v0.97.7 Survival Guide

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I've made this sticky (closed) thread to post useful information about problems that may arrise, or to get useful tips out there. I'll add more information to this thread as we start to get feedback from this new release. If anyone has info they feel should be included here, please PM me.

Some important first comments though...

Installing v0.97.7

As always, its recommended that you backup your config.xml and gbpvr.mdb files if you're upgrading from a previous release.

This release requires .NET 2.0 to be installed. You must install this before upgrading. You can get it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detai...laylang=en

I recommend switching back to the default Blue skin until your skin of choice has been updated for compatibility with this new release.

If you encounter problems with anything starting, I recommend the first thing you try is temporarily removing the DLLs from the c:\programfiles\devnz\gbpvr\plugin directory. Some of the original .net 1.1 plugins work fine, but some other will need to updated by their respective authors. Dont just ignore this paragraph - this has resolved most issues that have popped up with v0.97.7.

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Known plugins needing updates from previous versions for compatibility with v0.97.7 and .NET 2.0

There has been alot of changes in the release, and this has broken some plugins. If you've upgraded from a previous release, and running any of the following, then you'll need to apply updates to get them fully working.

The recording plugins (WDM Software Encoder, External Recorder, Dbox Recorder plugin and SkyStar2 Recorder plugin) all needed a minor change. The authors are aware of this, and have had access to a pre-release version of GB-PVR so they can provide the necessary updates. Updated versions should be posted some time soon.

Updated DboxRecorder plugin: http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Plugin/DboxRecorder

System Status plugin has been updated here: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post111457

Video Archive plugin has been updated here: http://forums.gbpvr.com/showthread.p...528#post111528

UbuStream plugin will work fine with 97.7 in "list mode" but that "channel mode" will be broken until a 97.7-compliant release of the External Recorder plugin is available (mentioned above). This should hopefully be soon.

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Comskip bug and workaround

I just noticed that this version is not using the comskip.txt files. The onscreen display doesn't show them and the skip by pressing play does not work.

Ah, right you are. Sorry, I missed that one.

I've fixed the problem for the next release. For the meantime though, I've attached a patch that will give you this functionality back.

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SQLite...
This version of GB-PVR gives you the option to move away from using the MS Access database. Access had a few problems that were proving a real pain in the arse (infinitely growing, commited changes not being written to disk for some time mean data changes would not appear immediately (deleting recordings etc)). While its likely that several different types of database could be used, the SQLite is my preferred option, and I've included everything you'll need to use SQLite.

How do you switch databases? Run the ChangeDatabase.exe utility installed with GB-PVR.

How can I view/edit data in the database? I encourage people to not manually change the database, but if you really feel the need to have a poke around, SQLiteSpy from http://www.zeitungsjunge.de/delphi/sqlitespy/index.htm is pretty good.

Another good one is SQLite Administrator http://sqliteadmin.orbmu2k.de/

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PVR350 TV Out not working
The tv out feature of the PVR350 has not been actively supported for about a year, but has luckily continued to function over this time...until now. It seems something in this release finally broken compatibility with this device. I think this is timely reminder for you people that are still using this feature, that it is time to find a new tv out device.

This device produced a great picture, but it was a dead end product that had some serious problems and limitations. After spending the first year and half of the GB-PVR butting my head against these, I decided it wasnt worth wasting any more time focusing on these issues.

...that said, the attached patch will get your tv out working again.

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Getting an error message when starting GB-PVR.
If you're getting an error like that shown below when you start GB-PVR, then try disabling the 'Use direct access to Hauppauge remote' setting on the misc tab of the config app. It seems this doesnt like being enabled if the Hauppauge IR DLLs are not installed.

This setting was only intended to be used by PVR250 and PVR350 users, and only if the Hauppauge IR software was installed. The old version of .NET did not complain if these Hauppauge DLLs were not present, the new one doesnt like it.

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DVD Playback locking up
Some users have had a problem with DVD playback locking up. I'm not sure why it was only affecting some users, but it was having problems querying the DVD for the name of the volume.

The patch to correct this can be found here: http://forums.gbpvr.com/showpost.php?p=1...stcount=24

You should have you navigator set to 'DVD Navigator' and your audio/video decoders set to the decoders you prefer to use.

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Recording service crashing
The are a couple of known things that can cause the Recording Service to crash.

1) NOD32, Panda Antivirus and Net Limiter are known to be incompatible with .NET 2.0 Remoting, which is used by GB-PVR. If any of these apps are installed on your machine, they will cause the Recording Service crash, so they may need to be uninstalled before installing this update. Its possible you may just be able to set an exclusion of the GBPVRRecordingService.exe process - but this hasnt been tested yet.

2) Having an 'existing but empty' or bad PostProcessing.bat/ParallelProcessing.bat/UpdateEPG.bat/PostUpdateEPG.bat file could cause the recording service to crash. This is a difference in behaviour between .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0 that was not picked up in my testing. The next build protects against this sort of problem.


EDIT: Net Limiter Update - If you're using v1.3 of Net Limiter, you're in luck. Normanr, has rolled his sleeves up and got in there with disassembler and hex editor and provided a patch for Net Limiter that corrents the problem. You can find the patch and brief description here: http://norman.rasmussen.co.za/100/net-li...ion-patch/

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Problems with MVP
If you're having problems booting your MVP, or problems with it showing a black screen when you attempt to watch video after the MVP has been in standby, then you can find a patch here: http://forums.gbpvr.com/showpost.php?p=1...stcount=78