Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

[sredmyer]

Spoon,

Would you have an issue if continue down this development path with the idea being that when finished I will provide you with the "driver" to make available to any other user who wanted it.

I ask because I would like to ask other users here what features they would like to see and try to add those features to the driver as well as features I have requested.

If you get something working I am not bothered either way. You might find the code I sent you, just needs the device ID number tweaking.

Ok guys (and gals), for any of you who are using the Batch Ripper with the Powerfile/Sony disc changers, I am planning to write a new "driver" for these units. I found this to be necessary as the driver supplied with the Batch Ripper application is somewhat limited in its management of these devices.

Specifically I am writing this driver to address the following needs/desires of my own.
1) Support for using both drives within the Powerfile simultaneously.
2) Mount discs by their position not simply sequentially. This will minimize load time.
3) Support multiple powerfile/sony devices within the same batch.
4) Allow the user to specify the start and stop discs for the ripping process.
5) Batch report listing rejected discs.

In order to make this new driver as full-featured as possible, I would like to get the input of other users of the Batch Ripper with these devices. What I would like to hear is what features of the device (which are not supported currently) you would like to see handled by the Batch Ripper.

Please keep your thoughts to how we can improve support for these devices not added feature to the Batch Ripper itself.

Thanks,
Steve

[bhoar]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

You might have to cross-post to the AVS forums again...when they are back up, that is...

AVS Forum has suffered a major failure in the database and backup storage. As such, we have no choice but to recover from August 2nd.

This represents tens of thousands of lost posts for the last week. There is nothing we can do about it at this time but move forward. We are sorry about the loss and will work to be sure this does not happen again. We are as upset about this as you may be, more than likely even more.

We will re-open as soon as can.

Oops.

-brendan

[Lifestyle]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

I just downloaded and installed the Batch Ripper software and have a Powerfile 200s. I haven't been able to get the software to start the Powerfile to begin playing discs. I haven't registered it, yet, since I would like to see how well it works. Is that why it isn't working? I don't know if this is the right forum for this question so can someone redirect me?

[LtData]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

No, the trial is fully functional.

[Porcus]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

Is that why it isn't working?

I have been following the threads here and at avsforum.org, and the Sony XL1B* is quite a bit tacky to get to work, and the Powerfiles even more it seems :(

There's an XL1B* resource at http://www.xl1bwiki.com

[Lifestyle]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

Is there any kind of manual that will describe exactly how to use the software?

[sredmyer]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

Is there any kind of manual that will describe exactly how to use the software?

Mostly because I have not had much time but also partly because there has not been much interest, I have not done much toward development of an improved driver for these devices.

I am however using the software with my powerfiles (four total) without difficulty aside from the few software issues mentioned in the begining of this thread. I have found my powerfiles to be completely stable on WinXP Pro (again once I worked through the problems) and they function very well with the batch ripper software. I have also played with all of the other software tools in the Reference package (just because it is there) using these units and they all work fine.

If you have any specific questions, just post them I will do my best to help.

Steve

[Lifestyle]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

Thanks Steve,

Specifically, when I select the RIP button on the batch ripper software, it says "post load waiting for cd" and never loads the disc into the player. I already have the discs loaded into the changer which I did manually using the load button on the Powerfile 200s. I did the configuration and selected first "auto eject - manual load" and then tried "medium changer" and that didn't see the changer at all. Any help you can offer is very much appreciated. I'm using XP Pro by the way.

Ron

[sredmyer]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

Thanks Steve,

Specifically, when I select the RIP button on the batch ripper software, it says "post load waiting for cd" and never loads the disc into the player. I already have the discs loaded into the changer which I did manually using the load button on the Powerfile 200s. I did the configuration and selected first "auto eject - manual load" and then tried "medium changer" and that didn't see the changer at all. Any help you can offer is very much appreciated. I'm using XP Pro by the way.

Ron

Ron,

It sounds like your configuration is not correct. I am not at the shop at this moment so I am going from memory but here is what your configuration should look like.

--changer="0" --driveid="0"

This line should be identical for all four (or is it five) of the enabled tests.

Let me explain a bit about what you are setting on this screen. These editable values (the --changer="0" --driveid="0") represent the command line arguments to the CLI (commnad line interface) application listed (eg. load). What this means is that the Batch ripper will call these CLI applications with the arguments shown at the appropriate times during the rip process.

For example Just before the batch is started the Batch Ripper application will call the PreBatch.exe command line program with the arguments listed. Once the that executable application finishes control is returned to the Batch Ripper. Next the Batch Ripper will call Load.exe with its arguments. This Load.exe application issues low level commands to the Powerfile/Sony unit known to the PC as the changer identified by the --changer="x" command line argument. These low level commands instruct the specified changer to load the disc from the next loaded slot to one of the two drives which are inside the changer (in the Sony devices I believe there is only one drive).

With that breif explanation of the CLI, I will continue to explain how to ensure you have those command lines configured correctly.

Steve

[bhoar]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

Also, if the system service "Removable Storage Service" is running in the services control panel, you may need to Stop it (and change it from Automatic to Manual).

-brendan

[sredmyer]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

To ensure you have these command lines correct Spoon has included a button on the configuration form which allows you "Test" the command line. Performing this test will simply call the specified CLI application with the argument you have shown.

So, make all available lines in the configuration window look like

--changer="0" --driveid="0"

Then physically load a disc into your changer. This disc will load into the first (sequentialy) empty slot. Once you have loaded the disc click the "test" button next to the Load.exe line. You should hear your unit come to life. It should spin the caruosel until slot 0 is positioned such that the disc can be pushed into the waiting drive. Next the mechanisim will push the disc into the drive and the drive will close and spin up. Now the load process is completed and the test results will be displayed on the screen. Had this been part of the Batch Ripping process (and not just a test) process control would now be returned to the Batch Ripper application.

If the disc was correctly loaded you should be able to go to Windows Explorer and find the drive for this unit and see that the disc was in fact loaded. In fact you should be able to play the disc (assuming it was an audio CD) with any CD player you may have (including the ones provided with dbpoweramp). Another way you can verify that the disc was "mounted" in the drive (assuming you only have the one disc loaded into the machine) is to press the "Eject" button on the front of your device. The unit's display should say something about all discs being loaded into drives.

After you have completed this test successfully we will need to do the same thing for the unloade.exe CLI. NOTE: if the test did not succeed or your powerfile is not recognized by Windows we will deal with that later. Obviously the results of performing the unload.exe test should be the disc being "unmounted" from the drive. Again the results of this test will be shown on the screen. If these two work it is a fairly safe bet that the others (reject.exe, etc.) will also.

I am afraid I can not go much further from memory. If this does not help or you have further specific questions go ahead and post them but I will probably not be able to answer them until I get back to the shop (should be around 5 PM est.)

Hope this helped
Steve
Steve

[sredmyer]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

Also, if the system service "Removable Storage Service" is running in the services control panel, you may need to Stop it (and change it from Automatic to Manual).

-brendan

Yep forgot that little tid bit. Thanks Brendan good catch. :smile2:

Steve

[sredmyer]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

One more point...there is probably some terminoligy we should get straight so that you know what I am talking about.

With these devices you will see the terminology following terminology:
1) Load
This means to press the "Load" button on the front of the machine then physically load a disc

2) Mount
This means to take an already loaded disc from a slot and push it into a disc drive and spin it up. This is done completely by the internal mechanisms of the powerfile.

3) Unload
This means to physically remove a disc from the machine.
NOTE: A disc can not be "unloaded" while it is still "mounted" in a drive

4) Unmount
Remove the disc from the disc drive and return it to the slot it came from. Again this is done completely by the internal mechanisms of the powerfile.

You may have already been familliar with these terms but just incase.

Steve

[bhoar]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

Of course, the terminology of the batch ripper configuration screen does not match steve's terminology. So load and unload in the batch ripper correspond to mount and unmount in steve's terminology.

The batch ripper configuration present the point of view of the drive, free of any notion of what devices might be feeding the driver (humans, robots or changers).

-brendan

[Lifestyle]

Re: Improved Powerfile/Sony XL1B support

Thanks for the input guys.
In the configuration for the loader when I set the loading method to medium changer, all of the changer and drive ID's are 0. Yet, when I select TEST, it says NO CHANGERS FOUND in the "errors from testing" window. If I try to rip it anyway using the Batch Ripper, it is unable to locate the medium changer.

If I set the loading method to AUTO EJECT - MANUAL LOAD, the only line that isn't greyed out is Reject CLI. The test seems to be ok when I run it, but if I try to rip it that way, it looks like it's ripping, but nothing is happening with the changer.

Is there a driver update I should do for the changer? I have installed the Batch Convertor, but is there anything else that should be installed that I may have overlooked?

Also, I did not see "Removable Storage Service" in the Services Control Panel.

I do appreciate your input. Thanks.

Ron