PSP Home Control 1.0

[LiquidIce]

I have not seen anyone else do something like this with the PSP, so I am posting it in hopes to inspire others to do something cool with their PSP. The closest thing I have seen is a controller page for XBMC, but it was just some text links, and did not impress me.
I've taken it a step further. I now have the ability to turn my lights on and off. Have full control (Play, Stop, Pause, Menu) of my DVD player, TIVO, and High Def TV, all wirelessly from my PSP. I did this in a few hours using Photoshop to make some graphics. I put an image map on the graphics and created some HTML pages which are hosted on my WACI NX server. The links are crafted so that when the PSP highlights and clicks on a spot on the image map, it instructs the WACI NX server to send an IR signal to my A/V equipment or triggers it's relays to cut power on the lights.







Apologies for the blurry pictures. The PSP is not very photogenic. I will try to take better ones later.


My next step is to add some temperature monitors, and more integration with my PC and some AV switching equipment to stream video signals around the house. Hopefully there's a way to embed a little video clip or live stream in the new browser.

I hope that Sony realizes the potential the PSP has. If firmware update on May 1st adds a browser that resides in flash that can be called from the 'start' menu, I will be able to quickly surf to my control page and start controlling things throughout my house. Currently, I just leave Wipeout in browser mode and put my PSP to sleep. Wipeout has so many menus and loading screens to get to the web browser.

--
Oh and before everyone goes around screaming that this is another hoax like the AIBO PSP controller. I can assure you this is real and it works, and I use it every day. I snagged the WACI NX web server left over from a home theater install job I did last month. It's great because it has an HTTP and FTP server and uses regular HTML to issue the commands making it the perfect match for my PSP, which does not support any fancy Javascripts or DHTML. For more info on the WACI NX you could check out waciworld.com

I'd like to open up a discussion on how the PSP can be made to be the ultimate home automation controller. What would you control and how would you control it...?

Mods if you feel like this has been posted in the wrong place, please move it. I consider it to be development because I made software that does something that the PSP was not intended to do.

[weak]

why should i want to use my psp for such things?

maybe it's a bit more usefull when we have an actual webbrowser in the firmware and wouldn't have to start wipeout to start a dvd or anything.

but one question still remains: why wouldn't i just use a package like lirc and an ordinary ir remote control?

and btw: you've created a webpage with some links and by no means anything the psp wasn't intended to do. i guess sony had the idea of klicking links when implementing a webbrowser (in wipeout)

[ChaosKnight]

I've done something similar with my media center. Using the PSP as a wireless remote control is cool. Who cares if there's a better way with differant hardware or if it is not what the PS is designed for, the point of computers is to make your life better, and I think LiquidIce has done this. Computers were originally designed to calculate missile trajectories and break enemy communication cyphers... so technically a PSP does things a computer was never intended to do...

Rock on Liquid, keep up the good work.

[LiquidIce]

Thanks Chaos, glad to see others appreciate the innovations

[PspPet]

Good start.

Usability questions:
How fast/easy is the page navigation ?
How fast are the page updates? (how often are pages changed?)
How irritating is scrolling through the webpage ?

Can you post the raw .HTML pages for others to test drive ? [no server scripts needed]

---
I was thinking of something similar for an AIBO controller (yes a real AIBO controller) but the Wipeout browser is very slow in my experience and the lack of a touch sensitive screen makes it questionable IMHO. The cool part about the AIBO is that is can be its own HTTP server and do its own DNS redirection too (no PC required).

[weak]

if you think "it makes your life better" to switch on your psp, start wipeout, surf to your "homecenter" website, navigate to the link and klick it instead of picking up a remote an pressing a button, don't let me hold you back.

The closest thing I have seen is a controller page for XBMC, but it was just some text links, and did not impress me.

sounds like you're doing pretty much the same thing? it just doesn't impress me ;)

[LiquidIce]

weak, why must you come on here and talk trash about what others are doing? What have YOU come up with that's original and that contributes to the development community?

Yes, I know navigating to the wipeout browser sucks, and that's why I am hoping in ~15 days Sony will update and make this a much more usable idea. This is just the beginning... Wait until you see what I have planned next...

Sony, if you read these forums, PLEASE give us a video applet inside the web browser!

[corrected for ooPo]

[ooPo]

...and thus, the call went unanswered as nobody understood the word 'plzzzz'. In hopes of a better future, Sony took it as warning to not create the browser lest we be seiged by polite locusts as prophesized by the ice made liquid.

Amen.

[ChaosKnight]

Nice start, but as far as remote vs. psp I think a lot of it is novelty, which is cool. But why Windows XP instead of QNX or Linux? Why do people advance? A remote uses infrared not WiFi, so if you like this to you X10 or something you can turn on your lights before you walk up to your door, all kinds of things can be done.

Also it's not so much of a hassle because the PSP has a sleep feature, so you can sleep it and wake up to instant web browsing. Not too shabby.

Also I'd use it to control my music in my house no matter what room i'm in. That alone is worth a lot. =)

[LiquidIce]

PspPet,

Page navigation is quick since it's on a local network. Loading the graphics takes about a half a second but seems to get faster once images are cached.

The pages currently do not automatically refresh to show status, however This could be done with a META refresh tag. The WACI NX Web server supports ASP (and soon PHP) so the pages can be dynamically generated to show status (if lights are on or off, if dvd player is on or off, and if dvd is currently playing, etc...)

I want to clean up the pages a bit before i post them here, however they are constructed using layers and Div tags which have images linked to image maps made in Dreamweaver. The actual links are name value pairs going to a script I made on the WACI NX. http://10.10.10.10/psp.asp?method=IRSen ... aram3=Play
That script is written to execute the IR Send then redirect back to the referring page.

Yes it is a little clunky now, I'm waiting for the official Sony browser to see if I can achive the same thing without refreshing the page using IFrames or XMLHTTPRequest functionality.

Using the up/down/left/right/ to select each 'button' on the image map works OK for now. It's not perfect and takes some geetting used to.

I asked around and it doesn't seem like Sony or any third party has any intrest in making a touch screen. It would make this a whole lot easier to navigate.

--

I did not know you could run a web server in your AIBO. THAT is cool. Does the AIBO have an IR emitter in it's head? If you can only get it to point it's head at your TV and send the IR command you can do the same thing! :-p

[doctorparadox]

How does the web server know how to talk to the IR port on the PSP? Is there some open API for IR ports that the WACI NX server talks to? And are there more generic ways to send IR commands via the web - e.g. can you invoke IR scripts via PHP or some standard scripting language?

Any advice appreciated, thanks,
Doc P

[doctorparadox]

ok, closer reading -- it's using the IR from the WACI NX server, not the PSP, yeah? Makes more sense...:) Too bad we can't use that IR port - what the heck is it good for, anyway?

Anywho, you should write this up and enter it in Engadget's contest for PSP hacks:
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000280039074/

cheers,
Doc P

[steddy]

Great job LiquidIce

It may not be the most practical thing done with a PSP but it shows imagination and its not such a pain to take the PSP out of sleep mode to use a function.

Now if only we could get the IR working on the PSP :)

I wonder if Sony have added any web browser namespaces for controlling the device like Microsoft do? For example on a pocket PC browser you can use the tel: protocol to dial a number of a phone device.. e.g. tel:5551234566

I agree you should enter this into the engadget hacks competition. They love stuff like this and I doubt there will be anything better in the time the competition is running.

Steddy

[PspPet]

LiquidIce wrote:
> The pages currently do not automatically refresh to show status...
> That script is written to execute the IR Send then redirect back to the referring page.

That's what I found works quite well (no reloading of page data)
Going to additional pages or updating status was terribly slow (appears to requery DNS too)

Anyway, I agree that the rumored official browser needs some improvements over the Wipeout limited version.

