iPhone, iPod Touch iPad app to control WDLXTV

[A Person]

I am currently writing an iphone app that can control the WD. It has the standard remote a new control scheme thing i call the gesture pad and the best part is that it supports a keyboard, but the keyboard is a bit slow for typing and only about 90% accurate. Here is a video demonstration of it


Like to know what you guys think and i would love to hear if you have any feature suggestions or if you have an idea that you would like to see go in to the app. There is currently no planned release date however it will be soon. The app is finished but i'll wait and see if anyone has any idea's to make it better. The app is also going to be 100% free and will remain that way.

What the app cannot do:
The keyboard in the app is not perfect because it sends direction commands to the device to move the cursor this causes it to be slow and sometimes quirky. The speed of the keyboard will be faster if your internet connection is faster and an iPad or iPhone 4.0 will be much faster at sending commands than an iPod Touch. It has to do this due to the fact that you cannot inject IR commands through wifi for the keyboard, hopefully this will be possible later.

What the app can do:
The app can act as a remote to control the WD and the interface is like the one that is in the add ons section of the WD. I found it quite annoying to have to open up safari and click on a bookmark to control the WD. The app can also send commands to the WD based on gestures you perform on the devices touch screen. The app currently responds to 10 gestures.

Tap
Performs enter command

Two Finger Tap
Performs the Pause/Play command

Holding Your Finger on the Screen for About a Second
Opens the option menu

Two Finger Swipe Right
Goes Back

Zoom Out Pinch
Performs Enter

Zoom In Pinch
Goes Back

Swiping (Right, Left, Up, Down)
Pretty self explanatory, you can also Invert the controls if you prefer

[sockthief]

Hej, A Person,

iPhone app looks awesome. How much work has gone into it so far? The gesture pad looks promising as well. Just a few quick questions

1. The single most awesome feature I would like is to be able to control WD-TV without having to turn the TV on, I see little point in having my TV running when I just want to listen to a few songs. So to this end would it be possible to include in the app, being able to see the menu items? I, as yet, don't own a WD-TV (looking at all my options for now but with WDLXTV and this iPhone app it looks to suit all my needs), so I am not sure what options there are
2. Is your app likely to be OpenSource (can i get the source code and modify it if the stock version doesn't suit my needs and an features I want aren't popular enough to warrant the extra effort on your part)? To this end, I might be able to assist in the project if you were looking for help.
3. Will it be in the AppStore or Cydia (and hence require Jailbreak) - is there anything that would prevent Apple from approving?

Once again, looks awesome, and I can't wait to see it in an AppStore.
Cheers!

SockThief

[Scampa]

Great Idea!!!!


Will this work with a WDTV Gen 2?? Lost my remote so would be a BIG help.

[A Person]

Hej, A Person,

iPhone app looks awesome. How much work has gone into it so far? The gesture pad looks promising as well. Just a few quick questions

1. The single most awesome feature I would like is to be able to control WD-TV without having to turn the TV on, I see little point in having my TV running when I just want to listen to a few songs. So to this end would it be possible to include in the app, being able to see the menu items? I, as yet, don't own a WD-TV (looking at all my options for now but with WDLXTV and this iPhone app it looks to suit all my needs), so I am not sure what options there are
2. Is your app likely to be OpenSource (can i get the source code and modify it if the stock version doesn't suit my needs and an features I want aren't popular enough to warrant the extra effort on your part)? To this end, I might be able to assist in the project if you were looking for help.
3. Will it be in the AppStore or Cydia (and hence require Jailbreak) - is there anything that would prevent Apple from approving?

Once again, looks awesome, and I can't wait to see it in an AppStore.
Cheers!

SockThief

Hi SockTheif glad you like the idea, this app is going to be available in the app store as i see no point in putting it in the cydia store unless apple rejects it. The app will most likely be open source however it is not completely decided yet. The source code is objective-c and i am not sure how many WDLXTV users know Objective-C which may defeat the purpose of opening sourcing the project. To answer your first question, the TV does not have to be turned on in order to control the WD however seeing the menu items would be a problem if the TV is off. Showing them on a tiny iphone screen may be problematic due to the fact that it is so small however maybe something just for playing music without turning on your TV maybe included. I will come up with something and get back to you if you have any suggestions for this idea please leave me a reply.

[A Person]

Great Idea!!!!


Will this work with a WDTV Gen 2?? Lost my remote so would be a BIG help.

Hi Scampa,

As far as i know the WDTV Gen 2 cannot be hacked and my app requires the custom firmware to be installed but once the WDTV Gen 2 can be hacked my app will support it.

[b-rad.cc]

if you do decide to open source it, you'd be more than welcome to have the code on the wdlxtv subversion server

there is wdlxtv-g2, and soon wdlxtv-plus

[karas]

Thank you! It's a great app!

The keyboard in the app is not perfect because it sends direction commands to the device to move the cursor

How did you do that? I mean, do you send one command at time? What about a script that allows you to send multiple commands at the same time?
For example a script like this one:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
# usage: remote <listOfCommands>
# for example: remote rrnrrrrrrnrrrrrrnrdn

str=$1
len=${#str}
i=1

while [ $i -le $len ]
do
  echo `expr substr $str $i 1` > /tmp/ir_injection
  sleep 0.3;
  i=$(($i + 1))
done


In this way you can combine several commands in a single network message, increasing speed and accuracy of the keyboard...
I don't know if it really helps you, maybe you've already done this!

[A Person]

Thank you! It's a great app!

The keyboard in the app is not perfect because it sends direction commands to the device to move the cursor

How did you do that? I mean, do you send one command at time? What about a script that allows you to send multiple commands at the same time?
For example a script like this one:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
# usage: remote <listOfCommands>
# for example: remote rrnrrrrrrnrrrrrrnrdn

str=$1
len=${#str}
i=1

while [ $i -le $len ]
do
  echo `expr substr $str $i 1` > /tmp/ir_injection
  sleep 0.3;
  i=$(($i + 1))
done


In this way you can combine several commands in a single network message, increasing speed and accuracy of the keyboard...
I don't know if it really helps you, maybe you've already done this!

It can accept multiple commands but the problem is it doesn't always respond. Sending a bunch of commands at once was my first approach but after it didn't work i had to make my own event queue that only sends commands when the device is ready. The accuracy of the keyboard is pretty decent it's only sometimes if your network lags or something when it starts getting annoying.

[kgian]

Great job! I also would like the oportunity to control the live without having to turn on the tv. For this we need some form of output on the iphone/ipad screen.

I have an ipad and to use this feature I had twonkymedia app for the wdtv and plugplayer on the ipad. But it has many disadvantages.

I just would prefer a remote and a screen output on my ipad.

[A Person]

Ok so i will add a screen output to the app. Would you guys like the screen output to be on both devices or just the iPad?