Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming New 'Core Control' iPad App Impressions & Comments

Hi all,

So we don't get fragmented can all the Impressions & Comments on the new Sooloos iPad App be put in to this thread.

No speculation please, only post once you have installed and fired up this new app.

Regards,
Carl

From a non Sooloos owners perspective (Sonos on iPhone) and only having had a short play on an iPad 1.

8.5/10 probably more on iPad 2.

Better than my Sonos app on iPhone but that maybe down to iPhone/iPad differences.

Screen could update faster but is apparently better on iPad 2. Screen updates are cached and on iPad 1 with limited RAM only 1 page worth of covers seems to be cached so scrolling to another page means that ther are a couple of seconds to build up the cover art grid of 15 or 16 covers depending on orientation. Populating the grid appears random which actually makes for a not unpleasant refresh. Caching more pages would be better though.

Not all views appear to have a covert art view.

A couple of minor anomalies found. I personally couldn't get unlinking of zones to work. Another HHer found a dialog bug (cancel option out of view) that exists in old app.

Not able to edit metadata but that was a design decision to protect metadata from unintentional updates. As a Sonos owner I don't see it as an issue as if I want to tidy up meta data I would have to use a 3rd party app any way and would prefer a proper keyboard/mouse with cut/paste anyway rather than half arsed system on iOS.

Having had a good look at the new Sooloos app at Bristol on Saturday, the following comments apply

1) It's a Big step forward for Sooloos and utterly transforms the experience from the previous text based app........it's now much more graphical and easier to use IMHO

iPeng and Remote App users will notice many similarities and may miss some aspects of CoverArt caching (as Ian mentions above)

Sooloos using a tiny "icon" on the Cover to indicate that an Album in the Library is actually a Rhapsody one, is a nice little touch.........a similar icon to indicate High Res Albums would also be a handy feature

Overall, the new App is a Big step forward and IMHO replaces any need for a Control 15........with the iPad App covering about 90% of what the Control 15 does........the main difference being Metadata editing and grooming

Just to complete the loop on the CoverResize issues mentioned in previous threads.......

There appear to be 3 Screens in the new App that uses CoverArt......these are

1) The Queue Screen

2) The Album Info screen, which lists the Tracks on the Album......as well as other Album Metadata

3) The much seen "Browse" Library Grid.......which uses a 5 by 3 Album Grid in Landscape and 4 by 4 Grid in Portrait


Screens 1 and 2 above use the "Cover.jpg" images......which is good, as the User has control over those image files

However, as recently suspected, the Album Grid screen is using the CoverResize 170 jpg file.........and as covered recently, this 170 Pixel image is not being changed after the Main Artwork is Updated........so some Users may see some unexpected Album Covers when they begin using the App........especially for Albums where you may have replaced the AMG cover with a "ReIssue" cover (which makes the problem easier to spot)

It's important to remember that this is NOT a "Bug" in the iPad app.......it's Design is correct in that it's requesting a smaller memory footprint image........the problem is that the main Sooloos Core is not automatically changing the ReSize files after the Main Artwork has been edited by the User

Hopefully Meridian will sort out the Resize issue soon enough

Having played with the new app for a few minutes its very impressive. My iPad 1 is a bit slow refreshing the screen when scrolling the covers but still a huge improvement.

Ronnie is correct about the Artwork, in fact some of mine are not appearing at all on coverflow but do appear when on the album page, which is rather odd.

If searching the itunes store search for 'core control' by the way.

Yey it works fine here with, no problem with slow updates. But whre is the focus function?

Norway,

The focus function is at the top left of the 'Browse' screen (next to the magnifying glass search icon).

You can also focus on similar albums from an individual album's page (icon at the top right).

Ian

Assuming that by "Coverflow" you mean the 5 by 4 (or 4 by 4) Album Grid........then remember that this Screen is the only one that uses the Cover ReSize files.

The other Album Info and Play Queue Screens use the "Cover.jpg" file........which is the one that you can change in the Edit Album screen in ControlPC/Mac.

For the ones where the Cover is not appearing in the Grid, go to the Debug screen, and then the Folder for that Album........click on the Cover002Resize170.jpg link........and see what Image comes up.

I can link Zones but not un-link. I have problems selecting slave and master to.

Hi Ronnie,

Thanks for the advice.

I have gone to the relevant debug page and it has the cover jpg, which is correct. However there is no cover002resize170.jpg shown. There is the following though:

cover.img02resize256.dds

Not sure what it means. The album in question is the rolling stones, between the buttons by the way.

I just played arround with the new App and the following things have to be solved by Meridian:

- Wrong cover art because resized cover were not changed. I think this problem is related to the last firmware update, because all older resized cover have been changed successfully. So this is an issue of the Sooloos software and not of the app.

- Pre installed template cover art which is showed when no cover is available is not available in the size which is needed for the album grid. I get a completely grey cover at the grid.

- Focusing on 'Minimum Rating' under the menu 'Album Info' is only working until 1 star, when clicking on 2 or higher.

- I would like to choose 'Track Picks' when searching and clicking on an album on the search result list.

BvH

Hi Norway,

The current version of the new app does not support Zone Linking.

If your Meridian Digital Media System has Zone Linking turned on (even if there is nothing playing on the linked zone) the app becomes very slow and may even fail to respond.

This is not a problem of the app and there is a plan to offer a fully-tested system code update in the coming months.

Best regards,

Richard.