New Vetra Products for Multiboxing!

[Bradster]

Funny story - I gave them the idea for the broadcasting lockout about two months back when I ordered my keyboard broadcaster. I'm glad to see they got the mouse incorporated, but I'd like to know how well it works. Also, I was just shooting the breeze with the fellow taking my order. I'm glad they produced the product since I'm not in a position to do so. I'm a little ticked, though. Not about them taking my idea - I gave it to them and it's good for the community to have the tool handy. I'm a little upset that they came out with this product about six weeks or so after I ordered my 4-port keyboard broadcaster AND gave them the idea for these products.

Don't get me wrong - they made the right decision in creating them. Heck, I'm interested in buying one. But I'm going to have to work out where I get the money from since, despite doing well for myself, I can't just throw down the $359 or whatever for the new unit especially IMMEDIATELY after spending $199 on the broadcaster I have now.

But yeah, I'm going to have to break down and get one I think. The broadcasting lockout is too useful for a "Holy Trinity" group, and the mouse broadcasting (assuming it works) is the answer to a lot of people's prayers, what with the issue of AoE spells and whatnot.

I sent in helpful ideas myself, this is not exactly what I sent but it does address some of my suggestions so I look at it as a positive thing. Perhaps we can work together on asking them about trade-ins? Want to draft something together and see where it leads us? Send me a PM.

[Bradster]

The ~ key would be ideal I think would being next to the numbers for quickness. But then I'd loose my spread out formation Key XD

I also kinda wish the button wasn't "scroll lock"... that's awfully far away for me to have to press from my left hand being in the standard "WASD" position and my right hand being on my mouse.

[Physics101]

It takes a lot longer to bring a product from testing to market than a few weeks. I don't think they got the idea solely from you and made it that quick, I'm sure this has been brewing for a while seeing as they read these forums.

[Basilikos]

It takes a lot longer to bring a product from testing to market than a few weeks. I don't think they got the idea solely from you and made it that quick, I'm sure this has been brewing for a while seeing as they read these forums.

I'm not so sure, since the day I called, they had engineering staffing the sales department for various reasons. I spoke with an engineer and he wasn't even aware they they were doing anything like this (or at least heavily hinted at that). If, on the other hand, they WERE developing this sort of thing (referring to the broadcasting lockout, since everything else was almost done with according to the guy I spoke to), I'm going to be REALLY pissed. You see, if they were working on it right then and didn't hint that I should wait to make my purchase, they took advantage of me. THAT'S the reason I'm a little upset about the timing.

Bottom line - either they weren't working on it at the time and they're honest, or they were working on it at the time and they totally screwed me knowing full well that I would have rather had the newer product (after all, I did ask about the possibility of it). The impression I got was that every aspect of this new line had already been designed and tested (other than the broadcasting lockout, which I suggested then). Did they get the idea some place else? Perhaps. But if that's the case, then they had me over a barrel and just let me have it. Based on Vetra's reputation up to this point, I HIGHLY doubt they did that.

Nevertheless, I'd like to know from them what happened since this thing came out pretty quickly after what I assume (and with decent reason) was the first time they'd heard of it. If they even suspected that they might have had it in testing or production in the near future, it would have been a bit nicer of them to have let me know that. Of course, details matter and this all could just be goofy timing.

I'd still like to know, though...

[Basilikos]

But yeah, I'm going to have to break down and get one I think. The broadcasting lockout is too useful for a "Holy Trinity" group, and the mouse broadcasting (assuming it works) is the answer to a lot of people's prayers, what with the issue of AoE spells and whatnot.

I sent in helpful ideas myself, this is not exactly what I sent but it does address some of my suggestions so I look at it as a positive thing. Perhaps we can work together on asking them about trade-ins? Want to draft something together and see where it leads us? Send me a PM.

Actually, they are reading this thread quite a bit right now. I didn't even tell the Vetra guy I spoke with my dual-boxing.com username, and yet I got a PM from him this morning on this website telling me about the new products. He specifically mentioned my requests. I'm guessing he noticed the thread I put up right after having that phone conversation and took note of my identity. At this point, I'm not as interested in a buy-back program as I am with the issue of the timing of all this. I'd like to know the details of what went on since they will largely determine how I was treated. But yeah, depending on how things unfold with that, I'd considering looking at a buy-back proposal.

