I'm not getting cover art on my Crestron touch panel.
For the newer touch panels that support dynamic graphics, the Kaleidescape module provide URLs which these panels can use to download and display cover art. The OSD module provides cover art URLs for both the currently selected movie or album (Details_Cover_URL$) and the currently playing album (Now_Playing_Cover_URL$). Now_Playing_Cover_URL$ is not active during movie playback. The SATP module provides a cover art URL for the currently playing album.
Things to check when a Crestron touch panel is not displaying cover art:1. Make sure the touch panel supports it. Crestron TPS- and TPMC- series panels with Ethernet support dynamic graphics.2. Make sure that the correct serial join number in their touch panel template for the dynamic graphic has been specified in the SIMPL Windows program. (Note that the default serial join number is 10 for the signal "Kaleidescape_Details_Cover_URL$" and 4 for "Kaleidescape_Now_Playing_Cover_URL$") The programmer may have assigned this signal to a different serial join number, but as long as it's routed properly and the touch panel template has been changed to match, it should work. See the screen shot below for the properties of a dynamic image in the VTProE template file:
Note that there is an Inactive State and an Active State. A common mistake is to have the correct serial join number for the Active State but not the Inactive State. Make sure that both are set properly.
Sometimes a programmer will define the signal but forget to tie it to anything. In SIMPL Windows, if you select the "Kaleidescape_Details_Cover_URL$" signal and hit F2 on your keyboard, it will show you the signal routing. See example below.
Here the signal is properly tied to the touch panel. If you see that the driving source is defined but no signal routing is listed, that signal is not going anywhere and will not reach the touch panel. The signal doesn't have to be tied directly to the touch panel-- programmers will often run it through an analog or serial buffer or a crosspoint.
When we provide feedback from the player to the module, it is a serial string containing the complete URL to the image. Here's an example: "http://10.250.4.60/panelcoverart/e6e0727e9271bb8d/763394.jpg" (The example contains 60 characters.)
It is important to note that the PermanentStringSize parameter must be large enough to contain the entire string. The PermanentStringSize is configured in SIMPL Windows on the touch panel parameters, see screen shot below. Any Make String Permanent (MSP) symbols must also contain a parameter large enough to contain the entire string.
If this parameter is set too small, for example 50, then the string will be truncated to the first 50 characters (for example http://10.250.4.60/panelcoverart/e6e0727e9271bb8d/). This is URL is not valid and will not retrieve an image. Increasing the StringSize will allow the whole string to be passed: http://10.250.4.60/panelcoverart/e6e0727e9271bb8d/763394.jpg
If you are using a TPS-6X touch panel, the cover art is sent via RF from the CEN-HPRFGW gateway. The CEN-HPRFGW gateway must be connected to the same Ethernet network as the Kaleidescape System, with proper IP settings, in order to display cover art. This touch panel will also take longer to display the image than a WiFi touch panel, because the data rate of the gateway is much lower.
