Tellstick Pause 2.0 (1 Viewer)

moryoav

Portal Pro
December 2, 2008
236
86
Home Country
Israel Israel
This plugin is an extension of the original plugin developed by MrMad.
A big :D goes to MrMad for his development and assistance (Original plugin can be found here).


The main goal of this plugin is to make MediaPortal the center for controlling appliances and electricity in the house, automatically or manually. This is done using a device called Tellstick by Telldus Technologies. (I'm not affiliated or supported by Telldus Technologies in any way).

Hardware requirements:

Download Links:

History:
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  • Version 2.5 Beta, [Coming Soon]
    1. Major bug fixed which caused problems when adding or removing devices *after* setting them up.
    2. The plugin was made to be somewhat faster. Especially when multiple devices are controlled.
    3. New feature: Groups! You can now define a group and then turn all the devices on or off at once (with a short delay between each device, as usual).
    4. Full support for MediaPortal 1.1 RC3.
    5. Partial support for Tellstick Duo...

  • Version 2.1.6 Beta, 17-4-2010
    1. A few bug fixes for problems related to TV recordings.

  • Version 2.1.25 Beta, 5-4-2010
    1. The Settings screen did not save properly the value of repetitions. Fixed it.

  • Version 2.1.2 Beta, 3-4-2010
    1. The plugin can now repeat the number of signals sent by Tellstick. This is for people who have problems with range or have old receivers, etc., and need the signals sent more than once just to be sure that the receivers get the signal. Notice that since you need to wait about 500ms between events, repeating the signals a few times can take a while...
    2. Fixed a bug where if you pressed pause and then play real quick without waiting for all the lights to turn on/off first, this would mess things up. So this now works. I'll make it more sophisticated in the next version.

  • Version 2.1.1 Beta, 23-3-2010
    1. I reintroduced the old feature where you can decide that events will not be fired for short movies.
    2. Fixed a few minor bugs.

  • Version 2.1 Beta, 13-3-2010
    1. New feature! You can now have different settings for different media types - TV, Music, Movies (&DVD) or Radio. This version required massive changes to the code, it could be buggy... I kept the previous version here as well, just in case, use at your own risk, as always...

  • Version 2.0.95 Beta, 28-2-2010
    1. Fixed a bug where pressing "play" more than once messed things up...

  • Version 2.0.9 Beta, 25-2-2010
    1. Fixed a bug where sometimes you just couldn't turn on or off a receiver.

  • Version 2.0.8 Beta, 7-2-2010
    1. A few bug fixes.
    2. Tried to fix the bug where the GUI is not displayed properly on HD resolutions. I need some feedback here because I don't have an HD TV...

  • Version 2.0.7 Beta, 17-1-2010
    1. Fixed an issue with "return to the same level as before playing" for multiple devices.
    2. Now using the latest Telldus 2.x drivers. This is supposed to increase stability.

  • Version 2.0.6 Beta, 16-1-2010
    1. Forgot to include a dll in the package. Repackaged and updated post. (Thanks vuego!)
    2. Added GUI support for different resolutions. It's difficult for me to check it and see if it actually works, so feedback will be welcome.

  • Version 2.0.5 Beta, 16-1-2010
    1. Fixed a problem related to device delays.

  • Version 2.0.4 Beta, 15-1-2009
    1. When pausing/stopping/playing movies you can now control more than one device...!
    2. You can now change the device's picture through the settings to whatever image you like (all major image formats are acceptable).

  • Version 2.0.3 Alpha, 12-1-2010
    1. A new option in the settings's GUI - you can now change the picture associated with each device. This is just in the settings now, you can play with it but it's not functional yet.

  • Version 2.0.2 Alpha, 11-1-2010
    1. Changing the name for this plugin in MediaPortal's menu now actually works! Change it to whatever you like.
    2. Fixed a few issues with the XML to support more than 3 devices (you can now scroll left and right).
    3. Added a checkbox in the configuration - "Use events for this device". This will lead to allowing more than one device, doesn't do anything right now...

  • Version 2.0.1 Alpha, 10-1-2010
    1. Added an option to change the name of the plugin as it appears in MediaPortal menu. Now this doesn't work very well yet, you have a new option for that in the MediaPortal's plugin configuration menu, and this option is saved and loaded from Mediaportal's settings file, but I don't actually know how to read the settings file from the window plugin. Right now I changed the name to iControl (the reason for this is that Tellstick Pause doesn't fit in the menu of my StreamedMP plugin).
    2. Instead of a list of items in the MediaPortal GUI, now we have images (see included screenshot). You have to put the images in the same folder as your current skin folder, the name of the image has to be identical to the name of your device in Telldus Center (ie. Standing Lamp) and the extension has to be jpg.
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Installations instructions:
  1. Copy TellstickPauseProcess.dll to your "Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\process" folder.
  2. Copy TellstickPauseWindow.dll to your "Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\windows" folder.
  3. Copy TellstickUtilities.dll to your "Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal" folder.
  4. Copy the xml file to your skin folder.
  5. Run MediaPortal Configuration to Setup this plugin (through the plugins section).
  6. Sources are also attached, if someone wants to make corrections or help with this plugins' forked development.

