Thread: FM/DAB digital radio - THAT WORKS!!

Originally Posted by Wolvers

The slave firmware and software will appear eventually, I'm sure of that.



Well your software still isn't working properly so you probably shouldn't be making claims like that!



Where's the fun in that?

Andy is working on the slave firmware or?

I think craig should have just droped the idea of trying to get the master firmware to behave like a slave. The kitchen radio work well as it is, so why not operate it like how it was intended to work.

Building is fun, after all this site is about building carpc.

Just my 2 cents

Where's the fun in that?

Building is fun, after all this site is about building carpc.

Car PCs are getting to the stage where people with only limited technical knowledge wish to install them. These people want prebuilt units rather than something they hack together themselves. My customer base has proved this time and time again.

The slave firmware and software will appear eventually, I'm sure of that.

Maybe but I'm going to hazard a guess that it will be the middle to end of next year before we get something stable. Take a look at how long the project has been going on on Digital Car. Also remember that the ENTIRE API was rewritten when the Venice 7 came along. It isn't a small change - its an ENTIRE rewrite. Somebody is going to have to reverse engineer it from scratch and then write a standalone app, CF app and RR app.

Well your software still isn't working properly so you probably shouldn't be making claims like that!

I have had several great comments from testers about the latest build. Only a few bugs. Have you yourself tried it?

I think craig should have just droped the idea of trying to get the master firmware to behave like a slave. The kitchen radio work well as it is, so why not operate it like how it was intended to work.

I am not sure what people are not getting here. Frontier Silicon wanted $25k minimum to release slave firmware. If we reverse engineer on a commercial product, they will take legal action. As mentioned before, people WANT a ready to use product. We worked around and have a near perfect application now.

@mzhussein

the volume up/down control for the radio (not main) takes ages to work and causes allot of lag

I'm unable to replicate this. Either way, you should set this to 100% and use the master volume anyway. This is only for use if connecting the unit directly to an amp.

Switching from DAB to FM and visa versa is kinda slow (is this normal?)

It will take 2-3 seconds to get tuned into the DAB station. This is just the nature of the way DAB works. Back over to FM should take 2 seconds max.

When in DAB mode i cant figure out how to switch between stations? is there any way to see a list of available stations?

< and > scrolls through stations and after 2 seconds, it connects to that station. Use the Add button to add that station to your favourites lists and then << and >> on the main bar scrolls through your favourites.

Stand alone program doesn't work on CAR PC but does work on home PC, says something about side-by-side error

Will be resolved in the next release.

the whole feel of the CF plug-in is a bit "lumpy" if that makes sense...

I strongly disagree and so do many people who have this unit. Many people including myself have been using this for months in their cars and the latest build is by far the best one yet.

was driving home form new place of work, changed radio station, then quickly had to switch back to nav to see what turning to take...and as i pressed the button to switch back to nav the screen whites out and i get a loading circle until the station changes....needless to say it cost me a 20 minute detour :/

Added to things to test tomorrow and pass to the developer.

Originally Posted by Kosti

Well I've ordered mine now since the $ is going down and I do hope I get a new version (*hint)(*hint) without to many hiccups and delays (*hint)(*hint)

Feel free to throw in a roof mount antenna, since this thing has cost me an Kidney

REF#Craig Brass Systems: Order #703

Happy to support the mp3car community, so not going to bother with the Silicon Chip path
Cheers
Kosti

Only cause I'm paronoid

Have you got my order, cause I'm looking forward to the new version, do you have the dimensions so I can make the mounts?

Thanks

I am really not quite sure why everyone is hooked on the venice 7. The venice 5.1 presents a better option as its DAB+ compliant and can use the same slave software thats floating around.

The only thing with the Venice 7 is the sensitivity is marginally better on DAB and slightly more than marginal on FM.

And just to clarify one other point. If you get the Venice 7 with generic slave firmware, it will also work with the Venice 5 slave software. It can be found in high end Sony DAB+ radios (like mini systems). Pure radios also use venice 7 but their firmware is not generic and seems to be more like master software - I'd steer clear of this.

The only thing the slave software does is send and receive serial commands.

