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Handyplex

Handyplex allows you to control Plex via the XBox Kinect hardware. Using simple hand gestures you can navigate through your library and initiate playback commands such as Play/Pause, Volume Up/Down and Fast-Forward/Rewind.

See Handyplex in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFM7pVMLIY4

Handyplex is currently a proof of concept and thus far has been tested successfully on Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) running Plex 0.9.3.4, and Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) running Plex 0.9.5.2 (Laika). Since all used libraries are cross-platform, it should run on other platforms too.

Due to the experimental state of Handyplex one needs to be adept with the command line to build and install dependencies, but hopefully the following instructions will help you along.

Requirements

To use Handyplex you'll need the following:

  • Mac OS X Snow Leopard (other platforms might work, depending on OpenNI/Nite support)
  • Python 2.7
  • Plex (tested with 0.9.3.4 and 0.9.5.2)
  • OSCeleton and it's dependencies

Hardware:

  • Microsoft Xbox Kinect Camera

Installing

The following is an abridged version of the installation instructions, see the supplied INSTALL file for step-by-step instructions.

Make sure Python 2.7 (or later) is installed correctly. I recommend virtualenv and pip to set up your Python environments.

  1. Install OSCeleton and follow the instructions to install the OpenNI/NITE dependencies: OSCeleton

  2. Clone Handyplex

  3. Install Handyplex's Python dependencies. The easiest way to do this is to use pip with the supplied requirements.txt:

     $ pip install -r requirements.txt

    See pip for more information.

(Optional) Install wxPython to play sounds when users are detected/lost.

Configuring

Handyplex needs to know the IP where Plex Media Server is running, as well as the name of the computer on which the Plex client is running. Edit the following lines of settings.py accordingly:

PLEX_SERVER_IP = '10.0.1.1'
PLEX_CLIENT_NAME = 'mini.local'

For Handyplex to start OSCeleton you'll need to specify the directory where the executable resides:

OSCELETON_PATH = '/Users/mini/Development/OSCeleton'

Using Handyplex

Make sure Plex is running, and the Kinect is connected via USB and is receiving power.

  1. Run Handyplex:

     $ python handyplex.py

  2. Initiate gesture recognition with a 'wave' gesture. You should hear a sound letting you know your hand is recognized (if you have wxPython installed), and should be good to go.

Gesture Recognition

To get a feel for how the gesture recognition works see the demo video on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFM7pVMLIY4

Wave Gesture

To initiate gesture recognition start with a 'wave' gesture. Move your hand on a horizontal axis 3 or 4 times, as if you are waving to somebody.

Hold Gesture

Hold gestures are necessary to determine the start point for further gesture recognition. Simply hold your hand in one place for a short amount of time.

Swipe Gestures

Swipe gestures are best recognized if performed in a short motion, either left, right, up, down, forwards or backwards. To implement a flick, perform a swipe gesture and quickly move your hand back to the starting position.

Repeating Swipe Gestures

If you 'hold' a gesture after it has been detected it Handyplex will recognize 'repeat' actions, repeatedly performing the last detected action. Repeat actions can be accelerated/decelerated by moving your hand further away or closer to the gesture recognition point. Only movements in the same direction as the original gesture are considered to be repeat movements, moving your hand too far off the original axis cancels the repeat action.

Fine-tuning

If you feel gesture recognition isn't working as smoothly as in the demo video you might want to play around with the different thresholds in settings.py.

Running Unit Tests

Either run the tests individually, or use unittest test discover functionality (run in tests directory):

$ python -m unittest discover

Known Issues

  • Since there currently is no 'stop gesture recognition' command, you need to hide your hand (behind your back for example) in order to stop gesture recognition.
  • Sometimes a gesture is not recognized with a small movements, move your hand in a exaggerated motion to one direction to reset.

Future Plans

  • Implement a gesture for ending further gesture recognition until user re-initializes session with 'wave'.
  • Have PlexController send key commands instead of using the HTTP API for more flexibility.
  • Use NITE's gesture recognition instead of the current Python implementation.
  • Support for multi-hand gestures.

Feedback

All feedback is very welcome. Please use the github issue tracker to report issues, and the Plex forums for feedback / discussion.

The source code of Handyplex is available on Github: https://github.com/jopdeklein/Handyplex