Sonos & Idratek

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • tizwaz
    Automated Home Sr Member
    • Aug 2007
    • 59

    Sonos & Idratek

    Karam & Viv if you ever get bored and think "what shall we do now".....

    How about getting Cortex to talk to Sonos? In the same way it does with Squeezebox.

    This would probably make my life complete

    Chris.
  • chris_j_hunter
    Automated Home Legend
    • Dec 2007
    • 1713

    #2
    we don't have Squeezebox or Sonos, so we probably don't understand their capabilities, but were wondering which features would be most useful - co-ordination of music & intercom, use of displays for messages, setting of times for wake-up music, and/or ... ??
    Our self-build - going further with HA...

    Comment

    • tizwaz
      Automated Home Sr Member
      • Aug 2007
      • 59

      #3
      The simple ability of starting something playing based on presence would be fab. So in the morning walking into the bathroom would trigger Sonos to play a playlist or start a radio station etc.

      Then if moving to other room that has a Sonos zone that would then start there too.

      Nothing too radical all probably possible via Sonos's api, if I knew what that meant!

      Comment

      • cliffwright
        Automated Home Guru
        • Mar 2007
        • 117

        #4
        Originally posted by tizwaz View Post
        The simple ability of starting something playing based on presence would be fab. So in the morning walking into the bathroom would trigger Sonos to play a playlist or start a radio station etc.

        Then if moving to other room that has a Sonos zone that would then start there too.

        Nothing too radical all probably possible via Sonos's api, if I knew what that meant!
        This would all already be possible via an IR module if I'm not mistaken . . . I currently have an ITR module in my server room that turns on my amplifier & power to the TV when presence is detected in the room (and off again when presence is removed). Your desire to play a Radio station is the same difference . . .
        www.clifford-wright.co.uk/blog

        Comment

        • Karam
          Automated Home Legend
          • Mar 2005
          • 863

          #5
          Might there be a way via the xAP interface? I.e. someone already written an application to bridge between Sonos and xAP (and there on to Cortex).

          Comment

          • chris_j_hunter
            Automated Home Legend
            • Dec 2007
            • 1713

            #6
            >I currently have an ITR module in my server room that turns on my amplifier & power to the TV when ...

            interesting - how many different devices could one ITR module cope with ...

            does every device use unique codes ...

            is every make or model of TV or DVR or whatever, distinguishable ...

            or ... ????
            Our self-build - going further with HA...

            Comment

            • ludditeal
              Automated Home Sr Member
              • Feb 2004
              • 62

              #7
              Sonos doesn't use IR, it uses Wifi to control the devices, either via an App or dedicated controllers.

              It does have some sort of UPNP exposure I believe but I would have no idea what you do with that.

              Comment

              • Paul_B
                Automated Home Legend
                • Jul 2006
                • 608

                #8
                Does is have an SDK or API guide? The beauty of Squeezebox was that it was open-source and fully documented including API. I think Sonos is likely to more propitiatory making the task a lot harder if they haven't provided an API for integration

                Paul

                Comment

                • chris_j_hunter
                  Automated Home Legend
                  • Dec 2007
                  • 1713

                  #9
                  >Sonos API ... xAP ...

                  had a dig, and found these ...

                  first some older stuff - it seems there is or was a Sonos API using UPnP :



                  but it's not promising :

                  Latest news coverage, email, free stock quotes, live scores and video are just the beginning. Discover more every day at Yahoo!


                  recently, though, there's been this :



                  though need to register etc :



                  ---

                  on the subject of xAP :



                  and, more recently :



                  => Sonos WSC / HouseBot / xAP :



                  ---

                  so ... maybe !

                  Chris
                  Our self-build - going further with HA...

                  Comment

                  • tizwaz
                    Automated Home Sr Member
                    • Aug 2007
                    • 59

                    #10
                    Thanks everyone for the replies. However whilst the odd bit of wiring and Windows drag-and-droppedness I can cope with, the level of programming in these links is completely beyond me. So I guess I'll have to wait until someone else figures it out and then I'll happily join in!

                    Karam & Viv I'd you need a guinea pig with Sonos to try out your programming.... That'll be me!

                    Chris.

