I've had a go at developing a new skin for NPVR. This is the first time I've attempted to release a skin solo, so I like to think of this as the start of something.

A couple of notes:

• You should just simply have to copy the extracted folder to your NPVR skin folder [i.e ...Users\User_Name\NPVR\Skin\] and select the "Wave" skin from the options menu
  
• This skin has been designed for HD 16x9 displays, as far as I can see there is nothing preventing users from using it on 4x3 displays but element positions mightn't always work.
  
• As I said this is the beginning of something rather than a finished polished skin. I hope to develop it further as NPVR matures
  
• nPVR is still a beta, so some feature might not work on an app level. I'm really interested in hearing if any features work in another skins but not in "Wave".
  

How easy is it to change font size (for TV guide program description and other areas)? On my 28inch SD TV the TV guide description is unreadable. Is there something built in or would it require skin changes?

I can't seem to get SRT files to display. Additionally, my SRT files keep getting deleted unless i set them as read only for "system". Is this known behavior?

I have refrained from posting this for a few days until I was sure I wasn't doing something stupid or going mad.

Here's the problem - if I schedule recordings, I come back and find that my PVR has shutdown completely. Not in standby or hybernation - the PC is off.

This never happened for a year of running GBPVR and the PC is set to go into standby when it's not in use - which it does successfully.

I might get 15 minutes of the recorded show, but that's it. I have never seen this PC shutdown before, and I can watch TV for days and it never happens. It seems it must be recording for it to happen.

I can find nothing in Windows event logs and nothing of real interest in NPVR's logs. What on earth could be happening here?!?!

Not sure where to start debuging NPVR instal / configuration.

Logs and config screen screenshots attached.

I gave in and installed NPVR on one of my systems. Seems to work ok except the tv guide has no info and the remote only works for volume and stop. Hauppauge 45 buttons remote. I still have 1.4.7 installed and won't use NPVR when the wife is home, because I will hear about it.

Paf

I know this has been done before but wondered what people use to keep their power bills down
The power prices in New Zealand have been climbing for the past few years where it has now got to the point where I care

the server stays on (lounge) $$30plus /month
the bedroom client goes into standby $20/month (still to much in my opinion)
the popcorn hour is only on when i use it (theatre room) cheap less than $5
office pc $30/month (now turned off)
on top of this is all the other crap i have running amps lighting heating etc

So with all the idle things running in my house (no one home) I worked out its costing me roughly $150/month for nothing really


thinking of getting a few things to auto shut off when not in use
have people used anything for this sort of thing?
if so got any links or thoughts?

Do others make there servers go into standby?
If you do they come out of standby if another machine asks it to does it work well ?

May build a new recording machine that uses less power any thoughts on low power usage CPU/motherboard combo would be good also

I am trying GB-PVR. I WANT it to work! Finally got an EPG, not easy, but zap2it seems to work. Then re-installing GB-PVR by the "guide." I have an ATI All-in-Wonder HD card - AIWHD. I use an antenna.

When I do the capture card setup, if I select the AIWHD, when I go to map channels the program says , basically, device not found. BDA device or whatever.

If I check the only installed components box, it gives me ATI 650 choices. If I choose that - digital ATSC - when I "map digital channels" after updating the EPG, the program pauses for a few seconds, then the screen goes black and the computer (Win XP) reboots. Has happened at least 3 times now.

Am I wrong, or is the program? Should I abandon it?

Help would be much appreciated!

PROBLEM 1:

This posting documents a problem where the Forward key in playing recordings starts to behave erratically, and in fact can skip significantly backward in a recording. (We're also having several other problems, and in hopes that some are related, I'll list those later in this same email. And if they're not related, I'd really appreciate help or guidance on those as well. [Googling the forum hasn't found answers to these questions.])

As context, I have 2 PVR500's. The system is a reasonably powerful Core 2 Duo, with 4GB RAM, running 64-bit Windows 7. The recording disk is 3 Gbps SATA and is separate from the Windows/Programs disk. The average disk queue length on this disk is much less than 1, even when recording 4 programs at time while watching 1. This computer doesn't do much else except for limited use for email.

