What happened to GBPVR?

[sub]

While I do overall agree that GBPVR has made progress over the last year, some important features have just been left by the wayside, for example, PVR350 support. Although I no longer use my PVR350 for output, I was still disappointed to see it removed from support.

The reason its not supported is not because I dont want working PVR350 tv out support in GB-PVR, but rather because a large percentage of user couldnt use it because of bugs in the driver, which would cause machine lockups and blue-screens. Only Hauppauge/Conexant could have fixed these. I sunk a huge amount of time into trying to work around these issues, but ultimately its out of my control.

An unreliable recording service is just as much a fatal flaw.

As I said earlier, I've not seen widespread reports of this, so I can only assume its something funny in your setup. My "production" setup has been flawless - my wife and daughter would have given me grief if it hadnt.

You best bet is post a thread with as much detail as you can about your problem, and include a set of logs.

As for the people who claim that I should be helping to "make the software better" by sending in my donations, how exactly does that work? If I'm going to pay for something, I want it to work as advertised. I also find it hard to rationalize paying a "donation" for software that is free (as in beer) but not free (as in liberty to use, modify, change and distribute). Although it isn't instrumental to the reason for my post, free (as in beer) software that isn't free (as in liberty) is the worst possible license construct.

I dont push anyone to donate anything. If you dont want to, then dont. This project works on goodwill, not the expectation of paying for service.

I'm pretty open with people that they can download it and use it for free, but the source code its not available. If you dont like that, no one is making you use it. I have made a very flexible plugin infrastructure allow users to easily extend the application to provide features it doesnt offer out of the box.

That, however, has nothing to do with the reason for my complaint, and if you have nothing constructive to add, perhaps you shouldn't add anything at all.

You cant blame people from wanting to reply. You post was pretty rude.

[Brian_W]

Apparently you misunderstood some of the things that have been said. Your first example of the PVR350 support, this has been well stated many times over, the reason it was dropped is because of the instability of the device itself, which is completely out of Sub's control. Hauppauge has no desire to fix the problems with the 350, which is why Sub dropped official support for it. So I don't think it is right to blame Sub for a hardware problem from a different company.

What problems are you having with the "simple things" such as forward, rewind and pause? They work fine for me and pretty much everyone else here. There have been a couple instances of functionality being broken due to a change in a different part of the program, but Sub very quickly supplied a fix (within a day, try to get support like that from anywhere else).

If the license that covers GBPVR is unacceptable to you, then by all means find an alternative. No one is stopping you. No one said you must donate, they were merely suggestions.

As far as problems you searched for but did not find a workable solution, you should have posted a new thread regarding it with your log files. There will always be bugs in every program, it is just the nature of the beast. With each new release GBPVR has been more and more stable (aside from the conversion to .Net 2.0).

In my opinion GBPVR is the best PVR program out there with regards to features, support, and you definitely can't beat the price. Please feel free to stay and let everyone here work with you to get a stable rig running. There are some of the nicest and most helpful people around here, and 99% of the people that post a problem get it resolved quickly. If putting in a little time and patience to get things resolved is not something you wish to do, there are indeed other choices out there and we wish you the best of luck.

Brian

[nitrogen_widget]

Do any non-linux PVR apps still support TV-out on the PVR 350?
As far as I remember 350 support was dropped because it is really a hauppauge problem & not a GBPVR problem.

Anyways, you still havn't listed your system specs.
MB, cpu, graphics card, & what you have installed on the system.

My GBPVR server runs for weeks without a reboot.
It may possibly run longer, but I usually reboot it myself after i've been playing with it.
It spends a lot of time in hibernation then wakes to record.
If the GBPVR service is crashing then you need to submit some logs so people can help you figure out your problem.

[stefan]

Oh, and just because I tried that abomination of software known as Vista, doesn't mean that I decided that I liked it. Obviously from my previous post, it was determined that GBPVR does not work with Vista, and no help was going to be given, thus I put GBPVR back on XP. Again: If you have nothing constructive, don't add anything at all.

Hrrm... sorry, but I don't see how my question was not constructive. It was certainly intended to be constructive. Perhaps my being a non-native English speaker/writer makes my intentions come through a bit twisted?

However, one of your previous posts stated that you were using Vista. Nowhere have you said that you ditched it and moved to another OS. There is now way for me to know. Given that you have/still have problems, I thought it was reasonable for us to know if Vista was still your flavor of OS. That's all.

Then the fact that I travestied your posting manner in my response/question is a totally different matter

[nitrogen_widget]

Been using huh? Do we need to start a GB-PVR Anonymous support group for addictions?

Brian

I can stop at any time.

[wtg]

I never expected this many responses. Clearly my original post had a lot of misguided anger, but in my defense,

Actually, there's no defense for being extremely rude to someone who owes you nothing and did you no wrong. Perhaps you have an excuse being that you were particularly frustrated (we've all been there), but that's no defense. An apology is the normal, accepted (some feel required) response upon realizing you've unleashed "misguided" anger on someone.

While I do overall agree that GBPVR has made progress over the last year, some important features have just been left by the wayside, for example, PVR350 support. Although I no longer use my PVR350 for output, I was still disappointed to see it removed from support.

