Windows 8 Support

Windows 8 was released by Microsoft in October 2012. Windows Media Center has become an add-on, but is still available for Windows 8.

Unfortunately, the current vmcMote server, version 1.2.8.2, does not work properly with Windows 8. It is not correctly handling the new .NET framework 4.5 in Windows 8.

I finally fixed those issues and created a new server, version 1.2.8.3, that works with Windows 8.
You can download it here: Download vmcMoteServer 1.2.8.3 BETA
It's still labeled as BETA, as I did not found the time so far to test the new server intensively. Any feedback is appreciated.

 Best regards,
Thomas

Version 1.2.8.1 submitted to Apple

I just submitted a new version to Apple.

It provides the following fixes and enhancements:
- Library browsing speedup (especially for users with huge databases). IMPORTANT: Issue a sync for speedup to take effect!
- Device rotation related fixes (No upside down cover wall any more).
- Last item in cover wall might have been invisible in previous versions.

It's in the review process and should appear in the App Store within the next week.

Best regards,
Thomas

Version 1.2.8 available in the App Store - New Server 1.2.8.2

Version 1.2.8 of vmcMote brings several minor improvements:
- Fixes issue of albums being present multiple times in list if several artists per album.
- Year tag is now synced and shown in album info.
- Album classification by length detection made configurable via settings.xml

Nov 27th: Server 1.2.8.2 available. It brings small improvements regarding the sync of huge libraries.
Nov 9th: Server 1.2.8.1 available. It improves the sync speed in sync phase 1 compared to the initial 1.2.8 server. The difference is most notable when music files are located on a network share.

Version 1.2.7 available in the App Store

The new version 1.2.7 of vmcMote, vmcMote HD and the Lite versions is now available in the App Store. New features: - iOS 5 tested - High resolution covers embedded in music files are now used (enabling higher cover quality). - The iPad versions rotates the interface to landscape now (screenshot) if desired (configurable). Cover Wall is opened on button press. - Bug fixes.

vmcMote 1.2.5 available in the App Store

Version 1.2.5 of vmcMote and vmcMote HD are now available in the App Store. This version brings backgrounding (fast app switching) and several bug fixes and improvements. For example, the network handling was improved to resolve sync errors, the volume slider works without delays now, missing/wrong cover problems were resolved, ...

vmcMote HD (for iPad) now available in the App Store.

A special version of vmcMote for the iPad is now available in the App Store: vmcMote HD.

vmcMote HD takes advance of the presentation capabilities of the iPad. Have your current playlist in your field of view while selecting new music or create new playlists. In case of horizontal device orientation, a cover wall with up to 24 Covers will give you a convenient way to find albums by cover art.

Enjoy the new vmcMote HD!

Greetings,
Thomas

New Version 1.2.0 in the App Store

Hey,

version 1.2.0 of vmcMote and vmcMote Lite is now available in the App Store.

There are the following new features:

- "Cover Wall" mode. Is opened by rotating into landscape orientation while in the library view. Has Artist-Album sorting.
- Color Themes. There are 4 different themes. The new default theme is blue.
- New remove view buttons that have a much nicer look.
- Play Random Subset feature for Genre view.

The following things have been fixed:

- ReConnection not working after the device was locked has been fixed. The internal reconnection handling has been completely reworked.
- The Prev/Pause/Next buttons in the Cover View will now work always.
- Remote Tv Button goes to Recorded Tv now instead of Live Tv.

I hope you enjoy the new version.

Greetings, Thomas

New Server Version - Now Playing List Fix

Hey all,

I uploaded a new server version today.

The most important thing: I found a way to repair the "now playing" queue not available problem under windows 7. The solution is pretty simple and I have to apologize that I have not found it before. Even if it was hard to find it. Anyway, a fix is included in the installer. It also works under vista and requires no reboot.

Second, the server is now installed by a full-fledged installer. Installation should therefore be much easier than before.

The server functionality itself was only very slightly modified. Most important, the phase 1 of the synchronization process should be much more robust now. Especially in case of currupt audio files.

A client update is not required as long as you are already running client version 1.1.2!

Greetings, Thomas

vmcMote 1.1.2 in the AppStore

Since about a week, version 1.1.2 of vmcMote and vmcMote Lite is available in the AppStore.

The 1.1.2 update brings a new caching method, that will increase the caching of the Library View after a server connect especially in case of big libraries. The speed increase should be of a factor of 4 to 6.

Version 1.1.1 (released before 1.1.2) brought support for Windows 7 64 Bit on the server side and contained a quite a few server bug fixes.

For the full list of new features and fixes see the version history in the AppStore and the server history here on the server download page.

Greetings, Thomas

vmcMote 1.1.0 in the AppStore

As of today, version 1.1.0 of vmcMote and vmcMote Lite is available in the AppStore. The update contains several bug-fixes and also a few new features. A major focus was the Windows 7 compatibility:

New Features:

- Basic radio stream support. Radio streams can be configured by a Config-File on the server. A radio station config includes the name, stream address and a cover file. The infos are synced to vmcMote on the phone and radio streams can be enqueued from there.

- Adaptive slider control to allow fine grained in track jumping. The slider has three different speeds now. Just like in the iPhone OS 3.0 iPod app.

- Under Windows 7 and Vista without TvPack, the information of a just playing video is sent to vmcMote. Jumping in the video via slider works. The functionality is not available for LiveTV due to missing support by the Media Center SDK. TvPack is not supported due to missing information from Media Center SDK.

- Volume control via slider. The view becomes visible by tab into Cover View.

Bug Fixes:

- No more annoying popup when remoting of the WMP via wmpuice.dll should stop working. Instead the app switches to a "One-Title" mode seamlessly. In this mode, the limited information that are available from the Media Center SDK are used to show the now playing track inclusive runtime and current in-track position. Jumping in the track still works. Due to a bug in the SDK, this fallback mode does not work on Vista with TvPack however.

- The above-described mode ensures almost perfect compatibility with Windows 7. Repairing a broken wmpuice.dll is still not possible however as this is a bug on Microsoft's side (the WMP looses its COM+ remote interface). Therefore, if the remoting brakes, the whole now playing queue is not available any more but the now playing track is still shown.

- Fixed the bug that the Cancel-Button in Library View was not well clickable.

- Fixed the messed up buttons in Settings View.

- Several minor bug fixes and improvements.

vmcMote available on the App Store

vmcMote Lite and vmcMote are now available on the App Store.
Therefore, feel free to test the Lite version before you buy vmcMote.

The direct links to the Apps in the App Store are:

App Store link: vmcMote Lite

App Store link: vmcMote

Greetings, Thomas

vmcMote submitted to Apple

A few minutes ago, I submitted vmcMote to Apple. Therefore, it is in the approval process.

I submitted two versions:

- vmcMote -> the "real" vmcMote, price: 5,99€ or the equivalent of 2 beer ;-)
- vmcMote Lite -> a free demo of vmcMote.

The free version is limited to 100 tracks in the local database. Nevertheless, the sync is performed completely to let you judge the time needed. Furthermore, the set of remote buttons is limited.

Greetings, Thomas

First News

I will provide the latest vmcMote news here in the future.

In the meantime, please visit the discussions here
vmcMote on www.thegreenbutton.com
vmcMote on www.mce-community.de
to get information about the progress of the project. Especially the second link provides a lot of information.