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Posts from the ‘Home Theatre’ Category

29
Aug

HASystem 1.0 – What can it do?

Its been a while since I last wrote about the home automation system I’m working on with Andrew, in fact its been about 3 months. In that time we have both finished University and started jobs but work on HASystem has continued be it a little rocky at times but that has not stopped us from creating version 1.0 of HASystem. Its taken a completely different shape to that of what we spoke about with in the article on automatedhome.co.uk and in 1.0 a lot of things have been redesigned which has resulted in the server now being a GUI application this has changed the working model of the system, previously this was a Server-Client with sub-clients model now the system is more of a Server-Subclients model due to the administration of the system from the client moved to directly on the server, this has allowed Andy to incorporate Plugin functionality which allows us to easily extend the system further.  so here is a quick break down of main changes and additions;

HAServer

  • GUI Application rather than a console / service application
  • Supports plugins
  • Supports JSON-RPC
  • Schedule Tasks
  • Event triggered Tasks
Looking back at my previous posts and its all well and good saying that the server can schedule tasks and now supports plugins etc but what can you do with that? Well this is what I am doing with HASystem…
Sorts TVShows and Updates XBMC Library
With the use of external applications that correctly name and sort TVshows HASystem keeps my TV Show folder up to date, once it has done this it wakes the HTPC and updates the XBMC Library
Emails a list of new TV Shows
After updating XBMC HASystem emails me the latest TVShows that have been added, surprisingly handy
Remove seeded torrents
Every weekend HASystem checks uTorrent and removes torrents that have finished seeding
XBMC Movie Lights
XBMC tells HASystem when it starts playing a movie or TV show, hasystem is set to turn on the LED back lights I have behind the TV and turn off when the movie is stopped.
Security Cameras
A new addition in 1.0 is that I can view my IP Camera from anywhere with the use of the mobile clients.
Shopping List
Although I never seem to use any list applications I’d had in the past but HASystem can keep a shopping list and you can access it from anywhere on a mobile device.
There a still a few bugs  and things to iron out, there is even a couple in these images, can you see one? but we are now on track to release this upon the internet, as it now only supports XBMC Eden we are going to hold off until Eden is in beta this is also going to give Andy chance for his latest “redesign” in which HAClient will also support plugins bringing HAsystem to version 1.1, we are guessing Eden will be in beta in the winter so we’re aiming for that but if your interested and getting a look or even helping out then drop me a message, we’re especially interested in anyone who has iPhone and iPad development experience or anyone we any feature suggestion, we’re currently working towards our needs but I’m sure there are many other uses for this, watering systems etc etc?

Feel free to join our Google Group.

Google Group : https://groups.google.com/group/hasystem?hl=en-GB

13
Jan

How To: Customise Coloured Buttons on MCE remote with XBMC

I’m not sure if this is well known but it took me a while to work it out, so I thought I’d make a post on it. Just in case it may make anyone else’s life a little easier as well as being a future reference to me.

I decided I wanted to change the button functionally on my MCE remote, the remote I have is similar if not the same to the one in the picture. I never really used the coloured buttons but I want to so I thought I’d change their functions. The function being related to x10 devices which I am yet have a mess with as Royal Mail have yet to deliver them, I could rant all day about them I think I’ll move on.

My system is based upon Mythbuntu/Linux so bare that in mind and these are the steps I had to take which may differ but this should give you an idea.

1. Create a file in “~/.xbmc/userdata/keymaps/” called remote.xml
2. Insert the following;

<keymap>
<global>
<remote>
<red>Function_Here</red>
<green>Function_Here</green>
<yellow>Function_Here</yellow>
<blue>Function_Here</blue>>
</remote>
</global>
</keymap>

3. Replace Function_Here with an Action within XBMC, a list can be found here.
4. Save and restart XBMC.

Hope this helps, It worked for me so hopefully it’ll work else where.

XBMC Remote

1
May

MythTV and XBMC

I said a couple of weeks back that I have been playing around with MythTV. At first I installed Mythbuntu, messed around a little then restored the computer back to XP using Windows Home Server but then I decided i wanted to have a play with Mythtv on Gentoo I tried but my CD drive couldn’t burn the Gentoo disc so I got annoyed and reinstalled mythbuntu.

I’ve now been recording various TV shows with easy and no real issues for the last couple of weeks. Although I have to say I have not really hit the limts and don’t really watch that much TV. I got a second TV card so that I could watch and and record a different channel but I have to get the proper cables to split the ariel feed.

It was nice to wake up at a normal time and watch the Chinese Grand Prix before the replay on BBC One in the afternoon. The web interface it pretty simple to use and I’ve set it all up so that if at work I remember I want to watch something I can login and set it to record. Bet Sky+ doesn’t let you do that now does it! I have a suspicion that it doesn’t properly flag up commercials but I’ve only watched recorded shows from the BBC channels so not sure yet.

The whole system though is pretty much complete now I got a MCE remote control off ebay which gives its the proper feeling of a TV rather than controlling it from a keyboard. I’ve had to wait a while though I think it got held up at the airport what with the UK airspace being shutdown, it was a seller in Hong Kong.

I was surprised at how easy the remote was to set-up, I just had to select the MCE remote from the Myth Control panel and reboot. I expected an evening of a mixture of googling and pulling my hair out…

I’ve been pretty much mainly using XBMC as a frontend as XBMC can access Myth’s recorded files which is pretty neat! Next step though is to hook it up to my 5.1 speakers, the Logitech 5500′s and get a HD tuner, oh and a bigger TV and a new laptop!

XBMC on Mythbuntu

6
Apr

MythTV – First Encounter

Over the bank holiday weekend I’ve set myself up with MythTV. A Mythbuntu install to be precise. I’ve been quite impressed with it although its taken a little trial and error effort over the weekend but though no fault of Myth.

Firstly I had it setup on my laptop that is slowly dying. Using the laptop I wasn’t really impressed with the DVB-T adapter. I was using a AVerTV DVB-T Volar. That Wiki link helped a bit by suggesting to upgrade the firmware but I was only getting one channel. I was using the aerial on the roof in which I have a handy socket to connect to in my room (Although that’s what I thought!). I was only getting BBC parliament which was no good at all considering the amount of other channels I should be receiving.

I’ve now set it up on Tucker, a computer I use for random things. Tucker has an AMD AM2 X2 5000+ and 4GB which is a bit OTT for Myth but its what I have. I had popped in to town on Saturday and decided to spend an Argos gift voucher I had. I got an amplified indoor aerial. I hooked it all up and did a channel scan, made a cup of tea and to my surprise Myth had found a whole load of channels, BBC One, BBC Three and even some Radio channels if not all of them.

Maybe a cup of tea does solve everything. I didn’t expect much as every time I set-up the AverTV DVB-T Volar stick with Windows it would fail completely, the software isn’t the best in my opinion.

Anyway it was great I could watch live TV, pause it and rewind it I’ve even integrated XBMC so I can watch other TV Shows and Films.

I only downside so far is that I don’t get any channels on MUX2. That’s ITV, Five, etc. This isn’t surprising as according to ukfree.tv the rating for the local transmitter for MUX2 is quite low. I figure because I am using an indoor aerial and between the two is at least a house the signal must be getting blocked. I thought I’d check out why the roof aerial was performing badly. I have a nose outside and I find this…

The two cables should actually be connected. Not too much of an issue really, I plan to set this up properly when I move back to Stafford but its been a good little exercise so far and I hope to write up some more detail of my experiences with it on here.

Although I say that with a lot of things.