LED status monitor

[betlit]

I use the recordingstatus.bat-file and the prog betlit wrote and my LED status monitor works great - it consumes no CPU power and does not prevent my machine from hibernating. Thank you!

So *I am satisfied* with that [...]

nice to hear :-)

* The green led should not appear before the gbpvr frontend. Originally I wanted the led to indicate that my "Mr. Data" can be used. At the moment, the green led appears too early (30 seconds)

hmm... at the moment paraled.exe just checks if a gbpvr.exe is running... so an additional check if the gbpvr.exe is currently displaying the 'updating epg'-window or something similar is needed. i will look into this.

* The green led should disappear when the gbpvr frontend disappeares on preparation to hibernate to indicate that gbpvr cannot be used any more.

k. i will hook up paraled.exe to the 'PBT_APMSUSPEND'-WindowsMessage (broadcasted to all apps before the compy goes down to hibernation) and shut the LED off.

i try to spend a little time on this today (>= 20 o'clock GMT+1) *gg*

have fun

daniel/betlit

[betlit]

bonsoir!

i changed paraLED.exe and added alex' two suggestions:

- paraLED does not look for a running gbpvr.exe anymore. it checks if there is a window called 'GB-PVR'. meaning gbpvr.exe -onlyupdatepg is not mistaken for a gb-pvr 'frontend' anymore.

- when paraLED gets the WM_POWERBROADCAST windows message (wparam PBT_APMSUSPEND) it stops the gbpvr-check and shuts the according LED off.
when the compy resumes from hibernation, another WM_POWERBROADCAST message (wparam PBT_APMRESUMESUSPEND) is sent and paraLED begins to check vor gbpvr again.

works without problem on my machine (asus board, win xp). however: when powered up, the data pins are set to high on my asus board for about 5-10 seconds. then windows begins to load and the pin goes low. after about 5 more seconds it is set to high again for a couple of seconds until windows loaded the whole content of the hibernation-file, my app reacts and shuts the LED off again. *g*

[edit]here's a link to the post with the zip-file attached, so you don't have to search through the entire thread: http://forums.gbpvr.com/showpost.php?p=4...stcount=39

[alex060670]

@betlit

Wow, that was fast

I will try tonight...

Alex

[alex060670]

Ok, here are my experiences:

PERFECT!

(Except for the fact that it does not work for the very first time the app is called, i.e. after rebooting. But after booting, when the app is running and the machine does only hibernate/wake-up it works perfectly.)

Now I am ready for the next step - can anybody try to inform me how to use PVRPowerTray together with betlit's last revision of the LED status monitor? Do I only have to replace PVRTray with PVRPowerTray? Do I need betlit's software anymore or is PVRPowerTray doing all the job?

Greetings, Alex

[betlit]

PERFECT!
(Except for the fact that it does not work for the very first time the app is called, i.e. after rebooting. But after booting, when the app is running and the machine does only hibernate/wake-up it works perfectly.)

could you be a bit more specific? the app is not started until the recording status changes. in your case you would have to place a shortcut in autostart or in the registry. i should have mentioned that in the readme

can anybody try to inform me how to use PVRPowerTray together with betlit's last revision of the LED status monitor? Do I only have to replace PVRTray with PVRPowerTray? Do I need betlit's software anymore or is PVRPowerTray doing all the job?

Yes, PVRPowerTray is a replacement for PVRTray. just replace the shortcut in the startup-folder of the start menu with one pointing to PVRPowerTray.

PVRPowerTray does everything ParaLED does (well, it does a lot more) . so, if you use PVRPowerTray, you wont need paraLED anymore...
in fact, you wont be able to use both at the same time... they both would try to reserve the parallel port and would report an error.. or maybe overwrite each others data sent to the port.
but: if i'm not mistaken, so far PVRPowerTray 'only' uses the LEDs on the parallel port to show the recording status of the tuners. so you wont have an indication if gbpvr is running.

you do not have to change something on the hardware part.

