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#227257 - 15/07/2004 16:19 xplrionet - alternate client & server
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
just wanted to let you all know about an alternate client & server called xplrionet i have been using. it is integrated with the xpl protocol for home automation & the server supports rio receivers, exstreamer & soon slimp3.

the client features synchronization with other rios, shoutcast support, a web interface to control everything (it is a lightweight web interface i can use my dell axim or 3com audrey with it - as well as IE & mozilla)

you'll need .NET installed on your windows 2k/xp box to use it.

it is very stable & under active development. it helps integrate my 5 rios w/ my home automation system.

get it at http://www.xplhal.com/xplrionet.htm
somewhat up to date readme http://www.xplhal.com/xpl/README.txt
more info @ http://www.xplhal.com

the developer is very responsive & open to enhancements as you can see in the xpl users forum:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukha_xpl

check it out!

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#227258 - 15/07/2004 20:01 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: damage]
Bane
stranger

Registered: 23/06/2003
Posts: 23
What file formats are supported? I am not finding anything on the site.

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#227259 - 15/07/2004 23:51 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: damage]
Jerz
addict

Registered: 13/07/2002
Posts: 634
Loc: Jesusland
Sounds pretty interesting.

Have you tried 320kbps files? With trio, I find it works wonderful with 192kbps files both wired and wirelessly but I get some choking and coughing occasionally with my 320kbps files.

How easy is it to install?

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#227260 - 16/07/2004 17:39 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: Bane]
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
not sure about the file formats. you should post on the ukha_xpl message board & ask. i only have mp3s...

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#227261 - 16/07/2004 17:44 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: Jerz]
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
i have not tried 320kbps. i have 160, 192, some cbr & some vbr.

you need to install the microsoft .NET framework. xplrionet has a windows installer & the server installs as a service.

there are configs you set up in some .xml files (built in dhcp server, paths to music files & playlists, shoutcast channels, etc.) there is a configuration utility for most config stuff but you'll probably end up editing the .xml in notepad. the config files are easy to read & well documented in the readme file.

Quote:
Sounds pretty interesting.

Have you tried 320kbps files? With trio, I find it works wonderful with 192kbps files both wired and wirelessly but I get some choking and coughing occasionally with my 320kbps files.

How easy is it to install?

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#227262 - 17/07/2004 20:07 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: damage]
basf_audio
newbie

Registered: 02/09/2002
Posts: 36
Loc: Saint Louis
I've had some fun with it over the last few days after seeing your post. I had to do some more network configuring (such as bridging my HPNA and Ethernet) in order for it to work for me... I liked having the Web interface in HTML so I could use my PocketPC. Since it also replaces the Rio Receiver server, it has the bonus of being able to scan your MP3 collection for updates instead of scanning from scratch each time...

Being that it's still being developed, it didn't seem to be quite as stable or user friendly as tRio... I've switched back to tRio for the time being until some newer releases come out... But it does look promising...

Enjoy!

_dave

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#227263 - 21/07/2004 19:53 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: basf_audio]
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
what sort of improvements would you like to make it more user friendly? what did you find that made it seem less stable?

Quote:
I've had some fun with it over the last few days after seeing your post. I had to do some more network configuring (such as bridging my HPNA and Ethernet) in order for it to work for me... I liked having the Web interface in HTML so I could use my PocketPC. Since it also replaces the Rio Receiver server, it has the bonus of being able to scan your MP3 collection for updates instead of scanning from scratch each time...

Being that it's still being developed, it didn't seem to be quite as stable or user friendly as tRio... I've switched back to tRio for the time being until some newer releases come out... But it does look promising...

Enjoy!

_dave

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#227264 - 22/07/2004 13:12 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: damage]
shawnharper
new poster

Registered: 16/10/2003
Posts: 29
Is shoutcast support actually functioning? I can't tell from the documentation.

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#227265 - 22/07/2004 15:34 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: shawnharper]
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
yes it is. see the xpl group for the most up to date status:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukha_xpl

Quote:
Is shoutcast support actually functioning? I can't tell from the documentation.

