Jump to content
C4 Forums | Control4

Driver News: Recluse AV - XBMC Frodo Driver


alanchow

Recommended Posts

Recluse%20AV%20black%20logo.png

Recluse AV – XBMC Frodo Driver

The Recluse AV XBMC Frodo Control4 Driver provides two way IP control over the XBMC media player. This driver utilises Control4's media database for cataloging and selection of movies and includes wake on lan functionality and provides the ability to send announcements to XBMC. The XBMC Frodo driver update is necessary if you have updated from XBMC Eden. This is due to the fact that the older HTTP-API has been deprecated. As such all of my older XBMC drivers now will not work with Frodo.

Features

* IP based communications

* Transport controls

* They driver can display movies including coverart on Control4's Navigator user interface (available on the controller, touchscreens, remotes, iPad, iPhone, Android, PC and MAC hardware).

* Audio End-Point assignment for volume up/down/mute functionality

* Video End-Point assignment for those wanting control over their PC's

* Samba Authentication integration (Control4 Network File Storage username and password)

* Assignable buttons for non intuitive buttons

* Wake on lan functionality

* Power off options

* Ability to send custom messages to XBMC via XBMC Notification (similar to Control4 Announcements via Navigator).

* Compatible with all XBMC platforms (Windows, MAC, Linux, AppleTV2, iOS)

New to Frodo

* SMS style navigation whilst on XBMC's onscreen file mode or library (mapped to Control4 numeric keys)

* As the driver is now constantly connected to XBMC you will notice massive speed improvements to commands sent to XBMC

* Press/Release scan fwd/rev to increase playback speed by plus or minus 16x.

* Pulse (quick tap) scan fwd/rev to skip forward/reverse by 30 seconds

* Note Up/Down/Left/Right buttons now only do Up/Down/Left/Right. It will not do a big/small step forward/back due to limitations in API.

* Initial connection/reconnection may take upto 5 minutes when connection is dropped. This should only happen when the system is rebooted or XBMC has been restarted.

DRIVER SPECIFIC FAQ

Can you give us some examples of how we could use this driver?

*There are not many media players that have a nice user interface that is compatible with a big range of codecs / containers. XBMC is one of the more popular media players out there. In conjunction with Composer Media Edition your customer can manage their whole movie library.

*One of my pet hates is to be watching a movie and have navigator pop up and tell me that someone is at my front door or perhaps i have a new email or something. This driver provides the ability to send XBMC announcements. Like a Control4 Announcement this will pop up a custom message however in this case it will not interrupt the current XBMC activity. It will just pop up in the bottom right hand corner for a few seconds and then hide away.

*Unlike my older free XBMC driver this driver provides feedback with XBMC. It will tell you when the movie is playing, paused, stopped and what type of media you are playing ('MOVIE','EPISODE','SONG','UNKNOWN'). Using this information you can customise your lighting and environment to suit the customer's requirements.

Are there any other cool things we can do with this driver?

*By using the media type feedback and the play event you can essentially turn on your AV system to either your audio or video end points. This means for example you can utilise airplay to play a song on your iphone and it will turn on your receiver or if you play a youtube video on your iphone you can turn your receiver and tv on. You can even use 3rd party XBMC Apps to turn it on.

*One of my bad habits i have is that i pause a movie and walk off or perhaps i fall asleep in whilst watching a movie. In the past it was hard to track when this happens however now with the OnScreensaverActive event we know exactly when this happens. With some conditional logic (if source == xbmc) then we can essentially turn off our whole AV system when we are not using it to save power or prevent image burn in.

I bought a licence for the older Recluse AV XBMC driver. Do i get a free upgrade?

This Frodo driver is an update of the older Recluse AV XBMC driver. As such it utilises the same licence as the Eden/Dharma driver. Just delete the driver and add in the new XBMC Eden driver. Same licence, extra features and no added costs.

I still have XBMC Eden and i lost the driver! How do i download the old driver?

