RE: Linn Classik / KAT5

[BUTLER, Tony, FM]

Hi Keith,

I can see you're getting a bit nervous about all this talk of hooking knekt
up to KAT :-)
Never fear - I would always have considered it 'at my own risk' if I
connect
these things
together - as I'm sure Nick does.
It's important to encourage entrepeneurs like yourself to continue with
these fledgling
businesses rather than scaring you away with threats of court action for my
own stupidity!
Now if you were a large established company and I blew up my system
konnecting it, then
that might be a different story :-)

Just quickly going through your points,

1. Possibly - but reverse engineering is not a crime - if you tried to rip
them off and
create an exact copy of the intersekt etc then they'd have every right
to be peeved.

2. Sure you do - just invent a time machine and go back in time to oh,
about 1000 BC and
you'll have loads of time to work on this stuff before anyone starts
asking you about
it :-)

3. Oh come now - if you could afford such systems, you would realise what a
rip-off they
are and have invented KAT5 anyway :-) Granted, owning one would help to
design an
interface..... Surely KAT5 must be making you a fortune by now anyway?
:]

4. You might be surprised!!!

I think you are being modest when you talk of offering 'some' of the
features of these
systems - once the IR and switcher are up & running, I think you
will be
providing _most_
of the functionality _plus_ video routing and switching, which neither Linn
nor QED's
Systemline do!

It's a real shame you have neither the time, inclination, or resources to
put into such
an interface - I think a KAT5 system with only the Linn or QED keypads
being
'foreign'
could be a very cost effective (relative to said Linn or QED systems!)
solution and one
which offers a very nice interface to the system.

Also I can appreciate that owning (or at least possessing) kit is the key
to
developing
interfaces to it - perhaps if there was some arrangement whereby customer
lends kit to
KAT5 genius for sought after (by more than just said customer) feature (eg
2
way IR with
Sony) then said customer receives 1st working unit free in return for loan
of kit!

I think you are right about the Sony 2-way using different carrier
frequencies - doh!

cheers,

Tony

-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Doxey [mailto:<a
href="/group/kat5-users/post?postID=mCRh4hklDXSBsqbCqOw4CDCHJxk0cvQ4NVa1aRkH8DsNNo0E6NfpqeJ3kG_xKCYKaMSxxqYmdUkIY_As">kat5users@d...</a>]
Sent: 07 January 2002 21:56
To: <a
href="/group/kat5-users/post?postID=Obbokk1knIorNtLechuG1pe1IWrE3-AMyYaA2OZrmgIPArhHSSj5ntabAMmTX6BBf9EPB1wV34k2mLG64HFjtoE">kat5-users@xxxxxxx</a>
Subject: RE: [KAT5] Linn Classik / KAT5


Hi Tony,

The work done on interfacing a KAT5 unit to Linn was undertaken soley by
Nick at his risk. What he has done works for him and does not appear to
cause any problems.

Having said that I sould point out that it was NEVER my intention to
connect
to LINN or any other proprietry Multiroom system. My intention is to offer
some of the features provided such systems for an affordable price.

I do not intend to put any work into interfacing with LINN or any other
such
system for the following reasons....

1. The company concerned would most likely get VERY upset and they have the
money and muscle to make life very difficult for me :-(

2. I dont have the time for such development even if I wanted to do it.

3. It would be impossible to inteface to such a system without actually
owning one. If I could afford such systems then KAT5 would probably not
have
been born!!!

4. There would be a very limited market for such development.

WIRING.

Linn use a non standard pin assigment for the CAT5 wiring which IMHO is a
BIG mistake, it goes TOTALLY against the whole concept of structured
wiring.
Whilst the guy you refer to has Linn working over standard CAT5, this only
proves as testament to the robustness of balanced communication as it is
still rejecting interference despite being run on split pairs. The
preferred
way to do it would be to make custom CAT5 patch cords as per Nick's
instructions. Even better would have been for Linn to use a standard
pinout.

IR

The KAT5 IR upgrade will be a bidirectional control path as I need the
switcher to send signals to the receivers to control the SCART and on
higher
end models provide a visual indication of the selected source. This means I
should also be able to send IR in either direction as well. Having said
that
I dont think the Sony would work. I believe they used different carrier
frequencies in each direction otherwise it would interfere with itself.
Again it might be possible to make this work but I can only develop for
equipment that I possess or can simulate. The first ever KAT5 units
delivered were Phil Harris's 4 channel Video set that he wanted to use for
Component Video. They were fully tested using normal video signals but I
was
unable to test using component video as I dont possess any kit with
Component outputs or inputs.

DISCLAIMER

One a set of KAT5 units have been delivered there is nothing I can do to
stop people experimenting with them as they are their property, however,
any
problems with quality of image or any damage sustained either by KAT5 or
the
equipment to which it is connected, is totally down to the user and will
void the warranty.


Hope that clarifies my position and answers your questions

Keith




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