#AirLink info
35 messages in this thread
[ continuation ]
there remember 'Triclops Invasion'? 🙂
–jp–seattle–
I remember it just fine. :^) John, where does this goodie attach?
Ben
The standard 'AirLink' attaches to the joystick port. They supply a 4'
cable and the little (1"x1") IR box that plugs on the end of the cable, as
well as the software.
There is the 'PowerMid' transmitter/receiver, which is the same thing as
the X-10 system unit), but repackaged by Geodesic. This allows cable-free
connections of the computer control to an IR unit in another room.
But, you can get it to attach to just about any port on the computer. ie.
9-pin Amiga IR LED Adapter – attaches to serial port.
25-pin Amiga IR LED Adapter – attaches to par port, with -8-
individually addressable LEDs. The manual says that this is
a 25-pin adaptor, then 8 phone cables with IR LED's on each end.
Phono IR LED Adaptor. Hooks up to the audio outputs.
You can purchase these items direct from them, or if you're handy with a
soldering iron, he actually provides diagrams and Radio Shack parts #'s to
purchase/make them yourself!
The ALSO have a unit called the 'IllumiLink' ($95) that connects to the
joystick port, contains a IR receiver/transmitter and a phone tone decoder
for a wireless telephone. To paraphrase their manual, "The phone becomes a
remote Amiga mouse/command center for live multimedia presentations. Phone
keys may be programmed to activate x,y mouse clicks, menu selections,
keyboard, par port, or infraRed signals." Don't know what I would do with
such a thing, but it certainly sounds interesting!
–jp–seattle–
I wonder if that phonelink thingy is what the folks here at New York
University are using when they run their interactive cable-tv show. It's
some sort of AV script, all weirdly done, and you can call and by pressing
certain keys you can control the presentation. For those of you who live
in New York City and get Manhattan Cable, I believe it's on channel 6 late
at night (around 11pm-12am) on sundays. I could be wrong so just check
your TV guide.
MC
I don't know. Here's the text of the 'Illumlink' blurb in the manual:
"IllumiLink $95. – The IllumiLink connects to the Amiga's second mouse
port. It contains an IR receiver, transmitter, and a phone tone decoder
for a wireless telephone. The phone becomes a remote Amiga mouse/command
center for live multimedia presentations. Phone keys may be programmed to
activate xy mouse clicks, menu selections, keyboard keys, ARexx scripts,
serial port, MIDI, parallel port, or infrared signals. A wireless phone
may be used to control any multitasking program such as the VideoToaster
and AmigaVision. The IllumiLink has all the features of AirLink, too."
(text directly from the AirLink manual, by Geodesic Publications)
The concept of allowing viewers to directly control a TV broadcast is
compelling! I think it would be fascinating to develop a 'game' in which a
viewer called in and had control of an on-screen 'person' exploring an
environment for a few minutes, at which time control would go to another
person, etc. Not a 'game' in the usual sense, but a serial collaborative
effort maybe. Lots of other potential too, I think. I'm going to be
calling Geodesic soon, and will ask your question and will report back.
TTFN
–jp–seattle–
The more I think of it, the more I feel that the NYU folks here are using
something they created themselves. The reason? Their show is almost
always crashing on them. Maybe only 1 or 2 people get to actually navigate
around the av script with their touchtone pads before you either see the
Guru or a blank Workbench screen.
The concept really isn't that innovative (touchtone IC's have been around
for quite a while). What is nice is that someone finally made it for the
Amiga!
MC
Very sad… always crashing. Not a good thing.
I don't see any particular problem in running a show the way you describe.
Might be easier to run a public access program that way (allowing remote
dial-in control) than shooting a regular show. You program the computer,
and then just sit back and watch it work. Neat idea, I think.
