The R4 Rocks!

TurnipTruck

Just a note to say that I think that the R4 is one of the most useful UIs that AMX ever put out. I've been able to put loads of control into a slick, hand-friendly device!

Good work!

yuri

are you sure?

TurnipTruck

Stop calling me Shirley!

Auser

Agreed, sex on a stick (if you keep the bandwith limitations in mind while programming).

Now if AMX did an 802.11b/g version with streaming video capability for installs where wireless security is not such an issue and had standard transport controls available as hard buttons, that would be nigh on perfection.

I just wish you didn't have to press hard buttons twice for them to register when waking the remotes up. It's annoying when the remote is sitting next to you on the couch and you press a button expecting something to happen ... and it doesn't.

Edit: Oops, typo.

TurnipTruck

Auser wrote:

Now if AMX did an 802.11b/g version with streaming video capability

I would think that the batteries would be MUCH larger for wi-fi.

Auser wrote:

I just wish you didn't have to press hard buttons twice for them to register when waking the remotes up. It's annoying when the remote is sitting next to you on the couch and you press a button expecting something to happen ... and it doesn't.

Mine doesn't see to do that. Are you running the AMX-provided queing module?

GSLogic

TurnipTruck wrote:

Just a note to say that I think that the R4 is one of the most useful UIs that AMX ever put out. I've been able to put loads of control into a slick, hand-friendly device!
Good work!

I also think the R4 is a great device! I complain a lot about it but that's how I look at everything (it's a sickness ).

I stole a large job from a Cres**** dealer based on the R4 and of course my great tp/programming skills

I've programmed full control of my home on the R4 and I mean everything except the dog (which I'm working on). It's not for all customers but most of the home owner I deal with, once they have a demonstration, want full control.

a_riot42

Auser wrote:

and had standard transport controls available as hard buttons, that would be nigh on perfection.

I agree, how did the designers forget transport controls on a remote?
Paul

TurnipTruck

a_riot42 wrote:

I agree, how did the designers forget transport controls on a remote?
Paul

Maybe they didn't? If you put your transport controls on the mini-touchscreen, they can have feedback.

a_riot42

TurnipTruck wrote:

Maybe they didn't? If you put your transport controls on the mini-touchscreen, they can have feedback.

Yeah I know, but I don't want to have to look at the remote to do basic transport. Having hard volume/mute and transport buttons all in the same area within easy reach is a must for me for a media remote. For this reason alone I wouldn't buy an R4 for my own use.
Paul

vining

TurnipTruck wrote;
Maybe they didn't? If you put your transport controls on the mini-touchscreen, they can have feedback.

I completely agree! Hard buttons are nice for things you do alot like channel changes, volume changes, power on/off but the transport controls I actually prefer on the screen. Even when listening to music where transport control for skipping tracks frequently is more likely using the screen would still be preferable. After all that's what we do on the TPs..

Auser

TurnipTruck wrote:

I would think that the batteries would be MUCH larger for wi-fi.

Maybe, but Cr*pstron seem to be able to do it. Sort of...

TurnipTruck wrote:

Mine doesn't see to do that. Are you running the AMX-provided queing module?

Haven't tried it out yet. I did a bit of poking around in the .tkn file and wasn't sure I liked what it appears to do. I haven't hit any problems with bandwidth and message queuing yet so haven't decided whether it's worth it.

My remote started exhibiting this behaviour about two firmware releases ago. As a thought, maybe yours isn't set to go to sleep after a period?

vining

This looks pretty cool!

RicaVision International, a leading provider of digital entertainment solutions will be announcing this new Vista Sideshow compatible hardware device at CES 2007. Aside a nice 2.5" color TFT display and SideShow compatibility, this remote control also has a very interesting feature: Long range Bluetooth capabilities. Long range Bluetooth, also known as Class A Bluetooth can have an effective range of 100 meters. When compared with a strandard Bluetooth implementation of aboput 10 meters, this device really stands out from the crowd. At 100 meters (300ft) such remote control should never get out of range, a feature that is becoming more and more important as these devices need constant communication with the PC for program updates or interractive sessions.

Tworhythms

I have to say that I love this remote!! The feedback issues haven't been a problem/experienced as of yet and I am controlling everything from HVAC to Sirius to iPod (iPort) in a multizone system. One thing I have experienced is the remote wakes up for no reason. It will be sitting beside me after going to "deep" sleep and a few minutes later....."I'm awake!". Has anybody else experienced this? It doesn't happen all the time and there is no rhyme or reason to it. I have checked device notifications and diagnostics, thinking that the system was sending something to the remote but nothing.

TurnipTruck

Tworhythms wrote:

One thing I have experienced is the remote wakes up for no reason. It will be sitting beside me after going to "deep" sleep and a few minutes later....."I'm awake!". Has anybody else experienced this? It doesn't happen all the time and there is no rhyme or reason to it. I have checked device notifications and diagnostics, thinking that the system was sending something to the remote but nothing.

Same here. Maybe ZigBee is polling?

GSLogic

Tworhythms wrote:

It will be sitting beside me after going to "deep" sleep and a few minutes later....."I'm awake!". Has anybody else experienced this?

I have two of them and the R4 wake up on their on has never happened, also haven't heard this from any clients. I'd let Notification run over night and see what it causing it.

Tworhythms

GSLogic wrote:

I have two of them and the R4 wake up on their on has never happened, also haven't heard this from any clients. I'd let Notification run over night and see what it causing it.

Hmmm....interesting. Some people are experiencing this phenomena and others aren't. I have left notification running and it shows nothing. It doesn't even need to be all night. I can use it, set it down and in a few minutes it wakes up and other times it is fine. I am wondering if Zigbee is in fact polling devices and this in turn is waking it up. I have noticed that when the unit sleeps it is completely offline in studio so I can't see how feedback of any nature would wake up a device that the system doesn't see. My other touch panels don't wake up. Not a huge deal, it's just one of those mysterious things that someday, someone might find the answer.

GSLogic

I said I never had an R4 wake up by itself... it happened.
It was a new R4 out of the box and somehow the "Inactive page flip timeout" was set to 10.
Every time it went to sleep, 10 minutes later it would wake up.

I don't think the R4 should wake up if it is sleeping from a "Inactive page flip timeout". I would sure hate it if it was me.

thomod

I'd love to see some samples of how you're doing multi-room with the R4, I've struggled with getting a good, readable, layout.

Tworhythms

Start with having the home page having the room selection (you can use multiple pages using the up/down arrow if you have to) and then have source selection as you pick the rooms. This is how I am using it and I find it is very intuitive and very readable.

TurnipTruck

I am controlling an Autopatch matrix with mine. A first page selects the output to patch (room) which loads a variable. The output select button then page flips to another page that lists the available inputs. When you choose an input, the command is formed and sent off to the matrix.

GSLogic

I went nuts and setup control for everything.
I use the keypad buttons and the top up-down arrows to navigate.
Once you are on a page, say the music main page, you see 6 rows of room (outputs) you can scroll +/- 6 at a time by touching the up/dn arrows.
To select a room you use the keypad numbers 1-6 that correspond to the rooms in the above rows.
The same goes for everything in the system, for sources, stations, sprinklers, lighting, etc: +/- 6 for scroll and select from the keypad.
This keeps it very simple for the user as it is the same action for all sections.