Wes Black

xLobby’s mini client can control lighting for a simple home theater installation. Using the mini client with a NAS solution for storing Movies and UPB carrier based lighting technology you can create a inexpensive but simple method to provide full 2 way  lighting control in a single room or home theater environment. xLobby can turn the lights off or preset them to any desired lighting level when a movie title is played and then turn them back on to any desired lighting scene when a movie is finished. Also direct control of the lighting switches are available from the xLobby lighting menu screen using a touchscreen or directly using a IR remote to access lighting, even simple scheduled programs can be created for daily, or weekly lighting events.

Reliability:

UPB™ uses low frequency, spread spectrum technology which produces a very strong signal. In addition, UPB™ uses true 2-way communications, allowing devices to reveal their status to each other. This feedback, that commands have been successfully executed, results in reliable communications—greater than 99% accurate!

Expandability:

UPB offers a flexible and scalable technology that can create small or large scale electrical and lighting control systems.

Lower Total Cost:

UPB™ sizes existing powerlines, eliminating the need to pre-wire or pull new wire to install a system. Additionally, during the installation of typical PLC products, service callbacks are needed to install filters or repeaters to fix reliability issues. Because UPB™ products work right the first time, installers deploy once and no more service callbacks are required. The end result is a reduction of cost and significantly increased customer satisfaction.

High Speed:

Supports .3 second response time or 10 full commands per second which is 20 to 40 times faster than other PLC technologies. This increase in speed delivers a lighting control system that is responsive to the touch.

Using the (PIM-U) Powerline Interface Module connected to xLobby via USB, signals travel using exixting electrical lines to the wall switches (WS1D) to control each lighting zone.

Simple UPB Lighting Example:

PDF File: xLobby Mini Setup with upb lighting

Pulseworx website: http://pulseworx.com/

Wes Black

A company local to Calrad called TabletKiosk manufactures several different models of  PC based tablets suitable for use with xLobby V3, when purchasing any of these units some key items that should be added to the tablet is 1. As much memory as possible, 2. The faster 7200rpm hard drives or even solid state drives. Contact Calrad for xLobby V3 tablet license information and costs.

Main website: http://www.tabletkiosk.com

Most commonly used models: http://www.tabletkiosk.com/products/sahara/i400s_pp.asp

Sahara Netslate v5 brochure: Sahara NetSlate v5

TabletKiosk, Sahara Tablet shown using a xLobby skin created by a veteran xLobby user Andy Grooby,  Iphone Touchscreen Skin  (Main Menu shown)

TabletKiosk, Sahara tablet shown using a xLobby skin created by a veteran xLobby user Baddabing,  Heavy Metal Skin (Movie Menu shown)

TabletKiosk, Sahara tablet shown using a xLobby skin created by a veteran xLobby user Marbles,  ZoneSkin (House Sync Menu shown)

Docking Station for Sahara Netslate Tablet

Another company called WiFiParts carries commercial grade WiFi access products that out perform products sold from most consumer retailers. These products have higher ouput power, offer POE, waterproof designs, Self healing technology to minimize downtime. These products increase the reliability of connecting any WiFi based product to xLobby’s client server setup.

Wifi-Parts website: http://www.WiFi-Parts.com

Ubiquiti Networks wireless network solutions: http://www.ubnt.com/products/bullet.php

 
Wes Black

A list of websites to download animated video backgrounds.

Paid Site, Video Art backgrounds: http://3dfiction.com/

Free-Paid Site, Video Backgrounds: http://www.freevideobacks.com/

Animated Backgrounds

Rolling Clouds (7.2Mb): http://www.xlobby.com/files/Background Videos/Rolling Clouds.mov

In the Clouds (5.2mb): http://www.xlobby.com/files/Background Videos/In the Clouds.mov

Rotating Bars (1.8Mb): http://www.xlobby.com/files/Background Videos/Rotating Bars.mov

