Touchscreen for HVPro?

[brathnach]

Hey guys,

I currently am installing a HVPro as part of a home theatre system I'm doing for a friend. However, what I am now looking for is a touch screen to be able to carry out two way communication with the HVPro Board.

It's just afer I went looking that I realised how expensive some of these units are, especially CSI recommended Companion panels.

Having done a good bit of research, I think the ADI Leopard II is a fairly good option. It seems (to me) to have the guts of what I need. However, there are two questions I'm not sure about;

1. Would it be possible to program the Leopard & HVPro so that they will work via RS232/RG485 directly? When I say directly, I mean I want to keep it a standalone system as I am treating this installation as critical (I plan on going away for a few months!) so I dont want to rely on a MS platform to make the system work!

2. How reliable are the Leopard Touchscreens? From what I have read they appear to have very good configurability but I thought it best to revert to my fellow cocooners for the reliability question.


Hope theres someone who may know this - esp the compatibility query.

Keep up the good work and the great site!!!

 

[carry15+1]

I think for the cost of the Leopard II you can get something that will better interface with the HV pro.

The Leopard (I or II) are just an Ocelot with a BW touch screen attached. You can cause the Leopard to do various things by sending ASCII strings to it and it can send some ASCII strings based on events that take place. So, yes, it could communicate with the Homevision via rs232.

You can do a lot with the Homevision and something like an MX-3000 remote from Universal. Homevision IR works great, but is limited to 255 IR codes if that's a problem.

The screens you can build on the MX-3000 are far superior to anything you could do on a Leopard.

I would be interested to know what you finally pick and how it goes.

John

 

[bfisher]

I just use a windows PC with touchscreen. If you run HVXL (free) with the Control plug-in (free) - you have everything you need to make very sophisticated touchscreen interfaces. I am using an Intermec industrial unit (got it for ~$300 on ebay), but there are lots of options. Anything that runs Windows will work just fine.

 

[brathnach]

Hey guys,

Thanks very much for the comprehensive replies.

John, youre probably going to shoot me now but I already have a pronto set-up with the HV and its working great (although I later regretted not getting a feedback type or a just as good Universal type as you have suggested. The reason I want the Touchscreen is basically to provide an additional user input point where delicate items such as these remotes wouldnt really cut it due to traffic and kids etc. etc.

I have one of these already. I have to say these are actually very interesting devices;

this is just a picture of it http://sklep.avt.pl/photo/K8046.jpg


I was going to run two of these off HV digital inputs (basically these are screens with 8 touch switches on them, no RS232). Just above the touch screen I was going to mount one of these

http://www.velleman.be/ot/en/product/view/?id=350429

which can receive the confimation commands from Homevision via RS232, and are I.D.able so can print to up to 8 seperate units if I wanted (off the same HV RS232 port).

Put them all together (come in kits), programming/setup is grand etc. To be honest its just there would be no expansion options with this 'touchscreen' really. I'd really like to have one that I could configure to my hearts content! I will use the lcd screens K8045 anyways just as status/alarm displays.

I guess all I want is a screen that I can use to give me comprehensive options and configurability to handle Homevision and something I can bolt to a wall/ceiling/floor. Dont want to drill holes for rawl bolts in my Pronto

John, I take your point here. It would be over kill with the Leopard because I would effectively connecting a controller to a controller for the purpose of a touchscreen. Never thought of it like that though 'ocelot with a touchscreen'. V. good!

bfisher: how do you find windows as regards holding up times (how often does it crash/ require a restart?) Is this all you use this computer for?
Sorry if i appear cynical about the MS platforms. I'm not really big into computers etc but I used to work for an engineering software company in the states working on MS and Unix plats. 3 months was the record for an MS platform not crashing while it was over 3 years and counting for one of the CGI unix machines. I'm a fan of reliability.


K - sorry for the essay guys. As I said I'm just looking for a fairly reliable, asthetically ok touchscreen to connect to homevison - after seeing some of these prices again - anyone want to go making some???

cheers

 

[bfisher]

My touchscreen (running win2k) works very reliable... no crashes at all. however, I have it turn itself off when we leave the house, go to bed, etc. It then reboots when we come home, or wake up. So it's usually not on more than 12-16 hours at a time (max).

I have been very happy with this approach. HVXL Control is really flexible and powerful (especially since it's free!). I can do just about anything I've wanted to on my touchscreen. I just need someone more graphically inclined to help me make it look pretty :blink:

Another option to check is Touchtronix. They had some cool products, don't know about pricing though...