vrinsight & PMDG

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

hello chums.......
i managed to get hold of the VRInsight MCPCombo and the CDU for use on my test rig, but i am having a nightmare!
so i was wondering if anybody else has bought these for use with the PMDG aircraft (737ng in paticular) and was having the same issues as me.....or any other issues.
1. setup is a nightmare, the manual is incorrect. and they want you to destroy your key command regime in favour of theirs. i'm not exactly dumb, but it took me two days to get this running !
2. input encoders are terribly 'twitchy' and unpredictable at times.
3. once LNAV is engaged, a heading cannot be set (how dumb is that). all the display gives me is a two digit readout preceeded by an = sign and the heading encoder is rendered useless.
4. cdu can only be used for page selection or alpha/numeric inputs (not both) unless you have your mouse in the other hand to switch the KBD flag on and off.
i've tried these units on two different computers just to eliminate me and my test rig machine. same result on both machines (phew!)
would be interested in anybody else's experiences with these units and the PMDG.
on a good note, the efis and radio sections work fine. i'm also told they work 100% with the LevelD767 (because they released the SDK).
have posted on the vrinsight forum but no reply as yet.
regards from the welsh borders..... ian

[CoNa]

hello chums.......
i managed to get hold of the VRInsight MCPCombo and the CDU for use on my test rig, but i am having a nightmare!
so i was wondering if anybody else has bought these for use with the PMDG aircraft (737ng in paticular) and was having the same issues as me.....or any other issues.
1. setup is a nightmare, the manual is incorrect. and they want you to destroy your key command regime in favour of theirs. i'm not exactly dumb, but it took me two days to get this running !
2. input encoders are terribly 'twitchy' and unpredictable at times.
3. once LNAV is engaged, a heading cannot be set (how dumb is that). all the display gives me is a two digit readout preceeded by an = sign and the heading encoder is rendered useless.
4. cdu can only be used for page selection or alpha/numeric inputs (not both) unless you have your mouse in the other hand to switch the KBD flag on and off.
i've tried these units on two different computers just to eliminate me and my test rig machine. same result on both machines (phew!)
would be interested in anybody else's experiences with these units and the PMDG.
on a good note, the efis and radio sections work fine. i'm also told they work 100% with the LevelD767 (because they released the SDK).
have posted on the vrinsight forum but no reply as yet.
regards from the welsh borders..... ian

At least you have recieved yours...!!
I waited 2 months for the release of the CDU..and then 2 weeks ago finally got informed that it was shipped..but still it has not arrived.

It does not sound as it's working as good as I was hoping.
I would appreciate it if you would share the setup of the CDU.
I'm still hoping that it will arrive this week.

Will try to write an review of it...or perhaps a warning.

[Padraig]

Hi Ian,

Just wondering, whats that CDU like, I seen the pictures of it a while ago from some thread, but it did not look pleasing, as I think that there is a really small screen "dot Matrix style" or something like that. Could you be so kind and verify this for me?

regards

hello chums.......
i managed to get hold of the VRInsight MCPCombo and the CDU for use on my test rig, but i am having a nightmare!
so i was wondering if anybody else has bought these for use with the PMDG aircraft (737ng in paticular) and was having the same issues as me.....or any other issues.
1. setup is a nightmare, the manual is incorrect. and they want you to destroy your key command regime in favour of theirs. i'm not exactly dumb, but it took me two days to get this running !
2. input encoders are terribly 'twitchy' and unpredictable at times.
3. once LNAV is engaged, a heading cannot be set (how dumb is that). all the display gives me is a two digit readout preceeded by an = sign and the heading encoder is rendered useless.
4. cdu can only be used for page selection or alpha/numeric inputs (not both) unless you have your mouse in the other hand to switch the KBD flag on and off.
i've tried these units on two different computers just to eliminate me and my test rig machine. same result on both machines (phew!)
would be interested in anybody else's experiences with these units and the PMDG.
on a good note, the efis and radio sections work fine. i'm also told they work 100% with the LevelD767 (because they released the SDK).
have posted on the vrinsight forum but no reply as yet.
regards from the welsh borders..... ian

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

i'll pm you with my findings....
rgds .... ian

[Padraig]

i'll pm you with my findings....
rgds .... ian

Sound man, thanks Ian

[CoNa]

Finally recieved my CDU....and immediately started to think om some mods that can be done . First of all, get if off that stand..it's too wobbly.
Next....having a laser cut plate to cover the PCB and make a snug fit for the buttons. Would be looking much better than default.