> I did not know you could run a web server in your AIBO. THAT is cool. Does the AIBO have an IR emitter in it's head?
OT: You can write almost anything to run on the AIBO (a relatively complete open API for programming the Sony dog. Documented API, free tools, sample programs, company endorsement)

AIBO only uses IR distance sensors (closed modules). It doesn't have a regular Consumer IR emitter. It can't turn on your TV directly (it can WiFi to a IR dongle attached to your PC, similar to what you have done).
BTW: another reason the Famitsu rumor/hoax didn't make any sense.

---
steddy wrote:
> For example on a pocket PC browser you can ...
The PSP does not come close to what you can do with a PDA -- documented API, free tools, sample programs, company endorsement and years of community experience
(whether PalmOS or PocketPC/WinCE OS the same applies -- video game machines are a different category)

That's not to say that 'hacking the PSP' is not an interesting goal. However if you want to program a PSP-like device, there are plenty of similar devices in the PDA arena that aren't *that* much more expensive, and a heck-of-a-lot-easier to program.

--PspPet (pimping for CliePet)

[alanito]

Kudos to LiquidIce for their steps towards what I have been looking for this past year. Here is the challange I give out.

Currently, all NAS media servers (except SONOS) use a clunkly little remote without any display screen or such a little one that it isn't really any use for browsing playlists. What I would like to see (as would quite many people with large digital music librarys) would be a way to select the music that I have stored on my NAS drive that is hooked up to my stereo using only a PSP, no other computer involved. There is NAS music server freeware that can use/make playlists, and all the hardware that would be required would be a PSP (duh), NAS server, wifi router, and a stereo.

Anyone up for this challange?

[J.F.]

Kudos to LiquidIce for their steps towards what I have been looking for this past year. Here is the challange I give out.

Currently, all NAS media servers (except SONOS) use a clunkly little remote without any display screen or such a little one that it isn't really any use for browsing playlists. What I would like to see (as would quite many people with large digital music librarys) would be a way to select the music that I have stored on my NAS drive that is hooked up to my stereo using only a PSP, no other computer involved. There is NAS music server freeware that can use/make playlists, and all the hardware that would be required would be a PSP (duh), NAS server, wifi router, and a stereo.

Anyone up for this challange?

Damn noobies... either do it yourself or go the h-ll away. This isn't a request or challenge site. If you have a problem with YOUR program, we might help. Otherwise, quit while you still can.

[califrag]

lulz i will joinz teh forum to postz 1 reply to a two and a half year old topic. w00tz i am teh 1337357

hint: use IR shell and rdf files.

[alanito]

Kudos to LiquidIce for their steps towards what I have been looking for this past year. Here is the challange I give out.

Currently, all NAS media servers (except SONOS) use a clunkly little remote without any display screen or such a little one that it isn't really any use for browsing playlists. What I would like to see (as would quite many people with large digital music librarys) would be a way to select the music that I have stored on my NAS drive that is hooked up to my stereo using only a PSP, no other computer involved. There is NAS music server freeware that can use/make playlists, and all the hardware that would be required would be a PSP (duh), NAS server, wifi router, and a stereo.

Anyone up for this challange?

Damn noobies... either do it yourself or go the h-ll away. This isn't a request or challenge site. If you have a problem with YOUR program, we might help. Otherwise, quit while you still can.

My, such a warm welcome. A simple re-direct would have sufficed. Don't really understand the logic of the "quit while you still can" part, but then, I don't really care to. I will post my question elsewhere and quit while I'm still ahead.

P.S. Thanks califrag, but I think I am wanting to go in a different direction.

[J.F.]

My, such a warm welcome. A simple re-direct would have sufficed. Don't really understand the logic of the "quit while you still can" part, but then, I don't really care to. I will post my question elsewhere and quit while I'm still ahead.

P.S. Thanks califrag, but I think I am wanting to go in a different direction.

We give a warm welcome to DEVELOPERS. Damn noobies "challenging" us to write their code for them get scorn and ridicule until they leave. So go already.