#247114 - 21/01/2005 17:36
Various questions that have been bugging me...
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journeyman
Registered: 06/01/2002
Posts: 80
Loc: Seattle, WA
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1. Is there any way to remove all the visuals that i don't want?
2. I installed emphatic but have found little use for it. the bright flashing visuals that change every time you change songs are extremely distracting and the way they overlay on top of track info makes it unusable. also, the second or two delay between switch tracks and the display updating is too much. are there any other features I'm forgetting about, besides the lyrics viewer?
3. i have an album of protected wma's that i want to put on the empeg. i think i found a tool to convert them to mp3 (i don't have the license), but wondering if anyone has any suggestions.
4. how do i edit config.ini to remove emphatic? i thought i had used the logo editor, but i dont' see the option there or in emplode.
5. what is the username and password for ftp?
6. does anyone have a working bluetooth implementation that would allow a phone to communicate with the empeg and do anything useful when calls come in while driving?
7. is there any way to have the track lists scroll vertically? seems like there could be a much more efficient use of display real estate if you could see a list of 3 or 4 titles at once instead of the dizzying horizontal scroll.
8. i see something about 'hush' in emplode but don't know how to do that. i often want to turn it way down rather than pausing - is there any way to do that?
9. is there a quicker way to switch between aux in and empeg from the front panel besides the 7 button pushes i do now? i know with emphatic i could just hold in the button on the right, but that's not enough to make it worth using for me.
10. i've always found the volume knob to be hard to use and my finger slip on it. I was wondering if anyone has come up with some kind of slip on button cover that might make it grippier or just stick out further so that my fat fingers can get a good grip on it.
11. is there going to be a version 3 of the player software? i remember hearing about an alpha version awhile back but hadn't seen anything about it in awhile.
thanks in advance for your replies!
Jason
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#247115 - 21/01/2005 17:51
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: Neurot]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Almost all of your questions are answered somewhere in the FAQ, but I'll assume you've tried looking through it already and will just answer your questions here.
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Is there any way to remove all the visuals that i don't want?
That one, you should have been able to find in the FAQ by searching on 'favorite visuals'. Use the Favorite Visuals feature.
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I installed emphatic but have found little use for it. the bright flashing visuals that change every time you change songs are extremely distracting and the way they overlay on top of track info makes it unusable. also, the second or two delay between switch tracks and the display updating is too much. are there any other features I'm forgetting about, besides the lyrics viewer?
Yes. Customizable display modes. You can edit the XML to lay out the text on the display any way you want it. With or without flashing and distracting visuals. Also has song "ranking" feature.
If you're happy with the existing display modes on the player, and you don't need to see lyrics scrolling on the screen, then you probably don't need emphatic. Which is too bad because having lyrics scrolling on your car dashboard is so mind-bendingly cool as to induce spontaneous combustion.
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3. i have an album of protected wma's that i want to put on the empeg. i think i found a tool to convert them to mp3 (i don't have the license), but wondering if anyone has any suggestions.
Buy the CD?  Actually the only things you need to keep in mind are here.
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4. how do i edit config.ini to remove emphatic? i thought i had used the logo editor, but i dont' see the option there or in emplode.
Another one that could have been find-able in the FAQ simply by searching on 'how do I edit config.ini'. The relevant FAQ entry is here.
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what is the username and password for ftp?
By default, the user name can be anything, and the password should be left blank. At least that's how I remember it, I think. If you have changed the user name and password, then it's whatever you changed it to. I believe that those options are controlled in config.ini as well. Check the Hijack section of the FAQ for details on how to set those.
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does anyone have a working bluetooth implementation that would allow a phone to communicate with the empeg and do anything useful when calls come in while driving?
No. The best we've got is a way of having the player switch to its aux-in when the cellphone mute wire goes high (as opposed to just muting).
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7. is there any way to have the track lists scroll vertically? seems like there could be a much more efficient use of display real estate if you could see a list of 3 or 4 titles at once instead of the dizzying horizontal scroll.
Yes, write your own replacement player software. They made a deliberate design choice to do it the way they did it, and they're sticking with it. Otherwise, the only other place it scrolls vertically is on the Search results screens.
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8. i see something about 'hush' in emplode but don't know how to do that. i often want to turn it way down rather than pausing - is there any way to do that?
This should be in the player's owner's manual. The hush feature is activated by one of the buttons on the Rio Remote. Please refer to the button guide for details on all remote and front panel button functions.
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9. is there a quicker way to switch between aux in and empeg from the front panel besides the 7 button pushes i do now? i know with emphatic i could just hold in the button on the right, but that's not enough to make it worth using for me.
Two ways.
1. You can do shortcuts to specific menu items by pressing the corresponding number key on the remote. Similar to the first trick listed here.
2. You can configure hijack so that a short knob-press swtiches sources. I think that even without any configuration, a VERY LONG knob press will switch sources. However, by default, I think it will switch sources between tuner and mp3 only since that's the most common. I don't know if there is a configuration tweak to allow it to switch between tuner/aux/mp3 on a long knob-press.
