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Sonos Driver BETA Testers needed

THEORY

By THEORY
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cashmoney Enthusiast

cashmoney

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Competition is always a good thing. Is EV revamping their Sonos driver?

So I've been told by my dealer and several who saw it at Cedia.

Competition is a good thing, indeed. I just chuckle when a competitor is overly confident in their solution.

I'll say upfront that a concern I'd have and need addressed somehow is that Theory is relatively unknown as a driver writer and least commercially vs custom stuf lf for clients. They have zero track record as for as reliability and support. I've recently added another driver from an EV type competitor and while their service has been excellent their driver has been lack luster and full of bugs.

Not saying I wouldn't take the chance if the driver was really that good but it will need to be "Ground Breaking" in comparison to the new EV product and not priced redicuolusy.

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THEORY Rising Star

THEORY

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I'm sure you will get a good chuckle once the driver is released. We have sold a number of drivers for blinds and for Panasonic TVs. Not sure how many of those users are on these forums but we have had to provide almost zero support as the drivers are fully featured and all those features tested. I live with all of them everyday!

I will let the driver speak for itself when released, as we all know what the debate of everyone's opinion on ground breaking leads to. To be honest I would rather sell amazing drivers to a select few than mediocre drivers to the masses.

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Godzilla Enthusiast

Godzilla

Posted
Posted
Competition is always a good thing. Is EV revamping their Sonos driver?

So I've been told by my dealer and several who saw it at Cedia.

I'll say upfront that a concern I'd have and need addressed somehow is that Theory is relatively unknown as a driver writer and least commercially vs custom stuf lf for clients. They have zero track record as for as reliability and support. I've recently added another driver from an EV type competitor and while their service has been excellent their driver has been lack luster and full of bugs.

Not saying I wouldn't take the chance if the driver was really that good but it will need to be "Ground Breaking" in comparison to the new EV product and not priced redicuolusy.

As the top dealer in the southeast USA.....i will say i use a few of Theory's drivers in my own system and 1 of them i make standard on every install, so not so unknown in the dealer circle, I myself look forward to see what he has to offer in the way of this driver and many more

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cashmoney Enthusiast

cashmoney

Posted
Posted
Competition is always a good thing. Is EV revamping their Sonos driver?

So I've been told by my dealer and several who saw it at Cedia.

I'll say upfront that a concern I'd have and need addressed somehow is that Theory is relatively unknown as a driver writer and least commercially vs custom stuf lf for clients. They have zero track record as for as reliability and support. I've recently added another driver from an EV type competitor and while their service has been excellent their driver has been lack luster and full of bugs.

Not saying I wouldn't take the chance if the driver was really that good but it will need to be "Ground Breaking" in comparison to the new EV product and not priced redicuolusy.

As the top dealer in the southeast USA.....i will say i use a few of Theory's drivers in my own system and 1 of them i make standard on every install' date=' so not so unknown in the dealer circle, I myself look forward to see what he has to offer in the way of this driver and many more[/quote']

I don't doubt that Theory is known to some dealers and I'm not trying to take anything away from the company or their ability, its just a realistic concern. When I spoke to my dealers they had never heard of Theory but they tend to not look to third parties for driver solutions except for things like Sonos and they don't frequent the dealer forums.

I'm anxious to see both solutions and wish someone would hurry already.

Godzilla, if they have a driver that you use as standard on every install it would be nice if you would share which driver that was so the rest of us could be in the loop.

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ericscales Enthusiast

ericscales

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I'm sure you will get a good chuckle once the driver is released. We have sold a number of drivers for blinds and for Panasonic TVs. Not sure how many of those users are on these forums but we have had to provide almost zero support as the drivers are fully featured and all those features tested. I live with all of them everyday!

I will let the driver speak for itself when released, as we all know what the debate of everyone's opinion on ground breaking leads to. To be honest I would rather sell amazing drivers to a select few than mediocre drivers to the masses.

Theory, I think perhaps my messages aren't going through. I've tried contacting several times over the past couple of months to purchase/test both the Panasonic and Sonos drivers, but haven't gotten a response. Trying here since it looks like something is quirky with the email function. Thx.

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THEORY Rising Star

THEORY

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The good word is...

We will see how things go the next few days and hopefully start rolling out as early as next week. Although I will say it will be very limited roll out initially as to ensure we have things covered geographically as services are different per location.

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dorfonbikes Rookie

dorfonbikes

Posted
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Why do you find them unusable? What in particular are you trying to do that you can't?

 

The EV driver doesn't work with MOG.  I use MOG on my Sonos devices more than anything else.  I know that EV has been asked to do a MOG driver before on this forum, and EV responded saying that there was no interest in MOG and they didn't have the time.  

 

I bought a Sonos because of it's functionality it has, not to use the features that EV feels is relevant.  I don't have any use for a partial integration.

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WillEV Rookie

WillEV

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The EV driver doesn't work with MOG.  I use MOG on my Sonos devices more than anything else.  I know that EV has been asked to do a MOG driver before on this forum, and EV responded saying that there was no interest in MOG and they didn't have the time.  

 

I bought a Sonos because of it's functionality it has, not to use the features that EV feels is relevant.  I don't have any use for a partial integration.

 

Understood, thanks.

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Rexabyte Community Regular

Rexabyte

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Just an update, the Sonos driver is well on its way and currently supports almost all of the 50~ services that Sonos integrates with, it definitely has to be tested further before I release a small beta, however, most of the crucial functionality at this point is in the driver.

