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New Escient Module

viningvining Posts: 4,368
in AMX General Discussion
Has anyone worked the the new module that's been posted on the Escient site? Supports cover art and appears to be completely re-written.

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    jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    vining wrote:
    Has anyone worked the the new module that's been posted on the Escient site? Supports cover art and appears to be completely re-written.
    LMAO!!!!! This is hilarious. They FINALLY got around to it?

    I was told back on 9/22/06 that the "final version will be available on our web site towards the end of October."

    It's so nice to see they're on top of things.
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    viningvining Posts: 4,368
    jjames wrote:
    LMAO!!!!! This is hilarious. They FINALLY got around to it?
    Of course they had to complete the Crapstron module first! Their module was released several months ago.
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    jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    Yeah - but I was told back in Sept. of '06 that it'd be up in October of '06.

    Don't be surprised when I say it's LONG overdue, let's just hope it's worth it. I personally own an E-40, so I can bring home a processor and 8400 to try out on Monday.

    Correction - it appears that their new module doesn't apply to the E-40. Bummer.
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    mcottonmcotton Posts: 38
    I've got it loaded right now and it looks a lot closer to the web/rti interface. It has some noticeable lag when it has to change all 9 cover art pictures at the same time. Also the jukebox/queue feature is awkwardly implemented right now. With my fat fingers some times I hit the '+' symbol and other times it selects the song to start playing right now. The functionality works but isn't fat-finger-compatible.

    The biggest problem is going to be added the new functionality into our existing interface.
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    TurnipTruckTurnipTruck Posts: 1,485
    I loaded it into my system this morning with an MX-111.

    First of all, it's nice to see the cover art brought into the Escient module. There is about a second of latency as you scroll from one page of covers to the next. It's not horrible, but I'm not sure how it could be improved unless the images were cached in the AMX system.

    They have also improved the means by which you can view things by disc, album, atrtist, genre, etc. That was always a difficult concept for some operators.

    The UI graphics are a bit bland, but those who take this seriously usually change them anyway. I don't quite get the black and white diode symbols on the buttons.

    I'd like to find a better way to do the variable text buttons. The full width buttons that sometimes have little or no text in them leave a bit to be desired in slickness factor. But, graphic design is not my strength. Maybe someone else can come up with and share something.

    Thanks to Escient for putting this out. It will help AMX people to support and keep using Escient products.
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    shr00m-dewshr00m-dew Posts: 394
    jjames wrote: »
    Yeah - but I was told back in Sept. of '06 that it'd be up in October of '06.

    Don't be surprised when I say it's LONG overdue, let's just hope it's worth it. I personally own an E-40, so I can bring home a processor and 8400 to try out on Monday.

    Correction - it appears that their new module doesn't apply to the E-40. Bummer.

    Should work with a E-40 upgraded to E2 firmware right?

    Kevin D.
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    viningvining Posts: 4,368
    TurnipTruck wrote:
    There is about a second of latency as you scroll from one page of covers to the next. It's not horrible
    But it's consistent correct? All images loading, all the time? If so a second isn't bad at all and the technique used which is just the ^RMF command changing the images file url on the TPs w/ the TPs refresh is set to zero should work for other applications too but it didn't seem to work well in recent attempts. I wonder if it's because what I and others have attempted was retrieving files on the master where these are retrieving files on the Escient.
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    jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    shr00m-dew wrote: »
    Should work with a E-40 upgraded to E2 firmware right?

    Kevin D.
    Now that's funny! I can't even get my E-40 to upgrade to the E2 firmware without it locking during the initial boot up after the update. Escient tech support told me it'd cost around $150 to repair it (at most); I'm ready to just pitch the thing in the garbage. But that's a whole other topic....
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    DHawthorneDHawthorne Posts: 4,584
    jjames wrote: »
    Now that's funny! I can't even get my E-40 to upgrade to the E2 firmware without it locking during the initial boot up after the update. Escient tech support told me it'd cost around $150 to repair it (at most); I'm ready to just pitch the thing in the garbage. But that's a whole other topic....

    In my experience, Escient is not the device you choose for durability and reliability. It's one you choose for low cost. With an unlimited budget, I'd use a ReQuest or Kaleidescape. But you will always have those customers who want to shave a couple hundred bucks (or a couple thousand) for whom the Escient is "good enough."

    I am hesitant to download this new module. I spent days re-writing the last one to include cover art and to clear a raft of odd behaviors; that aside, it was a horrible mess of spaghetti code to deal with. Well, I suppose I'll have to eventually, just not at all looking forward to it.
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    TurnipTruckTurnipTruck Posts: 1,485
    For the record, the new 6.x Escient module is much easier to integrate into your own panel designs than the previous 5.x. It makes better use of popup pages and has many less page-specific buttons. It took only a few hours to work it into my main panel design.

    There also seems to be less quirkiness than the in the previous module.

    I think they did a good job.
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    jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    I haven't seen much mentioned about the programming portion of it. Is it still littered with fake feedback?
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