty much running to other sources to get the hex code. I still use Remote Central http://files.remotecentral.com/library/3-1/index.html
a lot too. I actually have an old Pronto I keep just for capturing.

I do wish AMX would at least do one final push to kinda get IREdit on a stable ledge. It's always been a bit janky.

DHawthorne

I can edit files in IREdit, and capture new codes with my Win 8.1 machine. I can't create a new file (so I make copies and overwrite the codes). What I can't do and really miss is being able to test captured codes live. IREdit crashes to the desktop anytime I try, and I used that feature a lot when it worked. Leveraged tech or not, they need to fix this. Hire someone else to do it if they must, how can you support a control system that uses IR if you can't reliably work with the IR codes??? Heck, even the BS, $20 capture dongle Savant supplies works better (and it doesn't work well, I might add, just better than an IRIS and IREdit).

Hotfixes are another matter. You aren't supposed to load them without a support tech saying you need them. The idea is much like your doctor prescribing a controversial med: does the risk of using it outweigh the risk of not using it?

Modules "made by AMX," as explained to me once, were made by a group of programmers they hired just to do that, but are no longer around. Furthermore, they were AV guys, they were pure programmers working from a spec. There are likely exceptions, but that is why so many are not updated, and there are so few new ones. This whole thing was just bungled, form Day One. I do get the reason they have no source code - I wouldn't want to support something my end users could modify themselves either. But the dang things ought to at least work, and they ought to be updated. Pulling them is no help at all.

I don't know anything about Cafe Duet, I never used it, but I bet it is the same story. They farmed its development out, and they don't have access anymore to the ones who developed it, or at best, limited access.

IMO, the fact that AMX has been bought and sold twice in the last 10 years (likely less time than that, but my memory for elapsed time is notorious, so I'm playing safe) tells me it has not been owned and run by people who care about the overall health of the product for some time. It's just been investors looking to make a profit on the tech, and flubbing it in the process. We all had better hopes for Harmon, but it's not their flagship product either, so it won't necessarily go well. After all, AMX themselves haven't played particularly nice with all the companies they purchased; they just ate up the patents and let them die ( Landmark is a prime example, and didn't they also buy and discontinue Audio Ease?). Harmon may very well do the same.

ericmedley

DHawthorne wrote: »

I can edit files in IREdit, and capture new codes with my Win 8.1 machine. I can't create a new file (so I make copies and overwrite the codes). What I can't do and really miss is being able to test captured codes live. IREdit crashes to the desktop anytime I try, and I used that feature a lot when it worked. Leveraged tech or not, they need to fix this. Hire someone else to do it if they must, how can you support a control system that uses IR if you can't reliably work with the IR codes??? Heck, even the BS, $20 capture dongle Savant supplies works better (and it doesn't work well, I might add, just better than an IRIS and IREdit).

Hotfixes are another matter. You aren't supposed to load them without a support tech saying you need them. The idea is much like your doctor prescribing a controversial med: does the risk of using it outweigh the risk of not using it?

Modules "made by AMX," as explained to me once, were made by a group of programmers they hired just to do that, but are no longer around. Furthermore, they were AV guys, they were pure programmers working from a spec. There are likely exceptions, but that is why so many are not updated, and there are so few new ones. This whole thing was just bungled, form Day One. I do get the reason they have no source code - I wouldn't want to support something my end users could modify themselves either. But the dang things ought to at least work, and they ought to be updated. Pulling them is no help at all.

I don't know anything about Cafe Duet, I never used it, but I bet it is the same story. They farmed its development out, and they don't have access anymore to the ones who developed it, or at best, limited access.

IMO, the fact that AMX has been bought and sold twice in the last 10 years (likely less time than that, but my memory for elapsed time is notorious, so I'm playing safe) tells me it has not been owned and run by people who care about the overall health of the product for some time. It's just been investors looking to make a profit on the tech, and flubbing it in the process. We all had better hopes for Harmon, but it's not their flagship product either, so it won't necessarily go well. After all, AMX themselves haven't played particularly nice with all the companies they purchased; they just ate up the patents and let them die ( Landmark is a prime example, and didn't they also buy and discontinue Audio Ease?). Harmon may very well do the same.

Harmon: That's the $64,000 question... It's really hard to predict what the long-term goal is for Harmon in the AV market. They appear to be simultaneously moving up and down market. AMX has it's hat in a lot of vertical market's rings right now. They still seem to want to play in AV with the video switcher offerings they have. old skook AV control IMHO is a bit more sketchy. The remarks I hear in the last VIP meeting from the RESI guy were rather striking but I'm not supposed to share those I suppose. There's the whole Signage and content management side of things as well as the Enterprise level stuff like RMS.

I can say from my vantage point - my main clientele falls into these classifications:
a) dealers who find themselves in hot water with problematic projects. (this includes the dealers who suddenly lost programmers, dealers bidding on projects way beyond their ability to actually meet, dealers who are margianlly AMX when in fact they have no staff actually trained to install and AMX system or "Other Control System" Dealers who take on orphaned AMX installs.)
b) organizations outside AV who find themselves needing to integrate with an AMX system. This is usually just some kine of API development along with a module and some instructions on how to implement it.
or
c) dealers who have pretty good AMX expertise but need a little boost or some help with Audio DSP design.

The one common issue that seems to come up in each of these areas (here again in my little world) is what Dave was getting at: What is AMX doing? I'm not saying they are a ship without a rudder by any stretch. I still feel they make a great thing - whatever that is... But, I do feel the detractors make a good point. It is a bit difficult at times to put a finger on where AMX is aiming its shots. I suppose we all are just seeing what sticks in the end.