ScannerLive Test Available!

[rdale]

ScannerLive

Take an early look at ScannerLive... This particular version only works with 32-bit Windows, final release will have a separate setup for 64-bit.

ScannerLive will allow up to 10 banks of up to 10 channels each. For the early look, the links are hard-coded so you can't change them (you can delete if you right-click over the feed name) and only bank 1 works.

Right-click also allows you to set the priority channel. In the future the "scratch" setting will send it to an always-empty bank so you quickly can monitor just that one channel without having to mute the others.

The volume slider works, and the checkbox allows you to temporarily lock out a channel. You can still see the audio meter move if you want to unlock. If a feed goes offline, it attempts to reconnect and if still unsuccessful will cross out the name so you know it's down.

Under "Scan Setup" you can mute all or clear priority (if set.) Bank setup does nothing in this version (it will allow you to add feeds and save them into a new bank for quick switching.) System setup will allow you to turn on/off tooltips, showing the feedname in the tray, and selecting non-default sound cards if you have more than one (not yet.)

You can manually hold on a channel by pressing the 'hold' button while listening to that channel, or just left-click on the audio bar for that channel. Priority will NOT interrupt you while holding, but again you can see the audio bar moving and change on your own if needed.

Anyways take a look, I expect full release in early February. More info on the final release features are down a few threads in this forum.

- Rob

 

[mrkelso]

Works nice inside of parallels Desktop on my MAC

 

[Utah_Viper]

Could you explain what this even is used for, and maybe some screen shots before I install something,.

 

[mtindor]

Could you explain what this even is used for, and maybe some screen shots before I install something,.

I'd call it a "multi-stream player" Right now the links are hardcoded per Rob's first post. But I believe eventually you'll be able to add/delete streams yourself.

Imagine if you have 5 online scanner feeds that you like to listen to (an RR feed or some other feed). Put them all in this nifty program. fire this program up. You can set a priority on one, you can mute any combination of them. You can have multiple banks of them that you switch between (perhaps an Ohio bank, a West Virginia bank), or perhaps a Fire / EMS bank and a Police Bank. Whatever.

You can also adjust the volume on each individual feed.

All of this is done within this one, easy to install, very compact program.

I think it works great.. then again, I enjoy listening to multiple online feeds at once.

Mike

 

[gator]

This is going to be really cool Rob to bad it isnt donr yet LOL looking forward to the release

 

[mdulrich]

Working fine on my Vista Home Premium machine. It will be nice when the final version is released.

Mike

 

[rdale]

More background info at http://forums.radioreference.com/st...g/169178-testers-needed-scannerlive-beta.html

 

[Tweekerbob]

I echo mtindor. Works well. I especially like when it is minimized, it tells you what feed it's listening to. Any plans to display the metadata?

Also, I understand the priority function, but how specifically does the program handle multiple feeds coming "online" at the same time? Not to get too complicated, but is there a way to specify a priority from 1-10?

 

[rdale]

Metadata might be in the release, if not it's a planned update later on.

It simply checks all the feeds in order every 0.2 seconds. First one in gets active control, so just like a scanner it's luck of the draw. Technically you would put your most important feed into slot 1 and down the line, but that only changes things if two or more feeds came up at the exact same time.

 

[Tweekerbob]

Thanks for the reply. It definetly works well and is useful, if not entertaining as well. Thanks again for your efforts.

 

[ICP963]

VERY interesting concept. I will be watching to see what kind of features that you add. Keep up the good work.

I can see potential for departments even using this concept to feed their traffic to desktop computers throughout a department and to the media.

Alphatags/metadata will be a nice feature as would scaleable priority like pro96comm has.

 

[PeterGV]

VERY nice work, Rob. Bravo. Kudos on the clear layout and the ease of install/use (love that web deploy feature).

Now, I fully realize this is an alpha release, but I figured I'd pass-on a couple of suggestions:

1) On my system, at least, there's a noticeable lag between the VU meters (what ARE you using for the VU Meter bars, by the way... just curious... I've got to add this feature to ScannerCast) and the audio. Also, to me, they don't feel "peaky" enough... does that make sense?

2) It would be very cool if you could hear multiple feeds simultaneously and fade them between left and right channels (in other words, ALWAYS put stream A far left, stream B far right, stream C in the middle).

3) And, of course, I'd love to see meta-data tags supported. I'm a big tag fan. Do you take the stream titles/descriptions from the meta-data sent during connection? That would be a nice option, as well.

Thanks for a very well thought-out and fun application.

Peter
K1PGV

 

[rdale]

Thanks for the good words!

1) Every 0.2 seconds it checks the output level of every feed. It's basically a number from 0 to 32767, and varies dramatically between feeds. I can make that time interval smaller to get more of the peaks and valleys, but then you're taxing the computer pretty hard just to make a pretty picture and unless you have a quad-core chip on the box it's going to slow down the rest of the software.

2) I'll look at that. Might have to wait for the v2 want-list though...

3) For now the description defaults to the RR description, allowing you to change it as well. You set the non-RR feed names on your own. I'll look more at what metadata is available before release, but I don't want to hold up the whole project if that aspect proves too much.

 

[johnmac]

What's the latest status on this?

Tried to download and install the software and it says it is expired.

Looks like it could be a very useful program for thos of us that listen to multiple feeds.

 

[rdale]

Coming along well, I expect v1.0 release in the next week (maybe this weekend if I really push.) The trial version will allow you to listen to up to four feeds for up to an hour at a time, then you can register for full access (up to 100 feeds and unlimited runtime) for $19.99.

Active RadioReference feed providers will be able to purchase for a discounted $11.99

- Rob

 

[jpryor]

Very neat Rob, I'm having fun, have not had a chance to test until now, this application will indeed be useful for multiple feeds. Right now I monitor multiple feeds via the web at the same time, so I would enjoy having the ability to hear the audio from all feeds with ScannerLive at the same time. I would propose a solution like a dispatch console, where you can set each feed with a 'selected' audio level and an 'un-selected' audio level. That way folks can custom mix audio levels for every feed based on their needs and whether it is active or not. The scanned or held feed could be louder, and then the remaining un-selected feeds could be lower audio, or almost muted, or even at the same level as the selected feed if the user wanted. Also the multiple priority levels, or at least a secondary priority would be nice.

The list of banks and radio buttons for selecting seems somewhat unnecessary and takes up space on the main screen. Based on how that functions, seems like that could just be another menu option for switching between banks. Right now I can at least just change the size of the window a bit so I don't have to see all that on the screen. Also options for a more flexible configuration of feed layouts (rather than 2 across by 5 down, I may want to have 3 across by 3 feeds down or something similar). The three feeds across works really well with the visual placement of the activity (left feed, center feed, right feed) being aligned with the placement of the sound field from the left, both and/or right speakers.

This application would indeed be even more fun on my touchscreen laptop, I'll need to try there at some point as well.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[rdale]

Thanks for all the suggestions - plenty of fodder for v2... The option buttons are there to quickly switch between banks - so when I want to scan bank 3, I just click it. If it's a menu thing then I need to click bank setup and go to the bank number and click. I'll look at its flexibility.

 

[ScanYak]

Coming along well, I expect v1.0 release in the next week (maybe this weekend if I really push.) The trial version will allow you to listen to up to four feeds for up to an hour at a time, then you can register for full access (up to 100 feeds and unlimited runtime) for $19.99.

Active RadioReference feed providers will be able to purchase for a discounted $11.99

- Rob

So where do we sign-up and pay?
I'm ready.

 

[rdale]

I don't have the system ready to roll out yet, but I've come up with an alternative... If you're ready to purchase now, drop me an email and I'll send you an invoice that can be paid with CC or check, via Intuit (similar to PayPal but more professional, no need to join anything or set up an account.)

I'll include you on all the beta releases which are fully functional and unlocked. Then when full release is out the door, I'll send you the keycode for that.

rdale@skywatch.org

 

[scannerfreak]

I'm closing this in favor of the recently created open beta thread on this topic. Rob, maybe you can have one single thread for the program vs creating new threads..