Fastest way into (and out of) N-PVR using a PCH A-110?

[zaldwaik]

For what it is worth, I never use standby because the only thing it does is turn the TV signal off, but no power saving.

I usually leave it on, or turn it completely off (there is a documented really-off remote command not mapped to the remote that you can use with a programmable remote).

After boot, it defaults to a share I have with a simple index page, first icon is nmt. The NMT part takes between 5-10 seconds, depending on the what the server is doing. I know a splash page is not possible, but it would be a great alternative to a blank screen.

[bgowland]

For non-PCH users who might think that slowness is a serious problem, this conversation is about saving a few second. From the standby power on NPVR on my machine to NPVR on screen is about five seconds and 3 remote keystrokes including the Power key (Power - Blue - 1) and most of that time in NPVR loading.

Yes, just to confirm what Martin is saying here, the time to start a PCH into npvr isn't a major problem - it just has a couple of extra steps that using an MVP doesn't have. My original question is simply because I believe if a process (or part of it) can be automated then 'do it'. I drive an auto car because I don't see the need to manually change gear myself if a machine can do it for me.

...having thought the only difference I can think of between the way I have mine setup & you & bgowland have yours setup up is possibly that I don't have a password on my share??

No, the password isn't a problem - I think the variation I saw when first trying was probably because I was poking around with things (editing scripts, swapping them around between tests).

Just to update you and Martin on what I'm seeing now...

From standby, I press 'Power' on the PCH remote then almost immediately I briefly see the PCH Home screen followed immediately by the box showing "Press ENTER to STOP N-PVR loading". After 2 seconds (I tweaked the time-out) my screen goes black and then perhaps 4-5 seconds later I'm at the N-PVR Home screen - slightly longer than Martin has to wait but my machine being pretty old and a bit slow these days might explain that.

To exit, I hit 'Power' on the remote and then hit it again as soon as I see the PCH 'clapper-board' image to put the PCH into standby.

So all-in, a slightly smoother process in and out which I'm happy with. Thanks to all for the help/comments.

Cheers,
Brian

[Jaggy]

Yep that's how it should work from standby & it won't take long for you to just forget about it & when you want to use NextPVR just hit the power button on the TV & then the power button for the NMT & by the time the TV is ready so is NextPVR. (I think the slower to load NextPVR has more to do with the particular TV than the server speed from what I have observed).

I have now uploaded the multi-server autostart scripts & also add the other useful tips like using a different remote etc. to the wiki. (now just to do the USB scripts that I never did get around to doing for the old wiki)

[mvallevand]

I usually leave it on, or turn it completely off (there is a documented really-off remote command not mapped to the remote that you can use with a programmable remote).

When I tested with a killowatt tester I found most of the drain is with the AC adapter, so unless you remove it entirely or are plugged into a power bar that you turn off and that doesn't impose a load itself, you probably aren't going to see a lot of savings.

I was actually planning on making mvpmcx2 more like mvpmc with a control menu but Jaggy's menu does exactly the same thing. If I don't exit from his menu, and power off I think restart is faster then with mvpmc. I'm glad we had this discussion too because I was able to fix a small problem that occurs on power off from time to time.

As Jaggy mentioned the monitor does make a difference. Component and composite/svideo are faster because they don't go through the HDMI hotplug process.

Martin

[bgowland]

(now just to do the USB scripts that I never did get around to doing for the old wiki)

I'll look out for those - it will be interesting to see how they work.

As Jaggy mentioned the monitor does make a difference. Component and composite/svideo are faster because they don't go through the HDMI hotplug process.

Yes, I think that's the next thing to look at. Part of the 'black screen' stage includes my TV flashing up info boxes which appear to be part of it trying to work out things like screen resolution and refresh rate etc. I'm fairly certain I've got a composite cable that I can try...now all I need to do is remember where I put it.

[jksmurf]

I'm glad you folks had this discussion, I thought it was just me and my auto-load scripts ...
Martin, I do have the IP in the script, but do you mean the script, or in the Share name in the Box itself?
I might go back to component, I didn't realise part of it was hunting around for HDMI....

[bgowland]

I do have the IP in the script, but do you mean the script, or in the Share name in the Box itself?

I wasn't clear at first but Martin's comment mentioned the SMB path so relates to the share on the PCH itself. This makes sense for speeding things up slightly because it means it doesn't have to do a name resolution in order to connect to the server at start up. I've also put the numeric address in the htm and cgi files as well though just to be sure.