Some of the things I really want

[gregsmith]

GB-PVR is great. I use it every day to watch videos and listen to music off my hard drive.

Problem I have is that the signal around my area (UK Freeview) isn't that great. This isn't a problem as such, it's more the way GB-PVR handles certain things. There's some channels that come up in the scan but the signal is usually not good enough to show a picture. Instead of coming up with a message such as 'no signal', gb-pvr crashes and needs a restart when I try to go to these channels, meaning it's pointless me channel hopping. I could just disable these channels but from time to time when the conditions are right the signal is strong enough to view.

Also with some channels, such as E4, I can only get the +1 version (signal too bad on the standard). This isn't in the EPG so any scheduling I do is 1 hour off. I've tried contacting the BLEB person and he said he isn't going to write in +1 support and said that you should. BLEB is actually pretty out of date with the channels it lists with many missing. It would be great if gb-pvr supported a more up to date listing, if one exists.

It'd also be nice if the gb-pvr config was streamlined a bit. There's just so many options that most people just don't care about and it takes a day and an age for the config to launch. A scaled back version with a choice to go 'advanced' would be great.

Other than that the only other real issue I have is my remote doesn't work too well, although this isn't really anything to do with gb-pvr. It seems to emulate key strokes so I have it configured through HIP. It will often misinterperet the commands to mean something else which is very frustrating. Maybe I can change the timings in HIP to capture it better but it crashes if I mess with the settings too much as it's pretty buggy. Some sort of way for me to use my remote with gb-pvr without having to use HIP would be great.

Anyhow, these are the things I'm hoping to get out of a software PVR in 2007.

Keep up the good work.

[martint123]

XMLTVgui and the Radio Times XML listings are what I use. Work a treat.

http://www.birtles.org.uk/xmltv/

[gregsmith]

Thanks for the reply - How do I get this EGP 'into' gb-pvr?

[sub]

Problem I have is that the signal around my area (UK Freeview) isn't that great. This isn't a problem as such, it's more the way GB-PVR handles certain things. There's some channels that come up in the scan but the signal is usually not good enough to show a picture. Instead of coming up with a message such as 'no signal', gb-pvr crashes and needs a restart when I try to go to these channels, meaning it's pointless me channel hopping. I could just disable these channels but from time to time when the conditions are right the signal is strong enough to view.

That odd it crashes, for me I get a 'no signal' message when this happens. What does the crash look like? Is there an error message - if so, what exactly?

Also with some channels, such as E4, I can only get the +1 version (signal too bad on the standard). This isn't in the EPG so any scheduling I do is 1 hour off. I've tried contacting the BLEB person and he said he isn't going to write in +1 support and said that you should. BLEB is actually pretty out of date with the channels it lists with many missing. It would be great if gb-pvr supported a more up to date listing, if one exists.

I wont be adding functionality to support this UK-ism, just switch to Birtles XMLTV grabber, as mentioned by Martin above.

It'd also be nice if the gb-pvr config was streamlined a bit. There's just so many options that most people just don't care about and it takes a day and an age for the config to launch. A scaled back version would be great.

I'd actually already thought the Config app was only the minimal settings. Take a look in config.xml for the full set.

The default are pretty sensible and will work for most users, so initial config is usually only a matter of adding a capture source. The setting I've put in the config app are ones that I thought a significant number may want to change at some point. I know not all the settings apply to all the users, as those likely to be used vary from country to country.

Which ones would you remove?

Other than that the only other real issue I have is my remote doesn't work too well, although this isn't really anything to do with gb-pvr. It seems to emulate key strokes so I have it configured through HIP. It will often misinterperet the commands to mean something else which is very frustrating. Maybe I can change the timings in HIP to capture it better but it crashes if I mess with the settings too much as it's pretty buggy. Some sort of way for me to use my remote with gb-pvr without having to use HIP would be great.

It really depends on what remote you're using. You shouldnt need to use HIP with common remotes like the Hauppauge or MCE remotes. I use a couple of MCE remotes on my main machines, and all I do is set the remote type to 'MCE Remote' in the config app.

[sub]

Thanks for the reply - How do I get this EGP 'into' gb-pvr?

You set the capture source's Epg Source to use the XMLTV option, and browse to the .xml file this grabber generates.

[gregsmith]

I've just upgraded to the newest version (0.99.5) and the config seems to show up a lot quicker. I guess it just seems bloated at first glance but looking through it is pretty minimal really. I guess I need to start messing with the xml files and setting up gb-pvr how I want it.

As for the crash, it just takes ages to go to that channel and then seems to be unresponsive until I restart the app. After further investigation, it does seem to come up with the no signal message sometimes after a wait of a few minutes. I just got a message saying 'temporal scalability not supported' or something. The whole live tv section is very slow on my machine - maybe it's the video decoder I'm using or something. I'm on a twinhan Magicbox Pro using the default video decoder on my machine. I've tried some of the other decoder options with no difference. Is there a particularly solid one for tv that I can download from somewhere? I've got the nero one installed and the k-lite mega codec pack.