Known issues/bugs:
  1. When selecting more than one device to be automatically controlled, there's a delay of 500ms between devices. The reason for this is explained in depth here [In Swedish] or here [In Google English].
  2. The screen in mediaportal gets distorted on HD screens. This may have been solved, feedback is required.

To-Do list [Sorted in descending order of importance]:
  1. Receive and implement feedback regarding support for different resolutions for Mediaportal's control GUI.
  2. Support multiple GUI options, list, banners, etc.
  3. Add some background image to the GUI.
  4. When a device has dimming capabilities, replace list of % with some nice scroll bar.
  5. I would like to change the plugin's official name from "Tellstick Pause" to something else. It's more than just a pause plugin, this will allow total control, not just when a movie is paused. Suggestions are welcome... How about TControl?
  6. Creating an MPEI for easy installation.
  7. Create an option to change the order of the devices.

Explanation for the source files
  • The C# project can be opened through TellstickSolution.sln
  • TellstickUtilities - The part of the plugin that deals with the configuration screen. Saves and load all settings to MediaPortal.xml
  • TellstickPauseWindow - The part that deals with the GUI in MediaPortal.
  • TellstickPauseProcess - Runs in the background and is called whenever music/video/tv/dvd is played/paused/stopped.

WARNING:
This project is in early beta stages, use at your own risk! (see the section "Known issues/bugs" for a full list of unstable features and known problems).


Remote Control Tip!
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Do you want to program one of your remote control buttons to load the plugin?
This tutorial is for programming the green button in the bottom of the Microsoft MCE remote but will work just fine with any other button or remote. (Use at your own risk and backup the file you're changing...)

Go to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\InputDeviceMappings, and edit "Microsoft MCE.xml" with Notepad. Replace the button name="Green" section with:

<button name="Green" code="92">
<action layer="0" condition="*" conproperty="-1" command="WINDOW" cmdproperty="9133" sound="click.wav" />
</button>
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Attachments

  • screenshot.JPG
    screenshot.JPG
    33.5 KB
  • Screenshot3.JPG
    Screenshot3.JPG
    46.3 KB
  • TellstickPause_2.1.6_Sources.zip
    30.7 KB
  • TellstickPause_2.1.6.zip
    30.7 KB

schleichi

MP Donator
  • Premium Supporter
  • March 31, 2008
    119
    2
    Stuttgart
    Home Country
    Germany Germany
    AW: Tellstick Pause 2.0

    This looks really great!

    Unfortunately I couldn't find a store for Germany, can you help me getting this USB TellStick??

    :D
     

    moryoav

    Portal Pro
    December 2, 2008
    236
    86
    Home Country
    Israel Israel
    Re: AW: Tellstick Pause 2.0

    There are a few online stores that I know of with EU/international shipping - Personally, I bought all my equipment through www.m.nu. Very fast shipping, great service, I was very happy with this online store. I bought the Tellstick there and also a few Nexa receivers.

    See this page for a complete list of compatible receivers.
    See this page for a list of online retailers that sell these products.

    Good luck!

    This looks really great!

    Unfortunately I couldn't find a store for Germany, can you help me getting this USB TellStick??

    :D
     

    schleichi

    MP Donator
  • Premium Supporter
  • March 31, 2008
    119
    2
    Stuttgart
    Home Country
    Germany Germany
    AW: Tellstick Pause 2.0

    Wow, fast answer, awsome :)

    I tried to buy the receiver, but with shipping costs it is about 90€!!!

    The device itself only costs about 50€... That ain't fair :(
     

    moryoav

    Portal Pro
    December 2, 2008
    236
    86
    Home Country
    Israel Israel
    Re: AW: Tellstick Pause 2.0

    That's really strange. I just tried adding it to the cart - I get a shipping fee of 3.14 euros (total 56.68 euros including shipping).
    You should contact the store and inquire, it must be a mistake.
    In addition, the receivers themselves are quite affordable as well, 5-15 euros for each wireless device.
     

    schleichi

    MP Donator
  • Premium Supporter
  • March 31, 2008
    119
    2
    Stuttgart
    Home Country
    Germany Germany
    AW: Tellstick Pause 2.0

    Lazy bastard :p

    Just kidding, of course I will tell you when there are any news.
    I just wrote an email to TellDus, let's see what they'll answer ;)
     

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