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#227266 - 23/07/2004 18:28 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: damage]
shawnharper
new poster

Registered: 16/10/2003
Posts: 29
I got it up and running within about 5 minutes last night.

Since I've been having issues getting tRio to work, and haven't been able to get a response from Paul, I'll use this in the interim. Certainly not as slick as tRio, but much more simple to get running on a x86 machine.

Thanks for the heads up about it.

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#227267 - 23/07/2004 19:02 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: shawnharper]
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
the web interface is pretty basic, but the web pages for can be customized however you like. the readme.rtf has some info on that. it's something i'd like to do when i have some free time.

tony has been very responsive w/ bug fixes and suggestions so if there's anything you want or don't like or doesn't work right, post it over on the xpl group.

Quote:
I got it up and running within about 5 minutes last night.

Since I've been having issues getting tRio to work, and haven't been able to get a response from Paul, I'll use this in the interim. Certainly not as slick as tRio, but much more simple to get running on a x86 machine.

Thanks for the heads up about it.

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#227268 - 26/07/2004 20:08 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: damage]
shawnharper
new poster

Registered: 16/10/2003
Posts: 29
Will do. I just LOVE having shoutcast capabilities now.

Plus, while the wife thought the Rio was "just OK" before, she loves it now with the ease of using shoutcast streams.

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#227269 - 27/07/2004 00:31 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: shawnharper]
TechnoDoc
new poster

Registered: 14/01/2004
Posts: 21
Well,

I just took the plunge, and have to say I am impressed. The longest part of the installation was downloading the .NET Framework from the MIcrosoft website (about 22MBs). After that was done, I had xPLRioNet up and running in under 10 minutes, and it was much less painful than setting up tRIO with JReceiver.

I particularly like the .xml file that has the Shoutcast information preconfigured...very nice. The web interface is not sexy, but it is very cool. You can power on, select music, select a shoutcast stream, adjust volume or mute, and power off each Rio receiver. I even accessed the web interface from my Sony Clie with a WiFi card via my home wireless network.

I will play with it a few days, and may even get rid of tRio/JRec. I am pretty good with HTML, so I might even try to spruce up the web interface a bit, especially to look nicer on a PDA screen.

I'll keep you posted...

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#227270 - 28/07/2004 17:04 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: TechnoDoc]
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
i have used all the different clients i could find (reza's RRR, rioplay, even was an early user of trio w/ arm & jrec) & i feel xplrionet has by far the smoothest installation, best integrated client/server & the best feature set.

there are enhancements to be added for designing your own web interface - maybe this weekend.

more fun things you can do is get the command line xPL sender ( http://www.xpl.myby.co.uk/info/xplsend ). then you can create a batch file to power on rios #1,2 & 5, queue up playlist party_mix.m3u on rio #1, sync rio #2 & 5 to rio #1, set the volumes of each individually and start the music. add this to your quick launch toolbar & you can do all this in 1 click

xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.1 audio.rio extended=power on
xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.2 audio extended=power on
xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.5 audio.rio extended=power on

xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.1 audio.rio extended=playlist party_mix

xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.2 audio.rio extended=sync with tonyt-rio.1
xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.5 audio.rio extended=sync with tonyt-rio.1

xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.1 audio.rio command=volume 50
xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.2 audio.rio command=volume 40
xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.5 audio.rio command=volume 30

xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.1 audio.rio command=play

Quote:
Well,

I just took the plunge, and have to say I am impressed. The longest part of the installation was downloading the .NET Framework from the MIcrosoft website (about 22MBs). After that was done, I had xPLRioNet up and running in under 10 minutes, and it was much less painful than setting up tRIO with JReceiver.

I particularly like the .xml file that has the Shoutcast information preconfigured...very nice. The web interface is not sexy, but it is very cool. You can power on, select music, select a shoutcast stream, adjust volume or mute, and power off each Rio receiver. I even accessed the web interface from my Sony Clie with a WiFi card via my home wireless network.

I will play with it a few days, and may even get rid of tRio/JRec. I am pretty good with HTML, so I might even try to spruce up the web interface a bit, especially to look nicer on a PDA screen.