Originally Posted by nrgizerbunny

I am really not quite sure why everyone is hooked on the venice 7. The venice 5.1 presents a better option as its DAB+ compliant and can use the same slave software thats floating around.

The only thing with the Venice 7 is the sensitivity is marginally better on DAB and slightly more than marginal on FM.

And just to clarify one other point. If you get the Venice 7 with generic slave firmware, it will also work with the Venice 5 slave software. It can be found in high end Sony DAB+ radios (like mini systems). Pure radios also use venice 7 but their firmware is not generic and seems to be more like master software - I'd steer clear of this.

The only thing the slave software does is send and receive serial commands.

What I would think is that for mass market it would not be very good bussines to buy radios to harvest them for Venice5.1 or Venice7 and sell forward.

I think craigbrass would make good bussines in selling the base plate without Venice7 and software support. Then those who would like to use V5.1 or V7 could buy the plate from him and then do whatever they like with V5.1 or V7 that they have got ripped from radios for example flash and so on.

Like I said before and will say again there should be two seperate threads, one for those who want to go deep in hacking Venice and other thread for craigbrass and his support and discussions around the ready made product that he has including software.

This thread should be closed and two seperated threads should be started.

Just my 2cents

Originally Posted by nrgizerbunny

I am really not quite sure why everyone is hooked on the venice 7. The venice 5.1 presents a better option as its DAB+ compliant and can use the same slave software thats floating around.

The only thing with the Venice 7 is the sensitivity is marginally better on DAB and slightly more than marginal on FM.

And just to clarify one other point. If you get the Venice 7 with generic slave firmware, it will also work with the Venice 5 slave software. It can be found in high end Sony DAB+ radios (like mini systems). Pure radios also use venice 7 but their firmware is not generic and seems to be more like master software - I'd steer clear of this.

The only thing the slave software does is send and receive serial commands.

Im interested.

Give us the make and model of the said radio with the venice 5.1 in slave mode and capable of DAB+. Which cheap radio that use the venice 5.1? that is a radio that can be bought for under £20-30 and can be used as a donor.

And of course the exact model of the sony radio which uses the venice 7 in slave mode which is also compatible with the venice 5. Are you trying to say that certain sony radio with venice 7 is compatible with Andy V5 CF plugin? If this is so, why cant we use the venice 7 instead of the 5.1 that you recommend? Surely we are better off using the venice 7 here? latest model, use less power, more sensitive, in production, commonly found on cheap radio, and more importantly it is compatible with the venice 5 software like you put it on your post. Am I missing something here or?

Craig is clearly stating (through his supplier who directly deal with frontier silicon) that the V7 slave firmware has been rewritten by frontier silicon and it is not compatible with the V5. This is my understanding.

Can you please confirm this? Craig chime in please. Im sure alot of us are interested here. Thanks

Originally Posted by Roadwarrior

What I would think is that for mass market it would not be very good bussines to buy radios to harvest them for Venice5.1 or Venice7 and sell forward.

I think craigbrass would make good bussines in selling the base plate without Venice7 and software support. Then those who would like to use V5.1 or V7 could buy the plate from him and then do whatever they like with V5.1 or V7 that they have got ripped from radios for example flash and so on.

Like I said before and will say again there should be two seperate threads, one for those who want to go deep in hacking Venice and other thread for craigbrass and his support and discussions around the ready made product that he has including software.

This thread should be closed and two seperated threads should be started.

Just my 2cents

Craig brass said 5.1 is no longer in production. It is not longer listed on frontier website either. Because of that, venice 7 is the way forward but who is going to hack it and share their work here?

Originally Posted by craigbrass

I am not sure what people are not getting here. Frontier Silicon wanted $25k minimum to release slave firmware. If we reverse engineer on a commercial product, they will take legal action. As mentioned before, people WANT a ready to use product. We worked around and have a near perfect application now.

Im sorry for the misunderstanding. What I meant to say was write the plugin to operate the master module like a basic kitchen or clock radio. Obviously less the alarm function on the menu. Atleast we know this should work pretty solid rather than trying to emulate the slave function. If that make any sense?

Just my 2 cents.