Your disappointment is reasonable, but importance is relative. Since sub predominantly develops this for his own pleasure and makes it available for free... you, me, no one can fairly set any expectations on him with what we feel is important. I'm just thankful he takes requests.

Simple things, such as fast forward, rewind and pause (the whole purpose of having a PVR to begin with) should (in my opinion) be carefully examined for errors. An unreliable recording service is just as much a fatal flaw.

So maybe I approached this wrong, but my complaints are not unfounded.

Agreed on all counts.

As for the people who claim that I should be helping to "make the software better" by sending in my donations, how exactly does that work?

Actually, I don't think anyone said you should donate. You shouldn't if it doesn't work for you, and then only should if you want to. My point was that you really have no right to be rude if you didn't pay anything for the softwall. No one promised you anything, and you paid for nothing.

And let me rephrase that... you have the right to be rude, but shouldn't expect anyone to care or be helpful if you are.

[mobiusnz]

Obviously from my previous post, it was determined that GBPVR does not work with Vista, and no help was going to be given, thus I put GBPVR back on XP.

Wow - I can't believe your bad attitude - you just can't seem to help but get defensive. I love the "and no help was going to be given" - Why would ANYBODY waste their time helping you run on a Beta operating system???? Especially on a system underspec'd for running Vista!

BTW - I record EVERYTHING I watch - I never watch tv live as I've gotten used to skipping ads etc. And I haven't missed a recording to date due to anything other than a Full 200GB recording drive. So something on your system is making it unstable. (I'm running the latest release as of this post)

GBPVR is prone to unstability (let me finish) - but not due to anything on its part - simply that it relies on a number of other system components that people tend to play with. If sub charged for this product and bundled and supported only 1 set of codecs and 1 brand of hardware I'm sure it would be a far more enjoyable install for your average user - but this is the beauty of this product that users can choose from a wealth of hardware and probably use a free codec as many DVD products are bundled with Video cards. I've donated twice I think (can't remember if I made that second donation) based on how much easier this has made my life and due to Sub's exceptional support - I've had questions go unanswered but on further investigation I've posted a better more informative question and gotten excellent support.

The community here is very willing to help and always exceptionally friendly - My suggestion would be to break your Issues down and start with the most annoying and post some logs of when the recording service crashes - Often fixing the most serious issue will fix or at least lead to the fixing of the minor ones.

If I got a brand new mini for free I certainly wouldn't be complaining that its trailer plug didn't work well with my caravan, I don't know how to drive and they offered me absolutely no assistance when I tried to race it in the paris to dakkar!

(Personally I think trying to run software SOOOOO Mediaplayer reliant with a beta of Vista is very similar to trying to take a mini offroad in a Desert! - And, its a favorite passtime of mine to make grossly over stated analagies!)

[Zato]

I was appalled when I read the original post, but I see enough people have already set him straight. Too bad he's pulling a John Kerry and doesn't feel the need to apologize (sorry, it's election eve.. couldn't resist - and yes, I know Kerry eventually apologized under pressure).

I don't care if this software is free, or costs $XX or you donated or not - nothing gives you free license to be downright rude. Personally, I'd recommend you switch to another product, with a hearty THANK YOU to Sub and the GB-PVR community for giving you the opportunity.

[congenictv]

As for the people who claim that I should be helping to "make the software better" by sending in my donations, how exactly does that work? If I'm going to pay for something, I want it to work as advertised. I also find it hard to rationalize paying a "donation" for software that is free (as in beer) but not free (as in liberty to use, modify, change and distribute). Although it isn't instrumental to the reason for my post, free (as in beer) software that isn't free (as in liberty) is the worst possible license construct.

I mentioned donations because this software is free and from what I got from your original post is...

- v.96 versions met your needs, current v.98 versions do not
- all new releases of GBPVR should receive extensive testing before being released
- $150 PVR software is unreasonably expensive but "superior" to GBPVR

What I was saying is that if Sub had more money he can afford to spend the time or hire people to work for him to do the testing that the other $150 "superior" software may be receiving.

Sub's probably been doing this on a very limited budget and he's produced an excellent program. Can you imagine what Sub can achieve if he had revenue like those other software companies?!

Face it, you're ungrateful. You've probably been using GBPVR for free for at least one year (you joined in Oct 2005) and most likely troublefree, otherwise how could you have justified to yourself for investing alllll that money on PVR hardware?

Now that things aren't working as well as before, you start to whine about software you didn't have to pay for or help support in anyway?

BTW, learn to read, my suggestion was that instead of whining, you can constructively help by 1) donating OR 2) report your problem by providing logs/screenshots so sub can hopefully fix the problem. The reason? More money may mean more time that sub can devote to the project and with logs and reports, he may be able to identify or fix the problem so others won't experience it.

...if you have nothing constructive to add, perhaps you shouldn't add anything at all.

You of all people to talk about constructive?! See your entire first post.

[Mr. Camaro]

So you got everyones attention now.

Why not post some logs after you have pressed some buttons and can't get the FF and Rewind to work. It might be something simple that can be fixed right away.