ExternalDisplay - Beta Testers Wanted

[ralphy]

Great Work, ralphy!
Works almost perfectly - only one channel (NDR) gave me an error message like: 'Natural language not supported'. Sorry for not being more precise - forgot to write it down.
The problem doesn't seem to persist, as I got no error message 30 minutes later.
Anyway, logs attached.

Good news. Thanks for the testing.

Where was this error message displayed? Was it on the LCD/VFD? I do not have such an error message in my source, but maybe the Noritake T series driver does (I don't have the source for this driver)

Interestingly, NDR happened to have two EPG entries that started before 18:37 and ended after 18:37, so there appears to be something wrong with the EPG for that time and channel. This would have caused the display to show the "Not Available" message in line two (assuming you followed my suggestion to replace #736 with "Not Available") because it wouldn't know which of the two entries is correct. But channel name and number should have displayed on line one.

Code:

2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    Channel     NDR
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    Program     Pinguin, Löwe & Co.
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    SubTitle    
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    Description
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    Start Time  06.02.2008 17:10:00
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    End Time    06.02.2008 18:45:00
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    ExternalDisplay Database query SELECT programme.oid as oid, channel.name as channel, programme.name as program, sub_title, description as description, start_time as start_time, end_time as end_time FROM programme, channel WHERE channel.oid=programme.channel_oid AND channel.channel_number= 15 AND start_time <='2008-02-06 18:37' AND end_time >='2008-02-06 18:37' ;
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    Channel     NDR
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    Program     Das Altenheim
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    SubTitle    Tratsch unter der Trockenhaube
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    Description Haare sind hier Nebensache. Wer hat was gesagt am Frühstückstisch? Und welcher Herr hat ein Auge auf welche Dame geworfen? Friseurin Hannelore Münning kennt wirklich die allerneuesten Geschichten aus dem Seniorenheim und erzählt auch selbst gerne welche. 'Es gibt zum Beispiel ein Liebespaar hier', weiß sie zu berichten. 'Die beiden haben sich hier kennen gelernt - am Anfang wurde natürlich viel geredet.' Für den Nachmittag hat sich das Pärchen bei Frau Münning angemeldet. Schlimm ist es, wenn eine Kundin plötzlich nicht mehr kommt - nie wieder. Doch es gibt auch viel Lustiges zu berichten. Seit zehn Jahren betreibt die Friseurmeisterin den Salon mit Blick in den Garten. Sie ist eine der vielen guten Seelen des Hauses. Im Altenheim bringt der 56-Jährigen das Frisieren noch mehr Spaß als draußen. Nur am Anfang musste sie sich umgewöhnen. Grau oder weiß waren jetzt die Farben, das Haar eher dünn und schwach. Sie nimmt es als kreative Herausforderung. Im Salon für Senioren muss man eben noch mehr können. Die zweite Friseurin im Laden wird von den Kunden gern 'die Junge' genannt. Schließlich ist sie noch keine fünfzig. Als sie anfing, musste sie sich ihre Stammkundschaft hart erarbeiten. Aber heute gibt es im Salon ein noch aufregenderes Thema als die junge Friseurin mit den wilden Haaren. Am Abend geht es ins Nachbar-heim. Dort steht eine vom Hausmeister selbst gebaute Kegelbahn. Nur halb so lang wie eine Standard-Bahn, aber mit eigener Bar.
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    Start Time  06.02.2008 18:15:00
2008-02-06 18:37:33.359    VERBOSE    [1]    End Time    06.02.2008 18:45:00

[pBS]

heyas ralphy, for video couldn't you peek at the db for this info until he provides an api? i don't think it works for audio but ya never know...
it wouldn't be perfectly accurate but not far off..[few secs tops?]
like: SELECT last_position FROM PLAYBACK_POSITION where filename=
could do a bar graph kind of thing at least..[0%..........50%..........100%]
[and see comm. skips maybe if high enough res..]
just a thought..would have to see in action to see how accurate/any bugs..

so what can we do to customize the layout with the xml?
and will source be available?
original smartie plugin author disappeared and there hasn't been a quality lcd plugin since..

[pBS]

bummer, it only updates playback position when stopping playback...
only other way i see is connecting to filter manager and reading graph's position

any notes on xml customization still welcomed...

[iwan]

Where was this error message displayed? Was it on the LCD/VFD? I do not have such an error message in my source, but maybe the Noritake T series driver does (I don't have the source for this driver)

Yeah, error message was displayed on the VFD. Next time it appears, I'll write it down. Maybe I can tweak my xmltv-file to provoke the error ...

[ralphy]

any notes on xml customization still welcomed...

The 'default' xml file contains a number of features available in MediaPortal, but not PVRX2 (eg the Message Status="Action" and the Window value, custom characters and TimeShifting ).

Anything that starts with a hash "#" is a property. This port only supports a limited number of properties compared to MediaPortal, and you can view those that are available with the property manager which is selected in ExternalDisplayConfig.

You should get a good feel for how the properties are displayed in conjuntion with text from the default xml, particularly the combination of
<Parse Value="NOW RECORDING: #PROPERTY">
<NotNull Value="#PROPERTY" />
</Parse>

which will only display the text and property if the property is notnull.

Also be aware that the xml deserializer doesn't work properly (see first post), and the brute force reader has some limitations, so be forewarned that editing the xml file may lead to unexpected results.

[ralphy]

Things have been very quiet on this thread - I'm not sure if this is good news or not!

Anyway, I've posted a new installer to address the following

• Default XML file and SQL query modified to prevent lockups (refer to this post)
  
• XML Deserializer now works correctly and the brute force XML reader has been decommissioned. XML Deserializer error messages should no longer appear in the logs.
  
• MVP support
  
• Additional debug logging
  

Please see the first post for the installer dated Feb20.

[OscarL]

Hi Ralphy
I think in this case you can say that "No news is good news". It has been working very well since the last bugs were sorted out couple of weeks ago.
I will try the new version tonight and report back if there is any problem.
Oscar

[iwan]

Things have been very quiet on this thread - I'm not sure if this is good news or not!

Anyway, I've posted a new installer to address the following
/snip
Please see the first post for the installer dated Feb20.

Didn't have much time to play with my HTPC the last couple of weeks ...
However, I did notice some performance issues aka stuttering when watching TV. After uninstalling ED things went much smoother. I'm willing to take a deeper look at this (logs and stuff) but won't be able to do so the next couple of days.

[ralphy]

However, I did notice some performance issues aka stuttering when watching TV. After uninstalling ED things went much smoother. I'm willing to take a deeper look at this (logs and stuff) but won't be able to do so the next couple of days.

Iwan, perhaps you can have a look at/post the ExtDisplay.log file. This specifically logs the time spent sending data to the display driver.

Also, if you are game, one of the other things that might be worth looking at is the CPU usage (showing both kernel and user time - select Performance/Show Kernel Times). Is there a correlation between the stutter and a spike in Kernel time? I've noticed this type of behaviour before (see comment in the first post)

Which interface does your Noritake T Series display use?

[PTW96]

"ExternalDisplay is a PVRX2 port of MediaPortal’s ExternalDisplay. "

so does this mean it will work with other displays that MP works with.

Pete