Main Menu

MPXT

Started by Scott Bradshaw, February 11, 2004, 01:57:31 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

matthias

Hey, I´ve found it out on my own :-)

Matthias

matthias

I´m working again on IRDA controll. I can learn and controll MPXT and MPXPLAY with my remote control after I build mpxplay.ir and mpxt.ir. But I still have two problems at the moment.  
First:
When I start music by "play/search" (using my m3d) everything works fine, but when I start my playlists (using xyz.m3u)mpxplay always quits and goes back to MPXT. This happens when I use the keyboard and/or my IR remote. When I quit MPXT and switch of "UseIR" im mpxt.cfg and restart MPXT than I can use my own playlists without any problem.
I tried 3 diferrent remote controlls, but that didn´t change anything. IR support is disabled im mpxplay.ini.
Second:
When I keep on pressing a button on my remote control mpxt only receives one key. This is a pain if you try to scroll through a database with 300 entries. I already tried to increase the Delay, but this didn´t help.
Any ideas?
Thanks  
Matthias

admin

Matthias:

I made a test version for you to try.  After running MPXPlay it'll ask you to hit enter to continue.  That way, if MPXPlay is crashing, you'll be able to see any error messages displayed.

I'm not sure about the first issue, but if MPXPlay is displaying an error message, you'll have time to read what it's telling you.

For the second issue, you can use keys 1&3 to skip ahead/backward by 10.  I'm not very familiar with the IR functions, but if you can map the buttons to 1&3 it should work.

This test version also includes the new parallel lcd delay routines.  Try using default chardelay and controldelay values (both are set to 65).  Right now, I don't know if it works, because I don't own a parallel lcd.

http://techworld.dyndns.org/download/mpxttest2.zip" target="_blank">http://techworld.dyndns.org/download/mpxttest2.zip

matthias

@Admin
Hey brent(?), thanks for that quick help. I´ll try that version tomorrow.
Se ya

matthias

@admin
First:
(Quote)
"After running MPXPlay it'll ask you to hit enter to continue. That way, if MPXPlay is crashing, you'll be able to see any error messages displayed. "

I tried that. Very strange, there is no error message by mpxplay. There´s only "Press Enter" to see and then "Returning to MPXT...". That´s all...

Second:
Maybe I missunderstand you. You mean when I press 1 or 3 (number) on my keyboard (or mapped on my Irda remote) it should skip ahead/forward by 10?
If so it doesn´t work. When I press 1 or 3 on my keyboard nothing happens at all.

Third:
LCD output looks good while running mpxt and mpxplay. But one strange thing, when starting mpxt with "Play Database" mpxplay always does "Loading file informations" which takes a long time for a database with 2000 entries and the LCD only shows line 2,3 and 4 while loading. When mpxplay has finished loading the file informations (database you can see all 4 lines of the LCD

matthias

@admin
Third:  
LCD output looks good while running mpxt and mpxplay. But one strange thing, when starting mpxt with "Play Database" mpxplay always does "Loading file informations" which takes a long time for a database with 2000 entries and the LCD only shows line 2,3 and 4 while loading. When mpxplay has finished loading the file informations (database you can see all 4 lines of the LCD
--> same behavior as when you tell mpxt/mpxplay to play a drive

matthias

@admin
I´ve just tried IRDOS. My first problem doesn´t appear anymore, but IRDOS has the problem that you always have to wait a second between pressing a button on the IR remote and the another button.

admin

Matthias:

I added ahead 10/back 10 in MpXT under Playlist Menu -> Edit List.  Perhaps you meant something else.  Did you want it to skip ahead/back while MPXPlay is running?

I'm kind of limited on what I can do with the IR routines.  I don't know much about them and even if I did, I don't have the hardware to test it.

If MPXPlay's IR routines work ok, I could shut down the serial port interrupt handler before shelling out to MPXPlay.  Then you could use MPXPlay's built-in IR handling.

Brent

matthias

Brent:

What I mean is a function (by keyboard) so skip 10 forward/back when you search for a playlist in the playlistmenu/play list:

1. Select Playlist Menu
2. Select Play List
3. Select the individual playlist
--> at this point it would make sense to have that key function

One thing:
Those functions Load List and Edit List doesn´t work at all. When I select one of those menu´s MPXT tries to start "something" and then switches back to playlist menu without any visible error message (I tried to push the break button on my keyboard).

I can understand that this IR stuff is hard to handle. It would be a nice add on to have a full working IR remote control, but it´s not a must. This thing is also not working properly under Windows...
If you need any assistance when testing IR routines I can help you with that - no problem at all. I have collected different IR receivers and remote controlls

Matthias

matthias

Brent:
Quote:
"If MPXPlay's IR routines work ok, I could shut down the serial port interrupt handler before shelling out to MPXPlay. Then you could use MPXPlay's built-in IR handling."

I´ll try MPXPLAY´s IR routines and post the information

Matthias

admin

Matthias:

Make sure that you use the Load List function before using Edit List.  I just ran a test on it tonight.  Unless you're using a playlist format that MpXT doesn't understand, it should work.

I added the skip ahead/behind 10 to the playlist selection routine.  That was fairly straight-forward.

Replaced the entire serial library in the IR unit.    I had MPXPlay playing music with IR enabled, but I don't know if IR still works.  I compiled a new version of Irtest.exe, but I don't know if that works either.  If you want something to test, here you go:

http://techworld.dyndns.org/download/mpxttest3.zip" target="_blank">http://techworld.dyndns.org/download/mpxttest3.zip

matthias

Bent:
Skip ahead / forward works perfect. Now it´s much faster to scroll through the playlists. Friend of mine has 800 of his own cd´s ripped...  
Do you think it would be possible to improve the skip function by skipping not 10 back or forward but skipping from one letter to another? So you can skip from A to B to C and so on; e.g. from ABBA to Blur to Christina Aguilera etc. Maybe this would be a nice function for a next version of MPXT.

IRtest.exe seems to work fine. But IR support in MPXT doesn´t work anymore at all. It already fails when I try to learn new codes.

Can you make a version of MPXT with build in skip function (skipping 10 or skipping by letter doesn´t matter at the moment) and shutting down the serial port interrupt handler before shelling out to MPXPlay (your posting from friday)? With this version I could go on testing.

Thanks

Matthias

matthias

Brent:

I don´t know if other people have problems with the IR control. Maybe it would be a good idea to add a few lines/options to the mpxt.cfg. So user can decide to shut down the serial port interrupt handler before shelling out to MPXPlay. The idea is to use MPXT IR support for MPXT and when switching to MPXPLAY using it´s own IR support.
I don´t have any idea if this too much work.  
Will MPXT get the IR control back when you switch back from MPXPLAY to MPXT? Otherwise this function would be useless.

Quote:
"Unless you're using a playlist format that MpXT doesn't understand"  
--> What playlist format does MPXT understand or not understand?

I know I have many questions ;-)
But I hope I can help other MPXT users when writing my documentation of my own MP3 project. I already start this in German and I will do this also in English

admin

Matthias:

I think I know what the problem is.  If I'm right, X10, and serial keypad handling are also broken.  To fix it I'll have to continue replacing the serial library.  It's not a small undertaking, but I think it'll be worth it in the long run.

matthias

Brent:

I guess so...
OK, let´s wait and see ;-)
It´s a great programm and worth to wait!!!

Matthias

Quick Reply

Name:
Email:
Verification:
Please leave this box empty:
first two letters in 77777anazzz88zcf:
write the numbers seen in SDFa323yyqp9:
Shortcuts: ALT+S post or ALT+P preview