What's
new in the 3.3.0 release (that is not in the 3.2.2 release)?
Major changes in Software Release (SR) 3.3.
Long delays between
"turning on an AV component" and "selecting the AV input
to that component" used to lock out controlling other AV components.
This was most noticeable when turning on a projector or display when a
long "Post Delay" was needed before the signal to select the
input to the projector or display could be sent. During that time, our
software used to lock out adjusting the volume of the AV surround receiver.
This has been changed. Now, while waiting for the post delay of one AV
component, other AV components can be controlled - improving the user
experience. This more robust user experience is difficult to replicate
with other methods of control. Volume ramping has been
improved. The Domain 3000 and Domain 2000 can now "receive the command
to ramp the volume" and "send the necessary IR commands"
quickly enough that they very closely approximate the original remotes
- enabling non-linear ramping, when possible. "Unmodulated IR"
signals can now be transmitted by the Domain 2000. Most AV components
want to receive the more traditional "Modulated IR". However,
some AV components have a direct IR input plug on the back that only accepts
Unmodulated IR. This type of signal can now be provided by the Domain
2000 (but not the Domain 3000). On the "Info menu" there is
now a checkbox to select the type of IR modulation you want. You get to
the Info menu by clicking on the title bar of an AV component on the Schematic
View. "Triggers"
have been added as a type of Event. By connecting a wire from a sensor
to one of the Digital Inputs on the Domain 3000 or Domain 2000, you can
cause a Group of Actions (a.k.a. macro) to occur. First, create the sensor
on the new "Sensor" layer of the Design Module. Then, open the
events menu and select "Triggers" to add a single Action or
Group of Actions to the trigger. The action can occur when the trigger
goes high, low, or both. The "AV Wizard"
has been added to the Design Module. It provides an easier way to add
an AV Entertainment system to a room, and can also be used to edit existing
systems. Two modes have been
added to the Schematic View (the Schematic View is the window that pops
up when you click in a room on the Entertainment layer of the Design Module).
Those two modes are: the Design Mode and the Installation Mode. The Design
Mode is similar to what you are already familiar with in previous releases.
It allows you to add and delete wires between AV components - creating
the audio and video paths and automatically generating the "macros"
to watch and listen to all of the sources available in the room. Selecting
"Install Mode" on the Schematic View, on the other hand, hides
all of the unused ports and adds more title bar information to each AV
component. In this mode the schematic can be printed and more easily used
for wiring the real system. A run list of the interconnecting
wires of all AV components in a project is now available. This can be
used for installation and/or ordering parts. From the Schematic View,
select "View", "AV Run List" from the dropdown menu
at the top. A window will pop up showing the connection from the output
port of one AV component to the input port of the other AV component and
the type of wire it is. This list can then be printed (select "File",
"Print"). In addition, this information can be exported to a
file and then read by Excel or other programs. In Excel, the data can
be manipulated in many different ways. Three
new lighting systems have been added:
Minor changes in Software Release (SR) 3.3.
A "Launch"
dropdown menu has been added to both Find My Destiny and the Design Module.
From this Launch menu, you can launch the other Destiny application that
you commonly use. The confusion of "Play",
"Pause", and "Stop" associated with Groups of Actions
has been reduced. Now, when a Group of Actions is applied to a remote
control or keypad button, you will just see the name of the Group of Actions
(it will not say "play" after it). You can still "Suspend"
and "Terminate" Groups of Actions - these words will appear
after the name of the Group of Actions. For Entertainment equipment,
it is now obvious when you are working off line in simulation mode vs.
being connected to the Domain 3000. In simulation mode, the background
will be white and the words "Simulation Mode" will appear at
the top of the Schematic View. Changes made to the project in Simulation
Mode will not take effect until saved on the Domain 3000. Domain 3000 and Domain
2000 serial ports that are connected to AV components, lighting systems,
and other systems can now control with those systems and simultaneously
receive UAPI commands. Previously, a serial port could do one or the other,
but not both. This new functionality allows you to program those systems
to make the Domain 3000 or Domain 2000 perform any function that is available
on the Action Tree (you may want to think of this feature as a "Trigger"
initiated over a serial port).
Known Bugs
When using the Browser
GUI and running Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, if clicking an "OK"
button wants to close the window you are using, a pop up menu will appear
asking if you want to close that window. Always
click "OK". Clicking "Cancel" may corrupt some
data in your project.
This release is now the Recommended
release.
