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Mediabrowser and EventGhost


lja

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I am new to Eventghost but would like to try setting it up to when I press play in MB, as the movie starts the lights also dim or turn off. I have a SmartLinc which currently controls the lights in my HT.

 

Has anyone tried this and care to share their setup. Or any help  with a start in the right direction. I note that there is lots of help on the net for another popular media center.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

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chef

I have. I use kinect sensor to accomplish this. What you need is a server plugin to send a command to Eventghost that will it know when you have started playback.

 

This can be accomplished using the server event arguments.

 

If I was at home I could make something to help you. By the time I get home, someone else may have a better idea.

 

If not however please pm me and I will help you accomplish this.

Edited by chef
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I think you'll be better off handling this at the remote controller level instead of actually through MB.  The problem with trying to do it via something like a server plug-in is how will it know in what room to issue the commands?

 

Instead, I would set up EventGhost to watch for the actual play button press on the remote on the machine in your Theater.  Then it will be pretty easy to take it from there.

 

I used to have this all setup back when I had my dedicated room.  Lights down on play, up slightly on pause, etc.  I was using an IR controlled Grafik Eye but EG was capturing the remote operations and then passing on the appropriate IR code to the GE.  I'm sure there are a lot of folks who have done similar things and some Googling should get you some help.

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chef

The only thing that I found, was using the "OK" button on my remote for playback. Eventghost didn't know the difference between choosing a movie from the library screen and when I choose the "play" button on the details screen. I ended up using speech for my set up, however with remote key presses this was a different. Hence the playback event being fired from the server.

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I think you'll be better off handling this at the remote controller level instead of actually through MB.  The problem with trying to do it via something like a server plug-in is how will it know in what room to issue the commands?

 

Instead, I would set up EventGhost to watch for the actual play button press on the remote on the machine in your Theater.  Then it will be pretty easy to take it from there.

 

I used to have this all setup back when I had my dedicated room.  Lights down on play, up slightly on pause, etc.  I was using an IR controlled Grafik Eye but EG was capturing the remote operations and then passing on the appropriate IR code to the GE.  I'm sure there are a lot of folks who have done similar things and some Googling should get you some help.

Thanks @@ebr. This is exactly what I am trying to do. Have done a lot of googling but only came across info for the other popular media center. When you have time any further help you can give would really be appreciated as a beginner with EventGhost. I dont't have a GE but use Insteon SmartLinc.

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The only thing that I found, was using the "OK" button on my remote for playback. Eventghost didn't know the difference between choosing a movie from the library screen and when I choose the "play" button on the details screen. I ended up using speech for my set up, however with remote key presses this was a different. Hence the playback event being fired from the server.

 

That's a good point.  To tie it into MB so it knows you are playing something, I guess you could use a client side plug-in (so you know what room you're in).  This would be possible with MBC as it does publish playback start and stop events.  Things like pause would have to be trapped outside of MB though.

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Thanks @@ebr. This is exactly what I am trying to do. Have done a lot of googling but only came across info for the other popular media center. When you have time any further help you can give would really be appreciated as a beginner with EventGhost. I dont't have a GE but use Insteon SmartLinc.

 

It has been six or seven years since I did this so I'm afraid I won't be much help.  But, if you are doing it at the remote control level, it shouldn't matter what the playing application is.  However, Chef made a good point about playing back via the actual button on the MB screen instead of the play button on the remote.

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It has been six or seven years since I did this so I'm afraid I won't be much help.  But, if you are doing it at the remote control level, it shouldn't matter what the playing application is.  However, Chef made a good point about playing back via the actual button on the MB screen instead of the play button on the remote.

Thanks anyway for your input.

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I have. I use kinect sensor to accomplish this. What you need is a server plugin to send a command to Eventghost that will it know when you have started playback.

 

This can be accomplished using the server event arguments.

 

If I was at home I could make something to help you. By the time I get home, someone else may have a better idea.

 

If not however please pm me and I will help you accomplish this.

@@chef I sent you a PM

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chef

I wrote a cool little console app that monitors sessions from the server and waits for a particular client to initiate playback and from there you can add what ever command line you want.

 

In our case we'll send an Eventghost command line to dim your lights.

 

It is based as a media browser client and can run as a service.

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I wrote a cool little console app that monitors sessions from the server and waits for a particular client to initiate playback and from there you can add what ever command line you want.

 

In our case we'll send an Eventghost command line to dim your lights.

 

It is based as a media browser client and can run as a service.

@chef: Thanks chef. Sent you a PM.

Edited by lja
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Beardyname

I wrote a cool little console app that monitors sessions from the server and waits for a particular client to initiate playback and from there you can add what ever command line you want.

 

In our case we'll send an Eventghost command line to dim your lights.

 

It is based as a media browser client and can run as a service.

 

 

So when is it going to be released to the public ? :)

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chef

So when is it going to be released to the public ? :)

I could it is almost finish but, it is kind of customized to lja's computer. I can make an interface and make it user customizable. It would probably be easier that way.

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Here's a setup I'm using to accomplish things similar to what the OP asked about
 

  • EventGhost
    watching for events and launching macros
  • HippoRemote on the iPhone
    echoing navigation keystrokes to the HTPC MediaBrowser menus, as well as HTTP URL commands to the MPC-HC web interface for playback control of external player
  • X10 controlling lights, household control via HomeSeer
  • LAN control of amp and projector

EventGhost is able to trap significant events such as MPC-HC being launched / exited from MediaBrowser and respond with appropriate macros for lights up / down, etc

ie. I have a macro for turning theater room on / off, which launches the equipment in sequence, starts MediaBrowser, steps the lights to decent presets, sets default audio settings, etc

EventGhost is slick for trapping and launching, so you just need to figure out how it best communicates with your equipment and the preferred timing.
Note: for simple LAN command line instruction for devices like a Denon amp, I've used the utility TCPline with EventGhost and it's fine (http://seconfig.sytes.net/tcpline/)

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@@chef

 

A couple points...
- I'm using the HomeSeer plugin to fire my X10 commands.

- I'm using actual X10 and not Insteon, so my familiarity with your controller is sketchy

 

That being said, I noted there has been some recent activity related to the SmartLinc plugin over at EventGhost.net,

specifically this post with a new-ish plugin release that says it addresses some Scene control short-comings

http://www.eventghost.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5698&hilit=insteon#p29486

Just wanted to make sure you had (what seems to be) the most recent plugin installed.

 

Assuming you already have the above stuff, I added it to my system for yuks and it doesn't look like you need to worry

about a command line, so much as getting the correct connection in the plugin setup

(see attached image)5359cb9fa0f94_Capture1.png

Of course, I couldn't set the above info properly on my system, but
assuming you get the plugin above to connect with your SmartLinc,

I would then trigger your Device "Screen Lights" on/off and watch for it to appear in the

EventGhost Log on the left of the screen, so you can drag it to the right side as an event

and then in the same group create the event like so

 

5359cd525b229_Capture2.png

 

If you're working on scenes, it should offer you the choice of scene...

 

5359cdbe848b6_Capture3.png

 

Note that I don't have scenes with my X10 and to be honest, I'm just as happy to create a
series of device specific events in EventGhost as my own form of macro/scene with my own timing control.

 

As an aside, check to see if you can send HTTP commands to your SmartLinc in the form of a URL,
in which case it should be very simple to watch for an event and respond with a URL request.
You may want to skip the scene in this testing and try just accessing one device directly.
 

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