SpeakerCraft Makes Radical Improvements to Nirv GUI

No matter what they do to NIRV it’s just putting lipstick on a pig!

Does NIRV support HDMI?

Interesting that it uses CobraNet…neat technology.

No Bargain: Ouch that hurt But I think you can understand why and how I would totally disagree with that comment. In fact I would invite you to find me at CEDIA and lets discuss why you feel that way.

AACTrent. Yes we are supporting HDMI and provide video distribution of resolutions up to 1080p over a single Cat5/6 solution. Yes CobraNet has been around is VERY cool. Has been used in the Pro Audio side of the world for a long time.

Stop by at CEDIA and learn more.

I can’t wait for Cedia. I had two clients that wanted to consider the Nirv solution over a standard head-end solution a competitor was recommending and we nailed the job. This system is a serious competitive edge for us with every dealer nearby selling Control4 or Crestron. We saw the latest beta when we were in CA for a visit to Stewart Filmscreen and stopped by to learn about Nirv. We called our Rep Steve the minute we got home and placed our demo order. They even got on a video-conference with my client to demo for him in his office. Way cool!

All I know is our client loved the concept, visual use of display and flexibility. This thing is killer and I can’t wait to get our showroom cranked up!

Way to go Jeremy and the team.

I was an early beta tester for nirv.  What I loved was the system was amazingly simple to connect and very cool looking hardware.  The concept is great and if it works as advertised, it will be a winner. My 2 main findings were the crappy graphics and crude wand.  You can understand my excitement knowing that those issues were addressed by the nirv team and they have both been upgraded.  I also suggested a second remote for channel surfing that Jeremy shot down initially, I guess even he knows when he is wrong.  I was apprehensive to put my companies butt on the line as well as my reputation to back a new product this complex but after seeing how serious the team was about my findings and suggestions, it gave me confidence.  The lead engineer has called me directly, took my thoughts and ideas and applied them to the revisions.  The current system is light years ahead of what I was given.  That is a ton of upgrades in just a few months. This is a sophisticated system in a complex market.  They are so serious, they even started a nirv forum that has been invaluable for findings and information.  I know that when I sell this system, I will have the backing of the entire company.  Jeremy has even requested I call him directly to talk about the process.  I don’t recall that offer from Crestron, C4, Savant or Elan.  They truly get it and for that, I am on board for the ride.

SpeakerCraft makes solid products and the engineering behind this makes it a simple solution. I hope the UI is a beta, because it lacks appeal. I think the UI misses the mark and they should go back to the drawing board. The icons look dated.

jgren = Are you looking at the same things we saw? The slide show images Julie posted show the old and THEN the new and they don’t even look as cool as what I saw last week.

Could you be referring to the first screen shot which was of the original Concept they had at CEDIA last year to introduce the concept? Everybody in our company loves the new icons look, colors and appeal. But everybody has what they like so I’d love to hear if that was what you meant. Hell there are several GUI’s I’ve seen from the big players that look way to “over done” .

I’m pumped that this system is going to provide me install options and not put added tax on my engineering guys. I’m surprised they didn’t talk about that some more.

Nirv peeps, friends and Haters…this system is so easy and smart I know you’ll be stoked to provide it to your clients.  To the beta dealers thanks again, we wouldn’t be here without you.  Nirv Team in house thanks again as I care so much about the great part of your lives you’ve spent on this project.  Julie, I am an aging old installer that looks pretty bad on my own.  I don’t need further attention to my balding, over inked body and swollen head.  OXOX

These pandering articles about Speakercraft reaching new heights of innovation and design are doing a disservice to your readers.  It also affects your credibility as news reporters, or are you just shills for the industry? 
Why doesn’t CEPro talk about how Speakercraft “muffed” the catch two years in a row with NIRV.  Most people we talked to at the show said NIRV wasn’t even working.  That explains the blackout from Speakercraft a month before the show and why the “fakerware” demos were for the priveleged few.  Even the supposed Speakercraft training was no more than a sales pitch.

NIRV went from “vaporware” at CEDIA 2009 to “lameware” at CEDIA 2010.  Check out the forums on the MyNirv website.  Their dealers are pissed.

WiFi guy I think you need some assistance with facts and information. Nirv was operational at the show. The training was much more than just a sales pitch. I do welcome your mention of the MyNirv forum as this is an open environment and we have nothing to hide.

Is the product late in shipping. YES. But there are many reasons for this and ultimately the most important is that we want this to be everything OUR Dealers want and kick ass. Not a workable version which we’ll have monthly OS updates and upgrades. Get it right the first time.

If dealers are pissed, I am sorry, and if they are its because they see the potential and simply want the product to sell. Something I can fully understand. However most importantly there IS NOT a single project that we have with our dealers who have been put in harms way due to Nirv being late. Our entire team has worked very hard to communicate with our dealers exactly where things are in progress and make sure something like that didn’t happen. I feel this is important.

