Rev 1.65
mpullin
Posts: 949
in MAX by AMX
Anyone else tried the new module for the MAX AVP? I think the new UIs that AMX came out with are much better than the other ones. The only thing I find curious is that what is on my panel is not always what is on the screen.
e.g. I can view details on Mask of Zorro on the TP, but the screen still shows the details page for Fifth Element. When I hit play, Mask of Zorro plays. When I hit stop, the movie stops and I'm looking at Fifth Element again. But when I hit play, Zorro resumes.
The cursor commands such as SEND_COMMAND vdvMAX, 'CURSOR=1:LEFT' do not appear to have the same function as the cursor buttons on the IR remote for the AVP. The IR remote has the ability to navigate the onscreen MAX menus, whereas the CURSOR commands only work when the DVD menu is up. Is there a way via the virtual device for the MAX to control the onscreen menus?
EDIT: I see now, you have to use the AVP_KEYS= command, I missed that.
Ok, so that's resolved, but is it normal to have a lack of congruency between the TP and video output? I may just have to tell the client to ignore what's on the screen and trust what's on the touchpanels.
e.g. I can view details on Mask of Zorro on the TP, but the screen still shows the details page for Fifth Element. When I hit play, Mask of Zorro plays. When I hit stop, the movie stops and I'm looking at Fifth Element again. But when I hit play, Zorro resumes.
The cursor commands such as SEND_COMMAND vdvMAX, 'CURSOR=1:LEFT' do not appear to have the same function as the cursor buttons on the IR remote for the AVP. The IR remote has the ability to navigate the onscreen MAX menus, whereas the CURSOR commands only work when the DVD menu is up. Is there a way via the virtual device for the MAX to control the onscreen menus?
EDIT: I see now, you have to use the AVP_KEYS= command, I missed that.
Ok, so that's resolved, but is it normal to have a lack of congruency between the TP and video output? I may just have to tell the client to ignore what's on the screen and trust what's on the touchpanels.
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For instance, I was watching Zorro, stopped, and used the AVP_KEYS to hit the "Play Movie" button for Fifth Element. The information on the TP updated to tell me Fifth Element was playing, but not the cover art. When I pressed Chapters, I got the chapter list from Zorro.
If I use the AVP_KEYS to go to the chapter list of Fifth Element, I get the chapter list from Fifth Element, but when I choose one and hit enter, it plays an incorrect chapter.
I'm guessing the MAX is not intended to be used this way. I will change the external pad on my TP to only send CURSOR= commands, and tell the client that pad is only to be used for navigating the DVD menu. Unfortunately this thing goes in Friday so I don't have more time to play with it.
Anyone else had a different experience with the AVP Module?
but i have noticed with the new version that transport commands have changed.
for example, if playing a DVD, you need to use CHAPTER=:+/- but when playing a CD you use TRACK=:+/- . this caught me out as i was just using TRACK for DVD and CD.
also, SCAN=:+/- and TRANSPORT=:PLAY have a slight problem as well.
i now use TRANSPORT=:NORMAL when programming outside of the UI.
there is a document that comes with the new version that explains other commands and buttons that may need to be checked. i think it will affect you more than me as there was something about AVP in there i vaguely recall.
in fact, here is the documentation pasted from 'Max Comms Module v1.65 Information.txt'
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Attached is the MAX 1.65 module zip, which has fixes for the POWER=0 offline problem, some panel template button fixes (also described in the Word doc), and for the Movie Genre list problem. It also eliminates the problem of having multiple UI modules on the same zone generating a cascade of query messages.
If you want to use the just the comm. And not change the ui and tp from 1.62 be aware of the following;
For button handler CASE 464:, change GENREINFO? to GENREINFO_V?, to fix the Movie Browse Genre function. This also requires changing the HT panel Movie Browse Genre buttons on the Browse Cover and Browse Title pages from channel 14 to channel 510.
Two other additions are optional:
There is code spread out in several places that refuses to let you put a brace {} or pipe | character into an edited MAX database string (Playlist names, etc.). This prevents confusion in later database searches.
If you have an AVP, there's an added button handler (CASE 324) for a new HT button - Play From Selected Track (channel 352 found on the 12" panel), in case you want to add that feature.
A few other UI changes are in there to support future editing of Detail and Custom data, but are unused as of this version.
Fixes made to the panel templates (in addition to the one mentioned above) are:
1. Browse Artist Tracks Play Selection button should be channel 636.
2. Music Play Count Exit button should be channel 115, not 186
3. On Browse Music by Genre page, add a button, channel 91, ?Play Entire Genre? - the UI code has been there all along.
4. On Music Browse Artist Albums and Tracks, Play All buttons should be channel 534, not 119.
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end of quote.
I recently requested that the on-screen graphics of the AVP follow the operation of the player from the NetLinx module. The NetLinx module should also track what the IR remote on the AVP is doing.
Also (unless they fixed it very recently) the AVM_KEY commands from the server do not all work the same way as the same as the actual key on the AVM does. For example, pressing ESC on an AVM keyboard brings up the control bar while you are watching a movie, and pressing it again clears it. Using the AVM_KEY command to send an ESC via the server will bring it up, but once it's up, you can never clear it via a server command. Another I find particularly annoying is that cursor keys via the server will navigate a DVD menu, but they will not navigate the AVM on-screen menus, but the cursor keys on your AVM keyboard will do both.
My solution is hybrid. I send whatever commands that are available to the AVM itself via IR to a keyboard attached to the AVM. I leave server commands to the UI that lets you look up a title, browse covers, etc., on the panel. Which leads to another point of confusion.
This is not specific to the MAX - every media server I have worked with was similar. Library lookups do not necessarily have anything to do with the currently playing media. You can have a title and its details on your panel, but unless you use the specific "play title" (if one is even available) command available from that page, you might actually play something else; generally whatever was played last. The player itself doesn't know what you have selected, so sending a raw "play" transport command will either result in nothing at all, or the last selected title being played. You must, somewhere along the line, actually select a title, then send the command to play that title, or the results may not be what you expect.