Hi:

Quick question for the group.

I would like to remotely mount the display board (the board that has the display, buttons and encoder) in the sunglass cubby of my 98 BMW M3. Since the sunglass holder doesn't have enough depth to mount the complete empeg, I would like to only mount the display board there and mount the rest of the empeg in the glove compartment. So the big question is:

How long can I safely extend the display ribbon connection from the display board to the empeg main board?

Any technically sound advice is appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

Ed

I think that the signal from the cpu would be too degraded by adding a few inches to the cable.

Sean

Empeg 12 gig green 080000078

Not to mention interference(in and out), VERY high voltages, and VFD heater melting the plastic cubby(it's a stretch, I know).


_~= Dearing =~_
"WAY too happy about having #99."

You should be able to extend it a couple of feet at least (it's not *that* marginal!). There are no voltages higher than 12v on the cable, the 60v is generated on the display board itself. Remember this when handing it. Obviously your warranty will be void, etc.

The VFD doesn't get *that* warm! The filaments glow red (just about) but they are inside the glass :)

Hugo

Just extending the cable won't work.

We paid for some engineering to do this very thing. We have had successful tests up to 100 feet. It was not cheap and the wait for parts is long...about 8-12 weeks for the surface mount components used in the buffering circuits.

I guess I'm just throwing this message up to say that anything can be done if you're willing to spend the money. In this case, more than three times the cost of a 40GB player.

Cheers!

We paid for some engineering to do this very thing. We have had successful tests up to 100 feet. (...) In this case, more than three times the cost of a 40GB player.

(And from other posts...)

I have instructions from Hugo for this very thing.

We are using Kenwood head units.


Trying to put two and two together here, and coming up with five, what I want to know is...

Who are you!?

You've obviously got something interesting in the pipeline, let's hear about it!

___________
Tony Fabris

No, you're really reading too much into this. This isn't some secret engineering project with empeg. This is just me finding solutions for various vehicles.

I have been working with some rather unique vehicles. Vehicles that have existing factory stereos that take up all of the space needed for an empeg player.

What I have done is create a housing for the empeg player that exists in the trunk. This is combined with some AMX (Panja) gear for IR translation.

The IR translation allows us to skip back and forth through playlists, select specific playlists, and use a larger, more tactile remote.

Hugo has been kind enough to answer several questions I've had along the way. He has been great!

What I'd love to see is a serial display that I could mount in the healiner that connects to the serial port on the empeg. Hugo says composite video out is nearly impossible, but I'd love to see that as well.

It looks like I will have many more challenges ahead. So instead of just reading posts, I thought that I'd actually share and participate a little. After all, if there's a solution to a problem - it will probably come from an empeg user reading this forum.

BTW - the 100 foot display test - the 100 feet of ribbon cable was still on the spool all coiled up. Now that is worst-case testing at it's finest. :-)

Hugo says composite video out is nearly impossible, but I'd love to see that as well.

After all, if there's a solution to a problem - it will probably come from an empeg user reading this forum.

Just a note to you, I already have a TV output working. Uses standalone hardware with the timecode information. Pretty boring huh?
I had sent a few emails to Mike Crowe at empeg and he had come up with a preliminary protocol for more info out the serial line. I'm not sure if anything ever materialized from it. If anybody knows or you read this Mike, drop me an email! With this info from the serial line you could almost recreate the display minus the visualisations. However, I just built my own DSP hardware to recreate a simple spectrum visualisation.

I've also got my own custom RF remote control (with LCD on it, same timecode info) for multiroom / backseat control.

Alex Lear

Hello.

Any chances of some pictures of your TV out hardware??

I'd love to see it.

TommyE

Very nice Alex, I'm impressed. Are you available for some freelance work?

I too would like to see some pictures.

Amazing photograph!

Okay, I'm updating the FAQ entry on this.

___________
Tony Fabris

Hmm, I'm amazed what you all can do.