I'll keep you posted...

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#227271 - 01/08/2004 14:03 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: damage]
TechnoDoc
new poster

Registered: 14/01/2004
Posts: 21
Well...

I've had some limited success editing the web interface. I was able to make some basic formatting changes and add a couple of new images. The problem I encountered was when I tried to do more with the layout of the web pages. It seems that the embedded commands don't tolerate being moved around much.

I will post my findings on the Yahoo discussion group that the author of the software frequents, and hope for some insight.

Aside from that, xPLRioNet works very well. I've had it going now for about a week without any problems, and with no need to switch back to JRec/tRio/ARM. I am probably just a few days away from admitting that the switch is permanent.

For those of you who haven't tried it, give it a whirl. It takes just minutes to get up and running, runs as a service under NT/W2K/XP, has it's own DB and server, and a simple config tool. It took me a couple of days to get JRec/Jetty/mySQL/tRio/ARM up and running, and was never happy with a solution that required 5 seperate software packages installed to work. After installing the .NET Framework, xPLRioNet is the only thing you need.


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#227272 - 02/08/2004 21:59 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: TechnoDoc]
samgreco
stranger

Registered: 22/02/2002
Posts: 14
Loc: Chicago, IL US
Will this allow syncing RIOs and SliMP3 clients? PC clients, as well?

If so, I may be in love...

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#227273 - 03/08/2004 12:37 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: samgreco]
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
i don't think this will happen due to the different amounts of buffering in the 2 players. if you have specific technical questions, you need to go to the xpl message board ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukha_xpl ) & post there. the author of xplrionet does not read nor post here.

there is also a rio client emulator for your pc (don't think it will sync either) available at http://www.xplhal.com. when started this client will show up in the web interface of xplrionet & you'll be able to control it just like a rio


Quote:
Will this allow syncing RIOs and SliMP3 clients? PC clients, as well?

If so, I may be in love...

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#227274 - 03/08/2004 19:34 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: damage]
drakino
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
Quote:
xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.1 audio.rio extended=power on

How do you knwo what name to supply? Trying to get my fake install on my computer to sync with my Rio Receiver in the front room. The Rio doesn't see my computer as a unit to sync to, so I figured I'd try the other way around.

The web interface calls my system unit2 and the front room unit3. How do I rename this ?

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#227275 - 03/08/2004 20:54 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: drakino]
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
in your case, you would use unit3:
xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.unit3 audio.rio extended=power on

AFAIK, syncing has not been added for the rio pc client.

there will be a feature added to the web interface at some point to rename units. otherwise, you can dl xplhal from www.xplhal.com - that will allow you to rename units & it will open a whole new can of worms (the good kind

Quote:
Quote:
xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.1 audio.rio extended=power on

How do you knwo what name to supply? Trying to get my fake install on my computer to sync with my Rio Receiver in the front room. The Rio doesn't see my computer as a unit to sync to, so I figured I'd try the other way around.

The web interface calls my system unit2 and the front room unit3. How do I rename this ?

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#227276 - 06/08/2004 14:56 renaming unit names in xplrionet [Re: damage]
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
tony, the author, posted on the xpl message board how to rename units:

If you stop the xplrionet service, go to c:\windows\system32 you'll find an
xpl file for the unit (instance2). Open this with notepad and change the
instance name (don't change the filename though), save and restart service

Quote:
in your case, you would use unit3:
xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.unit3 audio.rio extended=power on

AFAIK, syncing has not been added for the rio pc client.

there will be a feature added to the web interface at some point to rename units. otherwise, you can dl xplhal from www.xplhal.com - that will allow you to rename units & it will open a whole new can of worms (the good kind

Quote:
Quote:
xplsend xpl-cmnd tonyt-rio.1 audio.rio extended=power on

How do you knwo what name to supply? Trying to get my fake install on my computer to sync with my Rio Receiver in the front room. The Rio doesn't see my computer as a unit to sync to, so I figured I'd try the other way around.

The web interface calls my system unit2 and the front room unit3. How do I rename this ?


