Various pre-build questions

[Triton]

First off, thanks for the great forum.  I've been trolling for some time and have learned alot.  Even though I've searched and studied the posts in here I find that now I am ready to start the project I have several items that I'm not sure about and/or haven't made up my mind about.     

I'd like to ask the forum a few questions before I start my build. 

Software:  wow, definately one of the more strategic choices to make besides cabinet design.  I've researched too many applications and can't remember which ones do what.
Here's a short item list of what I want in software:
multi-monitor
GREAT visualizations (like Winamp or G-Force viz's not WMP)
Touchscreen
Must be able to handle large database  (100Gb music and 80Gb video)  This is a must
skinnable GUI - being able to change button placement would be a great bonus
ability to log into Launchcast and stream music (bonus)
Fun Facts database capability
Scrolling Marquee capability
Ability to play Video files  (VOB and Divx files a bonus)
Ability to handle multiple harddrives


Lighting:  I'm going to use a variety of pc-powered LED glowcubes and tubes.  What other lighting options should I look at.  I like sound activated but don't want it to induce seizures while playing One by Metallica.

External capabilities:  I'm going to incorporate a USB plate and a line in jack.  There will be a wireless card for the pc.   What other type of connections should be considered.

Bondo:  has anyone used this to smooth edges and/or shape portions of their cabinet?

 




I'll be starting here in the next week or so and I'll start a project thread.  I just wanted to get my mind made on a few things before buying the mdf and touchscreen.

Cheers,

Triton

[Space Fractal]

Look for these in the wiki:
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Jukebox_Software

Its are more indepth destription which format and monitor resolutions size they use. Freebox might been a shoot to test.

[Triton]

thnx for the Wiki link.   Good info.


anyone have any feedback on the other items?

[unclet]

My jukebox requires Windows Media Player v9.0 (or higher), must have 1024x768 resolution (or higher) and files must be in a specific directory structure (ex: drive:\XXX\artist\album\songfile).

My jukebox can do the following (among many other things):

1) dual monitor
2) windows media player visualizations (set via WMP application itself)
3) touchscreen support
4) handles my 200Gb+ video collection no problem
5) skinnable GUI (although can not change button placement)
6) Ability to play video/audio files (mpg, mpeg, avi, wmv, asf, mp3).  Isn't VOB files the same thing as MPG (just rename ".vob" file to ".mpg")?
7) Ability to handle multiple hard drives.   Simply add as many locations which contain your music to the library.

Here is what my jukebox can NOT do:

1) Ability to log into Launchcast and stream music <-- not really a "jukebox" function IMO
2) Fun Facts database capability  <--- no idea what this means
3) Scrolling Marquee capability  <--- what would this be used for?

[Space Fractal]

VOB use MPEG 2 technology, and hence is not the same.

MPEG was originally used for the CD video format, hence VOB use much newer technology. Hence renaming might not work.

Fun Fact is maybe same as Song Fact as they named in Freebox Jukebox?

In my own software (MultiJuke) much of these requirement have been down priority and is not supported, hence my software is not a scope here. I have even removed Touchscreen support, until I wipeout a new GUI. It simply not in the market you search for.

You should test these software your self (includning the named Uncle'T Jukebox), and choice your software, that is most close to your need. The wiki tell most of the standard features, what they have, and let you try these software.

[Triton]

7) Ability to handle multiple hard drives.   Simply add as many locations which contain your music to the library.
3) Scrolling Marquee capability  <--- what would this be used for?

the mobo that I'm using has 3 IDE channels.   Basically, I can use up some of my old 20,30,60 Gb drives (up to 5 of them).  Is there a limit to how many drives?  I may want to include a NAS later on and would like to be able to use a network drive.


As to the scrolling marquee, I've been trying to download the album review as I scrub my music and get cover art.  I would like for the app to output the contents of any .txt file to a serial connected or usb connected marquee displays.  Just have it as a default setting to where any txt file in the same directory of the currently playing music file will be displayed on the marquee. 

Given that capability you can expand quite a bit down the road.   Maybe run an RSS reader and have the feeds output to the marquee.  Just something I think would be a cool feature to add to the juke 


I actually am considering your software highly.  I demo'd it over the summer and I was impressed with it.   I wasn't able to get real deep with it at the time, but I was also demoing several other apps.  I would like to see more skins or maybe a link to somewhere that gives instructions on skinning.  I do like the fact that you're a regular and active member of BYOAC.

[unclet]

the mobo that I'm using has 3 IDE channels.   Basically, I can use up some of my old 20,30,60 Gb drives (up to 5 of them).  Is there a limit to how many drives?  I may want to include a NAS later on and would like to be able to use a network drive.

My software should not care how many hard drives you have connected.  You simply inform the software of the different directory paths which contain the required formatted song directory structure and it will load the songs for you from all those places.  I am currently using two hard drives myself.