Attached is a ZIP of the log files in this time period, but the one of interest is MVP-PVRX2.exe-1.log . As an example, in that file, see

2010-06-29 18:44:04.865 VERBOSE [7] requestedPositionInSeconds: 556 (This is in response to a Forward key pressed at 2010-06-29 18:44:04.069)

2010-06-29 18:44:08.047 where data has just been sent to the MVP from file location 437083129
2010-06-29 18:44:08.016 the Forward key is pressed again.
2010-06-29 18:44:08.780 VERBOSE [6] MVPSetPlaybackPosition() request to set position to: 241 seconds [NOTE: 241 seconds is much EARLIER than 556 seconds !!]
2010-06-29 18:44:08.843 it's now reading from file location 188848263, which is much earlier than the 437083129 above!!

If you follow subsequent 'User pressed' items in the log, you'll see that hereafter the action of the Forward button is chaotic. Sometimes forward, sometimes backward, and also skipping by amounts that don't seem related to the standard Forward/Back intervals.

For what it's worth, this file appears to play without problems using Windows Media Player.

HELP !!



Here are some of the other problems I'm seeing:

PROBLEM 2:

For months now I've been having a severe problem where playing recordings, after the Forward button or other buttons are pressed several times on the MVP remote, GBPVR stops responding to any key presses at all on the MVP remote. (This essentially forces us to stop trying to stop, advance, or backspace at all, in order to avoid the problems. This is especially frustrating when the Forward key stops working about 15 minutes into a 4-hour recording.) [Incidentally, this was occurring under Vista too, before I upgraded to Win7, and I did a clean install of Win7.] This particular problem is playing havoc with the WAF.
This is in fact the most pressing of the 4 problems listed in this email, but I mention PROBLEM 1 above first because the log-file documentation is so clear and I'm hoping that is related to this problem. If I can get some log-file evidence of this problem, though, I'll post it separately.


PROBLEM 3:

I've seen instances where the MPG file is complete, say a 60-minute recording, yet the time-bar on GBPVR says the recording is 48 minutes. (I'm not doing removal of commercials.) Yet, the entire recording plays, and in fact the little up-arrow 'current-location-pointer' runs way past to the right of the green bar. (I.e., it's essentially saying it played for 60 minutes, thought the green progress bar only represents 48 minutes of length.) Also, Windows Media Player essentially does the same thing in playing this file (says it's 48 minutes, yet plays 60 minutes, and well after the progress bar has completed), so it's something about the recording that is wrong or misleading.
The Hauppauge driver is version 2.0.48.25037

What could cause this? [This all looks silly but in itself doesn't cause us particular hassles, but could it be related to any of the other problems?]


PROBLEM 4:

Sound can get out of synch with video by 1-2 seconds, sometimes perhaps as much as 3-4 seconds. I know that used to be alleged to be a driver issue, but I infer from some comments I read on the forum that any of the Win7 Hauppauge drivers are fine. Is that true? Or is there some particular driver I should be using? (Also, there was a registry patch, that I gather is also unnecessary in Win7. True?


Help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Bob

I'm starting to get a no tuners available message trying to watch via a pc client. Interestingly this only applies to ctrl+pfrom the guide, but not to 'live tv' from the main menu even though it should be effectively the same thing. Record, then play is also unaffected.

Recording service error on the server....

2010-06-29 20:29:44.765 ERROR [7] Error starting live tv recording: GBPVR.Backend.Common.GbpvrException: Failed to locate configured capture device
at NativeUtilities.ConexantRecorder.StartRecording(String cardType, ConexantRecordSource recordingSource, Int32 qualitySetting, Int32 board, String filename, Int32 channel, Int32 countryCode, Int32 tuningType, Boolean useStreamingEngineIfAvailable, Boolean previewMode, Boolean fmRadioMode, Boolean fmRadioPreviewMode)
at GBPVR.Backend.Common.DirectRecordingSource.startRecording(IRecordingSourceConfiguration config, Int32 qualitySetting, String filename, ChannelTuning channelTuning, Int32 minutes, Boolean useStreamingEngineIfAvailable)
at GBPVR.RecordingService.x93f60a55016d55c4.x394caf1b3184110c(Int32 x70cd72e44179c0c2, Boolean x03f525c749695de4, Int32 x164f120fb8d3ddc7, String& x8b1d9e3189e6e73d, Int32& x73dd716c35ea457b)