Dreaming again... IR
ericmedley
Posts: 4,177
I realize this is mushy pipe-dreaming, but what the heck.
I realize the IR is the slums of AV Control and not worthy of a single glance by such haughty folk as this forum, but I thought I'd go ahead and bring it up with the hope that maybe someone at Engineering at AMX might want to add this little feature to their processors.
We all thought IR would be dead ages ago. But it has persisted and I'm shocked to find that there are still some installs I do where it ends up being the only viable control method available.
I realize that AMX had to spend a lot of cash to create the application IREdit; that it was sorta not done 'in-house' and therefore is expensive to change and so forth.
I feel like a great and more future-proof idea would be to allow us to send the IR port the raw hex code for a command to an IR port from code. We could manage our own IR libraries and whatnot.
Treat it like a serial port in that you set the IR pulse baud rate , pulse length and CTOF, and repeat mode by commands to the port. Then the IR commands would be a "Send String"
I've actually toyed with tyring this with an IR port set to one-way serial. but it doesn't work.
I don't know how much development that would take. But surely not as much as keeping an app like IREdit alive.
Just a thought.
E
Comments
Any hope hacking an IRL file to achieve a rough approximation of this? Don't those IRL files store the raw hex codes of the IR pulses?
You have that level of raw IR data access through an SVSi endpoint or something like a Global Cache.
But why would you want to deprecate one of the great advantages of NetLinx IR files where your code can be device agnostic. Swap out a device, load a different IR file to the IR device - no reprogramming, recompiling, reloading or rebooting required.
Sure you could roll your own database management system where the hex data could be read in from files you load onto the master depending upon what devices you have connected. But that sounds an awful like a lot of unnecessary work when that wheel has already been invented.
The wheel was invented (last updated in 2005), then placed on a shelf to rot. IREDIT crashes differently on each level of Windows since XP. It can be forced to appear to work, but go to cut and paste or many other simple operations, and you quickly visit your desktop. I have two laptops with XP just to be able to edit ir files for AMX. Even when it works, the hack job they did initially with it appearing to be a shell UI on parts that never talked to each other makes it insane to use. Little things like the workspace can't be sent to a port. You have to save it first. But wait, you can't save it to any file but the one you opened initially - forcing you to overwrite your master copy. But oh look, there's a SAVE COPY AS function. But it doesn't save the workspace, it makes a new copy of the one you unwisely opened without a separate work copy. Then you can't save to the copy, you must save over the original. You can't save but one communication address, and it's hidden in a TOOLS menu. Oh, and if you leave files in the tree when you exit, even on XP, and then move the files, you get error windows on next run that you MUST clear to continue. But the dialogs appear BEHIND the splash screen where you can't see them. And the splash screen stays until you clear them. In most but not all screen resolutions, you can see the edge of the window(s, one for each file not fount) and blindly click them closed, once you know the secret handshake. There's more. Who thought this thing through?
Seriously, the concepts of IR management in AMX are just fine. The endless search for alternatives is wholly driven by the inadequacy of the the IREDIT app - both back in the day, and especially in this century.
Still we persist.
Looks like my comment is locked out. Trying again in two posts.
The wheel was invented (last updated in 2005), then placed on a shelf to rot. IREDIT crashes differently on each level of Windows since XP. It can be forced to appear to work, but go to cut and paste or many other simple operations, and you quickly visit your desktop. I have two laptops with XP just to be able to edit ir files for AMX. Even when it works, the hack job they did initially with it appearing to be a shell UI on parts that never talked to each other makes it insane to use. Little things like the workspace can't be sent to a port. You have to save it first. But wait, you can't save it to any file but the one you opened initially - forcing you to overwrite your master copy. But oh look, there's a SAVE COPY AS function. But it doesn't save the workspace, it makes a new copy of the one you unwisely opened without a separate work copy.
