by sdumas on Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:08 am I took the plunge and I will be getting my own Pronto TSU9600 this week.
I got tired of a thin client that was always disconnecting, a Pocket PC that was way too complicated to use and also got disconnected all the time. A thin client that is way too slow and unresponsive. Delays in sending IR codes to devices, well let's put it this way - I either fix the thing of the whole Xlobby thing is out of the house... The wife has no tolerance for hardware/software glitch.
I had a Fujitsu Stylistic 3400 touch tablet running Windows 2000 with Xlobby Thin client. I had an ATI RF remote control, a Gyration wireless mouse and keyboard to control the PC / TV / Satellite / Amplifier and others. A USBUIRT, IR repeaters, multiple sound cards for multiple zones.
When it was working which is most of the time; life was good, when it decided to not work (and of course it always happened when I was out of town...) it just did not work. Reboot the PC, try to figure out if it's the server or the thin client, or maybe the network, cable or wifi? Way too many variables and my wife put an ultimatum - make this damn thing work or get a dvd player (ouch!)
As there is no way in hell that I will replace all this technology with a dvd player, I needed to find a better way.
Looking around I found many different possiblities. Maybe, changing from Xlobby to something else (heresy!). heck, I have an older licence of MainLobby, I own Beyond TV and Sage TV as well as Windows Media Center (I even have a licence for JRiver media center). All of them have somekind of Media Center capabilities, to a degree.
I use Girder already - I could use a 100% girder solution.
I use to have a solution from Lightek called Talisman - it was working pretty good too.
So many options - why stick with Xlobby when its future may change dramatically?
Well, because I love the darn thing.
I will stick to Xlobby and see what the future will hold (in 4 months time- if what they say is about right), but in the meantime I still would like to sleep in my own bedroom and be alive in the morning... If I can help it...
So what to do to fix the issue in the meantime.
I decided to replace all the front-end gears with a single Pronto TSU9600 with the RFX9600 serial extender.
This should take care of the navigation issues and response time for all the important tasks that require immediate attention; ie Turn on TV, Change Channels, Turn up or down the volume, and with a device sensor in order to find out if it's really turned on or not. No more wondering if the darn thing is really on ro not - is it in synch or out of synch?. When I press volume up - I want the volume to immediately go up. Not, press the button - wait for the press to occur - then signal get send to Xlobby - which sends it to girder then to the IR repeater then to the actual device - way too long. (yes I know I could send it directly through the USBUIRT off Xlobby - therefore cutting a step - and I do - but some devices need girder in order for the codes to be sent appropriately - some codes for ExpressVU for example and SageTV).
With the TSU9600 I can recreate the HeavyMetal skin on the remote to simulate a thin client with the ProntoEditPro. IR codes will be sent directly to the actual devices without any intermediaries, and I can control Xlobby via Xremote via the new simulated thin client.
One remote - one system
This is not cheap (and I mean NOT cheap) - but it will buy me peace and it should work (please work!).
I installed ProntoPro Edit and did a little work before hand to make sure it would fit the bill. I can edit and recreate the menus I want, it has a very large database of IR codes, the graphical interface is 640x480 which for a 3.7" touchscreen is fabulous and the serial control seems to be easy to control. It has wifi builtin as well as hard wired ethernet. If the wi-fi connection is stable - this thing will rock.
Anyone else looked into this remote?
http://www.pronto.philips.com/index.cfm?id=1303
Any thoughts, ideas or "don't go there" comments?
Thanks!
|