ExtraVeg

With regard to stopping points my understanding is that it does not on the PCH. When you select a movie from the C4 interface it sends a 'play this file from this location' command to the PCH. The PCH then starts playing the file from the beginning. It would require PCH to add an ability to send a parameter 'resume if possible' but I have no idea if they could or would add that.

Hi

To answer a few questions. You can't use an Apple TV for playback. It is simply that you cant issue a command to 'play this file from over there' to the Apple TV like you can with the Pop players, WMC and Dune.

TV series are shown by disc on the C4 interface. So if Season X of Show Y has Z discs you will see Z entries on the Control4 interface each as Disc 1, Disc 2 etc.

The external DVD changer is not supported, the driver is looking for the paths to playback the movies on the network. It *might* be something we look at later for support of BD changers.

If you are having problems with anything scanning then please raise a ticket on our helpdesk. Everyone has quite diverse collections and if there is anything we have 'missed' we'll get it into the driver ASAP.

With regard to whether there is any advantage of going through a dealer for the MM part it all really depends on your level of comfort with fiddling with your PC. I guess most folks here will be very comfortable. It is worth remembering that if you buy the diamond design package then this will include both MM and the MM Collection Management driver.

If you have an existing My Movies database that will automatically get imported into Control4 as part of the process. Whilst you can keep you existing C4 scan I think it would be better to replace it with the My Movies one.

If you are the kind of person that likes to edit the entries then any time you make an edit on the MM Collection Management software it will be updated on the Control4 system within 60 seconds. So if you change the cover art, write your own descriptions -whatever- then these are automatically transferred across.

This only works with the EV Dune driver and there is a good reason for this. We need to be able to store more information on the movies than it is normally possible to do in the C4 database. We've cooked up a special way of doing this which requires our corresponding player driver to decode.

In the case of the Dune this has some real benefits. The Dune has three playback 'engines' and previously you had to be strict on how you ripped your movies. DVDs to be ripped into folders not .iso and Blu-rays into .iso. If you didn't do this then the playback would fail on the default engine and move onto the next. The Dune needs to be told which engine to use. Now with the MM integration we can always tell the Dune the correct engine to use as we can get that information from MM.

If you read the post all the way through you will see that we are working with diamond design to promote the excellent range of Popbox and Popcorn Hour products that they are now distributing in the US. James will be on our booth at CEDIA with his 'My Movies' movie server as well as some 'Pop' devices.

Movie Magic! :cool:

It's all about the content. If you have movie content on DVDs and

Blu-rays and then you are looking for a simple, reliable and cost effective

way of managing this through their Control4 system. You want accurate

metadata lookup for all of their content instantly, not via an

overnight scan.

If you thought this wasn't possible then we are going to show you how

this is possible and how a cost effective fully featured movie server

solution can now be created with Control4

You Tube Video http://youtu.be/dO_lhey3icM

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Control4 Movie Management

Control4 has a movie database system built in. It can display

cover-art, synopsis and other movie details. Movies can be listed by

title, director, actor and genre. The weakness though is the metadata

lookup.

The Control4 system was designed for DVD megachangers and so will only

lookup details for DVD folder structures. It can't lookup Blu-rays or

single file movie rips. It's also a controller intensive process that

is best run overnight. It is time for something better...

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My Movies

Step forward My Movies. At its heart My Movies is a movie

collection management system. It is designed to quickly and reliably

provide meta data for movies no matter how they are backed up.

Our integration with My Movies provides massive enhancements to the

process.

* My Movies with AnyDVD HD can rip your customer's DVDs and Blu-rays

* My Movies scans all media types – DVDs, Blu-rays and single file

rips like MKVs and DIVX.

* My Movies will constantly monitor movie locations.

* My Movies does all the ‘heavy lifting’ of looking up the meta data

from the Internet

* My Movies metadata is highly accurate and detailed and will match

what is shown on the disc cover.

* The Control4 driver has a very low processor overhead and

constantly monitors My Movies for new information.

* New movie information will be on your customers touch panels and C4

mobile Apps within 60 seconds using Control4 movie database.

* No restrictions on Blu-ray format ripping for reliable playback.

* Customers select movies from Control4 and these can then be played

on supported players:

+ Popbox

+ Popcorn Hour

+ Windows Media Center (My Movies plugin)

+ Dune

You can read all about My Movies on their website. http://www.mymovies.dk

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Rip, Tag Play

Providing a movie mangement and playback solution can be defined as

Rip, Tag, Play.

Rip the movie onto a NAS hard drive

Tag the movie with the correct metadata

Play the movie on a playback device

Designing a system using Control4 to provide these features is simpler

than you may think. If you are prepared to use your own computer

as the ripping device it is very cost effective.

The basic schematic is attached to this post.

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Larger 'Off the Shelf' Solutions

The great news is that My Movies is already at the heart of some great

movie server solutions. diamond design, Vidabox and Logicom amongst

others all make movie servers based on My Movies.

diamond design are also the US importer of Popbox and Popcorn Hour

players so are ideally placed to help you with a larger more upmarket

solution based around My Movies.

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Updated Windows Media Center Driver

We have also updated our Windows Media Center driver. The new driver

works directly controlling My Movies on Windows Media Center for playback.

It no longer requires any add-in program and it also allows control of

Total Media Theater for Blu-ray playback.

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More Information

For more information on how your Control4 system can be upgraded to

include this new functionality contact your local friendly Control4 dealer.