–jp–seattle–
Eccentially that is the ideal that is being developed here in Old Toon Town
(Tucson). We are developing an interactive cable station using "Off the
shelf" programs and hardware. If successfull (and everything is pointing in
that direction) a user can dial in with his phone and request his
information. We've seen interactive computers before. But mostly that are
of the text variety. Our objective is to enform the viewer but with well
written scripts showing graphics and animations. (After all we're selling
sizzle here, anyone can pick up the paper and get the same info, we have).
The prototype date is set for Jan. 10th. The hardest obstacle has been
cleared. (The phone interaction). Now we hook this thing up and see if it
works. I know Can Do can, the question is… Can I?
Whap! Mind Productions
What hardware are you using? (for the interactive, telephone control
stuff) If you don't mind me asking 🙂
Also, re the CanDo stuff, feel free to fire away with CanDo questions….
either here or in the Innovatronics area of AmigaVend. Should be help
avail in that regard if you need it. Good luck.
–jp–seattle–
What hardware are you using? (for the interactive, telephone control
stuff)- Unfortunately, that part had to be custom built. I have yet to see
the unit, but I am told that at the moment it can handle two phone lines
with a design opening to accomadate more in the future. (We anticipate over
2000 phone calls a month for starters). The devise mearly encodes the
incoming tones to coresponding numbers. i.e. 1 followed by a * or # will
tell the computer to run script 1. Granted this is simplified, considering
that we have on the prototype 1000 scripts, and can handle up to 10,000.
(Again future expansion if needed). My end of it is the script writing,
graphics, sound, music, narration, animation. It's been an interesting
experiment that I've been throug these past 6 months. I never thought that
I could do such a thing in the past. Yet, the prototype runs in 7 days.
(Jan. 10th)
Whap! Speed, Mr. Sulu
Micheal, hope your premier goes real well! Good luck!
–jp–seattle–
Your project sounds very interesting. A public access station here in
southern Ohio is going on-line soon with a simple
call-up-and-request-a-graphic program that is apparently off-the-shelf for
the Amiga from someone. Do you know about this? Unfortunately, I hear that
it can only handle 16 colors and 320×200 graphics, though I can't imagine
why it should care, as a controller.
If you're successful, maybe these guys would upgrade to what YOU'RE
doing!
Karl
– via Whap!
Thanks for the details, John. Certainly sounds fun.
Ben
jp, does this mean you gave up on mediaphile? What did you hear (or read)?
Paul
–pt–not seattle– 😉
Nope, haven't given up on MediaPhile at all. MediaPhile appears to have a
more 'complete' system, as well as offers direct (ie. not IR) control of
some consumer/professinal equip. It also offers IR control as well,
though. But the MediaPhile stuff is a good deal more expensive; for
instance the basic MediaPhile IR Controller (hardware) is $245, and the
basic software is $200 (plus another disk for another $200). As the man
says, 'Soon you're talking real money' 🙂
So I was looking for an alternative and research turned up Geodesic
Publications and their AirLink. Boy they sure don't advertise much!
Anyway, I called them up, spoke with Mark Adams (the main guy), had a nice
chat about Triclops Invasion (he actually remembered that I'd written him a
nice letter re Triclops in about 1987! and he mentioned it first… ie….
'Say, didn't you write me a letter years ago re Triclops?…'). Anyway, it
sounded like AirLink did pretty much what I wanted, for $50 no less, so I
took a chance and ordered it from him. Turns out it works great!
So, I'm still interested in MediaPhile, but want to more fully explore
AirLink (and it's companion products) first. Why? 1) Cost. 2) It seems
to offer pretty good low-level support (ARexx, multiple ways to control
stuff), and 3) I like the guy, and if his stuff works I am satisfied. So
far I haven't found anything Geodesic's stuff can't do that I want.
If I decide to go with some 'Prosumer' level Sony or Pioneer equip then
I'll likely go with some MediaPhile stuff, since they offer direct control
of that equip, which the Geodesic stuff does not. Make sense?
–jp–seattle–
Sounds like a good product. Will it handle 2 vcrs, LD player, TV, CDplayer
and AV preamp on one giant virtual keypad? Right now I need a Batman
Utility Belt for all the remotes.
