Now Playing 2007

[jwilson56]

Well I will start working on Now Playing 2007 this fall... any suggestions as to how the graphics should look like.. any offers to help work on the graphics? Maybe a more conventional theme.... MCE theme?... got some ideas?

John

 

[Mike]

If it gives you any indication, my wife liked the MCE interface. I switched to Sage, and when I put in the MCE plugin, she was even more pleased.

Your other option is Tivo, that got high marks as well.

 

[electron]

I tried the MCE theme, since it's nice, but IMO it isn't as great for touch screens. I didn't have much positive feedback when I showed it to some people, especially if they hadn't seen MCE in action before, and didn't understand all the silly graphics.

 

[jwilson56]

Well guys I thought I would post this to see if there is any interest. I am going to work on a new version of my Now Playing Netremote skin this fall. For those of you that don't know what it is let me explain a bit. Have you ever wanted to have a nice graphics client based front end for your home automation setup like Mainlobby/Musiclobby but just couldn't afford the price. Well with Netremote and the free hsGirder plugin (you don't need the Girder application at all) you can for a very low cost. You can control your music library using a number of players (I use the JRMC which is one of the best). You can control your lights including sliders for dimming. You have two way communication with HS so when a light changes in HS it is reflected back onto the Netremote screen (hsGirder has a device subscription service built in). Its really the perfect do it yourself GUI front end.

For those of you that are interested comment in this thread:

http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=115315

If you have graphic talent for Photoshop but don't know how to write scripts,ect and want to help out then your more than welcome to join in.... if you have some ideas on what theme you think would be great then let's hear from you. The possibilities are really endless. Anything from turning on your irrigation system, monitoring your HS devices, digital photoframes, and of coarse your music library graphically at your fingertips.

I do not work for Promixis but I do like Netremote. Its arguably more powerful than many high priced GUI frontends out there. Of coarse the down size is that there are not alot of graphics libraries out there for home automation needs yet.

So if you want to get in on a project I will be open minded and willing to take some help.

Check it out. Here are some of my past skin screen shots.

http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=100339


John

 

[DavidL]

John, what are some of the things that Netremote does nicely that some of the "high priced" UI appps don't do? Always interested in good ideas.

 

[jwilson56]

I am not going to get into another comparison discussion here... next thing we will have Dean chiming in about CQC. I prefer to build my setup as this is a hobby for me. I also like to save money as I am not rich.

But to answer your question... I use Netremote both on WinXP and my PPC. I can develope the CCF for my PPC and run it on the WinXP. In fact everything but the actual graphics are the same. So I can skin for 800X600 and then just change the graphics for PPC and its done. That said... I have full control over what is on the PPC screen. I can place any number of buttons or music library functions on the same screen. One example is the screen below. If I were to compare these to computer graphic languages... then I would consider Netremote to be a lower level language. That means it has more flexability and speed but the down side is that you have to handle more of the work.

I will once again state for the record.... I have always steered people to the product they lean towards... I do not work for Promixis... and therefore DO NOT BIAS my opinions as do some of the other people on this forum. If someone wants flashy graphics.. has lots of money and don't want to get down and dirty with graphics and code... then I will always tell them to look at Mainlobby suite and CQC.... I would think that is sufficient for the representative of those two projects.... However for some of us hobbiest that want to have fun and be creative then I suggest they look to Netremote.... I doubt anyone could dismiss its power looking at my Now Playing project. I know I have a large group of silent disciples that use what I have freely given out as the foundation of their own creation.

I only started this thread to FREELY invite those that would like to work on a group project for their GUI frontend for home automation. If that bothers Mainlobby and CQC groupies out there... oh well.. so sorry

So please do not threadcrap....

John

Here is one of my screenshots for my PPC. If MusicLobby PPC can do this then I am happy for you...last time I asked it couldn't...

 

[DavidL]

Actually John, it would Dean or IVB to introduce CQC into this thread <_<
Your points are understood with regards to PPC support using same source files as what supports the PC version. That is the info I was interested in, and you are right, today with Mainlobby suite you cannot do that to also support a PPC. I think one can with CQC, but not sure.
That will be in the next major update to the MainLobby flash UI designer, but not soon.
Thanx

 

[TonyNo]

If there is a command-line app or some other way to talk to NR without a plugin (I don't use HS), then I'll contribute what I can.

My HB-as-a-front-end experiments were a dead-end for what I want. <_<

 

[jwilson56]

What application do you use for home automation? Of coarse NR talks to Girder which can do much on its own (and its maturing as we speak).

John

 

[TonyNo]

I run PowerHome which does not have a plugin interface as of yet.