No MCE and IR Plugin??

GX and Typhoon hardware, this includes, displays, cables and accessory cards.

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Aloha
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No MCE and IR Plugin??

Post by Aloha »

I tried LCD Studio 2.1 (downloaded from LCD Studio web site). Interesting and user friendly design, but I couldn't find the plugin for Microsoft Media Center Edition (MCE) shell. And I couldnt find the infrared module driver. How MCE will be supported and what software module will be used for the IR control and background color in tricolor version (nothing in LCD Studio 2.1 so far)?

Ray
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Post by Ray »

The front panel support for mce will not be done by lcdstudio, it will have its own application. for IR support nothing is needed inside studio, the GX follows the microsoft ehome reciever specifications so windows will pick up on it out of the box without any additional software.

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Post by Aloha »

Very interesting! MCE 2005 shell is my favourite environment and nothing can beat it so far. Can you publish your application for a test drive? Does it have a name? Is it a graphical application, or text only? Will I be able to show the temperatures, RSS, etc as well? Is it as flexible as LCDStudio? If not, would it make more sense just to write a plugin for LCDStudio to expose the MCE information (I think I know a programmer who knows how to do it).

As for imbedded IR receiver, it is still not quite clear how it works. Original Microsoft ehome reciever comes with two blaster cable outputs. For Typhoon I read that "The IR Blaster is an addon card that will attach to the back of the display and then to a PCI slot" http://www.lcdforums.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3765. I am not sure what addon and PCI cards Henry was talking about and if they are included. All I know is that your checkout offers the blaster cable and MS remote as optional accessories, and no word about optional cards. Microsoft receiver plugs to the USB port and does not require any PCI card. If your add-on items are not included, I would like to be able to disable the Typhoon IR receiver and use my original Microsoft IR receiver. Will that be possible?

What application will control the TriColor LEDs?

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Post by Ray »

Microsoft defines two ehome emulation standards
Types of Emulation Devices
IR Transceiver Version 2 emulator: a device that can receive IR input from a remote and can transmit IR to control a set-top box, such as a TV signal cable box or a satellite box.
IR Receiver Version 3 emulator: a device that can only receive IR input from a remote; it cannot transmit IR to control a set-top box
by default the GX will be a version 3 IR Reciever, but with the IR Transmitter addon board it becomes a IR Tranciever V2.

The pci 'card' henry refers to is just a metal pci bracket where you plug the transmitters in to get the cables out of your pc in a neat way. There isn't an actual card that plugs into a pci slot.

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Post by Aloha »

Now it becomes clearer, thank you. But a few important questions still remain unanswered (see my previous posting).

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Post by Ray »

Not much to tell there, with the gx you are no longer locked to one application to do it all for you like the serial units. The MCE app for the gx runs fine next to Lcdstudio or any other application you migh run (or write your selve) .

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Post by Aloha »

1. I already have a blaster cable with a small round jack on one infrared transmitter on another end. Could you tell me about the unit that you currently offer - does it come with the IR Transmitter addon board and the "PCI" bracket? If not, is it available separately? Will I be able to disable the GX receiver and use my original Microsoft receiver?

2. Will you ship the unit with front panel support software for MCE shell? I want to display the MCE transport data (track time, time left, recording status) and CPU temperature supplied by Speedfan. Anything else, like RSS would be a bonus. Will I be able to do it with included software?

3. Is the backlight (tricolor LED) static, or it could be programmed to change dynamically?

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Post by Ray »

1) No this will be a future addon, doing it this way keeps the costs down for people that do not need the addon board.

2) See my previous answer, mce support is a seperate application that runs next to lcdstudio or anything else you have running on the display

3) All applications have full control over the backlight, its however up the the applications you run to support it, LcdStudio will be enhanced so you can pick the color of choice in the near future.

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Post by Aloha »

Thanks, Ray!

Since I have a set top box, with my current setup, I MUST use the blaster cable which I currently have working along with Microsoft receiver. I am only interested in the display at this point. Will I be able to disable the IR receiver part of GX Typhoon and keep using my Microsoft receiver instead?

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Post by Ray »

The first units shipping will have it on by default, there will be a firmware update available later that allows disabling of the IR part.

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Post by Aloha »

I need to decide if I should wait for the firmware update, or maybe there is some temporary workaround? Otherwise my new Typhoon GX will be totally useless. How long this will take to make a firmware update?

And what happens if we connect both: Typhoon GX and Microsoft receivers at same time? Will they conflict? Will I be able to disable the GX reciever in Windows device manager?

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Post by Ray »

I had them connected both without any problems , but in reality it is microsofts code running on windows which we have no control over so I am unable to guarantee it will run without glitches.

I am unable to comment on dates for future software or firmware updates. however the gx is firmware upgradable in the field, so the choice if you should wait is totally up to you. You can buy now and upgrade your selve or wait until we start shipping units with the new firmware you end up with the same hardware+firmware in the end.

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Post by Aloha »

Ray wrote:The front panel support for mce will not be done by lcdstudio, it will have its own application. for IR support nothing is needed inside studio, the GX follows the microsoft ehome reciever specifications so windows will pick up on it out of the box without any additional software.
I received my GX today, thank you! However it didn't come with any software, so I downloaded Microsoft .NET 2.0, Driver Core 58 and LCDStudio from the Internet.

I did not find any front panel support for MCE. Is it released? How do I access it?

And also my GX IR sensor doesn't work properly. I unplugged my Microsoft receiver, installed GX drivers, plugged GX, the devices are recognized in the device manager (see the attached picture), but there is no response from the remote control in MCE shell, only the blue LED is blinking. The remote itself is fine as it works with Microsoft receiver, and the batteries are fresh. Otherwise the display is working, and my firmware version is 1.07. When I plug my Microsoft receiver, the remote still doesn't respond unless I totally unplug GX. I tried to reinstall the drivers, used a different USB port, same thing. I understand you cannog guarantee they can work both at same time, but GX receiver doesn't work even solo. So my remote control is totally disabled now. Please help!
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Post by Ray »

The IR part we are going to have to look into. The MCE application is LCdInfo.exe which should be added to your startup menu at installation time. There are no settings to be made for it so it does not have a gui.

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Post by Dgephri »

not to diverge, but it's on topic of MCE:
if I'm not running MCE, just XP normal, will there be ANY functionality of the remote?

if not, does anybody know of a 3rd party app that can do it? I don't run MCE on XP, but might install my Vista-64 to come in MCE mode if necessary.

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