Yep, I remember Triclops invasion. We're talking some pretty weird stuff! I
wonder if it is still around somewhere. It might run faster on the 3000.
The interface was umm.. turgid but challenging.
….Mark 74335,1677
Remember that I have only had this thing for under a week, ok? With that
in mind, I'd guess that if it can be controlled via IR, then this gadget
will offer control of it. It offers control of both 'single burst' and
'multi burst' IR controllers (some send a 'start' signal before the actual
command, I gather). It offers IR control of either single event triggers
(ie. play, rewind, etc) or continuous triggers (like the scan button on a
CD or a jog-shuttle on a VCR/LD).
I'm going to bring several more pieces of equip into the house to test RSN.
Right now I have it controlling my VCR (Mitsubishi U-80) and CD Player on
both seperate 'remote' windows, and an alternative version on one combined
window. You can implement as many or as few 'buttons' for each device (so
if you wanted the basic controls for all on one window for ease of use, but
wanted complete detail on another window, that is certainly possible). I
wouldn't see any reason why you couldn't combine hundreds of 'buttons' on
one screen, if you wished. I'm planning on trying out CanDo and AV control
of it soon as well.
The only problem that I can see is when the *same* remote signal causes
actions on two seperate devices. Say you have a JVC VCR, and a Sony
television. A signal that looks like '-0–0-' turns 'PLAY' on the VCR, and
also selects 'MUTE' on the TV. Problem. I've talked with several video
salespeople re 'universal' remotes on this, thinking that the problem must
occur there as well. They have said that it rarely is a problem in their
experience. But one never knows, I guess….
–jp–seattle–
Airlink sounds very useful; especially if it can be controlled from
inside other programs via Arexx.
Just last night I went to a friend's house. He has VideoDirector (sp)
from Gold Disk. It is software, a serial cable ending in a minijack and a
joyport cable ending in an IR transmitter/receiver. We trained the IR link
for a VHS deck and plugged the jack into a Sony V99 camcorder "remote"
socket. The program lets you use the V99 (or any Lan-c compatible deck) as
a source. The time "code" is displayed on the screen along with buttons for
all the transport functions. A-B roll type assembly is easy with this
setup. Simply mark start and end points for each edit. It makes a list with
the names you supply. When you have them all marked and in order just click
on "assemble" and it shuttles the source deck, pre-rolls the record deck
and copies the segments in order. We got decent results the first time! At
less than $200 to add decent editing for someone with a camcorder (lan-c
only) and almost any other deck this sounds like a good product.
The remote device might even be the same one you bought but marketed by
Gold Disk. It also works with variable burst and continuous triggering.
Won't transmit through a beer bottle tho. B^)
….Mark 74335,1677
"Won't transmit through a beer bottle tho."
Hmmm… did you try a lite beer?
– Whapp!ng from the North Coast Michael
"Hmmm… did you try lite beer?"
Shoot! It was even a Coor's Cutter but no-go. No foolin'
….Mark
I wasn't aware that Gold Disk had a similar product at all. Thanks for
letting me know.
Their hardware sounds similar…. basically an IR emitter controlled via
the joy port. I don't know about GD, but I like the flexibility of being
able to use other ports as well (serial, parallel, audio — shoot, Geodesic
seems to have covered all the bases!).
The 'training' software for AirLink is pretty simple to use. I've already
used it to train four devices (CD, VCR, two laserdisks) with no problems.
I've 'driven' the software from a CanDo application (sort of a 'super
remote control) via ARexx with no problems. I suppose that Geodesic's
seperate ARexx control package may offer even more control. I'll know
soon.
Does the GD product offer any sort of wireless xmit mode? That sounds like
the next logical step. (ie. like Geodesic's PowerMid X10 interface)?
Sounds like there is competition in this marketplace! Great!