The driver is currently managing UPnP subscriptions so you'll be free to modify or play music from any app that talks to the Sonos and get realtime feedback on Control4. The benefit of subscribing to the UPnP events is that there's no polling, only a single HTTP request that gets sent to renew the subscription. If the sonos is doing nothing there's no related traffic for this driver.

Bonus: There's no requirement for usernames or passwords either, that information is all retrieved from the Sonos, and only services that are open or subscribed to get displayed in the menu system.

I've been working on some things other than Sonos for the last couple weeks so the development has been slow, but I'll be switching gears towards the Sonos driver again by the end of the week. I hope you can all be patient, not that you haven't been already.

I'll be posting frequent updates from here on out as well as beta information in the next couple weeks. Feel free to post things you would like to see in the driver, I'll definitely take them into consideration.
 

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ericscales Enthusiast

ericscales

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Just an update, the Sonos driver is well on its way and currently supports almost all of the 50~ services that Sonos integrates with, it definitely has to be tested further before I release a small beta, however, most of the crucial functionality at this point is in the driver.

The driver is currently managing UPnP subscriptions so you'll be free to modify or play music from any app that talks to the Sonos and get realtime feedback on Control4. The benefit of subscribing to the UPnP events is that there's no polling, only a single HTTP request that gets sent to renew the subscription. If the sonos is doing nothing there's no related traffic for this driver.

Bonus: There's no requirement for usernames or passwords either, that information is all retrieved from the Sonos, and only services that are open or subscribed to get displayed in the menu system.

I've been working on some things other than Sonos for the last couple weeks so the development has been slow, but I'll be switching gears towards the Sonos driver again by the end of the week. I hope you can all be patient, not that you haven't been already.

I'll be posting frequent updates from here on out as well as beta information in the next couple weeks. Feel free to post things you would like to see in the driver, I'll definitely take them into consideration.

 

I love the non-polling piece.  I've been looking at my logs and the EV Sonos driver really generates a lot of network traffic that I'd like to avoid. 

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Rexabyte Community Regular

Rexabyte

Posted
Posted

O, I only wish this could've been done by Christmas.

It's taken much longer than I initially anticipated to get the driver working to the point I want it to, there have been a few small setbacks as well, but enough excuses.

What is currently done:

  • Complete UPnP integration with the Sonos device. We encourage you to use whatever you want to control and modify your Sonos device, be that tablet, phone, desktop app, or Control4 UI.
    • Modification of the queue on the zone player instantly updates on Control4
    • Any change to volume/mute status is instantly updated on Control4
    • Changes to the currently playing media information from any source is updated on Control4.
    • Changes to the current state (play/pause) of the track or station is updated in on Control4.
    • Basically if the Sonos does something and it affects what I should display, it updates instantly.
  • All session id based services are now functional, as well as any that do not require any sort of authentication (Tune in for example)
    • Sadly this does not currently include Pandora, Last.FM, Sirius, or Rhapsody
    • The driver will support any new services that come out as well, as long as they are session id based (about 90% of them are)
    • The driver will only display services that you're subscribed to, the menu looks much like that of the desktop application
  • Refresh button to re-index libraries and services that have been added.
  • A menu system to browse and play music services, libraries, playlists, and favorites.
  • A now playing screen that displays the current queue on the Sonos device as well as the current playing track/station.
  • Control of the queue from the Now Playing screen, remove, re-order and add tracks to your favorites.

What needs to be done:

  • Polishing of the menu, currently the menu will always traverse until the last item and then play it when selected
    • Need to add a sub menu to playable items for better control:
      • Play Now
      • Play Next
      • Add to Queue
      • Add to Favorites
      • Replace Queue
      • Browse (for collections)
  • Services that do not use the Sonos Music API need to have their API's implemented. This is generally for acquiring a token for authorization
    • Pandora (full API required)
    • Rhapsody
    • Sirius
    • Last.FM
  • Linking of Zones on Control4
  • Progress of the current track needs to be displayed
    • The code is there, but commented out as I don't really want to run a timer every N seconds simply to update the current position of the track.

 

I need some people to test some services. If you're interested in getting an early glimpse at what's going on email me (ryanboucher.dev@gmail.com) a list of services you have available where you are, and what you're subscribed to.

This will be a small roll out to simply test that the session id based services are working (the ones below), I'll try and get a video up for the rest of you.

This is an alpha, do expect bugs with the driver when I give it to you, which should be sometime next week.

Services:

Concert Vault,
Spotify,
Rdio,
AUPEO,
Napster Beta,
Stitcher SmartRadio,
MOG,
A8
Slacker,
Juke,
WiMP,
Juke AT,
Sonora,
Napster By Rhapsody,
QQ Music,
DAR.fm,
JB Hifi,
AmazonCloudPlayer,
OI Rdio,
Songza,
Simfy,
QoBuz,
Murfie,
Murfie Hi-Fi
Hearts of Space,
7Digital,
QoBuz Hi-Fi,
Deezer,
SiriusXM,
rara,
Batanga,
8tracks,
The Hype Machine,
hotelradio.fm,
Zdigital,
DoubanFM,
YouMusic,
TDC,
MLBGamedayAudio,
calmradio,
Daytrotter,
shufflerfm,
Migu,
beatsmusic,
rusc,
xiami,


 

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