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#227277 - 12/08/2004 17:06 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: shawnharper]
ievolve
stranger

Registered: 27/08/2003
Posts: 8
I am trying to debug why my shoutcast streams just fall off after a while and the playerjust says 0:00 on the screen. I am listening to club 977 "80's pop rock" from the default list, but it does it on all stations.

They start again fine when I selected them again.

THe only thing I can think of is a network hiccup causes the stream to stop. It seems there should be some sort of a resume function to start streaming the station again if it gets interupted....

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#227278 - 13/08/2004 02:54 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: ievolve]
medianet
new poster

Registered: 04/08/2004
Posts: 21
An automatic resume on shoutcasts is to be added in a release during the next week or so. Also a change to make it less likely to drop. Unfortunately the release of beta v3.6 thru v3.6c, which had a major rewrite of the native rio client part, caused a few problems. A release this evening and another this weekend (to fix synch) should fix all the issues created, and then we'll be back on track for dealing with these other issues and enhancements.

Regards
Tony

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#227279 - 18/08/2004 16:13 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: Bane]
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
Quote:
What file formats are supported? I am not finding anything on the site.


the author has just added support for wma, wav, flac and ogg via transcoding to mp3

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#227280 - 27/08/2004 19:19 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: damage]
damage
stranger

Registered: 27/11/2002
Posts: 35
coming soon is support for streaming mp3s to the hauppauge media mvp. video/picture support will be added later...

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#227281 - 05/10/2004 04:48 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: damage]
medianet
new poster

Registered: 04/08/2004
Posts: 21
Just to say that xPLRioNet now has basic MVP support for MP3, Pictures and movies. It also supports multiple units and skinning of screens.

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#227282 - 23/12/2004 15:25 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: damage]
drakino
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
Do you know if there is some sort of file size limitation on the database? I have a music share with 114 gigs between 24,604 files. For some reason, xplrionet is missing portions of the collection, even if I do a purge and scan. It took me a while to notice because it seems to have quite a bit in it, but I had a frend requesting things we found via the file share, but not on the web interface or via the player.

Also, what is needed to get the TTS to work? I installed the xplrionettts, lame.exe into the cache folder, xplhal, and the MS Speech SDK 5.1 (that seemed to kill the TTS control panel in XP...) and I do have it enabled and running.

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#227283 - 23/12/2004 16:25 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: drakino]
medianet
new poster

Registered: 04/08/2004
Posts: 21
Access has a 1gb file size limit, i believe. Might need to use mysql if this is the problem.

Alternatively it might be the unc paths vs windows services that is the issue (there are details in the v3.8k read me)

With regards to TTS you need to send an xPL message

Might be an idea to visit http://www.xplproject.org.uk/ and join the ukha_xpl yahoo group for further info.

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#227284 - 23/12/2004 20:46 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: medianet]
drakino
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
The access database files seem to only be about 6 megs in size. This after letting the scanner run all night. Logging shows it was adding things, then just stops after 6 minutes with a log entry of "Thu 23/12/04 13:10:29 : Scanner - Failed to Scan \\central\media\music\"

The log also has:
Thu 23/12/04 13:13:26 : Scanner - Creating Voice Files
But I still don't gear any TTS announcements. I guess I am kinda puzzled as to what the TTS is supposed to be doing.

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#227285 - 23/12/2004 22:30 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: drakino]
drakino
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
Aha, found the problem. The scanner dies doing normal file checks every time in the same place. I pulled the directory it was unhappy with, now it is scanning the rest of the collection. Not sure why it is unhappy though with these files, investigating further.

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#227286 - 24/12/2004 04:49 Re: xplrionet - alternate client & server [Re: drakino]
medianet
new poster

Registered: 04/08/2004
Posts: 21
TTS is an xPL thing, not an xplrionet/rio thing. So you need to send an xpl messages to get it to announce something. Using scripting in xplhal it would be possible to, say, pick up a now playing message and announce it back.

With regard to voice files these are for use with other xpl app's to allow voice control of xplrionet. Basically it tries to create voice reco safe files. This is not really used yet, but works, but does need further work.

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