Kaleidescape Web Tablet Question

[sshearer]

I have just started to experiment with the Kaleidescape Web Tablet which allows you to control the system from your PC. Right now I am just using it to select music albums to play through my whole-house audio system. When I run the program, it works great and allows me to choose the albums I want to play. However after I choose the albums and click the play button, I can't find an easy way to exit from the application (it takes up the entire screen). The only way I can find is to go into the Windows Task Manager and chose end task. The music does keep playing after the program is exited(which is good). I must be missing something easy. Can anyone provide some assistance or direct me to documentation on this application that might assist me?

Thank you.

Scott

 

[josh]

Hi Scott, I assume you mean the web control panel accessible from your main my-Kaleidescape. Are you using the fullsize one or the "Menu for Handheld Devices")?

Maybe you have something different than me since you call it "Web Tablet"...

but on mine, it just opens in a browser window and I'm free to do other things in other windows, open another tab or browser window. I've not seen a problem where I can't get to anything else. It's possible your browser is in full-screen mode. If so, pressing F11 should bring it back down to a normal-sized window.

Or maybe your running something like Windows Media Center Edition and it's taking up your full screen?

Try to be more specific about what you're using on your PC, I'm sure if I can't help, someone here can.

--josh

 

[sshearer]

Josh,

What I am referring to is found on the KScape website under Control Systems - Generic Web Browser Control. From there you download a program called Web-Tablet Setup. This is different than the web control panel you are referring to where you go to my-Kaleidesacape (I do often use that when I am importing movies and music, setting up collections, editing movies and music details, etc.).

The description of what I am using from the Kaleidescape website is:
______________________________________________

Generic Web Browser Control

The Kaleidescape System can be controlled from a Java-enabled web browser, allowing almost any computer to control any Kaleidescape Player. This interface can emulate both the stand-alone touch panel (SATP) and the onscreen display touch panel (OSD-No Video) control experiences.

Web Tablet Interface
Any Windows web tablet can be turned into a dedicated Kaleidescape controller with the WebTablet-Setup program. This program creates the appropriate shortcuts to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer for Windows to access the Java control panels of the Kaleidescape Players.
(Download: WebTablet-Setup.zip)
____________________________________________________

I am running Windows XP.

Hope this helps explain better what I am referring to.

Thanks.

Scott

 

[josh]

ah. Sorry for the confusion - i've never even seen that control, much less tried it. Hopefully someone else here has used it...

But wondering what that tablet panel has that the basic web panel I referred to doesn't have? I can sit on the couch with a laptop, selecting songs, albums, controlling playback, etc. with the basic control panel from my-kaleidescape. But you said you only use that for importing... not playback.

--josh

 

[sshearer]

Josh,

I guess I need to explore the basic web panel you referred to. I never saw the controls for controlling playback. Whenever I watched movies, I simply selected the movie from the TV screen and I have only just added the music to my system.

Thanks for your response. I still have some learning to do.

Scott

 

[rgbyhkr]

I tried out the tablet app, and it simply looks like an executable front-end to be used with a tablet device that an integrator would include as part of a system installation. It seemingly puts the device into a "kiosk-like" mode so that the only items on the display are the controls for playback. Seems like it could be useful in certain installs.

Personally though, and I've made this suggestion directly to K, I think they should overhaul the Web UI. I'd like to see more done for music playback on both the "fullscreen" and handheld Web UI control templates. On the fullscreen version, I'd like to be able to browse cover art. For the handheld version, having java as a requirement just plain sucks. Ever try implementing Java on a PDA? Beyond that, and more importantly, the functionality of the handheld Web UI control is way too limiting. Now, you might ask what you need more than just basic control for when watching movies. Some folks may have more detailed uses, but generally I agree. For music listening however, they could do much more.

Imagine walking around a house with an iPhone or iPod Touch and controlling music from any or all of your players. You'd be able to browse your library, build a now playing list, see cover art of what is currently playing, etc. Sound farfetched? Well, it can already be done for remote control of various music apps. Check out how an application called Remote Buddy lets you use an iPhone or iPod Touch to control iTunes playback on a Mac:

http://www.iospirit.com/index.php?m...de=infogroup-23&o1_infogroup_objcode=html-141

Given the number of these out there, it makes sense to develop.