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What's
new in the 3.2.2 release (that is not in the 3.2.0 or 3.2.1 release)?
No major changes - this is a bug fix release
only. However, we have now had significant testing of this release in
the field and believe this to be the preferred release.
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What's
new in the 3.2.0 release (that is not in the 3.1.1 release)?
Major change in Software Release (SR) 3.2.
The 3.2 release provides support for the Domain
2000 The
Domain 3000 must be running SR 3.2 to enable the Domain 2000 to function.
This release is no longer available, and it is
recommended that you upgrade to 3.3.0.
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What's
new in the 3.1.1 release (that is not in the 3.1.0 release)?
The 3.1.1 release fixes a small number of
bugs that existed in the 3.1.0 beta release. This release is now no longer
recommended. This release is no longer available,
and it is recommended that you upgrade to 3.3.0.
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What's
new in the 3.1.0 Beta release (that is not in the 3.0.2 release)?
Major change in Software Release (SR) 3.1.
"Auto Wire"
can now be used to automatically add wires to the AV components on the
Schematic view such that you get the highest quality Audio and Video experience
based on the wire types you choose to use. It will also connect IR control
wires from the Domain Controller to each of the AV components to create
a wiring schematic of the entertainment system. Finally, it will automatically
generate the control program for the Domain Controller so that multiple
brands of RF remote controls and multiple types of web tablets can control
your entertainment system. AV AWARE (Always Watching
And Reporting Errors) reports a number of common errors in wiring AV components
and also reports some types of errors for improperly configured buttons
of the remote control. A database of IR commands
has been added to the Device Description Wizard and a new page was added
to easily access those IR commands. The Entertainment Browser
GUI appears inside the frame of the Browser GUI instead of opening up
a new window. This means that the Entertainment GUI will not be blocked
by pop up blockers and that you can now have GUI Buttons appear on the
ViewSonic V210 and other displays at the same time as the Entertainment
GUI. Toggle and scroll groups
can now be created. For example, you can create a GUI Button that toggles
a fan on and off, or create a button on a remote control that scrolls
through all of the aspect ratios of the display. Toggle and scroll groups
are created in the Groups of Actions menu.
Minor changes in SR 3.1 - to make the software
more intuitive to use
- Pressing and holding the volume up and down
buttons on the Entertainment Browser GUI now ramps the volume. Previously,
one had to repeatedly tap the buttons. Now, holding the button down works
as expected.
- Find My Destiny will now open the software
release of the Design Module that matches the software release of the
project. Previously, Find My Destiny would open the software release of
the Design Module that matched the software release of Find My Destiny
- causing projects to either be upgraded to that release or not be compatible.
- Groups of actions can be paused, stopped, and
re-started. Previously, once a group of actions started up, it would play
to completion.
Now, you have additional commands to pause and stop it, as well as, play
it.
- You can change the model number of an AV component
after adding it to the project. If the AV component you are using is not
in our database, this feature allows you to add a similar AV component
to the schematic view, edit that component, and change its model number
to the one you are using (and change its inputs, outputs, and other attributes
as appropriate).
This release is no
longer available, and it is recommended that you upgrade to 3.3.0.
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What's
new in the 3.0.2 release (that is not in the 3.0.1 release)?
There are no new features in this release.
This release fixes a few bugs. The most important bug it fixes is the
possible lock up of the remote control. The lock up is very infrequent,
but can occur with the RC-1 remote and with remotes from other vendors
such as Philips Pronto and Universal Remote. You know the problem has
occurred when the AV components can be controlled by the Entertainment
Browser GUI, but not by the remote control. Rebooting the Domain 3000
fixes the problem temporarily. Upgrading the Domain 3000 to this release
provides a permanent fix to the problem.
Installing the 3.0.2 release will create backup
versions of the 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 releases. If you have stored any Device
Description Files in the Destiny library of these releases, you can recover
them from the backed up version or from the projects that use those Device
Description Files. The User library of Device Description Files will not
be affected, nor will any other files in the Projects folder.
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What's
new in the 3.0.1 release (that is not in the 3.0.0 release)?
There were 2 major features that were not
quite ready for the 3.0.0 release that have now been tested and included
in the 3.0.1 release.
