Description of the coming Housebot / Essentials plugin?

vmbray · Post by **vmbray** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 10:41 pm

Guys, love essentials. Now I'm chomping at the bit since I can see the ultimate replacement of the pronto I'm using now as well as house-wide media control on the horizon. I'm stuck on the pda function, though.

In evaluating the software available I'm coming to grips with the fact that housebot and essentials are not integrated by nature. That's a little disappointing but I guess it makes since due to the fact that Housebot was aquired. I had assumed that it would be simple and inherent for the pda remote to be able to 'mimic' a local essentials setup, that is if you ran essentials on an htpc, a pda could be setup to control the essentials as if it were one and the same. The way essentials works is great, but I want it in my hand rather than on the screen. In fact I would like it to be basic to hide the essentials on the htpc but control it from the pda as if it was being used local on the htpc. The more I read here I'm not sure the coming plugin will do this.

Some thoughts and hopes...

1. The remote should have the same great capability to surf media that essentials has. It should be as simple to deploy as essentials is in this respect. It should be able to be linked to an essentials instance on the htpc in some fashion so that the commands executed on the media library are inherently tied to the same function on the local essentials without having to manually make these connections. In other words, if a cd is setup on the essentials I should automatically see it on the pda. I assume this is the idea but I can't find it stated.

2. I guess it's not as simple as having a CE version of essentials, since you also need to control girder, etc, but it's fundamental to me to be able to surf media on the remote itself, instead of on the primary display. Steering around the primary display with the remote has got to go. It would be nice to add to the playlist while the primary display is still playing the last video, or whatever. One of the fun things we do with the htpc is to surf our collection of music videos, and it would be very cool for everyone to be comfy picking a video to add to the playlist.

3. I guess we won't be getting away from having girder in the middle for low-level control of apps like zoom player, and the functions will still have to be defined on the pda remote and on girder. Boy, it would be nice to have girder functionality built in so the cross-linking could go away. This is the current state of things with the pronto and girder and it's just wearisome. What would be nice (i think) would be to have girder functionality in housebot, define the commands once for the house, and be able to execute them by assigning a button in the pda remote that function. I guess this one isn't going to happen, or am I wrong?

Would someone comment on the reality as you see it developing? Thanks!

Post by **ScottBot** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 3:38 pm

I think these are all reasonable hopes. :)

NRG · Post by **NRG** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 5:23 pm

How is this coming along?

kbosscawen · Post by **kbosscawen** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 7:23 pm

Let me add my inquiry as to how this is coming along. When Meedio acquired HB, we HBers waited patiently (?) for the Meedio branded version, and perhaps a little less patiently for the HB-Meedio integration. November (one of the forecast release dates), let alone 2004, has come and gone - Can we get an updated on when the integration might be available?

Thanks!

debennett2 · Post by **debennett2** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 7:37 pm

I'm very curious about his as well. There MUST be different developers for this software than just the regular Meedio team, correct?

acheslow · Post by **acheslow** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 10:43 pm

We will be demonstrating at CES this week a couple of plugins that provide native integration between Meedio Essentials/TV and Meedio HouseBot. Meedio HouseBot and its software remotes (Pocket PC, etc) can control Meedio Essentials, Meedio Essentials can control Meedio HouseBot, and Meedio HouseBot device information can be displayed in realtime on Meedio Essentials screens. The Pocket PC interface will be complementary to the on-screen interface and not a replacement for it.

pablo · Post by **pablo** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 11:11 pm

It is really cool.....you can do all kinds of cool stuff with this.

debennett2 · Post by **debennett2** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 11:49 pm

Great! In preparation I have already bought a new Axim x30 jsut for this. I hope it is released soon!

sbass · Post by **sbass** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 1:44 am

pablo wrote:It is really cool.....you can do all kinds of cool stuff with this.

</me prepares my wife control scripts v1.0 beta>

kbosscawen · Post by **kbosscawen** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 7:58 am

The Pocket PC interface will be complementary to the on-screen interface and not a replacement for it.

I guess I'll learn more this week, but this statement concerns me - The reason I rely on HB so much is my ability to use the Pocket PC for everything I need to control. I'm hoping that the absolute necessity of the on-screen interface for operating HB/Meedio isn't implied here.

Looking forward to it....

debennett2 · Post by **debennett2** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 9:28 am

I think what they are saying is that your pocketpc will mimic what is going on on the screen...at least that is what I hope they are really saying....which would mean that it wouldn't matter if you could see the TV or not.

acheslow · Post by **acheslow** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 9:31 am

No, at this point the Pocket PC does not display your media library. It is used to navigate and control the onscreen interface.