Fire (14Mb): http://www.xlobby.com/files/Background Videos/Fire.mov

Wes Black

xLobby V3 – 3.0.9297.7
======================
– 0000093: [skin editor] groups buttons into “groups” (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000703: [triggers] added xlobby activity trigger, will occur when activity after 1 second of inactivity (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000702: [triggers] “any key” option added for keyboard trigger (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000701: [content playback] new VMR playback graph for vista, enables navigating full disc movies correctly (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000700: [triggers] triggers are now saved on exit in case they are enabled/disabled from the skin (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000697: [generic] webserver, url parameters added “width=100&height=100&screen=menu” (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000695: [skin editor] can’t edit a local event for category selection event (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000694: [skin editor] save new command description automatically instead of when “?” is clicked to close it (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000705: [skin editor] ir command drop down list did not populate (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000696: [setup] setup, webserver, width/height/auto refresh options added (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000368: [setup] Unable to size webserver in browser (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000706: [skin editor] plugin command drop down list did not populate (stevenhanna6) – resolved.

Wes Black

xLobby now has a place on youtube where we will be posting videos of xLobby V3 and any technology releated to xLobby.

http://www.youtube.com/user/xlobbytv

Wes Black

xLobby V3 – 3.0.9282.40
=======================
– 0000683: [setup] Can you please alphabetize the lists in F2/Databases/DB Editor? (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000692: [generic] new command “music->snap track now” (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000691: [skin editor] drop down box with options for animation behavior added (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000690: [skin editor] after cloning a screen with a category, the category is blank (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000689: [generic] when using speech the volume slide can go out of sync (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000321: [skin editor] Add Free Text Description to Events (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000688: [generic] finally moved tv and xm radio icons into their own folder (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000682: [generic] show a generic “closing, please wait” when exiting xlobby (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000677: [content playback] Music Player “auto track advance” is Broken (It still works if each track is played “manually”.) (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000686: [generic] “goto screen” drop down list replicates screen names each time it’s used (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000675: [generic] track lengths are not imported for FLAC files (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000681: [setup] Add Drive chioce to Autoplay (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000072: [generic] when you rename an audio zone it doesnt update the name (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000693: [generic] if using next/previous track on a page with playlist, playlist will auto page if required (stevenhanna6) – resolved.

Wes Black

I created this simple screen with a Start button and weather information on it, as soon as you click on the start button, 3 panels with buttons slide out and after 10 seconds of no activity on the menu from keyboard, mouse or remote they slide back in. You could modify this screen to do other interesting panel animations and create some really cool menus.

Panel Screenshot

Video: xLobby Panel Demo

Add the trigger xml file into your xLobby triggers folder and the skin xml file into your skin folder.

Files:

Trigger xml file: Panel Slide

Skin xml file: panel slide

 
Wes Black

The latest release includes the long awaited movie star rating feature. Also the animated GIF images now work again in V3. In the skin editor, new keyboard shortcuts Ctl + Shift + [ will now move objects to the back, Ctl + [ moves objects backwards thru layers  and  Ctl + ] moves objects forward thru layers.

xLobby V3 – 3.0.9275.26
=======================
– 0000672: [skin editor] CTRL + D Deselect (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000586: [skin editor] Opacicty in skin editor not working, causes crash, stops skin from loading past screens in startup (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000445: [skin editor] Add a short commande or a “click” button to set order of an element (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000305: [animation] animated gifs don’t work (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000186: [generic] movie rating system…1 to 5 stars (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000671: [skin editor] CTRL + SHIFT + [ Arrange > Send to Back (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000666: [generic] independent external web browser option (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000670: [skin editor] CTRL + [ Arrange > Send Backward (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000668: [skin editor] CTRL + SHIFT + ] Arrange > Bring to Front (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000673: [skin editor] CTRL + SHIFT + I Inverse Selections (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000674: [generic] expired demos no longer close down but will show a nag screen every half hour (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000669: [skin editor] CTRL + ] Arrange > Bring Forward (stevenhanna6) – resolved.
– 0000665: [skin editor] Closing skin editor “without saving “on menu page causes menu to show all menu items including those “unchecked” in F2 (stevenhanna6) – resolved.

5 Star Movie rating system screenshot

Link to xLobby users getting creative with this new feature:
http://xlobby.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7069&hilit=stars

Wes Black