TommyE

I only wish I had run into Alex before spending the money on extending the display. Once the display is converted to composite video, then you can do all sorts of things with it.

Hopefully Alex will post some pictures. If I find time, maybe I'll post a pic of the trunk unit too.

Mark

I only wish I had run into Alex before spending the money on extending the display. Once the display is converted to composite video, then you can do all sorts of things with it.

Slow down for a second. I don't think anyone said they could convert the display directly into composite video. IIRC, what is planned is to take the ASCII song title data output from the serial port, feed that into a video title generator circuit, then take the output of the title generator as composite video. Even that isn't fully formed yet since the player software doesn't yet output that kind of detailed information on the serial port.

This is a far cry from being able to see the Empeg's actual display and remotely control it. Looks to me like you have a working solution already finished, so don't kick yourself for having done the work you've done so far.

Finally, note that your problem with the Kenwood remote will be solved when Empeg has their own custom remotes available. These use a command-set that's unique to the Empeg and will coexist peacefully with your Kenwood head unit.

___________
Tony Fabris

Trouble is, my problem with the Kenwood remote needs a fix ASAP.

oops - I guess I thought that Alex's display was a little more elaborate.

The display extension we have will work fine. Would I rather have composite video? Would I like a smaller display? YES and YES! The current controls and visuals are not important since we're using a different remote. Having basic artist, title, playlist information would be just dandy.

(My apologies to the folks that worked so hard to make the beautiful, but distracting, visuals.)

Isn't it funny that no matter how good a product is engineered, there will always be people that want to make it better - or worse by adding their own customized features. I have to wonder if the folks at empeg think that we're all just nuts and have a good laugh at our expense.

The current controls and visuals are not important since we're using a different remote. Having basic artist, title, playlist information would be just dandy.

Yes, but as I understand it, there is no way to see what menus you're navigating unless you can see the display itself. The video-titler hack will only display the current artist and track information, not offer feedback on what's happening with the user interface. This would make controlling the unit difficult.

(Unless I'm misunderstanding the way the video-out thing was going to work?)


___________
Tony Fabris

Well, that's the cool thing about what I've been able to do with the AMX/Panja boxes for the IR conversion.

One touch of the remote can trigger several IR events. Even to skip forward and backward through playlists. The AMX boxes keep track of the last playlist command issued, so it knows which command to execute for the next or previous playlist.

The empeg player always brings up the playlists in alphabetical order at the top of the list. In order to get to a specific playlist, you need to enter the proper commands via the Kenwood remote, which could be something like *, A, Dir. OK, >>|, >>| .

We are keeping track of which playlist we are playing outside the empeg player (since the player doesn't even keep track of this state information). Actually, we're only keeping track of which playlist command was last executed. The only way we would get out of sync is if the user actually uses the controls on the player.

I've gone to great lengths to make navigation without a display quite easy. There is no way to get lost in a weird menu, because we only offer a few basic features. Play/pause, FF/RW, next and previous playlist.

Is this a lot of work? YUP! Am I anxious for the next firmware release so I can dump these weird work-arounds? YES!!!

No pictures of any of my empeg projects right now because I'm away from school for the holidays. I'm always willing to help or participate in any projects anyone else is working on.

Alex Lear

Tony, on that note, have you heard anything about the availability of the new remotes?..............Rob?

Mk2 #105 12g blue
Car install complete...........Boat forthcoming

In reply to:

---

Yes, but as I understand it, there is no way to see what menus you're navigating unless you can see the display itself. The video-titler hack will only display the current artist and track information, not offer feedback on what's happening with the user interface. This would make controlling the unit difficult.

---

From personal experience with my Mark 1 back with pre 1.0 software, the serial line could output the current menu that was selected. So theoriticially the video out that has been created could take the outputted information along with information on all the menus and make a menu interface of it's own for display on the TV. Anything like this would greatly help the empeg turn into a better home unit as well, since seeing a 35inch TV across the room is much easier then seeing the empeg.