98.8 client troubles

[gkreis]

I found the problem with the missing dlls. Turns out GBPVR tried to load them and they weren't in the system 32 folder.

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/319912.html

I moved them there and it loaded. Now when I try to play a recording it doesn't move from the popup window where I select play. I can right click on the mouse to make it go back to the menus. I mapped my video library to the server and I can play movies from my local laptop or from the server this way.

Hmm... it sounds like the SQLite database is being accessed, but the file it refers gbpvr to is not being found? This leads me to wonder if this is basically what GBPVR acting like a client is all about. That it shows the recordings database and then once the mpg file is identified, is it really any different than selecting it from the video library at that point?

[sub]

ad2mcmpgdec.dll and ad2mpegin.dll are not GB-PVR files. They sounds like the part of some Directshow decoders you've got installed on your machine, there werent setup correctly to be able to find its own files.

Hmm... it sounds like the SQLite database is being accessed, but the file it refers gbpvr to is not being found? This leads me to wonder if this is basically what GBPVR acting like a client is all about. That it shows the recordings database and then once the mpg file is identified, is it really any different than selecting it from the video library at that point?

I dont understand what you're trying to ask/say.

[gkreis]

ad2mcmpgdec.dll and ad2mpegin.dll are not GB-PVR files. They sounds like the part of some Directshow decoders you've got installed on your machine, there werent setup correctly to be able to find its own files.

It didn't surprise me to find that Adobe was the culprit. I tolerate Adobe's software. It always seems to be unusual in how it operates, compared to other Windows software.

I dont understand what you're trying to ask/say.

Between the web admin interface and the ability to play movies via the library menu, it seems like PC Client mode doesn't really change much about the way I have used gbpvr (I don't watch live TV, etc.). I was just wondering out loud if there is something that I am missing.

[gkreis]

BTW, when if I am trying to troubleshoot a problem when in PC Client mode, will there be any log files on the server that I will need to monitor or will they all be being updated on the client?

[sub]

There are logs on both the client and the server. It depends what you're doing as to which is most relevant.

[sub]

Between the web admin interface and the ability to play movies via the library menu, it seems like PC Client mode doesn't really change much about the way I have used gbpvr (I don't watch live TV, etc.). I was just wondering out loud if there is something that I am missing.

It mainly adds the ability view the tv guide, schedule recordings, watch live tv, view the recordings screen, watch recordings that are in progress etc from another machine somewhere in the house - all from the confort of your remote control on the couch/bed etc.

If you're happy to just play files from the video library, and scheduling via the web admin, then there is nothing to stop you from doing this. Personally this would drive me nuts... (and would have zero WAF here)

These changes also brought some changes to reduce bandwidth requirements etc while playing files from remote machines, so you may be benefiting from the client/server changes even if you're just watching from the video library.

[gkreis]

It mainly adds the ability view the tv guide, schedule recordings, watch live tv, view the recordings screen, watch recordings that are in progress etc from another machine somewhere in the house - all from the confort of your remote control on the couch/bed etc.

I installed .98.13 on the server and now it works better with .98.13 on my laptop as the PC Client. I wasn't sure if I had to have both versions the same. I guess we should make that a rule, just to be in the safe side going forward?

Having played with it more, I see your point. It is acting like the face of the server with all the features working as if the client was the server machine.

If you're happy to just play files from the video library, and scheduling via the web admin, then there is nothing to stop you from doing this. Personally this would drive me nuts... (and would have zero WAF here)

This is just what I started doing early on with gbpvr. The web admin is so handy to schedule recordings from anywhere and the features in the recent versions are awesome and some aren't in the gbpvr interface (from what I can tell).

I have always used the Recordings menu from gbpvr (except when my SQL got screwed up and I had to play them from Video Library). What I meant earlier about using Video Library was when I installed gbpvr on a remote PC and then used the Video Library mappings to the server PC. I guess I was using it as a 'PC client' the hard way before the PC Client feature was added. I did all of that because VLC couldn't understand the lovely commercial skipping info that gbpvr handles beautifully.

These changes also brought some changes to reduce bandwidth requirements etc while playing files from remote machines, so you may be benefiting from the client/server changes even if you're just watching from the video library.

That explains it. Thanks! Watching movies on the server today via the video library mapping on the client PC was very snappy and didn't skip or stutter. The timeline display also works as expected and skips commercials well.

When I tried playing the same Simpson episode via the Recordings menu (using PC Client) the time line grew (from 32 min to over 45 as it played - I don't think this happened just because it was a Halloween episode ;-) and the gaps for commercial skipping changed and were then out of sync with the movie. Also, the Ctrl-left and right arrows were very, very slow to jump forward or back, whereas they were much quicker when playing via the Video Library.

I take this to mean they are using different mechanisms to play the movies. At this point, Video Library playing rocks though it is more convenient to start the movies from Recording - I'll check it out in later versions.