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Author Topic: iPhone CP650 fader James Skinner Film Handler Posts: 22 From: Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada Registered: Dec 2012 posted 03-09-2013 12:27 PM                     We recently started using the Ethernet automation interface on a Dolbly CP650. So far it seems to work well enough. I'm wondering if anyone has an iPhone app that can be used to control the CP650 fader across the network? I'm often in the theatre room and would like to be able to make small adjustment without going back up to the booth. A small iPhone app showing current volume, up and down buttons would be very useful. Does such a thing exist or is there an existing generic iPhone automation app that could be used to accomplish easily this? I am a computer programmer so I guess work case I could build something but I don't want to reinvent the wheel...  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-09-2013 01:03 PM                     If you do have to reinvent the wheel, remember that unless you jailbreak your phone, you won't be able to install the software you wrote (unless you pay the money to be an official, Apple-approved developer).  |  IP: Logged Harold Hallikainen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 906 From: Denver, CO, USA Registered: Aug 2009 posted 03-09-2013 01:21 PM                        To do this, you'd have to have a Wi-Fi wireless access point on the network which MAY raise security concerns. In any case, I've put web user interfaces on all the USL products I've worked on. On processors like the JSD-100 and JSD-60, you get fader control (up/down buttons), mute, and format select. You also get a bargraph display of the audio on all channels (and, if internal crossovers are in use, you see each band of each channel). Though an HTML interface may not be as pretty as a custom application, it is pretty universal and will run on almost any device. But, it's not quite universal! I'm waiting for more browsers to implement the HTML5 range element to simplify definition of slider controls. Harold  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-09-2013 02:31 PM                     Remember, the CP650 may talk to ONE (and only one) device on its Ethernet port at a time. If the Doremi does not close the port, nothing else can talk.  |  IP: Logged Harold Hallikainen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 906 From: Denver, CO, USA Registered: Aug 2009 posted 03-09-2013 02:38 PM                        I believe Doremi sets up the connection, sends the command, then tears down the connection. GDC sets up the connection at boot time and leaves it up. I'm not sure what others do. By the way, the JSD-60 and JSD-100 will accept 5 simultaneous TCP connections. Harold  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-09-2013 02:41 PM                     quote: Chris Slycord ... unless you jailbreak your phone, you won't be able to install the software you wrote (unless you pay the money to be an official, Apple-approved developer). To elaborate: You can download the developer's kit for free if you have a compatible computer and operating system and you can use it to create apps for free. You can run these apps on the included iOS simulator for free. Then, you register with Apple ($99.00/yr. IIRC) which allows you to test your apps on real iOS devices. If you only want to write apps for yourself, you need not go any farther. If you want to distribute apps to other people you need to submit them to Apple. If approved, your apps will be available on the App Store. Bad thing: It costs $$ to do this. Good thing: If the App Store sells your app for money, you get 70% of the proceeds. If you can write an app for the iPhone, get it approved and sell it for $5.00 a copy you will make your money back with 29 sales. Everything over that will be profit. I assume that the process is similar for Android and other mobile platforms. I have been thinking about writing apps for iOS and I have been brainstorming for ideas on apps to write. I actually have been thinking of doing just this, writing an app to control a Dolby processor. Problem is, I need to know the commands to send to the device. Haven't had much time to really dig for that information. Can anybody point me to where to look for the info? I might get motivated to make an app or something else for the booth. Do you think there would be enough people who would want such an app that I could make my money back? I wouldn't be in profit mode just yet. Only to earn enough to cover expenses.  |  IP: Logged Harold Hallikainen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 906 From: Denver, CO, USA Registered: Aug 2009 posted 03-09-2013 03:13 PM                        My CP-650 manual has command strings described in appendix E.1. It only describes these as being for RS232, but they MIGHT be the same as those used over TCP. The CP-750 manual describes the TCP commands to control it. Similarly, the USL JSD-80, JSD-60, and JSD-100 manuals describe the TCP commands to control them. Writing a separate application to control every possible device in a theater gets cumbersome. That, again, is why I like web interfaces. No application needed! But since not everyone agrees with me, there is a need to somehow generate the specific TCP commands for each piece of equipment. The USL RTM acts as an interface between the wired control network and a browser on a Wi-Fi device. It handles all these conversions (and is a pain to keep updated - I have minimal involvement in that product but work on most of the other USL products). So, if you want to do it as a pure application without an interface, it'd be interesting to include a device library in the application that you could keep adding to and updating. Lots of work, though! Good luck! Harold  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-09-2013 04:10 PM                     quote: Harold Hallikainen Writing a separate application to control every possible device in a theater gets cumbersome. Agreed. Problem is that the developer doesn't know which devices the user has in his theater. It could become just as cumbersome to write one app which covers every possible combination. No matter what you do, there will always be somebody writing you and asking for an update so they can control their "Acme-XYZ" processor. One app could be written with tabs or pull-downs such that the user can select which equipment he wants to control but, in the end it would be easier just to write separate apps and let the user switch between. Multi-tasking and app switching can be done on iPad/iPhone or other devices be swiping four fingers, crosswise, over the screen. It would probably be easier just to write a half dozen single purpose apps. That way the user pays only for the functions he will use. He can quickly switch between apps with a swipe across the screen.  |  IP: Logged Harold Hallikainen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 906 From: Denver, CO, USA Registered: Aug 2009 posted 03-09-2013 04:31 PM                        Good point! It would also be nice to have an application that discovers the devices on the network and identifies them. USL has an "Ethernet Discoverer" that does a UDP broadcast to find devices. It then displays what auditorium the device is in and what the device is. Even without that program, you could ping an IP address range to find devices. We use the third least significant octet of the MAC address to identify the product model (allowing up to 65,536 serial numbers for each model). So, this would find devices and tell you what they are, but not where they are. Keying in IP addresses on your mobile device is a pain. It's a lot nicer to just let the application go find the devices. Good luck! Harold  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-09-2013 04:52 PM                     quote: Randy Stankey I assume that the process is similar for Android and other mobile platforms. One distinct difference is that android has a one-time $25 registration fee for devs. There's no yearly fee that I know of, although you have to set up a merchant account that'll be linked to the developer account.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-09-2013 05:15 PM                     Not a retort but an honest question: How much support can the Android developer receive? A paid-up Apple developer in good standing can receive code level support and guidance. Up to two incidents per year, free of charge. Further, there is access to a lot of developer documentation.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-09-2013 05:23 PM                     The CP650 commands work over Ethernet you have to use port 61412. If you want to test your commands...open up a Telnet session to that port and used the commands out of the CP650 installation manual. As to USL...JSD80, like the CP650 only seems to handle one open port at a time. So be wary there too. Another nasty thing about the JSD80 is that it does NOT respond to ping!!!!! It will open up its web interface though. So if you use a pinging device like "AngryIP", the JSD80s will not appear to be there. I'm really surprised that ping has not been implemented in the JSD80 by now. Me personally, I'm not too big on web interfaces...I like good old commands for making automations easier. I prefer dedicated programs for the display in order to make the display a bit more responsive. Dedicated programs also seem to do better when it comes to saving settings or working off line.  |  IP: Logged Harold Hallikainen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 906 From: Denver, CO, USA Registered: Aug 2009 posted 03-09-2013 06:00 PM                        You're right Steve! The JSD-80 does not respond to ping. It's running on a somewhat limited 8 bit processor. If I need to dig into the code again, I'll see if I can add ping. I also agree that a web interface would be a pain for automation. So, we put in both an ASCII command interpreter (current products support 5 simultaneous TCP connections). The web interface is for manual operation, like what originally started this thread. Thanks for the comments! I'm always interested in hearing how the products can be improved. Harold  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-09-2013 07:48 PM                        quote: Another nasty thing about the JSD80 is that it does NOT respond to ping!!!!! Umm...wow. That's an amazingly bad oversight, and completely violates the relevant RFC.  |  IP: Logged Harold Hallikainen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 906 From: Denver, CO, USA Registered: Aug 2009 posted 03-09-2013 08:31 PM                        Thanks for the comment! Space is really tight in that processor. I'll see if I can get ping and any other ICMP functions in with the next code update. All more recent products include that (and are using larger processors). Harold  |  IP: Logged

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