I have included the Eden and Frodo driver in the same download attachment. Please make sure you use the right version of the driver for the right version of XBMC.

How do I find out more information about the driver?

Please see your Control4 dealer for more information.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 77
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Alan,

Kudos on releasing the updated driver! Can you elaborate on the disconnecting/reconnecting and the time it takes when xbmc is restarted?

thx,

tum

As JSON-RPC communicates via a port that requires constant connection (9090) should xbmc get disconnected the control4 driver will attempt to auto reconnect every 5 minutes. I did try to play with other smaller increments but found that smaller increments effected director's CPU. Note that this only happens when xbmc is off.

Anyways guys I'm about to board a plane for Japan so if you have any questions ill answer it when I get back on the 14th of jan. see you guys later. Have a safe and happy holidays!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've just tested frodo on a 24/192 file. It works! This is very exciting stuff.

The next is to confirm if XBMC will play these files out via USB...

If it does we now have a 24/192 PCM hirez music player solution that could be built for under 1K, run under linux. Fanless. And output to some very hi end DAC's (so run into your hi-end gear) *and* be controlled via control4 in a very similar fashion to the way the EV sonos driver works..

Cooooool :cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reading through the posts and manual.

Have a question regarding the 5 min reconnection time.. Does that essentially mean that users wont be able to put their system into hibernate(or suspend?) on power off and have it turn on when needed?

To be clear what i mean is that the system will turn on and be available but the remote wont be usable for up to 5 min while it reconnects?

Maybe I'm answering my own question here? But is that what the boot time is for? If you put an accurate enough time it should connect after the system boots up? (then try again 5 min after that if not connected?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The driver will attempt to connect on power on having said that though if it times out (not sure exactly what control4's timeout is on network connections) it will try again every 5 minutes. From my tests this is the optimum repeat count that will not put a controller under load. Otherwise if xbmc is off control4 will experience a heavier then normal load on processing. Hope that makes sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The driver will attempt to connect on power on having said that though if it times out (not sure exactly what control4's timeout is on network connections) it will try again every 5 minutes. From my tests this is the optimum repeat count that will not put a controller under load. Otherwise if xbmc is off control4 will experience a heavier then normal load on processing. Hope that makes sense.

Alan, Can we buy the driver directly from you? without being a c4 dealer?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would be interested to understand this better? Too hard for dealer? Not enough revenue?

I have asked my dealer to get the driver for me on numerous occasions. Could someone please help me get it?

I hear you. I gave-up on 3rd party drivers mainly due to this reason.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've had my control4 system now close to 10 years an have had a lot of dealers. And I've never been able to buy a third party driver from them. It's embarrassing. Why, for heaven sake, can't we buy it directly, it gets installed remotely and we could actually really start supporting the developing software company. Would this be the way forward rather than fouling ourself in think that may half of the dealers are committed (no disrespect to the few who actually are). It just such a pain,.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not hard for anyone to install. It's more of a hassle for a dealer to do this. My dealer is crack at selling Control4 crap. This is what puts his kids through private school. Why should he become a "dealer" for a 3P in some other country and sell one maybe two units? Even he claims that we here on this forum are a very small minority.

There's really no argument here...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not hard for anyone to install. It's more of a hassle for a dealer to do this. My dealer is crack at selling Control4 crap. This is what puts his kids through private school. Why should he become a "dealer" for a 3P in some other country and sell one maybe two units? Even he claims that we here on this forum are a very small minority.

There's really no argument here...

+1

Having said that, I think Alan's programming service which he is proposing would be a solution.

@ Alan. Could we have some details about these services, and could you possibly mail me a rate sheet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You're welcome Neildilgee. Happy to help remotely with any other stuff!

Hi Ak1, thank you so much for your help. I've been looking for a dealer like you for ages. ( please consider to move to South Africa :D)

Thank you for your assistance, even during the weekend, everything is working good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.