NextPVR Forums

I don't have an MVP, but I'm considering picking one up.

Currently, I use GBPVR as a front-end for playing movies off a low end laptop. It's sufficient, given that it's only going to a 20" tv through an RF convertor.

What I'm toying with, is putting GBPVR on my PVR pc, which is a lowly P3/800, with a PVR250 card using a custom web interface for scheduling. Then I'd replace the laptop with an MVP served off the PVR pc.

My questions are:

- Does the MVP handle PAL video on NTSC? I've long been under the impression it won't. So if I download something in PAL, would I have to transcode it, or is this now handled.
- Likewise, does the MVP handle odd mpeg files, stuff that's not in the typical VCD/DVD framerates/resolutions?
- Is GBPVR capable of transcoding avi on the fly as the Happuage server is (I think), or no? Granted, the P3 probably won't cut it for that...

And lastly, related to the last question.. can I run the recording service on one PC, and the "server"/front end on another? Ideally, I'd like the gbpvr front end to run on a faster PC, but that doesn't have my PVR card, so I'd like it to talk with the recording process on the PVR pc. Can it handle that?

Quote:Does the MVP handle PAL video on NTSC? I've long been under the impression it won't. So if I download something in PAL, would I have to transcode it, or is this now handled

I've never tried it, but I think I remember reading this didnt work. Hauppauge would have to fix this themselves.

Quote:Does the MVP handle PAL video on NTSC? I've long been under the impression it won't. So if I download something in PAL, would I have to transcode it, or is this now handled

I dont know.

Quote:Is GBPVR capable of transcoding avi on the fly as the Happuage server is (I think), or no? Granted, the P3 probably won't cut it for that...

yes, that PC is way too slow for transcoding. It'll probably also be a little sluggish on the menus etc. The faster the server PC, the more responsive to the remote.

Quote:can I run the recording service on one PC, and the "server"/front end on another?

Nope.

Thanks for the fast response.

Too bad they still haven't sorted out the PAL/NTSC thing. I guess that's not a big deal, I'm somewhat used to transcoding stuff beforehand anyway. I've found it the only reliable method to know the file will play.

Given that gbpvr is currently running on a Celeron 600 with 128M ram, menus can't be that much slower

It's too bad you can't split the server/recorder handling, it would be a nice feature.

Another question for you if I may, not really MVP related. I know you use xmltv for channel guides/EPG. Do you parse in the xmtlv file and load it into the access database, or do you use some other format, or the xml directly?

The reason I ask is, I currently have a really crude perl script that scrapes PPV information for Dish, since this isn't included in any online guide I've seen. I do it daily since I've not sorted out how to span days yet. I assume if I insert this info into the access DB myself, gbpvr will recognise it?

All EPG listings, whether from xmltv or zap2it or bleb, are read and stored in the GBPVR.mdb database.