Hope I will be able to test it this evening to see how it performs.
Any news on the numeric/alphabetic issue?

[Sylle]

hello chums.......
i managed to get hold of the VRInsight MCPCombo and the CDU for use on my test rig, but i am having a nightmare!
so i was wondering if anybody else has bought these for use with the PMDG aircraft (737ng in paticular) and was having the same issues as me.....or any other issues.

[...]

i've tried these units on two different computers just to eliminate me and my test rig machine. same result on both machines (phew!)
would be interested in anybody else's experiences with these units and the PMDG.
on a good note, the efis and radio sections work fine. i'm also told they work 100% with the LevelD767 (because they released the SDK).
have posted on the vrinsight forum but no reply as yet.
regards from the welsh borders..... ian

Hi guys,

I'm interested in buying an MCP combo from VRinsight as well as I'm looking for something affordable that I can use with my wide variety of addons. I don't want to confine myself to a single aircraft type.

Unfortunately, It seems Ian encounters a lot of problems with the PMDG birds.
As he mentions in his post above, this is probably a consequence of the lack of SDK and the use of the keymapping method to feed the MCP commands to the sim.

I remembered a few days ago that Lefteris (former PMDG programmer) now has another company called Flightsim Labs Ltd. that offers interface software between the PMDG products and different hardware brands. This interface allows for direct communication between the addon and your hardware which would solve a lot of trouble...

I created a topic on the Flightsim Labs forum to see if we can generate some interest in an interface between the PMDG 737/747 and the VRinsight hardware.

Please show your interest in this topic: http://www.flightsimlabs.com/Forums/...c/Default.aspx

Best regards,
Sylvain

[namron2]

I ordered my CDU from PC Aviator on MOnday and it arrive next day, all the way from Myrtle Beach to British Columbia !!!

Anyway my main purpose was to use this with LevelD 767.

Installation was confusing but I finally got it to work.

My initial impressions:

When I first saw the price $299.00 I was impressed as this seemed a great deal? However, unless I am using it incorrectly, I found out that this is just a type of keyboard input to the on screen CDU?

In other words the onboard display only serves to show you which mode you are in, Radio stack or CDU?

I was hoping that the onboard display might show the data also?? I did realise that the 2 line display would have a lot of constraints in showing data
but, I was hoping anyway!

If, indeed, that is what is is, and I am using it correctly, I am a bit disappointed!

Having said that, from my limited experience at making other FS switch panels, I am still glad I bought it and consider still to be a very good unit for the price.

It seems well built and there is no way that I could even buy the components (let alone build this) for the price of the unit.

Any help or comments appreciated

Norm

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

gentlemen, good day.......
ok, we are getting somewhere. i have a test rig in my den which i use to experiment on, hence the vrinsight units.........when i first got these units, i had a nightmare getting the MCP part of the combo 'sort of' working (and i mean a nightmare). i posted several items on the vrinsight forum detailing my issues.
now there is a new version of the SerialFP2 software available which has addressed all the issues. installing the latest version of the the software has cured all the problems i was encountering when using the MCP Combo with the PMDG737. all three sections -EFIS - MCP and Radio are woking fine.....so i guess it pays to 'bitch'.
however, as far as the CDU is concerned, i am still not impressed. it's just a keyboard emulator and i find it easier to use the mouse to input alphanumeric characters which sort of defeats the purpose of having one really. never mind, it looks better than it works ))
so, if you buy one of these units, forget the installation software on the disc, download the latest version of the SerialFP2 software from the vrinsight website.

norm said " Installation was confusing but I finally got it to work." thanks norm for being diplomatic.

have a great new year everybody....... ian

[slip-stream]

Ian, this is fantastic news, thanks for posting. My order is in.

Can you confirm that the driver SerialFP2 is v2.520 feb 2009?