Premise MediaZone Usage or Controlling Whole House Audio

Motorola Premise

Shinyshoes

Member
After reading the comments about MediaZones in the "A fresh new face for Premise" thread (http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/30916-a-fresh-new-face-for-premise/) I have some questions about how people are using or not using MediaZones.  I currently have a Nuvo Grand Concerto and almost always control it through the keypads on the walls.  For Christmas I was given a Google Home, and now that I have it so I am able to control devices in premise from it, I am at a loss of how to get the Nuvo to react accordingly. Even simple things like power on/off and changing sources doesn't seem to be a possibility with the MediaZone object, so how are people accomplishing it?  I can obviously turn it on and set the source in a script:

if this.DoorOpened then
if datepart("h", now) >= 8 and datepart("h", now) <= 19 then
sys.Home.Laundry.Laundry_Audio.AudioVideoOutput.PowerState = true
set sys.Home.Laundry.Laundry_Audio.AudioVideoOutput.CurrentSource = devices.CustomDevices.ConcertoSystem.KG_Country
end if
else
sys.Home.Laundry.Laundry_Audio.AudioVideoOutput.PowerState = false
end if 
but not sure how to do it otherwise....
 
Admittedly, I have not explored/used the Web interfaces in premise very much, either built-in or user developed (JQuery).  
 
In the thread mentioned, 123 said: 
 I doubt I'll ever finish it mostly because I don't use Premise's MediaZones. 
 
So, What do you use instead of a mediazone?  do you have a whole house audio system or any media rooms/areas in your house?  how do you control them?
 
Also, samgreco said:
Of course, I use Media Zones a lot.
 
Can you give me a quick overview of how you use them?
 
Thanks in advance guys.
 
Shinyshoes
 
I can't be of much assistance because I don't use MediaZones at all. I have simple music-listening habits and occasionally stream tunes from a phone directly to a WiFi speaker (Premise is not part of the equation). Others here are MediaZone experts and should be able to assist you.
 
FWIW, the goal (eventually) is to export all MediaZone-related variables from Premise for use with Home Remote's Designer. Using Designer, you'll be able to create a UI for your MediaZone(s), or copy someone else's UI, that'll work as a native app on iOS, Android, and Windows.
 
The loooong-term goal is not just to export the variables but automatically generate a functional UI for use with Home Remote. In other words, it'll do something like what AutomationBrowser, MiniBrowser, and JQM currently do and that's convert whatever they find in your Premise Home into a web-based UI, automagically. The difference here is that the UI will be for Home Remote which runs as a native app and not a browser. Plus you can use Home Remote's Designer to (graphically) tweak the UI to suit your needs. Altering AutomationBrowser, MiniBrowser, or JQM requires a good understanding of web technologies. Honestly, altering AutomationBrower requires a tall bottle of booze nearby!
 
Anyway, that's the long-term goal. There's no guarantee an automagic UI will see the light of day but making your own UI with Designer is already possible.
 
Sounds good 123, Thanks for the response.  I thought that was going to be your response, but just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.  Before I jump head first into developing a UI for the concerto, I'll wait to see if anyone else (like samgreco) can give me some insight to what they do.  Hopefully I dont have to re-invent the wheel, but I'm willing if that is the only answer.
 
Well I use the automation browser almost exclusively for MediaZone/music still.  My system was installed in this house probably 10 years ago now.  I still have an old school 15' touch screen mount in the wall in my kitchen and Windows PCs around the house all running internet explorer and the automation browser.  Getting very long in the tooth.
 
I have an old Xantech XPR68-10 and an EXP-9 expander.  So I have 12 zones available with maybe 8 in actual use.  Premise controls it all.  I have no keypads at all.  The automation browser is a bit clunky in selecting media, but I always liked the way it manages zones and grouping of zones on the fly.
 
I am really hoping that Home Remote could become a more modern interface to media for Premise.
 
so, just to make sure I'm clear, you just add your music as media "Content Providers" and play stored music via your zones?  I don't know if that will help me, because the Nuvo Grand Concerto has 6 sources built into it and I can switch between them without any premise control.  I was hoping there would be a way to add the Nuvo Sources as some kind of Media Content and make it selectable, but I'm loosing hope.
 
In fact, now that I look at the MediaZone object, there isn't even a "powerstate" property to turn on and off the zone.  Hmmmm........
 
After a little tinkering, I guess I'm showing how badly I don't understand the mediazone object.  I didn't realize you could add objects to the mediazone (like a TV, Receiver, ect.) 
 
I might be able to do the media Zone switching with a "MatrixSwitcherZone".  It's not implemented in any of the web interfaces yet (Automation Browser, MiniBrowser, JQM, or the highly anticipated HomeRemote, but I would be willing to put the work in to get it there.  Progress...
 
Don't know if these images will help, but essentially, in my setup, I have a Xantech switcher, similar in function to your Nuvo.  Premise controls the switching of sources and outputs, media selection, etc.
 
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:1121]
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:1120]
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:1122]
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:1123]
 
Apologies, but have you downloaded the Nuvo driver in Downloads?
It wasn't clear to me whether you have or not - it may make a big leap in your control issues with Nuvo.
 
FWIW, Sam is the zone setup and teardown king.
 
In my next version, I have groups working, but just not consistently.

If I ever get my house completed, I'll finish it up. (probably another 2-3 weeks)...But I have to say, I've been spending some cycles on Home Remote...
 
yes, I have the Nuvo Driver.  In fact, I am about to release my updated and improved version of it. 
 
I really didn't have any A/V control previously because we didn't use the web interfaces (except to arm the alarm) and we controlled all our audio needs through the Nuvo keypads.  
 
Now that I started using etc6849's Google assistant integration, and using the google home to control my setup, the A/V control becomes a big part of that.  It's slowly coming together.  Sam's connection screenshot was a big help.
 
Glad that helped.  Please share your Google setup when you get there.  I have one now also and hope to find some time to get that working.  Especially since, bu default, they don't deal with local media.  You have to upload everything to their Google Play infrastructure.  Kinda silly really.
 
I didn't even know you could upload to their play infrastructure.  Do you have any more info on that?  Maybe we could create some kind of "Auto exporter" similar to what 123 is doing for home remote.
 
As for my google setup, its pretty easy.  I used etc6849's tasker module (http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/28633-video-premise-tasker-module/?hl=+tasker) This accepts an HTTP command (initally designed to receive from tasker, but can receive from any source) that can control premise objects.
 
He initially designed it to have an android phone using tasker's voice add-on to intercept google assistant requests and send them to premise if it met some criteria.  I used IFTTT.com to create an applet for google assistant.  Mine is configured as a custom google assistant command "Ask the house to ...". Whatever follows that is pushed to my premise setup using the webhooks object.  Using the web address: http://yourip.com:yourport/sys/{B751501F-9DAD-4EAE-8680-5175EBCF8B83}?d??mbNaturalLanguage(<<<" {{TextField}}">>>) where {{TextField}} is whatever follows the command.  Etc6849's tasker module breaks down the natural language and processes the appropriate premise objects.  
 
This way I can say "Hey google, ask the house to turn on the basement lights" and it will find all the light objects in premise in the location basement and set the powerstate property to true.
 
Its pretty slick, although doesn't work for my Nuvo, hence all these questions above.........
 
Questions?
 

 
 
Actually, I had played with etc's tasker stuff and it worked well.  I had issues getting it to work consistently with my media library.  No fault of his work.  I have not spent much time with Premise or related stuff for quite some time.
 
But I just got a "new" Vaux audio matrix switch to replace the Xantech.  Trying to streamline things a bit.  The Xantech ZPR with it's EXP9 expander take up almost 10 rack spaces!  The vaux is 2RU and is 16x16.  Old by today's standards.  But they were designed well.  So that may give me the impetus to rework things...
 
So I think I am half way there.  I have setup a trigger and action in IFTTT and an action using Webhooks.  I think that I am formatting the webhooks part incorrectly.  I get the response that I have programmed in, but the trigger never seems to get there.
 
Can you shed any insight/details on the setup?
 
How are you pushing the info from Webhooks to Premise?  Https, http with or without authentication?  
 
My IFTTT logs say I am getting a 401 error, even if I try to embed username and password in the URL and use a GET command.  Also, do you have a filter javascript code to reformat the text so it is valid in the URL?
 
EDIT: Ok, so if I disable security on my Premise web server, and use http://username:password@url to just http://url, everything works as advertised.  I do have this setup as javascript code in a filter.
 
However, I really want username and password to work, so hopefully there is a way.
 
Thanks in advance!
 
 
Shinyshoes said:
I didn't even know you could upload to their play infrastructure.  Do you have any more info on that?  Maybe we could create some kind of "Auto exporter" similar to what 123 is doing for home remote.
 
As for my google setup, its pretty easy.  I used etc6849's tasker module (http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/28633-video-premise-tasker-module/?hl=+tasker) This accepts an HTTP command (initally designed to receive from tasker, but can receive from any source) that can control premise objects.
 
He initially designed it to have an android phone using tasker's voice add-on to intercept google assistant requests and send them to premise if it met some criteria.  I used IFTTT.com to create an applet for google assistant.  Mine is configured as a custom google assistant command "Ask the house to ...". Whatever follows that is pushed to my premise setup using the webhooks object.  Using the web address: http://yourip.com:yourport/sys/{B751501F-9DAD-4EAE-8680-5175EBCF8B83}?d??mbNaturalLanguage(<<<" {{TextField}}">>>) where {{TextField}} is whatever follows the command.  Etc6849's tasker module breaks down the natural language and processes the appropriate premise objects.  
 
This way I can say "Hey google, ask the house to turn on the basement lights" and it will find all the light objects in premise in the location basement and set the powerstate property to true.
 
Its pretty slick, although doesn't work for my Nuvo, hence all these questions above.........
 
Questions?
 
Hmm, having the same issues as Ellery now.  Hate to give up the security though since it's wide open then.
 
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