iPhone SDK changes everything  

Curious to hear your comments on AirRemote, IRTrans/iRed, RemoteBuddy, AppleTV, Beo5, Beosound 5, Kaleidescape, ...

What is the perfect media center? And how do you control it?

/M
 

My first reaction, when I first saw the spec's for the iPod Touch and the iPhone, was that these were the finest remotes ever built, where telephony/mp3 playback was actually secondary.

Then I put Remote Buddy on my Mac mini, and began using my Touch to control my media playback throughout the apartment. Put up a thread about that last year. When SDK development was announced for these two units, I got a message from the people behind iRed/irTrans that they would be modifying their offering.

I have only used my Touch once to listen to music through it, but I use it a lot to book movie tickets, control iTunes/DVD-player/DVDpedia, etc. 

I suspect that with SDK you can emulate the B&O frequencies without using add-on hardware ... SDK apps will change the landscape totally when it comes to interacting with hardware!

Hundreds of apps will be available worldwide through the iTunes Store. And a deluge of such remote solutions are in the pipeline.

(I've actually signed up as an SDK-developer when that became possible. If someone else doesn't design a B&O interface, then I will. He-he!)
 

I read your thread Soundproof, the one on Remote Buddy. That thread opened my eyes. I have been struggling trying to control my AppleTV with the Beo4 ... unfortunately with no luck. It simply doesn't work. Quite a few B&O persons have been involved - but that hasn't helped. They simply don't know. It's a sad fact that B&O has failed controlling the Apple TV - a task that should be as simple as controlling any set top box. I know that some of you have been lucky - but I also know others with the same experience as I have. B&O has also confirmed that this is hard - that they have failed trying to control the Apple TV. Weird, sad and strange!

Reading your thread Soundproof convinced me that iPhone is the way to go - not the Beo4 (or 5). One thing was however lacking at that time. Although you descibed in great detail how to control the Mac - i.e. iTunes - there was one missing link - the control of the B&O hardware. I think you referred to iRed/irTrans even back then. But Remote Buddy was just a web2application - not a "real" program. Everything changes now, as you also have noticed, with the indroduction of the Software Development Kit.

In my fantasy the following should be possible shortly.

1) To have all your music, films, photos on the AppleTV ... this fantastic unit will allow you to buy music, films etc ... I guess you must have a MacMini or something to stream from - since the AppleTVs storage capacity is limited. The AppleTV is merely the frontend of your mediaserver - with tight coupling to iTunes Music Store, and most likely the new "MobileMe" service

2) To be able to see, on the iPhone, all coverart (films, CDs etc) that you have stored on your mediaserver (MacMIni)

3) To select what you'd like to listen to and then direct that media to the right output units (= BeoTV and speakers in your preferred room) 

Somehow I think that we are very, very close to this fantastic moment in time - the moment when things finally start to work the way they should. I am sorry to say but I have some difficulties seeing how Beosound 5 can do anything better than this, and although I think the Beo5 is sooo beatiful - such a fantastic design - it is nowhere near when it comes to features. It's just a very beatiful piece of old technology. 

/M 

nlb:

"It's just a very beatiful piece of old technology" this is a perfect statement summing up the Beo5. nlb.

yep!! another museum  item!!!!

mobeyone:

Looks fantastic! is it available to the UK?

Me, too. I want one. 

You can use either an iPhone or an iPod Touch to get this SDK functionality. I would wait for the 3G iPhone coming on the 11th of July in the UK.

The various programs available for them are soon downloadable from the iTunes Store, just as with iPod Touch/iPhone games. You can probably also get the programs from 3rd Party Vendors. I'm waiting for the official release in order to look into the various remote solutions offered before I opt for one.

soundproof:

 I would wait for the 3G iPhone coming on the 11th of July in the UK. 

New iphone looks cheap with the plastic back... might improve its handling and lose the "OMG" I dropped my iphone syndrome... so I will probably by the mk1 again as a cheap upgrade.. according to certain reports, retailers over estimated sales and have an unhealthy amount of units still for sale. 

It's based around an Apple product, therefore I automatically hate it.

Beo 5 all the way!! 

soundproof:

[snip]

I suspect that with SDK you can emulate the B&O frequencies without using add-on hardware ... SDK apps will change the landscape totally when it comes to interacting with hardware!

[snip]

How does a software SDK allow an RF device to emulate IR?

This sounds really cool, but I don't get it.

Stan

I'd have to disagree with Soundproof on this one (a rarity!). The iPhone and iPod Touch don't have IR outputs and therefore cannot reproduce an IR signal.

@Soundproof
So what will be required in order to efficiently control a B&O / Apple system?
Could you elaborate a little ... what pieces are missing, what do we already have?
iPhone-software, MacMini or AppleTV or both?,  iRed / IRtrans??
My dream solution will be one where images, films and music are stored on a large server
but can be viewed and selected (and of course also bought) via the iPhone. Having the
two-way capability of the iPhone-remote maybe an AppleTV (with it's visual interface) will
no longer be necessary? And what about TV? Selecting and recording programs would
be nice. EyeTV? I guess Apple will continue the development of the AppleTV ...
/M
 

Thanks, Britops. Yes, the solution proposed in the first link is one way to go, but I don't want to place something over the IR-eye of a BeoCenter 2 or BeoSound 5 to be able to control them. That's OK with an STB or AppleTV which you can hide away, but not with those.

So another route to go would be to exploit the dock-connector in the iPod Touch, and I know of attempts to create a module that snaps into place there, and which then generates the IR-signals you need, in various frequencies, in order to create a Universal Remote iPhone/Touch. This is similar to the IR-eye enabled dock you got for regular iPods but wouldn't have to be any larger than the snap-on module you buy to distribute an FM-signal to your car from your iPod.

Would be akin to this, but with the proper dock connector, of course.

I'm eagerly awaiting what's coming at the end of June, from the many SDK-developers. The IR-eye would only be to control the units - two way interaction to your music sources, etc., would be via wireless.

 We'd need the IR-modulator to hit the B&O frequency, of course.

This would bypass the traditional iRed/irTrans solution. Their suggestion is also viable, of course. With that you're beaming a remodulated IR-signal into the room, and don't need a cable w/eye to control the hardware.

I definitely do not want anything attached to my iPhone

But with iRed / irTrans that won't be necessary ... or ??

/M