Description

Initially designed to manage internal VFD display hardware on your HTPC, Command & Information Centre (CIC) is now much more than that. In fact it provides a host of HTPC related features from HDMI CEC to Logitech Harmony Hub together with desktop related features such as monitor control over DDC.

Use cases

CIC is so configurable that it can be deployed for very different use cases. The down side of such flexibility is that it does not do much out-of-the-box, you need to spend some time configuring it. Here are but a few things you can do with it:

Control monitors brightness and contrast through keyboard shortcuts using DDC.
Power on and off your TV through HDMI CEC or Logitech Harmony Hub as Windows sends monitor power events.
Switch your TV to 3D when playing 3D movies from MediaPortal.
Launch applications through keyboard shortcuts or IR remote event.
Show system temperatures and fan speeds (GPU, CPU) on your internal VFD display while gaming.
Show audio spectrum visualizer on your internal VFD display.
Mute and unmute your SONOS PLAYBAR through Logitech Harmony Hub as Windows sends monitor power events.
Launch applications in response to voice commands.
Issue Logitech Harmony Hub command in response to voice command.
Eject CD, DVD, BD through keyboard shortcut or IR remote.

Possibilities are virtually endless.

Features

Integration with MP1 MiniDisplay.
Integration with Auto3D plug-in.
Integration with Open Hardware Monitor.
Integration with MP1 TV Server.
Internal display features:
- Configurable layout.
- Text fields.
- Bitmap fields.
- Audio Visualizer fields.
- VFD segments on MDM166 hardware.
Execute actions in response to various events including client defined ones.
Supported events includes:
- Monitor Power Off - Typically allows you to turn off your TV and amplifier using any combinations of Harmony and/or CEC actions that works for you.
- Monitor Power On - Typically allows you to turn off your TV and amplifier using any combinations of Harmony and/or CEC actions that works for you.
- Keyboard and IR remote key of your choosing - Allows you to launch applications or eject optical media.
- Speech voice command.
- User application events.
Supported actions includes:
- Various HDMI CEC commands.
- Eject optical drive of your choosing.
- Send any Logitech Harmony Hub command to a device of your choosing.
- Display message on your internal display.
- Launch applications.
- Adjust monitor brightness and contrast.
- FRITZ!Box socket switch toggle, turn on and turn off.
Supported hardware:
- Logitech Harmony Hub.
- Elgato Gaming Stream Deck.
- Pulse Height HDMI CEC USB adapter.
- DDC monitors to support brightness and other monitor settings adjustments.
- Teensy 3.2 as Micro Input programmable keyboard.
- Following displays:
  - Futaba GP1212A01A (AKA GP1212A01)
  - Futaba GP1212A02A (AKA GP1212A02)
  - Futaba MDM166AA (AKA MDM166A or MDM166)
  - Noritake GU256x64x-39xx (USB over Teensy 3.2)

Release notes

v2.4.2
Adding support for Elgato Gaming Stream Deck and Teensy 3.2 as Micro Input device for programmable keyboard functionalities.
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v2.3.0
FRITZ!Box socket switch actions.
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v2.2.10
Support Speech with either Microsoft.Speech (Kinect) or System.Speech (Windows default).
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v2.2.4
Add support for Kinect voice commands.
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v2.1.2
Noritake GU256x64x-39xx VFD now supported through Teensy 3.2.
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v2.1.0
Adding support for Noritake GU256x64x-39xx VFDs and optimised render time.
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v2.0.4
Adding support for monitor brightness and contrast actions.
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v2.0.0
New installer using Squirrel instead of ClickOnce.

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v1.4.5.0
Improved Audio Visualizer.
Removed installer dependency checks.
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v1.4.2.0
Audio Visualizer support.
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v1.0.4.0
Logitech Harmony connection now reconnects.
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v1.0.0.0
Logitech Harmony connection now kept alive.
Improved logs.
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v0.12.2.0
Adding support for Logitech Harmony.
Improved support for HDMI CEC.
New Event Action Router feature.
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v0.8.9.0
Included missing dependencies on VS runtimes.
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v0.8.8.0
Screen saver does not kick in until Windows powers off the monitor.
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v0.8.7.0
Idle screen saver client not showing in Open Task view any more.
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v0.8.6.0
Basic screen saver functionalities.
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v0.8.5.0
Current display client is now determined based on priorities.
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v0.8.1.0
REC icon on MDM166A display now working.
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v0.8.0.0
New architecture base on SharpLibDisplay.
Supports recording notification area icon.
Breaking changes do not upgrade unless you upgrade MP1 too using the installer provided on MP1-4702.
After upgrading MP1 you will need to reconfigure MiniDisplay plug-in to use SharpLibDisplay.
SharpLibDisplay for MP1 now supports single line layout providing better readability for MDM166AA displays.
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v0.6.1.0
Basic CEC by Pulse-Eight.
TV goes on standby and wakes up as any computer monitor would.
USB - CEC Adapter hardware needed.
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v0.5.4.0
Closing optical drive tray now working too.
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v0.5.3.0
One can now select the optical drive to eject.
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v0.5.2.0
Adding support to eject media in E drive using Eject or Ext2 (HP remotes).
You better make sure your E drive is an optical drive or face the side effect of dismounting an actual hard drive. Future version should allow to select which drive to eject.
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Recommended settings

Font: DejaVu Sans Mono Bold (size 22)

Development

CIC development is taking place on GitHub.

Potential improvements

Add "Playing Music Status". Aiming at being able to avoid muting when music is playing and avoiding turning on the TV when we can work headless.
Support conditional action based on status test.
Further optimize Audio Visualizer. Avoid brush allocations.
Provide Audio Visualizer customization options.
Add Master Static Table Layout support.
Add recording table field.
Add recording status effects.
Add status change event.
Text fields and designer to support logical fonts: small, medium, large.
Support custom font per field?
Support Open Hardware Monitor using WMI? Implement OHM client.
Improve Harmony reliability.

Last edited: Feb 20, 2018

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Command & Information Center