Jeff

 

[sshearer]

Jeff,

Thanks for trying out the tablet app and your comments. What prompted me to try this out was my desire to come up with the simplest way for my wife to be able to choose the albums/music she wants to listen to. She does not listen every day and is not real technologically gifted. I want to do some more experimenting with the web control features that Josh mentioned. However, if I have to teach her to go into I.E., click the link to the web control application, then click on the home button tab and then choose the correct player, this is not something that she will remember a week or two after I show her and while it may be intuitive to many of us, it will not be to her. That is why I am interested in the tablet function (assuming I can find an easy way to exit out of the application). With that she only has to click on an icon to start it up and she is immediately presented with something allowing her to pick the albums/songs she wants to play and then a play button. I am considering installing touch panels and a Crestron system in the house, but have not made any final decision and that is not an inexpensive proposition.

Again thanks for your comments. I am going to continue exploring the tablet application and the web control application and try to find the easiest way for a casual non-technical user to play music (without the use of touch panels installed throughout the house.

Scott

 

[sshearer]

For anyone interested, I wanted to provide an update. Thanks to Josh's comments, I learned how to control the music using the web panel. However, as my prior comment notes, I can guarantee you that my wife will never remember how to get to the right place to click on the right message when she wants to control the music. She is a real smart person, but does not do real well when it comes to controlling electronics. For that reason, I do still like the idea of the web tablet application since all she will have to do is click on one icon and she is immediately where she needs to be. I did find out a way to exit the application and that is by pressing Alt-F4. This will immediately close the application. However, whether or not she will remember the Alt-F4 key press to close the application is still questionable. I even had to ask our IT guy about how to do this and he told me (and I consider myself somewhat computer proficient).

I really wish that K could redesign this java app to allow it to only take up a portion of the screen and provide a minimize and exit buttons. Since this runs using Internet Explorer, this should be easy to do. While the current way it runs would be excellent for a kiosk type application or an application where that is the only thing being controlled, I can see the benefit of the current design. However, at least for some of us, if they could create a new design that works as described above, I believe it would be of tremendous benefit for many people. I can't imagine that it would take long to do.

Kaleidescape - if you are listening - could you please consider this a formal request. I would even be willing to pay for an hour of some programmers time to do this.

Scott

 

[josh]

I can't promise they'll do it, but I do know for a fact that we have several regular visitors to these forums from Kaleidescape engineers and execs.

I think you're absolutely right now that there are so many PDAs, tablets, wifi web devices out there today.

 

[Croptop]

I realise that this is an incredibly old thread but I thought I'd reply anyway. My apologies if this is old news or isn't helpful in anyway:

The java-based control panels that are available through the User Web UI can be launched directly which would make them behave like stand-alone apps. For example, to launch the Music Zone Control Panel (SATP) you simply point your browser to:

http://ks-00000000xxxx/panel.html?sn=yyyy&size=large&stream_id=zz&browse_only=1

to load the Movie Zone Control Panel (OSD Panel) use:

http://ks-00000000xxxx/panel.html?sn=yyyy&size=large

Where:
xxxx = Serial number of your server
yyyy = Serial number of the player you want to control
zz = The number of the music zone you want to control (01 on a Movie Player; 01-04 on a Music Player)

So on my Mac, I loaded each of the java panels once from the links on the User Web UI and then dragged the URL to my desktop to create URL shortcuts. Now, when I want to control the music zone on my KPlayer, I just double-click the icon for the SATP and my favourite web browser fires up and displays the SATP. When I'm done, I just close the browser.

 

[brodricj]

Again, I know this is a very old thread, but it would have been useful to me had I known this and so I revive this for those who might follow. I found the same issue as Scott, it was very frustrating. The only way I could escape from the web tablet control was to hard shut down the computer, and then open another application prior to the web tablet loading on start up. If you're too slow on start up the web tablet loads and you can't do anything else with the computer. Eventually I found, hold down CONTROL and then F4, and it will quit out of the open window that fills the screen, thus putting you back to the desktop.

 

[Ian Epperson]

As has been stated earlier in the thread, the installer is simply a program that creates a shortcut to Internet Explorer in the computer's start menu. The shortcut starts Internet Explorer in kiosk mode pointing to the Java web controller.

Initially, Kaleidescape had created a long set of instructions on how to turn any PC into a dedicated Kaleidescape controller, and this program (which I put together) simply performs those instructions. However, many people have downloaded it believing it to be a stand-alone program, when they would have been satisfied with a simple browser shortcut. To rectify this, the description on the website was changed to help clear up confusion.

___

Please note that I no longer work for Kaleidescape and this is not an official statement but only my recollections from my tenure there.