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[Jason Lavoie]

I'm looking for options for iPad control of a system involving multi zone dsp for switching and volume control of some sources and inputs plus some ir and rs232 control for starting and stopping cd players and turning displays on and off

Lectrosonics has some slick iPad support, but the new Aspen line has no rs232 for external device control.
Symnet has 232 ports but iPad support is not available yet.

I know I can use vnc to control a pc but then I'm limited to only one iPad. So I was hoping for an ip based solution' and would like to avoid crestron/amx (unless they have some straightforward converter boxes that can do what I need and be controlled from the same app/control screen as the dsp so that it all works seamlessly)

Thanks for any help

[Andrew Welker]

Both Crestron and AMX have solutions for the iPad. You do have to buy their respective hardware to control the system, but they both work well.

Crestron's app is $99, and does have some limitation in how it works in regards to the graphics you can use.

AMX's app is free to download, but you have to pay a per-device license to use the app. Pricing should be available from an AMX dealer, and it is quite a bit more than $99.

[steven barnes]

I would think VNC would be your best options but for uses with more than 1 iPad i believe log me in has a ipad/iphone app http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/logmein-ignition/id299616801? mt=8 this would only work if there is wifi throughout the venue.

[Craig Hauber]

Been fighting with Thinkflood's RedEye setup for the iPhone which works on the 'pad as well.
Don't know what's more frustrating, consumer-grade IR remote software or the consumer grade crap it controls.

(Whoever invented "toggle" power on/off buttons should be shot!)

It's basically a glorified harmony remote that wifi's to an IR blaster.  You could look into Xantech for IR to RS-232.  
Thinkflood does say they are working on RS-232 capability for the future, might give them a call.

[Jason Lavoie]

Craig Hauber wrote on Fri, 02 July 2010 10:17

Been fighting with Thinkflood's RedEye setup for the iPhone which works on the 'pad as well. Don't know what's more frustrating, consumer-grade IR remote software or the consumer grade crap it controls. (Whoever invented "toggle" power on/off buttons should be shot!) It's basically a glorified harmony remote that wifi's to an IR blaster.  You could look into Xantech for IR to RS-232.   Thinkflood does say they are working on RS-232 capability for the future, might give them a call.

An associate of mine played with RedEye as well, and three people in the company bought one and couldn't get them to work satisfactorally, so they returned them all. their take on it was that the company was too new and the product wasn't quite ready yet.
what do you think of it?

Jason

[drewgandy]

Craig Hauber wrote on Fri, 02 July 2010 10:17

(Whoever invented "toggle" power on/off buttons should be shot!)

Yeah! What were they thinking?  How could they not predict the future that custom installers would have to face?!?

Jason Lavoie wrote on Fri, 02 July 2010 14:00

An associate of mine played with RedEye as well, and three people in the company bought one and couldn't get them to work satisfactorally, so they returned them all. their take on it was that the company was too new and the product wasn't quite ready yet. what do you think of it? Jason

RedEye is a lot better than the New Potato FLPR.  But they're both limited.  My biggest issue was the highly sensitive and rather small ipod/iphone touch screen.  A remote with real buttons is quite a bit easier to manage for older folks (they're usually the ones  with the big money bags) who aren't conditioned to the touch screen motif.  But I'm curious about how the ipad is for this kind of thing since you can make the buttons so much bigger and there's room for your thumbs around the perimeter of the screen.

drew

[Craig Hauber]

Overall I feel redEye isn't ready for large format installations.  There's no way to copy/paste any of your codes or settings -which gets to be a real pain when your setting up 4 different rooms each with basically the same components (TV, sat box, media player etc...)
And when you spend the hours finally getting it just right there's no way to backup and transfer an entire control scheme onto another device -such as the client's wife's pad!

The native multi-room aspect of the system design is cool -and with wifi has much more range than any IR system.  Controlling a room your not even in is neat.

I do like how it's just an app and at any time you can open another app and it doesn't effect the control system at all.  For example you can use redeye to select and set the volume of a computer playing itunes then switch over to the apple "Remote" app to actually manipulate the iTunes library itself.

The app is crashy -just shutting down for no reason during programming.

There are also no shortcuts.  It's trying to play dumb and wants you to go through the vague setup to find and load a device's control codes when you're not going to use them anyways (and most are programmed wrong in the database too!)  I want to just add a TV, learn 1 code from the existing remote and slap a button on the screen.  When you do get to that point it's code-learning is quite easy and does a good job!

