Recordings via the IScheduleHelper API

[sub]

Trust me, I'm not trying to make life difficult for you. Unfortunately the stuff you've been asking for in this thread is very fringe, and unlikely to be of benefit to the majority of users here so its hard for me to justify spending alot of time on them. They may not seem like a lot of work, but I'm very cautious about any changes to either the API or build process due to the flow on effects it has to other stuff. I know from past experience its not pleasant if I break the dozens of plugins that depend on the API, or if I break the version upgrade/install procedure, so these types of changes have to come with a huge amount of testing.

I hope you understand.

[Ernie-c]

For sure I can understand your point of view, and I fully agree that these are not the exiting things your users are waiting for. On the other hand I think a great product as GBPVR, should give the needed support to other systems that are trying to communicate with it, and improve from the feedback that comes back from these systems. The easier this is, the more systems will want to use it. I don't know what system you use to do the builds, but I estimate that creating a (separate beta) setup with signed assemblies should take no more then 10 minutes. With this separate setup we can do all the testing needed. Just my opinion, up to you ...

[Ernie-c]

Hi,

My implementation is almost complete. I decided to copy my proxy assembly to the GB-PVR installation folder, since I cannot put it in the GAC. Not my preferred way of working, but it's a working solution.

A last thing I would like to find out is a way to know if GB-PVR is recording at this very moment.

[sub]

There isnt an API that would give you exactly that information, but you could call the IScheduleHelper.LoadRecordingSchedule() call, then iterate through the recordings and check the status of each. The only situation this would give inaccurate results is if the recording service wasnt running, but in a real setup this wouldnt occur often.

There is also a batch file that was called to let external processors be aware of these status of recording, but a batch file may not be well suited to what you're trying to achieve.

[Ernie-c]

There isnt an API that would give you exactly that information, but you could call the IScheduleHelper.LoadRecordingSchedule() call, then iterate through the recordings and check the status of each. The only situation this would give inaccurate results is if the recording service wasnt running, but in a real setup this wouldnt occur often.

I got it all up and running now. Time for end to end testing ;-) If anyone is interested in some beta testing when all is ready, send me a PM.
Thanks for all the information.

[Ernie-c]

Hi,
I successfully upgraded to the latest release (cool !), and my recorder still works perfectly except for one thing, the recorded file extension.
At first I had hardcoded this (to mpg), but after my new install, I had different BDA Multiplexer settings which resulted in different file recording formats, and so different file extensions. (.dvr-ms / .mpg / .ts)

Can I read this setting from somewhere, so I can construct the correct recorded filename in my recorder-scheduler ?

Thanks !

[sub]

This is nothing new. The mux filter has always dictated the file extension of the final file.

When you schedule a recording you just give it a file name without file extension or path. ie something like "Prison Break". The app fills in the rest when it does the recording based on the configured recording directory and mux etc.

[Ernie-c]

This is nothing new, I know, only how can I know afterwards what the extension was that the mux filter has determined ? I need this info to be able to store the full filename in my recordings database, and to allow the user to watch it afterwards.

[sub]

The filename will end up being stored in the database, and listed when you use the IScheduleHelper API to return the list of recordings.

[Ernie-c]

Hi,

We just released our Rule Based Scheduler on http://www.4therecord.eu
It allows you to schedule rule based recordings, and use (along others) GB-Pvr to record them ! check it out !

Regards