MVP flexibility questions

[techjinx]

I have a few questions about what the MVP is capable of when combined with GBPVR. As the MVP is effectively acting as a dumb terminal for the GBPVR, I think, is there theoretically no limit to what can be pushed through, (Home network bandwidth allowing)?

I am specifically thinking of:
1) Internet browsing - can GBPVR just "push" an IE or, preferably, Firefox browser in a plugin - (I have mine in the lounge with the computer tucked away in an upsairs bedroom connected via 85mbps homeplugs and internet functionality would be great)
2) Playback Programs - as the only natively supported video format is Mpeg1/2 can the host system not simply run something like Media Player classic/Itunes and display the result on the MVP screen.

If I am fundamentally not understanding the MVP-GBPVR relationship then I apologise but could someone explain why such tasks are not possible? Is it just that no one has attempted these plugins yet?

[melearp]

The issue is that the MVP is essentially running Unix, or more accurately the dongle.bin is a unix image which is pushed to the box at boot time. Now, if you can be bothered to make a unix image with all the stuff you need then you could do most things. But there are other constraints, like the hardware decoders and stuff (which I know nothing about). I don't think that there is a way of incrementally loading stuff unless of course you put that in your image in the first place, but then you are bound to hit memory constraints (no disk to page).

So the answer is "theoretically maybe" but practically "not this side of the next millenium" and by that time you won't need it because everything will be in the chip in your head.

[techjinx]

"not this side of the next millenium" and by that time you won't need it because everything will be in the chip in your head.

Dammit! If the chip in my head starts being able to show Prison Break & Lost on demand I'll get even less done at work :eek:

on a more serious note, (and probably admirably demostrating my technical knowledge black hole in this area), how are other "live update" images pushed through (such as weather/stocks etc) and why can't this be done for a web browser?

[jbyram2]

As I understand it, the MVP can do three or four things:

Display still images

Decode and display streamed mpeg-2 movies (with overlays)

Decode and play streamed MP3 audio. (with still images)

Send remote control codes back to the server

IF there was a GBPVR plug-in that could display and navigate web pages, I think the MVP could display them. Ugly maybe, because of the TV resolution, slow because of the lag time issues, but it could work.

Video/audio needs to be transcoded into something the MVP can handle, then streamed out to it. Since decoding is done with hardware, there isn't a patch or modified dongle.bin that would it help do much more.

[martint123]

View but not really browse http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Plugin/WebViewer

[melearp]

jbyram2 is correct with the dongles that we all use. As martint123 points out a viewer is possible (it exists) and a browser could possibly be developed but this then stretches the technology to its limit because of the back and forth of the protocol.
As for the second part of techjinx's post, "simply" is not in it. Something would have to catch the output of the chosen player and convert it to MPEG2 (or MP3) on the fly. This doesn't seem worth it if the file already exists. There are "on the fly" converters already in the toolkit.

[mvallevand]

I have a few questions about what the MVP is capable of when combined with GBPVR. As the MVP is effectively acting as a dumb terminal for the GBPVR, I think, is there theoretically no limit to what can be pushed through, (Home network bandwidth allowing)?

You have the fundamentals right there really is a lot of power with GB-PVR, the MVP and the creativity of sub and other good plugin developers that you can't get with other combinations but there are are few issues with what you are hoping for.

1 "Pushing" Internet browsing is possible but the experience at 640 x 480 on a TV is pretty disappointing and the experience with using the remote is probably not as good as you imagine. You can get an idea for yourself today using the mvpmc dongle and a program called VNC. Plus VNC performance, with video, flash or other animation is awful.

2. Continuing your idea even if you could move the video screen captures fast enough there still is a problem with audio. The analogue sound card output would need to be captured, digitized, and streamed back to the MVP in a format it can decode.

Basically GB-PVR is doing both of these for you, working around the problems and keeping everything digital.

As for the suggestion of doing a lot more on the MVP that just isnt possible. not because of *nix, but because the computer processor inside the MVP isn't really powerful enough for a/v because te actually processing of mpeg a/v is done in dedicated hardware not using the cpu. As an idea of what this means I'm worked with FLAC for lossless audio on the MVP but the processor will be running at 40% utilization so I can't imagine what video or more complex audio would do. I imagine it would be like rewinding 10 years when mp3 players couldn't play an mp3 without stuttering and mpeg 2 was an impossible dream.

Finally and this is something I forget myself since I don't have the technology, you just can't put a TV card on the MVP.

Martin