                    Comment

                    • achapman
                      Automated Home Jr Member
                      • Jan 2006
                      • 43

                      #11
                      Programming Sonos

                      I've looked at the possibility of linking the two. Sonos uses standard web API's, but to connect the two you would need something to act as an intermediary to translate between the two systems. This is not too difficult to do to link simple actions, e.g to connect an Idratek button to the volume for a specific zone, but if you want to set up programmable connections it rapidly gets complicated. Sonos uses UPNP and SOAP. The SOAP commands can easily be sent programmatically, but to construct them in a robust manner you really need to do UPNP discovery, which is more complicated. The simpler interfaces between Home automation systems and Sonos cheat, by omitting the UPNP element and rely on the fact that Zoneplayer ID's don't change once a system has been setup and is stable. But you still have to determine what the Zoneplayer ID's are and what IP addresses they are using to omit the UPNP element.

                      The Sonos system could be used to send announcements from Cortex, but the complicated bit would be remembering the state of the system before the announcement and then restoring that state and resuming what was being played afterwards. All the functions exist in the Sonos API to do this, but programming it is not a trivial task.

                      Here are some examples of what has been done:

                      Travelmarx is a blog about music, travel, walking and hiking, and life in Italy.



                      Comment

                      • Kevin
                        Moderator
                        • Jan 2004
                        • 558

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Karam View Post
                        Might there be a way via the xAP interface? I.e. someone already written an application to bridge between Sonos and xAP (and there on to Cortex).
                        There isn't a standalone xAP <> Sonos bridge application / device . We can get Sonos onto xAP via a couple of other standalone home automation applications - that have plugins for Sonos which we then expose via xAP but Cortex users aren't likely to want to go that path, which is the the way I do this myself. The Sonos UPnP implementation is very tricky to implement in a useful/complete way as it's non standard too, although basic transport control start/stop/pause and possibly volume is much easier.

                        Comment

                        • cliffwright
                          Automated Home Guru
                          • Mar 2007
                          • 117

                          #13
                          Originally posted by chris_j_hunter View Post
                          >I currently have an ITR module in my server room that turns on my amplifier & power to the TV when ...

                          interesting - how many different devices could one ITR module cope with ...

                          does every device use unique codes ...

                          is every make or model of TV or DVR or whatever, distinguishable ...

                          or ... ????
                          It's down to Cortex rather than the module - but the cortex helpfile states it can hold upto 140 different IR frames.

                          Yes - most devices will use unique codes although obviously if you've got more then 1 of any device, or if you've maybe got some devices of the same brand you may find they share codes so something to watch out for.

                          The ITR just "learns" the IR packets and you assign them to a virtual remote control button in Cortex - which you can you then tinker with logic controls to trigger as you need. I've added buttons for each of the "on", "off" (where this isn't a repeat of the "on" IR packet), "Vol up", "Vol down" and a couple of the "mode" and "Tuner pre-set" options for my amp in case I wanted to set it to auto turn on and tune to my favourite radio station and switch to output to the bathroom / kitchen etc.

                          It works pretty well - the only thing to watch out for is positioning of the ITR module in a clear view of the devices - mine are all rack mounted under the stairs and I've put the ITR on the wall facing them so it works flawlessly unless there happens to be someone in the cupboard reaching for a coat at the exact moment an IR frame is passed (ie never) - but if that's an issue, the ITR module has a connection for an external TX so you could position an IR blaster right in front of the device a bit like the SKy Remote extenders do . . .
                          www.clifford-wright.co.uk/blog

                          Comment

                          • Karam
                            Automated Home Legend
                            • Mar 2005
                            • 863

                            #14
                            Originally posted by cliffwright View Post
                            It's down to Cortex rather than the module - but the cortex helpfile states it can hold upto 140 different IR frames.
                            Just a slight correction - it is actually the module which holds these frames (so for example can be emitted as a result of direct Reflex interaction, also a bit more efficient than Cortex sending the entire frame data each time). And yes it is 140 per module. In principle it would also be possible to send arbitrary frames from a larger store on a PC but this is not implemented.

                            Comment

                            • chris_j_hunter
                              Automated Home Legend
                              • Dec 2007
                              • 1713

                              #15
                              interesting ...

                              we're looking to have a main screen and a couple of smaller ones ...

                              eg: to show what's going-on on other courts, or race position, or to keep an eye on an event that's due to start sometime ...

                              multi-channel is the way things have gone ...

                              plus some recording devices ...

                              but, how to do it - IR blasters working through Cortex, and a home-made remote, with some buttons on a board, or a regular remote with buttons added for selecting device, or ... ???

                              BTW, apologies - we seem to have strayed a fair bit from the original query about Sonos !
                              Last edited by chris_j_hunter; 30 July 2013, 08:37 PM.
                              Our self-build - going further with HA...

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X