In regards to the “fakeware” demo’s to the privileged few comment you need to get the facts straight. Yes we had an area for Nirv so we could spend time with manageable groups to demonstrate Nirv, the new GUI, the new feature sets and such. For those that had trouble getting into the area, I apologize. However we took the route we did so that the people we did get in there had plenty of time for questions, education on the system and as it turned out to help answer some of the lies they’ve heard from competitors.

People can make all the comments they would like which is alright. The real truth will be when it begins shipping and our dealers are having fun selling it. I would invite you to come out from behind the “WiFi Guy” name and contact me directly or your local rep so we can get you locked into one of the dealer certification meetings and demonstrations. I’ll be more than happy to personally demonstrate the system for you and answer any questions you might have.

All of that being said I’m sorry something in your day went so terribly wrong to get that pissed and attack CEPro. I hope your day gets better and we’ll see you when your ready.

SpeakerCraft has 2 pages of adds in CEPro. No more questions your Honor!

Waz Up Kippycash,

Long time Speakercraft fan, but was a little disappointed with you guys at CEDIA 2010. 

While Wifi Guy came across a little mad, I sensed that vibe from quite a few people at the Speakercraft booth at CEDIA 2010.  It seemed that if you weren’t on the VIP list to get into the fenced off area, you didn’t get any information.  The staff outside of that area of the Speakercraft booth were somewhat clueless and were giving mixed messages.  The NIRV seemed to be suffering from mixed/confusing/missing messages from the start. While you say that Speakercraft dealers are in the loop with what is going on, nobody else knows.

The Marketing messages have been missing or incomplete. The MyNirv website is very short on information and what is there is very dated.  You probably know the rule that the lack of information causes the gaps to be filled by those that don’t know.

Some messages included: 

A) The initial Q1 2010 ship date.  A year later is quite a bit late, but it is what it is. 

B) When it was first announced, some of us took NIRV to be something with out a central controller (see article at bit.ly/aIj101)(enter http colon backslash backslash before bit.). It seemed simple and elegant.  In this article, it is clear that this is still hardware intensive.

As long as you seem to be monitoring this post, maybe you can answer the questions those of us had that weren’t allowed in the VIP area wanted to ask.

1) What is Speakercraft bringing to the table that Control4 isn’t?

2) Is Cobranet the right choice and will it be obsoleted by AVB in a couple of years? (see article at bit.ly/97jY1R) (enter http colon backslash backslash before bit.)

3) Isn’t not having a media manager of some sort creating integration and user headaches? 

4) Even though there are numerous streaming devices available as mentioned in the article above, how is the control/display transport being handled for those devices? 

5) Are the menus dynamically reproduced on the GUI or do you have to navigate menus through the different devices?

6) Will all the Metadata from the “other” devices be seen on the GUI?

Questions related to the Vital250 and FloBox products…

7) These products seem to be positioned as part of the NIRV system (see article at bit.ly/9Kg2Sl)(enter http colon backslash backslash before bit.).  How is this possible given they don’t have Wi-fi or ethernet ports?

8) Or, are they just taking an output from a Cobranet endpoint and amplifying it? 

9) How would you choose what source you are listening to in that scenario?

10) Will they stream music from the iPad as a source to be listened to in other NIRV zones?

11) How is the Metadata transported to the NIRV GUI?

12) If they do not have a data connection to the NIRV system, are they using a line level output that is used as an input to the Cobranet input endpoint?  If that is the case, how are the Vital250 and FloBox different from any device that has a line level output?

I know from the conversations at the booth, many of us had these questions.  Hopefully you will take the time to fill us in.

Hello Mike,
Here is some additional information and answers to your questions.

As I mentioned I am sorry if some people were upset about the handling of the Nirv Center demo area within the booth. However the primary reason was simple. We needed to spend time and demonstrate the system, with the changes our Beta test bed and Nirv dealers were asking for. We already have our initial Nirv dealers signed up and my primary goal was to be able to spend time with these dealers on the show floor and not force them to go someplace off site. If you or anyone is one of those 500 and didn’t get a demo I do apologize. If you are one please contact me directly.

As far as the confusion on any messages I can only state that the dealers who are part of this group have total access to me and out team to ensure there is no confusion.

The marketing message and elements for Nirv will be “point on” the minute we flip the switch. You will see all new literature, web site, marketing and support materials. Once again until we begin shipping and installing we saw no rush to “confuse” things. However don’t worry the minute we begin shipping you’ll see everything that is ready to go.

One element to clarify is the discussion of the MMB box that Julie covered in the article. The original MMB design WAS stopped. The reason for this was due to a chip manufacturer we work with was about to release a significant upgrade feature set. Due to development partnership NDA’s this could not be discussed at the time. So we did stop that project while we made the necessary adjustments. One of the changes is the new unit being developed is additional technology as part of the consideration for things such as Apple AirPlay.