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10. i've always found the volume knob to be hard to use and my finger slip on it. I was wondering if anyone has come up with some kind of slip on button cover that might make it grippier or just stick out further so that my fat fingers can get a good grip on it.
No. In fact, I don't hear a lot of people complaining about not being able turn the knob, perhaps something is wrong with yours?
It's meant to be a rotary encoder that is turned gently with fingertip control on its top surface. Not grabbed from the sides.
Some people have made replacement fascias and knobs with different styling, but I don't know if they solve that problem for you or not.
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11. is there going to be a version 3 of the player software? i remember hearing about an alpha version awhile back but hadn't seen anything about it in awhile.
Yes, there is a version 3 alpha. However, the general feeling I'm getting from your post is that you're not ready for it. The alpha 3 software is not particularly stable and has some pretty serious bugs that keep it from being useful as a daily driver. At the current time, it's mostly only useful to people who are into tinkering and testing and fiddling with the software. Wait for a more stable release before you try it.
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#247116 - 21/01/2005 18:11
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: Neurot]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Quote:
I installed emphatic but have found little use for it. the bright flashing visuals that change every time you change songs are extremely distracting and the way they overlay on top of track info makes it unusable. also, the second or two delay between switch tracks and the display updating is too much. are there any other features I'm forgetting about, besides the lyrics viewer?
If your visuals are changing on every track change, that's your player configuration, not emphatic's. The *default * custom info modes in emphatic generally have a visual they switch to, but if you have the player set up to switch on track change as you apparently do, that will take precedence, and screw up the look of the info screen.
The lyrics viewer is emphatic's "ooh ahh" feature. It has others that vary in usefulness and "coolness" and they're all listed in the HTML docs. If you don't have use for it that's fine, some people like chocolate ice cream, others like vanila, and others prefer no ice cream at all... But the info modes are perfectly readable with the visuals they're configured with., and you can change those, or not use a visual at all.
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#247117 - 21/01/2005 18:29
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
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Quote:
Quote:
3. i have an album of protected wma's that i want to put on the empeg. i think i found a tool to convert them to mp3 (i don't have the license), but wondering if anyone has any suggestions.
Buy the CD? Actually the only things you need to keep in mind are here.
I bought a CD that came with a bonus DVD that had several remixes in protected wma format. Even though I paid for it, I couldn't play the files on my empeg. So, even though it hurt the sound quality, I burned the wma's to a CD and then ripped that CD to mp3s just so I could listen to them. It's not a great solution, but it works.
_________________________
Brad B.
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#247118 - 21/01/2005 20:58
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: tfabris]
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journeyman
Registered: 06/01/2002
Posts: 80
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Use the Favorite Visuals feature.
Thanks! I have used the empeg for about 4 years and didn’t think it was possible that there were features built in that I hadn’t yet discovered 
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Customizable display modes. You can edit the XML to lay out the text on the display any way you want it. With or without flashing and distracting visuals. Also has song "ranking" feature… having lyrics scrolling on your car dashboard is so mind-bendingly cool as to induce spontaneous combustion.
2 things. Is there a guide to making the changes (or is there going to be)? And this whole lyrics thing DOES sound cool. But I listen to so much punk rock and indie music, I doubt there’s going to be any lyrics out there and I have thousands of sounds. I have thought about picking one album and testing it out, but because of the time delay switching songs and the flashing visuals, I had put it off. But I will turn the visuals off and may feel completely different.
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The relevant FAQ entry to edit config.ini is here.
Right! Thanks, that’s what I had done before but it’s been awhile.
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what is the username and password for ftp?
I was able to log in, but when I tried to rename a file, I got a 553 error. I figured I was in as a user without write access to the file, but apparently that’s not the case. Any idea why I wouldn’t have been able to rename config.ini.pre-emphatic to config.bak? here is what I tried:
ftp> ren config.ini.pre-emphatic config.bak
350 Next command required.
451 Internal error.
ftp> del config.ini.pre-emphatic
550 Failed.
ftp>
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The hush feature is activated by one of the buttons on the Rio Remote
Ok, I never use the remote, I’ll check it out.
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9. is there a quicker way to switch between aux in and empeg from the front panel besides the 7 button pushes i do now? i know with emphatic i could just hold in the button on the right, but that's not enough to make it worth using for me.
Two ways.
1. You can do shortcuts to specific menu items by pressing the corresponding number key on the remote. Similar to the first trick listed here.
2. You can configure hijack so that a short knob-press swtiches sources.
Thanks, that worked for me. since my tuner is on the aux line, this is a good solution.
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It's meant to be a rotary encoder that is turned gently with fingertip control on its top surface.
It just feels ‘slippery’ to me, not that it slips on the shaft. I’ll see if I can come up with something grippy…
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Wait for a more stable release before you try it.