The remote I'm using is the one that came free with the twinhan magicbox pro which simply seems to emulate keystrokes. I've just discovered most of the buttons work with GB-PVR with or without hip, as long as GB-PVR is selected on the taskbar. I have hip configured so the hip OSD comes up when I press the power button on my remote. I then select GB-PVR as the current application to bring it to the forefront, if it isn't already. Would be great if GB-PVR could have a user definable command key to bring it to the forefront if another window is selected, although I understand this is quite a particular request. Similarly some sort of training mode for key combinations would be good along the same lines.

I realise that some of what I'm asking for is probably outside of the scope for this program. Thanks for listening.

[sub]

As for the crash, it just takes ages to go to that channel and then seems to be unresponsive until I restart the app. After further investigation, it does seem to come up with the no signal message sometimes after a wait of a few minutes. I just got a message saying 'temporal scalability not supported' or something. The whole live tv section is very slow on my machine - maybe it's the video decoder I'm using or something. I'm on a twinhan Magicbox Pro using the default video decoder on my machine. I've tried some of the other decoder options with no difference. Is there a particularly solid one for tv that I can download from somewhere? I've got the nero one installed and the k-lite mega codec pack.

What spec is the CPU in your machine?

One thing to be aware of though is that only the 'VMR9 Custom' and 'Overlay' video renderers are able to update the screen without playing video, so these are the only video renderers that will allow you to see the 'no signal' message. VMR9 and VMR7 need to be playing video to update the display, so if there is no signal then there is no video playing, so no message like this.

The remote I'm using is the one that came free with the twinhan magicbox pro which simply seems to emulate keystrokes. I've just discovered most of the buttons work with GB-PVR with or without hip, as long as GB-PVR is selected on the taskbar. I have hip configured so the hip OSD comes up when I press the power button on my remote. I then select GB-PVR as the current application to bring it to the forefront, if it isn't already. Would be great if GB-PVR could have a user definable command key to bring it to the forefront if another window is selected, although I understand this is quite a particular request. Similarly some sort of training mode for key combinations would be good along the same lines.

Ah, sorry I dont support that remote - so not really anything I can help with there. You'd probably need to stick with HIP for this one.

[gregsmith]

My CPU is a P4 Northwood 2.8 with HT so should be plenty good enough.
The XMLTV plugin is updating now so should be sorted soon then I can test livetv with the new settings. I'll let you know how I get on.

It's a shame you can't support my remote as you'd also be supporting many other remotes that emulate key presses and it would be helpful for people that may want to use a keyboard with gb-pvr in their own way.
Can you recommend an MCE remote to me? I want one with as many features as poss - especially if it's possible to get one with a trackball or 'mouse nipple' (like the ones found on laptops). There seem to be a lot out there. I've no idea what makes one good or bad.

Thanks for the fantastic support.

EDIT:
I rushed xmltv to get a few channels done. With either the overlay manager or vmr9 custom renderer it is really nice and smooth but only on the primary monitor. I want to run on the secondary monitor which is all jerky and weird - the playback is fine on standard vmr 9 but then I have the issue of some channels going slow or crashing and not letting me go up a channel. I've had the same problem with mediaportal and some others so I'm guessing this is down to the same directx problem. Shame it's such a hassle just to get SD tv running on a PC.

[sub]

Yeah, dont use 'VMR9 Custom' on the second monitor. The reason is because it the DirectX accelleration offered by most (all?) video cards is only available on the primary monitor. When you try to use it on the second monitor behind the scenes it ends up drawing to some virtual buffer in memory, then doing a slow copy of the buffer to the second monitor, which results in really rough ugly video...so short sort - yeah, a directx problem.

Overlay should work better.

Shame it's such a hassle just to get SD tv running on a PC.

It works great for me, but then I'm the TV is my primary monitor.

For future reference, its better to make a new post rather than edit an old one. It was only through luck I saw your update. Normally I wouldnt have seen the notification of a new post so wouldnt have look here again.

[mikaelgu]

It's a shame you can't support my remote as you'd also be supporting many other remotes that emulate key presses and it would be helpful for people that may want to use a keyboard with gb-pvr in their own way.
Can you recommend an MCE remote to me? I want one with as many features as poss - especially if it's possible to get one with a trackball or 'mouse nipple' (like the ones found on laptops). There seem to be a lot out there. I've no idea what makes one good or bad.

SoundGraph makes some nice remotes intended for use in HTPCs. Infact some major manufacturers use their remotes in their HTPC cases.
You have choises ranging from a basic external receiver to one with a nice VFD display and ability to turn the PC on with the remote. They even have 2.4 GHz radio frequency remotes but IMHO the remotes look to have a few to few buttons to be really useful.
Personally I have the iMON Inside and I've loved it from the beginning. It's a bit of a pain in the a** to set up a new software into it, but once that's done it's all good. I can control EVERY aspect of my PC with the remote (although using a mouse every now and then is alot easier than the pad on the remote).