Below are some answers to your questions and for some we’d need to speak in person to properly answer. Some are pretty broad in overall scope.

a)  I can’t comment on the past of dates. There were many reasons for these delays. That being said yes it is late. But better late and right than rushed and miss the mark. I’ve committed to our dealers and management that we will ship the system the right way so our dealers are working with the best solution to make their lives easier and more profitable.
b)  Don’t understand your comment. Of course there is hardware. To discuss further please call me at SpeakerCraft, 1-800-448-0976 ext 190.
c)  There are many things we are bringing to the table that the competition is not. Far too many to list on this posting but again please contact your rep or me to discuss in greater detail.
d)  We feel the implementation and our patent pending use with CobraNet is the best path for where we are heading with Nirv. The conversation about our use and the future possible technology concepts could go on for days. Once again a much better conversation to have in person. There are many potential future concepts in discussion and development, but as we have all seen in this industry, some never make it past the lab tests. We feel very comfortable with Cirrus Logic and the fact that CobraNet has been around for almost 20 years now.
e)  For questions 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 please call me and I’ll be happy to elaborate or point you to the right person for the details on Vital and FloBox in greater detail. However here are a few outline comments.
a.  Metadata for items such as streaming content such as Pandora, iTunes and others will be provided on screen and within our iTouch/iPad apps via the NirvNet. Other devices could always use our VIB to provide their own visual GUI via our network.
b.  The FloBox will incorporate Nirv and other new technologies in the future. They were designed with this path in mind. So they will have additional capabilities entering into things as well.
c.  iTouch and iPad can be sources within Nirv when docked to the Nirv NB dock. Metadata is all part of the Nirv GUI for those devices as inputs.
d.  All source’s in a Nirv system are controlled, ported and viewed via the NirvNet
f)  In regards to iTouch and iPad they can be control points as well as sources with the Nirv system.

I hope this helps answer some questions. However the bottom line is that the Nirv system is unlike anything the industry has seen and therefore really requires expanded discussion on the how, what and where.

Surely beyond what the CEPro posts are meant to be. Speak to your rep to make sure you’re in the loop for regional training, Nirv Dealer Certifications and availability for your region.
Thanks again and I look forward to speaking with you.

Hey Guys,
What is going on with NIRV???  Many are sensing a credibility issue here.  You can only say it is coming for so long and keep on not delivering.
The story on the street is there is serious issues with NIRV because the development company was kicked to the curb because SpeakerCraft thought they could do better.  Maybe SpeakerCraft can’t get it done…  Apparently the boys at Nortek are not happy.
Maybe someone will tell SpeakerCraft that in electronics, what may have been hot in Fall of 2009 may not still be in Summer of 2011.

Some day maybe we will find out…

Dear VolCont.

I would like to thank you for your interest in Nirv. Obviously you felt passionate enough to jump in and post something on a story that was posted 4 months ago. Most importantly we need to deal with facts not fiction. If you have any questions about Nirv I welcome you to contact me directly so I can provide you clear and accurate answers. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or at 1-800-448-0976
Now to answer some of the comments you posted.
1) Our credibility is the very reason why Nirv has been handled in a very particular and methodical manner for release. Are we later than we wished. Sure, but credibility is the EXACT reason why we have taken our time to make sure things are done right. We refused to release the product until we had all enhancements our beta test bed provided. This will allow our dealers to sell and install Nirv with success against any competitive product on the market. Rushing something to market for the sake of saying “NOW SHIPPING” doesn’t do anybody any good if things aren’t perfect.

2) The story on the street is just that, on the street. Misinformation put out there by competitors who know exactly how much of a game changer Nirv is. The only story being put on the street by SpeakerCraft is that the will be awesome. A great deal of our dealers have been involved in feedback and have been visiting our factory for review and further feedback.

3) Whoever passed onto you information about a “development company being kicked to the curb” is laughable. Simply not true. Once again more misinformation that was provided to you by somebody with an obvious agenda.

4) In regards to Nortek once again more “agenda driven misinformation”. We are a proud AND profitable family member of the Nortek Group.

5) To best answer your comment about what’s hot and not I would simply state that any product you saw in 2009 and even in 2011 still DOES NOT provide the features, performance, capability, value and ease of installation that Nirv provides. This will all be seen and proven in very short order.
To best answer some of these sad attempts from competition to paint some picture that simply isn’t true. Nirv will be on display at the ISE show in Amsterdam which will serve as the official International Launch of Nirv. We will begin shipping systems on February 15, 2011. We are currently working on the entire roll out and launch date for the domestic release.
So once again thank you for your interest and passion about Nirv. As I said earlier please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

Daniel Kippycash
Nirv Product Manager