–jp–seattle–
The Gold Disk controller is pretty specific to doing editing with a source
that can be controlled via a lan-c cable. I didn't read much of the manual
during my short exposure to the product. It might that other connectors can
be used than the ones I saw. The Airlink sounds pretty neat; I think I
want one. The advantage of the cable hookup was that the software knew just
where it was on the tape. The bi-directional link sends info from the time
counter.
The hardware seems similar but the software seems "aimed" very
differently.
….Mark
Yeah, getting info back from the machine is important too. In a LaserDisk
environment that isn't as important, since you can always just go to a
particular frame. Of course you have to HOPE that it got there! 🙂
The MediaPhile people advertise a VCR cable that returns the position on a
tape, for several different VCR's. The Mitsubishi U-80/70 are two of them,
and that may be economical way to go. They do put a sort of time code on
the tape as they records (indeed, they needs it for insert editing), so
maybe that way the AirLink (or even GD?) could get frame accurate searching
from an economical VCR?
–jp–seattle–
JOHN,
I know the Panasonic decks like the AG-1950 put a sort of time code on
tape but don't know what could be done with less capable decks. The time
counter on my Sony V99 camcorder seemed to be very accurate when used with
the GD controller setup. Maybe the Mitsu decks do something similar. I saw
the U-80 and U-70 at a Circuit City store the other day. They look like
nice machines. What I really need is a single framer.
Hmmm would you like to hire the services of a place that had single
frame Amiga recording? There might be one here RSN. What media would you
send data on? First generation tapes will be in either Hi8/8mm or S-VHS/VHS
format. Dupes can be on anything reasonable except Panasonic Digital 1/2"
(who has one?). We will accept Quarterback floppies, Syquest44 carts, 3M
MCD40 tape cart and DC6150/6250 1/4" carts. We would prefer NOT to render.
24bit pictures will be displayed via a Firecracker to encoder and then the
tape deck. Pricing will be based on frames and complexity. The service is
in the planning stage now but likely will be running in 30-60 days.
….Mark 74335,1677
The Mitsu U-80 does put it's own 'frame count code' or some such, on tape.
It does it only when first recorded, however, and any subsequent insert
edits won't mess it up. That's how I 'join' most of my shorter anims. But
it is NOT single frame capable, in a recording sense.
It seems that several people may be starting up single frame recording
services. I know of at least two others who are considering it anyway.
Frankly, the ones that are offering videodisk recording are most attractive
to me. Good recording format, and very flexible to deal with later. If
I'm going to send 100's of megabytes of 24bit images, I'd almost certainly
get a tape system.
I know that one could JPEG the 24bit images before sending them, but I
think that it might be better to just send the unJPEG'd images, due to the
time required to compress/decompress each image. I expect that you'd
charge more to record 1000 frames of JPEG stuff than regular IFF24 stuff?
After all, it takes quite a bit of time to decompress files at times. Time
= money. What do you think?
–jp–seattle–
It sounds like the U-80 is fairly equivalent to the Panasonic AG-19xx
machines. I have an older Mitsubishi VHS that doesn't do that sort of
stuff.
The Videodisk recording does have some good advantages such as
durability and random access. Most of the video disk formats cannot be
played on a regular LD player so unless you have access to a compatible
player you cannot make dupes from the first generation although the service
bureau could. We simply cannot afford one at this point.
JPEG stuff has its advantages and disadvantages. It is easier to
transfer and store the JPEG images because of the smaller size. There is
some loss involved depending on the image and the compression values used
and it does take some time to decompress them. I think we would do quotes
based on the type of files we would be working from. The slowest machine
used for processing will be a 25mHz 3000 so uncompressing will happen at a
reasonable pace. Both ADPro and IMFc seem to uncompress JPEGs ata good
clip.
If tape is used to send files then compression should not be a big
issue. A 250meg tape will hold 500 500k size images. We plan to be rather
inexpensive without giving up final quality. We can arrange transfer to
other media based on cost of rental for short term use of the proper
machine. Just about anything is rentable in our marketplace.