[Noxxy]

As per the wire clutter coming out the back of the vetras - cable ties! Have squillions of them spaced about a foot apart going to all the boxes (6 boxing for eq2) - have them holding everything together which makes it all neat - have also labelled every single wire as seriously, if one of the suckers fell out I'd be lost without a tag

Another thing I bought to reduce the wire clutter is from Ikea - they have these nifty wire rack mounts which you can screw underneath your desktop - have a few of those running along the back of the desk - looks a horrible mess underneath but at least I don't kick the wires all the time...

One thing I'd love to see is a reduction in the lag which occurs between switching from full broadcast to single cast (for chatting, passwords, etc.) - this has caused me a few problems in the past where basically all of a sudden one of my slaves will start opening up a million message boxes (everything from inventory to bags to whatever)

As per a reply above - the inclusion of the y-mouse would be nice - 1 less thing to worry about - not to mention the price of said y-mouse after shipping to Aust... /cough cough wheeeeze

[Stealthy]

Figures they'd come out with this.

Just needs built in Y-Mouse-type capabilities and it would be perfect.

If that were the case, just think about all the wires you could remove out of your setup. I know for at least mine It's a bit crazy

I'm actually preparing to rack-mount all my PCs to help with the "clutter". It is indeed a freakin mess.

Heh, you're not alone...I'm pricing up something similar myself. :thumbup:

[Ticks]

There are several useful settings for Multicast mode. Scroll Lock+"B" selects multicasting mode. All PC channels receive keyboard and mouse multicasted output. Scroll Lock+"K" selects keyboard only multicasting. All PC channels receive keyboard multicasted output. The mouse is connected only to one PC channel, the one currently selected. Scroll Lock+"M" selects mouse only multicasting. All PC channels receive mouse multicasted output. The keyboard is connected only to one PC channel, the one currently selected. Any valid Scroll Lock command will override all previous commands.

This right there is the interesting part.

However, I wonder when you're using the "KVM" part of the switch -- what happens to your other monitors? For example, if i hit "SCROLL LOCK + 1" to switch to my pc #1, do all of my other screens go blank? Cuz that would be teh suck. The other monitors should always be displaying something, otherwise there's no point in having them if they're only going to be on while I'm multiplexing...

In essence: I never want it to be the case that all of my monitors are "off" except for one.

EDIT: Owait... I read this wrong I think... Are they expecting you to ONLY have one monitor for all of your computers? Sucky!

I suppose though all I'd have to do is just not plug any of my monitors into their KVM/multiplexer at all, but hey... If I'm going to pay $400-600 for a device I want to be able to use all the fancy stuff!

I also kinda wish the button wasn't "scroll lock"... that's awfully far away for me to have to press from my left hand being in the standard "WASD" position and my right hand being on my mouse.

Also: Only VGA connectors? No DVI? Sad panda.


Otherwise, it's a very tempting device... if I didn't already invest in the seperate devices already. >.<

I agree, this device is a step in the right direction but it's not quite there in my opinion. The perfect setup would be a device that multicasts keystrokes and splits video to the main and slave monitors. I have used the Vetra keyboard multicaster with three PCs. I had my main toon on my fastest PC and 4 toons split between the two other PCs; using Keyclone to multicast keystrokes on the two slaves. This was a great setup but the downside was not having a way to effectively transfer leadership. I recently upgraded my main PC to a quad core and put all 5 clients on the same PC with two monitors. I wanted to see how the lag would be and surprisingly, there is very little. Now mind you, I am a server engineer so I have some knowledge about PCs and getting the most out of them.

So as much as I would love to be softwareless, I am very happy without all of the hardware. The ease of switching leadership using Keyclone is so fast and effective, I would say it's better than hardware. Now if Blizzard ever banned Keyclone then I would be back to hardware. But in the meantime, my wife is happier paying a lesser electricity bill. :thumbsup:

[Suvega]

NVM, deleting post before I get yelled at for not reading her post completly. Damn me for missing one sentence -_-

[Vyndree]

NVM, deleting post before I get yelled at for not reading her post completly. Damn me for missing one sentence -_-

*eyes*

:huh: