I got a bit frustrated with programming for the PCH so I decided to put a few hours into something I know better. These include some nice (I think) updates:
1. Real FLAC Support in GB-PVR
Now instead of transcoding all non-mp3 files to mp3 for playing on the mvp, emulation mode can accept FLAC format as input. This means that FLAC files on the host will stay FLAC (although they still will be de-compressed and re-compressed until sub makes a change, but for me it is now low priority). This is enabled with this command line --em-flac option and with this additional change in config.xml
It does mean all your vorbis, wma and other non-mp3 files will also be sent in FLAC format but you should expect better quality since you aren't converting using two lossy formats.
2. Access Control (sort of)
Emulation mode will open a file called control.txt in your mvpmc share and if the line in the file matches the short name of the real file or directory the Video file won't play unless you opened it with Go Play. I might add a PIN but this might be enough to keep some away. Kids don't read this forum do they?
For example to block access to all files in C:\Recordings\Sex & The City you would add a line something like
C:\RECORD~1\SEX&TH~1\
The format is case sensitive (for folder names 8 characters and less) and you can find the short names from the command line via the DIR /X option. Again you can filter files, folders or both.
I say "sort of" because there will be oddities on files if you have resume mode on, because the file starts streaming with the pop up before emulation mode tells it too.
3. PCH Server Access
Access to the PCH Server demo is now turned off by default, but it can be re-enabled with the --em-pch option (it's not really emulation mode but why be picky?).
When playing back Xvid/divx files (haven't tried with other formats) and I push the << and >> buttons, I get the playback skipping in the wrong direction. For example, if I'm watching a show and push >>, it will skip backward like 15sec or so. This happens more often while the show is still transcoding. Has anyone else noticed this?
I will try to reproduce it and attach some logs...just wondering if it is a common problem.
So, I was walking around Circuit City today and noticed they had a better deal on the Gyration remote and keyboard then Newegg did. $130 vs. $175. So I stopped to check it out. Then I noticed (I'm sure many people know this already) that the remote can also be used as a mouse. I thought that was kind of a cool feature. So, I dropped a bunch of cash on a new keyboard and remote. My PC that runs MCE is down right now. Should this work with GBPVR on my other PC?
I have been trying to get my video playback quality to match my tv tuner with no luck. I have a pvr 150 and Hvr 1600 with allendale 4500 and x1650 512 mb video card with 1 gig ram and connect to the tv with svideo. I had thought my fuzzy, blocky playback was a result of my cards not having as good a tuner as my tv until i tried using VLC. I get great picture quality with VLC so I started experimenting. I get good picture quality with overlay in GB-PVR but the same poor picture when using VMR 9 or EVR in GB-PVR and PVRX2. I've tried numerous video codecs and the picture doesn't really change . Is there something I'm doing wrong? I can record with PVRX2 and the picture is poor with analogue capture when played back in PVRX2 but much better played back with VLC. I have no problem with playback of digital and HD shows and captures. I use DVR-MS for these and they look great.
I have got audio spikes in my recordings with GBPVR (I hear them as squeeks, pitch goes up). I have the following setup ProgDVB->DVBSBridge->GBPVR.
I tried al lot of combo's Mux/audio decoders etc. As last resort I was wondering If I could use ffdshow for filtering out the noise spikes. I see that ffdshow is being used while playing back the file or live tv. But I need it while recording because the audio spikes are in the recording itself (I checked with an other player).
Does anyone have an idee of how to get rid of those audio spikes (squeeks). They are very irritating while watching an recording!
Hi, I have been struggling with the setup of my GBPVR server machine and was after a bit of help.
After reading the hardware cards section on the wiki, I bought the following
1 x TerraTec 2400i (Dual DVB-T using PCI express) and 1 x Pinnacle PCTV DVB-T Dual PCI.
Now I am stuggling to get them working. Even just one of the cards working would be good.
It is running on an AMD Athon 3700+ (2.2GHz) with 2Gb RAM and Windows XP MCE 2005.
Any and all help would be appreciated.
TIA
Rich P...
GB-PVR user Hairy has taken the time to develop a new theme, and has provided it to be included in the Community skin. For some preliminary screen shots see these threads.
I really like this theme and want to see what others think about it. I think it is good enough to be the new default (with Hairy's premission). He provided some alterations to some of the xml's (OSD, Recordings, 8 Channel Guide and a TV guide popup).
I tweaked the popup and some of his original submissions to make it work with other plugins better, and would like to hear some feedback on those willing to test this theme.
This theme is included in the installer only, and cannot be selected using the SkinPlugin until I include it in the SkinPlugin update. I would like to find any formatting issues before I roll out the official release maybe next weekend (I am going out of town after that for about a week.)
This is the link to download it. I have ran thought this on several screens. I imagine some things need tweaking, so please post any suggestions and screenshots.
Note: for the TV Guide you must have channel icons to see the channels, you can use the skinplugin to select a new TV Guide format to get around this until I fix it.
"Fossie: With DVT-T, you will be able to watch as many channels as are on a mux, at the same time. eg. The TVNZ mux, you can be recording tv 1, tv2, tvnz 6 and watching tvnz 7. With just the one tuner.
and
Is there anything out there apart from Media Portal that can do this yet? I know it was in the works for MythTV and I heard sub was working on it for GB-PVR but I haven't read anything officially".
Is this going to happen, sub? Sounds too good to be true!
Hi all, I'm new to GB-PVR and looking foreward to using it. Unfortunatly I've come accross some complications that I can't find resolutions for on the Wiki.
#1) I'm looking to get free EPG listings, I've tried using MSN_XMLTV_scraper but I can't seem to make the listings show with gbpvr. All I see is no info in all fields.
#2) When I view live tv, it's not alligned on my screen properely. If I were watching a LTBX movie, I would see the picture at the very top of the screen (no top black bar) and black bar underneith it, with static under the bar. If I pause the tv and resume, it works fine, but does this until I hit pause. Also colour is effected, colours are off, but corrected after I have paused the Show.
#3) Not sure how to set up Channel Changer plugin. Remote works fine, but not sure where to point this too. system specs are as follows:
Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3200 (through s-vid)
Hauppage pvr-150 (retail w/45 button remote & IR-Blaster)
windows XP
Glad to become part of the comunity and hope I can get some assistance.
This is off topic for GBPVR support but I am wondering what people are using for a web browsers on their LCD TVs. Internet Explorer in it's native form is too hard to see from a distance. I know there are variants of IE and Firefox and I am wondering if perhaps someone has put together a browser that works well on the LCD TV. Anyone have suggestions? Google search hasn't yielded any results.