Then you can't save to the copy, you must save over the original. You can't save but one communication address, and it's hidden in a TOOLS menu. Oh, and if you leave files in the tree when you exit, even on XP, and then move the files, you get error windows on next run that you MUST clear to continue. But the dialogs appear BEHIND the splash screen where you can't see them. And the splash screen stays until you clear them. In most but not all screen resolutions, you can see the edge of the window(s, one for each file not fount) and blindly click them closed, once you know the secret handshake. There's more. Who thought this thing through?
Seriously, the concepts of IR in AMX are just fine. The discussion about alternatives is wholly driven by the inadequacy of the the IREDIT app - both back in the day, and especially in this century.
Still we persist.
John, there is no reason one could not keep your IR files/libraries agnostic. Simply populate the libraries using SNAPI as your templaye. Play is always channel 1, etc....
As for the IRL files and so forth.. More than once I"ve tried to download the files of a master only to find out they were corrupted -= this leaving us high and dry until we could download the fresh file.
To me the idea of having everything about the project within the confines of code is very appealing. And, I'm not suggesting abandoning IRL/IREdit. Just add the new feature to the IR port itself. If one prefers using good ole IRL files, that functionality is already there.
Agnostic command order isn't any issue here... when you get manufacturer's codes, Remote Central codes, Control Tower codes, or fresh captures, you need to PUT them into an IRL in the order you want. SNAPI standard or whatever. Editing.
My point is that if IREDIT worked sanely and reliably on a supported operating system, there would be no epic and continuous search for something else. IREDIT remains a crucial tool, but was last tweaked 13 years ago for the RELEASE of WINXP. Compare to TPDesign: really good. Perhaps that's why there are not a dozen message chains discussing how to avoid using that.
Putting the IR in the code means rebuild code every time they get a new TV or Bluray... if you like that sort of thing, sure, it's "convenient"... just add programming. I copy all the IRL files used into a storage folder IN THE NETLINX as well as in my job file archive.
"Corrupt" ir files that won't extract are often caused by someone deleting the metadata stub files from the netlinx file system. Without the "irfile09" type files that get created in the file root of the netlinx when you upload IRL to a port, the IRL can't be extracted later.... some folk don't know that and delete. Or FTP the files with ASCII instead of BINARY settings, making a useless mess of them.
The wheel was invented (last updated in 2005), then placed on a shelf to rot. IREDIT crashes differently on each level of Windows since XP. It can be forced to appear to work, but go to cut and paste or many other simple operations, and you quickly visit your desktop. I have two laptops with XP just to be able to edit ir files for AMX. Even when it works, the hack job they did initially with it appearing to be a shell UI on parts that never talked to each other makes it insane to use. Little things like the workspace can't be sent to a port. You have to save it first. But wait, you can't save it to any file but the one you opened initially - forcing you to overwrite your master copy. But oh look, there's a SAVE COPY AS function. But it doesn't save the workspace, it makes a new copy of the one you unwisely opened without a separate work copy. Then you can't save to the copy, you must save over the original. You can't save but one communication address, and it's hidden in a TOOLS menu. Oh, and if you leave files in the tree when you exit, even on XP, and then move the files, you get error windows on next run that you MUST clear to continue. But the dialogs appear BEHIND the splash screen where you can't see them. And the splash screen stays until you clear them. In most but not all screen resolutions, you can see the edge of the window(s, one for each file not fount) and blindly click them closed, once you know the secret handshake. There's more. Who thought this thing through?
Seriously, the concepts of IR in AMX are just fine. The discussion about alternatives is wholly driven by the inadequacy of the the IREDIT app - both back in the day, and especially in this century.
Still we persist.
Strange... the post I could not make more than a week ago reappears today as new. Sorry for the duplication, the forum prevents deletion too.
Don't give up ericmedley, I think it is a great idea. Especially when compared how abysmal the quality of IREDIT. It's by far the worst piece of software I am forced to use.