In the meantime, I've discovered that there is quite a bit more "on-demand" content available. I'll give some more of those a listen and see if my impressions change much.
________________________________
From: Kevin Goroway <kgoroway@...>
To: "disklavier@yahoogroups.com" <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, September 2, 2013 2:44 PM
Subject: Re: [disklavier] DisklavierTV not working for me
Okay, all is good now. The big problem was that "SYNC" wasn't turned on on my piano. This is notable because that particular setting isn't mentioned a single time in the set-up guide, nor in the troubleshooting section.
Thanks very much to Bill for pointing this out!
Now some comments about the content that I've seen, and my overall impressions.
I think the technology is nothing short of amazing. It's really a new way to enjoy the Diskalvier. All of a sudden, there's something to look at other than the keys magically bouncing up and down. :-) Also, the chance to see famous (or otherwise) artists play your own piano, virtually, is breathtaking. Now I'm really sad that I missed the Elton John performance.
Now some criticisms. The content that is available isn't varied enough, and there isn't enough of it. I watched the 6 tracks that were available on-demand, and only half of them really have any replay-ability to me. Of course, this is entirely subjective.
The balance between the piano and the audio tracks doesn't seem consistent. For the Sarah McLachlan tracks, I found I had to dial the audio back pretty far so it didn't overpower the piano. But then on the Bryan Pezzone track, the percussion was a little bit too laid back. Also, Bryan's performance was fantastic...I *really* like the idea of having some improv to watch instead of music that I've already heard a million times. However, Bryan made a *critical* mistake in his video. The entire purpose (IMHO) is to get you to believe that you are watching someone play YOUR piano. However, Bryan decided that his improv needed him to stand up and physically strum the piano strings BY HAND at one point. That's all well and good, and maybe sounded fantastic in the studio...but as of yet, Yamaha hasn't included sensors in the Disklavier to detect that, nor a way to replay it. :-) So, it's completely lost on the DisklavierTV. And, it completely
breaks the illusion that your own piano is being played. Oops.
I think the biggest problem DisklavierTV currently has is much like the problem with Disklavier Radio. Not enough interesting content, but the technology is loudly screaming to be taken advantage of.
Just MHO.
-Kevin
________________________________
From: Kevin Goroway <kgoroway@...>
To: "disklavier@yahoogroups.com" <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 1, 2013 11:35 AM
Subject: Re: [disklavier] DisklavierTV not working for me
Well, I've tried the laptop, with various cables between the computer and the piano all with the same results. Audio, but rarely do the keys move...although the sustain pedal is moving slightly throughout. Exactly the same as with the dedicated PC. So, it's something on the Disklavier side, it would seem...
I'm doing all of this with the "test" video on the yamaha site. I don't currently have a subscription to Disklavier Radio, but I'm logged in, and the RemoteLive screen does tell me that it is buffering, and "playing"...
________________________________
From: Bill Brandom <bill.brandom03@...>
To: disklavier@...m
Cc: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2013 9:58 PM
Subject: Re: [disklavier] DisklavierTV not working for me
Kevin,
Do you have a subscription to DisklavierRadio, with an active credit card attached to the account?
Bill
—
Sent from Mailbox for iPhone
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 4:04 PM, Kevin Goroway <kgoroway@...> wrote:
>I appreciate the response but I already tried that since it was in the setup guide...
>
>Gilbert Daniel Je <sdaniel@...> wrote:
>
>
>I had the same problem. I fixed it by turning off all the 'enhancements' that my sound card had (Dell XPS laptop with sound blaster audio card). Bass boost, aural expansion, range boost, etc. I guess it modified the signal so much that the disklavier couldn't recognize it.
>
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>
>Gilbert Daniel, Jr.
>
>Sent from my iPhone
>
>On Aug 31, 2013, at 4:43 PM, <kgoroway@...> wrote:
>
>
>
>>I finally got around to trying out DisklavierTV. Updated my MarkIV to 4.2, updated the PRC, got the computer hooked up correctly, etc.
>>
>>
>>Video plays, I hear the audio, but my keys don't move (well, very very occasionally I'll catch one moving...).
>>
>>
>>I confirmed that audio seems to come over the left channel, and the right channel seems to include the encoded (sounds like static) information for the MIDI. When I swap left and right channels, I can hear the static, so I know that the cable is fine. The "static" is somewhat lower in volume then the audio, but I suspect that the piano ought to be able to understand it just fine...Any other troubleshooting tips? I confirmed via Disklavier Radio that my keys do actually move when playing back MIDI (sometimes that stops working, and the piano needs a reboot).
>>
>>
>>Thanks.
>>-Kevin