Sorry if my comments came across as not being ready to try out pre-release software. I’ve actually tested software professionally for years, and put many of the beta 2 software on. The information about this product is so scattered, I honestly did not even think to search the FAQ for the answers. Most of the questions had been nagging at me for some time and I have not been on the message boards for months. That being said, I would love to give the alpha 3 a try if that’s possible.
Thanks for such a comprehensive reply!
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#247119 - 21/01/2005 21:14
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: tfabris]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 19/09/2002
Posts: 2494
Loc: East Coast, USA
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some kind of slip on button cover that might make it grippier
The skilled modder Jets transplanted Alpine knobs to the empeg, but all that remains of his description and brilliant photographs is this archive.org cache of the knob mod. And the cache of Jets' home page has links to his other projects.
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It's meant to be a rotary encoder that is turned gently with fingertip control on its top surface. Not grabbed from the sides.
Um.... really? My fine motor skills must be worse than I thought because fingertip knob control never ever crossed my mind. And here I was measuring the MKII/IIa knobs so I could decrease their shaft height in the translucent versions, thus having them stick out form the fascia more, making them easier to grip. Guess it's a good thing I scrapped that idea, relying on my less intrusive "ah, just put a little wad of paper in the shaft to make it shallower" method.
_________________________
- FireFox31 110gig MKIIa (30+80), Eutronix lights, 32 meg stacked RAM, Filener orange gel lens, Greenlights Lit Buttons green set
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#247120 - 21/01/2005 21:42
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: Neurot]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I was able to log in, but when I tried to rename a file, I got a 553 error. I figured I was in as a user without write access to the file, but apparently that’s not the case.
That is, in fact, not the case, as you suggest. It's because the filesystem is mounted read-only. Execute "site rw" from your FTP client. (Actually, execute the remote command "rw" from your FTP client. It's likely that the way to do this is either "site rw" or "quote rw".) Make sure to do a "site ro" when you're done or you'll be in for a big filesystem check when you reboot.
Also, I'm with you on the knob being less than ergonomic.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#247121 - 22/01/2005 05:47
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: FireFox31]
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journeyman
Registered: 06/01/2002
Posts: 80
Loc: Seattle, WA
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that's pretty cool but also complicated. i was thinking something more like the finger tip of a black rubber glove that would be a tight fit and provide more friction than the smooth plastic surface. but that knob would be even cooler...
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#247122 - 23/01/2005 14:39
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: FireFox31]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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Um.... really? My fine motor skills must be worse than I thought because fingertip knob control never ever crossed my mind.
Same here. I've always gripped the stock knob on both sides and turned it that way. Feels odd to do the fingertip turning.
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#247123 - 23/01/2005 14:41
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: tman]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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#247124 - 23/01/2005 16:46
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: tman]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 02/06/2000
Posts: 1996
Loc: Gothenburg, Sweden
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voted "between two fingers", but really should vote for both. I use the twofinger approach on the knob that is currently in use - a NewFace "gatlin" style (with semicircular cutouts along the perimeter between each hole for light...) as it is of lesserdiameter, but bigger "height" (sticks out more), so it's more natural, to me, that way.
But the stock knob is manouvred using a single finger on the dimpled edge.
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/Michael
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#247125 - 25/01/2005 05:04
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 28/12/2001
Posts: 868
Loc: Los Angeles
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The alpha 3 software is not particularly stable and has some pretty serious bugs that keep it from being useful as a daily driver.
Well, I use the Alpha 8 and it works pretty well most of the time, better than previous Alphas, that's for sure. Of course, just 5 days ago it went into a never-ending death roll and I spent an hour or so trying to fix it from the command shell, so there are some caveats.
Actually, that reminds me. Tony, you should put the "player -i" switch somewhere in the FAQ; it's a helpful little command and the only thing that would fix my problem. And any other player command switches too, if there are any more.
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Wait for a more stable release before you try it.
Assuming there is going to be a more stable release...seems to me we are at the end of the line from what I have read recently.
Edited by ninti (25/01/2005 05:08)
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#247126 - 25/01/2005 14:48
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: ninti]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Tony, you should put the "player -i" switch somewhere in the FAQ
Been there for quite some time, now.
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#247127 - 25/01/2005 15:44
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 28/12/2001
Posts: 868
Loc: Los Angeles
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Quote:
Been there for quite some time, now.
Oh, hehe, figures. Sorry, I did do a search for "player -i" before I made that comment but it doesn't come up for some reason.
_________________________
Ninti - MK IIa 60GB Smoke, 30GB, 10GB
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#247128 - 25/01/2005 15:49
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: ninti]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Yeah, that search feature isn't the greatest. I think it was ignoring the -i because it was too few characters or something.
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#247129 - 25/01/2005 15:54
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5916
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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Worse than that, even just searching for "player" doesn't return any results.
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Remind me to change my signature to something more interesting someday
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#247130 - 25/01/2005 15:57
Re: Various questions that have been bugging me...
[Re: andy]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Yeah, I think it's actually too many results, so it can't distinguish which are the most appropriate.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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