[alex060670]

could you be a bit more specific? the app is not started until the recording status changes. in your case you would have to place a shortcut in autostart or in the registry. i should have mentioned that in the readme

Perhaps I did not read it, sorry :confused: Because it worked without an autostart entry in the prior version, I didn't change anything except the .exe - I'll add an entry to the autostart folder.

but: if i'm not mistaken, so far PVRPowerTray 'only' uses the LEDs on the parallel port to show the recording status of the tuners. so you wont have an indication if gbpvr is running.

I think I will stick to paraLED...

Greetings, Alex

[jimh]

if i'm not mistaken, so far PVRPowerTray 'only' uses the LEDs on the parallel port to show the recording status of the tuners. so you wont have an indication if gbpvr is running.

Daniel is correct: PVRPowerTray can manipulate the LED's based on whether a recording is in progress, whether comskip is running and/or whether disk space is running low. It currently does not consider whether GBPVR itself is running.

Although this is an easy feature to add, I'm not quite sure why it would be useful. Why does it matter whether GBPVR is running?

Alex, perhaps you mean GBPVR's *recording service* and not the app. itself? Please explain and if there is support for this feature, I'd be happy to add it to the next release.

- Jim

[alex060670]

Hi,

I'll try to explain:

When my machine wakes up from hibernate, it can last up to 80 seconds until the gbpvr frontend is usable. I don't want to wait that long in front of my TV set. And as the PC is hidden in the closet, I never know if it's running and what it is doing.

Sometimes I want to switch it on (either to watch or to program a show) and then I see that it is already running and recording - ok, I can see that on one or more red "recordings"-LED (or if I turn on the TV set).

But in some cases I want to switch it on and the machine is just waking up from hibernate (you know, this 80 seconds period). B/c no recording is done during waking up, I can't see that on the red LEDs.

If I knew the machine is already waking up I also would know that it is not necessary to turn it on.

At the moment, betlit's paraLED satisfies these needs, it exactly shows (with a green LED) if the gbpvr frontend is running and switches it off again when the PC prepares to hibernate.

The sequence is as follows:

1. Power-on (due to manual interaction or waking up for recording)
-- B/c the machine has power BUT the frontend is not yet started, an external hardware causes the green LED to flash
-- I know it's waking up

2. 80 seconds later: the gppvr frontend is started
-- paraLED lets the green LED lit
-- I know I can use it

( 3. recordings are done -- some red LEDs indicate that )

4. 10 minutes after last usage: the PC prepares to hibernate
-- paraLED switches of the green LED, the external hardware lets it flash again

5. power off
-- no LED ;-)


As I said, all my wishes are fulfilled with paraLED,...

** EXCEPT **

that I really, really would like to have an indicator for low disk space, which paraLED does not support.

That's why I would turn to PVRPowerTray, but unfortunately it does not support the feature described above.

So whatever I do, one of my needs is not satisfied... so this is the reason why I would kindly ask to add this feature to PVRPowerTray... if this is possible... maybe... thank you...

Greetings, Alex

[betlit]

that I really, really would like to have an indicator for low disk space, which paraLED does not support.

paraLED does have this feature since..... now.

see the readme for configuration 'n stuff.

download ParaLED from the wiki

green LED for gbvr running
red LED for recording...
orange LED for disk space..?

we're running low on colours sooner or later *gg*

[alex060670]

INCREDIBLE! THANK YOU!

spacealert: has two possible values: 'all' and 'single'.
determines if the low-disk-space-LED is switched on if a single drive is low
on disk space or all.

So 'all' means the LED is switched on, if drive c is low ... as well as drive d is low... as well as... (logical AND);

and 'single' means that the LED is fired is ONE (or more) of the drives runs out of space, jep?

Greetings, Alex

PS: At the moment, I use D1 and D2 as indicators for recording activities on my two capture sources. In the future, I have to use D2 and D3 for that, right?