And come on guys!  iPad has been out for how many months and you don't have a native app for it yet?  You still have to use 2X zoom and see a blurry phone-app on the 'pad.  which sucks because you can't make buttons small enough to efficiently use the ipad's screen size.

No word on iOS4 version of the app either.

I really do think the hardware is capable but the software side is lacking.  With time (hopefully) this could be a killer app for home automation.  I'm going to stick with them for a while (and have one in my living room) but meanwhile high-end jobs are still going to have a call to Crestron or AMX.

[Karl Winkler]

Jason, I'm sorry I missed this thread from a couple of weeks ago. The Aspen line of products does indeed have RS232 for serial control.

-Karl

[Jason Lavoie]

Karl Winkler wrote on Mon, 12 July 2010 20:09

Jason, I'm sorry I missed this thread from a couple of weeks ago. The Aspen line of products does indeed have RS232 for serial control. -Karl

I guess I wasn't clear. Symnet has the ability to control other devices via it's 232 port. So if you can talk to the box you can control more than just the box.

If I install Aspen but also want to control a few 232 and ir devices can I use the same interface from the developers kit somehow? So that one control screen controls more than just the audio, or is the Aspen developers kit locked to only operate those devices?

Thanks for jumping in
Jason

[Karl Winkler]

Jason Lavoie wrote on Mon, 12 July 2010 21:03

Karl Winkler wrote on Mon, 12 July 2010 20:09 Jason, I'm sorry I missed this thread from a couple of weeks ago. The Aspen line of products does indeed have RS232 for serial control. -Karl I guess I wasn't clear. Symnet has the ability to control other devices via it's 232 port. So if you can talk to the box you can control more than just the box. If I install Aspen but also want to control a few 232 and ir devices can I use the same interface from the developers kit somehow? So that one control screen controls more than just the audio, or is the Aspen developers kit locked to only operate those devices? Thanks for jumping in Jason

Jason, if you haven't already spoken with Frank Gonzalez at our factory, I'd suggest doing so. He's a certified Crestron programmer and he's the guy who developed the iPad developer's kit.

I do think you can control other devices from the serial port by using macros - but again, Frank is the expert on the subject and he can tell you exactly what Aspen can and can not do with the iPad.

-Karl

[Martin Morris]

Hi Jason

Andreas Zeh & Michael Ehrmann of Rockbaby Engineering have been working along side XTA Electronics to produce an iPhone - iTouch App to control any DP4  Series processors.

DP448 - DP446 - DP444 - DP426 control has been released and is available directly from iTunes, with the DP424 being released soon:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dp4remote/id356685951?mt=8

http://www.rockbaby.de/dp4remote.html

I’ve been beta testing the DP424 version (not officially released) and it’s a very nice App!

They are also working on an iPad version, I’m not sure on the release details, but maybe they can chime in and inform everyone of their progress.


Cheers
Martin

[Martin Morris]

[Martin Morris]

[Martin Morris]

[Martin Morris]

[Martin Morris]

[Jason Lavoie]

Martin Morris wrote on Thu, 22 July 2010 07:53

Hi Jason Andreas Zeh & Michael Ehrmann of Rockbaby Engineering have been working along side XTA Electronics to produce an iPhone - iTouch App to control any DP4  Series processors. DP448 - DP446 - DP444 control has been released and is available directly from iTunes, with the DP424 being released soon: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dp4remote/id356685951?mt=8 http://www.rockbaby.de/dp4remote.html I’ve been beta testing the DP424 version (not officially released) and it’s a very nice App! They are also working on an iPad version, I’m not sure on the released details, but maybe they can chime in and inform everyone of their progress. Cheers Martin

While that looks great, and I'll definitely file that away for future reference, my problem comes when you want that AND a button to turn a projector on..
now you have all your audio controls in one app, then the customer has to switch to another app to control IR/RS232 misc stuff.

It turns out that Lectrosonics has indirectly provided a solution for me.
the same control app that they are using to control their DSPs (Command Fusion) is open architecture (can arrange buttons and sliders however you want) and it can control multiple devices from different manufacturers seamlessly.
So using a Lectrosonics DSP, plus a few boxes from http://www.globalcache.com/ and a bit of programming time can put my projector ON button, DVD PLAY button, and DSP volume control all together on the same screen as if they were one product.

Thanks for all the help, I think I have it sorted out.
if anyone else is headed in the same direction let me know and we can share knowledge!

Jason