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AMX NI-700, MVP-8400 & Logitech Media Server

dsmithp233dsmithp233 Posts: 8
in AMX Control Products

Hello,
I have a NI-700 and a MVP-8400 that was working with Logitech Media Server that is running on a Windows 2008 server. The touch panel and the Netlinx files came from this site: https://sourceforge.net/projects/netlinx-modules/files/

The port for the Logitech CLI is 9090. Everything was working until 2 months ago. Nothing has changed on my internal network and I can't figure out what is broken. I also used a NI-3000 and a NXV-300 in place of the NI-700 and the MVP-8400 but with no success.

I even tried using a wireless router that I have lying around and put the NI and the server on it (I made a 172.xx.xx.xx network), no luck there.

Thanks for all and any assistance.

Donald

Comments

  • John NagyJohn Nagy Posts: 1,742

    You don't say anything specific about what parts are and are not working.
    Is the media server working with its local controls?

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Harman Integrated Technologies Group (ITG) Posts: 0

    Out of curiosity - what is the system time on your NI controller? Considering the age of the unit, there is a chance the internal button battery has failed and you lost power and the clock is no longer matched to the server time.

    The include file documents a debug feature and the comments suggest it can be verbose. while it does not show the command to send to the virtual device, there is a function that can be called and you can pass in the level of info you want
    Note on logging levels:
    // "Debug" is VERY verbose ...
    // "Info" logs all responses from SlimServer module
    // "Notice" and higher notes unusual exceptions only
    // See Syslog module for further details on logging levels

  • dsmithp233dsmithp233 Posts: 8

    John, thanks for the response. What isn't working is the touch panel functions. For example, when I press the "Select Songs" button, I'm not seeing the lists (albums, artists, genres,etc). The web GUI is working of the Logitech Media Server (LMS) :smile: and I hear audio from the USB soundcard to my audio video receiver.

    HARMAN_Chris, the system time is correct on the NI-700. What I'm not sure about is whether or not the NI can see the CLI port of 9090. Since this is my home network and the LMS is running on a server OS, I know that the port is open because it was working 2 months ago.

    Thank you, Donald

  • John NagyJohn Nagy Posts: 1,742
    edited August 2021

    Again, for clarity - is there ANY evidence of communication by the AMX system with the server? Do PLAY or PAUSE work, or anything, or just no on-panel feedback? If -anything- is passing successfully, the port is open and the protocol is passing.

    I'd research the server end... you KNOW your AMX bits have not changed. If your network is also OK, it's possible that the cloud support for Slimserver/Logitech/Squeezebox has ended or changed. I see there was a new recent release of the server software:
    Stable release: 8.2.0 / August 3, 2021
    This may not bode well for pre-existing AMX modules. Or it is something else entirely. Hard to tell without examining the server logs when AMX tries to talk, and AMX diagnostics when it tries to talk to the server.

  • dsmithp233dsmithp233 Posts: 8

    Update:
    I downgraded LMS to 7.7.3 from 8.2.0 and I received no response on the touch panel (no play, pause, or Power). I ran the "netstat -an" on the server and it showed me that it's listening on ports 9000 (Web) and 9090 (CLI).

    Next, I downgraded to LMS version 7.7.0, reloaded the original AMX NI file & the touch panel files from the web site mentioned above and I have no response from the touch panel.

    Donald

  • dsmithp233dsmithp233 Posts: 8

    If by chance, can someone test out the LMS program, see if it works on their system and then maybe we can compare notes?

    Thank you, Donald

  • dsmithp233dsmithp233 Posts: 8

    Update and another question:

    The update is that I was able to get the touch panel working with LMS, the system number was wrong in Netlinx.

    Here's the question and forgive me if its' been answered before but I have an album with special characters named
    107° In The Shade but on the panel it shows up saying ' 107 In The Shade' ( with no degree sign) or the album Ōbōn shows as ÅŒbÅ=n.

    How can I make the panel show the special characters?

    Thank you, Donald

  • John NagyJohn Nagy Posts: 1,742
    edited October 2021

    Curious and worrisome that the system number in the Netlinx would change spontaneously after working fine... as your initial post suggests!!

    Review the font you selected for the touch panel design. Many are not complete for symbols. You can see the character map in TP Design, and test text for character rendition. This is a likely cause, and one you can correct with choosing a different display font for the text fields affected. Other causes may include inappropriate escape sequences or omissions in the text as it comes from the LMS. You may be able to see the actual sent text in telnet or in you input routines.

  • dsmithp233dsmithp233 Posts: 8

    Hello,
    I tried changing the font, but no avail. However, I was able to see that the album Ōbōn showed as the album

    Line 316 2021-10-15 (21:46:22):: Command To [10005:9:1]-[!T$91$C5$8Cb$C5$8Dn ] in Netlinx Studio

    Thanks, Donald

  • richardhermanrichardherman Posts: 401

    That looks like UTF-8 encoding. ($C5$8Cb$C5$8Dn = $C5 $8C $62 $C5 $8D $6E = Ōbōn) . Not so sure about the first 3 bytes. If it IS UTF-8, you can't send that to a panel as is. You have to use WC_TP_ENCODE for that.
    Before you can do much with Unicode in your AMX program, there are steps to take, like enabling editor and compiler options and including the Unicode library. The NetLinx instruction manual has a chapter about working with Unicode.

    Good luck

  • dsmithp233dsmithp233 Posts: 8

    Hello,
    So I talked to AMX tech support and I need to convert ASCII to Unicode but since the SlimServer program has a .tko module, I need make a virtual touch panel to intercept this line:

    DEFINE_FUNCTION PlayerStart (char unitNum)
    {
    dev panelList[SS_MAX_PanelsInSystem];

    g_SlimServer_UnitNum = unitNum;
SS_DoCommand(vdSlimServer, g_SlimServer_UnitNum, SS_cmdPower_On);

// Assign touchpanel for feedback

panelList[1] = TP_SServer;
set_length_array(panelList, 1);
SS_SetPanels(vdSlimServer, g_SlimServer_UnitNum, panelList);

    }

    According to tech support, panelList feeds the .tko module. But I don't know how to write this.

    Any thoughts??

    Donald

  • richardhermanrichardherman Posts: 401

    I would try to get in contact with the author of the module and see if he would be willing to release the source code. This was written in 2005 (16 years ago) and it seems after a couple of months of development nothing happened anymore. Maybe he moved on to other things and would be willing to release this. It's amazing to me this still works at all, it was written for Slimserver 6.2!

    Just curious, there are apps for controlling LMS for Android, iPad, iPhone and PC that work with the latest LMS releases and are probably far more capable than the 16 year old AMX interface. What is the reason you still use this?

  • dsmithp233dsmithp233 Posts: 8

    Richard,
    First, thank you for your response. I did a search on Jeff Coffler and found him in LinkedIn. Sadly, I believed he passed away (apparently, he worked at Microsoft).

    Second, why do I use this? I always wanted to have the artist name, song, album art, etc show on a touch panel since I found out that it could be done 10 - 15 years ago but I didn't (and still don't) have the programming skills to write a complex AMX program.

    Third, it's free

    Fourth, I can control LMS via any PC I have in my home (and through my personal VPN).

    Fifth, I did see two IOS apps and the interface was nice. Maybe one day, I'll pay $7 or $9 to have another avenue of control.

    Donald

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