When I think of mastering to laserdisc I'm definitely thinking of those
that will play on comsumer brand LD players. I understand that there are
laserdisc recorders that can make masters that will play on standard LD
players? Maybe I'm mis-remembering some messages to that effect?
Re JPEG storage. I've found common times for a hires-interlace image to
compress/decompress (in ADPro, for example) are in the 3-5 minute range (on
a 28mhz 030, at least). Black Belt's was a tad faster as I recall, but
certainly nothing like just loading/saving a regular IFF24 image. If I'm
going to render 1000+ images I probably don't want to spend another 4
minutes per image compressing them, I think? (4000 minutes @ 3 full days
of computer time, just for the compressing) And then you'd have to
uncompress. It would have to figure into your cost, right? Then again,
given the rendering time to do 1000+ frames, maybe it's not so bad! 🙂
–jp–seattle–
John, My computer, TV, VCR, stereo, etc. are located along the same wall —
how do you overcome the line of sight problem?
-sja
What if your equip is all along one wall… how do you deal with the line
of sight problem?
So far I haven't had to deal with that…. I just put all my stuff in one
corner, relatively close to one another. I can imagine several ways of
dealing with it though…
1. Use the PowerMid X-10 add-on (avail for $50). It is a wireless
transmitter and receiver; you connect the transmitter to the Amiga, and the
receiver (which then emits the IR signals) on the other side of the room.
So long as it is within the readable sight lines of the equip, I'd think
that would work?
2. Use the Parallel connector. (will sell it to you for $50 also). That
has -8- seperate IR emitters, each of which could be placed close to a
particular piece of equip? Wiring problem, it seems to me….
Note: I don't have either of above, but that's how I read their
descriptions, anyway.
–jp–seattle–
John,
Re: single/multi burst. One of them sends the command only once, then a
'do it again' command repeatedly (like volume up/down on the control next
to me). We've used the AirLink software here in the office, and it's
ability to record a remote control saved us about 3 days of research in a
project last year in which we had to control a bunch of CD players and
ONLY had IR control on the embedded machine to talk to them. We figured
out the 'code' in 4 hours using a combination of AirLink, Snap, and Dpaint
(don't ask). In many respects it was easier than reading a manual written
in Japanglish (and certainly a lot more fun).
It sure is a neat little program, no?
I can imagine how it saved you time. In my mind it (and others like it)
may be a suitable way for use consumers to use 'off the shelf' video/audio
equip in an amiga automated way. Anything that you can do with the remote
of a piece of equip you can now do via the Amiga. And controllable via
many progs, since it is ARexx controlled.
For instance, I am the new owner of a Pioneer 3090 Laser disk player. I'm
just starting to work with it, but so far have managed to get it to do
chapter search, frame search, single step, both sides play, freeze frames,
etc…. all controlled via AirLink. The cost of this LD is @ $800-900. As
far as I can tell, it would be in the $2000+ range (ie. the Pioneer 8000
LD) to get similar features that can be controlled directly via the serial
port. So long as the IR control is accurate (and so far it seems so), then
this is much more cost effective. Only real problem is that you cannot get
info back from the LD player, but if the machine is totally under program
control I can deal with that I think).
Same thing is true re video control (ie. control TV's from it), VCR
control, etc. I don't know of much more the PC-VCR does (for example) than
the Mitsubishi U-70/82 for instance? And you can certainly pick those up
for less.
I KNOW that there are other differences between professional gear and
consumer gear, but at least the AirLink allows many more of us 'average'
folk to explore computer controlled audio/video than would be able to
afford to otherwise.
DPaint? 🙂
–jp–seattle–
John,
And now, a 3090?!?
I have come to the conclusion that you have entirely too much money.
Kar
– via Whap!
I wish…. $$$ … no, the 3090 tooks some savings. I'd been collecting
LD's for over a year, with nothing to view them on 🙁 Finally convinced
the wife we should splurge. Price wasn't too bad, actually. 🙂
Hey, it's freeze frame is real nice…. now to hook that baby up via the
AirLink controller, and get an interactive machine!
–jp–seattle–