The IR learning page
of the Device Description Wizard (DDW) is much easier to use. Now, the
"Destiny commands" appear in the left hand column. Therefore,
you do not have to use the dropdown box to access them. Also, the Device
Description Wizard is more tightly integrated with the "Global Cache
IRL", an IR learning device. When you want to learn IR commands,
push a button on the remote control and it will automatically be entered
into the Device Description Wizard for that Destiny Command, and the next
Destiny command will be ready to get the next button of the remote control.
Now, you can learn an entire remote control in a minute or two. For more,
please see the IR
Commands section of the Design Module.
The Device Description
Files are now stored in two different places. There is a "Destiny
Library" that contains the latest set of files from Destiny and a
"User Library" that contains the set of Device Description Files
that you have created. Now, when you download the latest set of Destiny
Device Description Files, we will not over write any files you may have
created that have the same names.
In addition to the features above, the 3.0.1
release provides beta-level support for lighting systems based on the
Zensys Z-Wave RF transmission technology.
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What's
new in the 3.0.0 release?
Major change in Software Release (SR) 3.0.0.
A graphical user interface
is now used for wiring up the entertainment equipment. Instead of using
dropdown boxes, you can now look at a schematic of your AV components
and click on their ports to wire them together. For more, please see the
AV
Entertainment section of the Design Module. The RCS, Aprilaire,
and Vantage HVAC systems and the GE Interlogix NX-8E Caddx and Apex Destiny
6100 Security systems are now supported on the Domain 3000. There is an
additional charge of $495 (list price) per Domain 3000 for this functionality. All of AV components
in the path from the source to the display and/or speakers turn on immediately
- providing the user with more confidence that the remote control is working.
Previously, the software turned on the complete audio path first, and
then turned on the video path. This meant that the display could delay
turning on by a couple of seconds. In this release, all AV components
are turned on first. Then the audio and video paths are set up. The Theater Master family
of remote controls is now supported. For more, please see the Universal
MX-800 Remote Control and Universal
MX-3000 Remote Control sections of 3rd Party Applications.
The software now recognizes
the address on the back of the RC-1 remote control. This means that one
Domain 3000 can control 2 rooms of entertainment - provided both remote
controls are near the RF antenna of the Domain 3000. It also means that
multiple Domain 3000's can be put in the same house without concern of
interference between them. We've added a number
of new AV component device types including: PC, Camera (CATV), Cassette
player, Turntable, Media Player, Laser Disc, Karaoke player, Other Devices.
The last category can be used as a temporary way to create a driver for
non-AV devices that use IR and/or serial-based commands to control them.
For example, IR and serial control of the Lutron Grafik Eye and GrafikRA
have been added this way.
Minor changes in SR 3.0.0 - to make the software more intuitive to use
- When you open the Design Module, you will quickly
get a splash screen with the Destiny logo on it - telling you that your
PC is opening the Design Module.
- When you are using the Design Module to make changes
to a Domain Controller, the outside frame of the Design Module will still
be silver. However, if you are working off line, the outside frame of
the Design Module is now red. This change was made to make it more obvious
that changing the project off line will not effect the operation of the
hardware until the project is saved to the Domain Controller.
- When you add new components to the project, the menu
has changed slightly. First, the components in your libraries are read
in much quicker, so there is not as much of a delay the first time you
go to add a component. Second, you can "Add & Continue"
which means you can add the components and keep the menu open to add more
components. This also makes it quicker to add components. Finally, if
the AV component you want is not in your library, you can open up the
Device Description Wizard directly from this menu to create the Device
Description File for your AV component.
- The files containing the Discrete IR commands have
been added to the Destiny Library. Therefore, when you want to import
those commands in to the new AV component you are creating in the Device
Description Wizard, you look in the same location as you would look for
other AV components by the same vendor.
- When you open the Device Description Wizard from
inside the Design Module, the IR port, Power sync port, and/or serial
port that the AV component is connected to will be automatically filled
in for you. This reduces the confusion in getting the testing set up done
properly.
- When you open "Find My Destiny", it will
automatically select the first Domain Controller it finds. You do not
have to click on it, first.
- As done previously, when you are looking at the "Entertainment
Browser GUI" menu, if you click on the "Advanced" button
(under the Channel Down button), the software will launch the "Advanced
Entertainment Browser GUI". Now, the button on the "Advanced
Entertainment Browser GUI" menu are in alphabetical order so you
can find the right buttons more easily.
- The LED on the back of the Domain 3000 now provides
proper status information.
LED off - no power
to the unit (or waiting for a software upgrade to be loaded)
LED blinking - the
controller is booting up
LED solid - the controller is up and running
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