As to the scrolling marquee, I've been trying to download the album review as I scrub my music and get cover art.  I would like for the app to output the contents of any .txt file to a serial connected or usb connected marquee displays.  Just have it as a default setting to where any txt file in the same directory of the currently playing music file will be displayed on the marquee. 

Given that capability you can expand quite a bit down the road.   Maybe run an RSS reader and have the feeds output to the marquee.  Just something I think would be a cool feature to add to the juke 

Well, each of the song tracks can have an associated lyrics TXT file (sharing the same name as the song file) which is used to display lyrics for the current playing song.  Having another TXT file in the song directory to be used for marquee scrolling is something I am not interested in doing ..... however, I believe you will be able to do whatever type of scrolling you want by developing a plugin for the jukebox application.

I recently integrated the jukebox plugin system (JPS) into my jukebox software.  This allows my software to inform 3rd party plugins of the state of the jukebox (play, pause, fast forward, etc... etc..) as well as informing the 3rd party plugins what song is currently playing, what next song will be playing, etc.. etc..   Anyway, I think if someone wrote a plugin which obtains some of this information for you then you can display this information on a scrolling marquee yourself.   Now, I think Loadman is in the process of designing a plugin which should be able to be used on any jukebox software which supports the JPS standard, although I am not sure exactly what his plugin will be doing at the moment.

I would like to see more skins or maybe a link to somewhere that gives instructions on skinning.

I added a few more skins to my site recently.  I am not an artist and really can not work with PhotoShop but you can go to my site (link below) and click on "Skins" to see what I have added.

http://unclet.arcadecontrols.com/Jukebox/index.html

As for instructions on how to skin .....

- Start the Jukebox application
- Click top-left pullout menu button and click Options button to open options menu
- Click on "Skins"
- Click "NEW" to create a new skin

Everything listed in the "Skinnable Regions" section can be assigned a color and/or image.  When you highlight a selection in the "Skinnable Regions" section then the little "Location Preview" section (upper right) will show you exactly what control you selected so you can understand exactly what you are skinning.  You will understand this once you try it.

Things to know:
1) You can skin a "button" differently whether the button is "UP" or "DOWN". 
2) The term "background" represents the background of the region being skinned
3) The term "foreground" represents the text color which is used. 

So you just make a selection from the "Skinnable Region" section and then apply a color/image to it.  Press PREVIEW button to see what changes you have currently made without saving them and eventually press the SAVE button when you are done and wish to save your progress.

When you go back to the main Options/Skin page you will see all of the skins you have available are listed in this Options/Skin window.  You can select the "New" button to create a new skin, select the "Edit Images/Colors" button to assign images/colors to controls within the skin or you can select the "Edit Font" button to change the text font used for the controls.

I would recommend playing around with to see what it can do.

[Triton]

Thanks for the info UncleT.

FWIW, I ended up going back to your site last night and spent some time on there reading up.

[unclet]

Well not too many people have been asking questions regarding how to create a skin.  Perhaps this is because they understand how to do it or most likley they just do not create one 

Anyway, if you have any questions you know where I am .....

I would recommend trying out the software and make sure it is something which meets you needs, then worry about skinning later perhaps....

[Barry Barcrest]

multi-monitor
GREAT visualizations (like Winamp or G-Force viz's not WMP)
Touchscreen
Must be able to handle large database  (100Gb music and 80Gb video)  This is a must
skinnable GUI - being able to change button placement would be a great bonus
ability to log into Launchcast and stream music (bonus)
Fun Facts database capability
Scrolling Marquee capability
Ability to play Video files  (VOB and Divx files a bonus)
Ability to handle multiple harddrives

multi-monitor - Yes, Videos and VIS On second screen. Still leaving main screen to select tracks etc.

GREAT visualizations - You can use winamp and milkdrop to play when audio is played. Also V4 has support for WMP and the visuals included with that.

Touchscreen - This is what i designed it for.

Must be able to handle large database - 750gb Audio, 500gb Karaoke, 300gb Videos and it runs fine, it will work with more than that.

skinnable GUI - Almost 100% skinable, you can move buttons hide buttons and make them images. Look at the different skins availble and you'll see it's pretty flexible.

Fun Facts database capability - It displays facts under the video based on what is playing. I used some facts from songfacts.com for testing. Works great on second screen or LED Sign.

Scrolling Marquee capability - Supports BETABRITE and Some Chinese variant netcat was selling was selling on my site. You can link 2 of these up to the jukebox and display now playing info and song facts.

Ability to play Video files - Yes it plays these as well as audio and MP3+G for karaoke. These will display on a second screen if you set up dual screens.

Hope that answers your questions, pop over to http://www.freeboxjukebox.com