UbuStream v2.0 - Beta

[ubu]

I tried this now, and sure, the vlc player minimizes, but it still steals focus Is there any way you can force focus back to gbpvr after you minimize the vlc window?

It shouldn't. Pretty sure it didn't when I tested it :o. Maybe I should try running the process with "no window" instead of "minimized". That definitely doesn't switch focus. Not sure what that would do to the player app though. :eek:

I haven't found a way (using .Net) to force focus to a specific window. I know there's a way to do that using the Win32 API but (for obvious reasons) I prefer not to code at that low a level. If all else fails, I may have to go that route. Anyway, I'll test it again tomorrow (I have to sleep now - it's 3.15am my time).

[stefan]

It shouldn't. Pretty sure it didn't when I tested it :o. Maybe I should try running the process with "no window" instead of "minimized". That definitely doesn't switch focus. Not sure what that would do to the player app though. :eek:

I haven't found a way (using .Net) to force focus to a specific window. I know there's a way to do that using the Win32 API but (for obvious reasons) I prefer not to code at that low a level. If all else fails, I may have to go that route. Anyway, I'll test it again tomorrow (I have to sleep now - it's 3.15am my time).

Please do. It would be so cool getting this to work. Feels like we are really close

[ubu]

OK I have the external recorder setup for the MVP (can't test it until I get home, all this by UVNC, thanks to jbyram2 for excellent instructions) ...

... but there is something I can't get around with Stations menu and that is the checkbox for "Show in EPG" doesn't seem to be sticky?? I can get multieel statsions in Options EPG, by choosign one, then seclecting the other etc., and going down to Options EPG, and they are all (both) there, but next time you choose the stations the check box is gone? Is this by design?

Similarly for the WMMP, after you import (works fine), the next time the check boxes are gone? Is this by design?

k.

Well caught! I must have introduced this bug in my last round of "improvements" . I'll check it out tomorrow (well, today actually).

[stefan]

Yo!
I tried it at home now, and here it works as advertised. No focus on the vlc player->I can stop the stream with my remote! Very, very impressed. Good job!

Which brings me to another, minor, issue. It takes a while for the stream to start (5-10 seconds). Since I never see the player starting, I have no idea whether it's working or not. Some sort of visual feedback would be nice. Don't really know how or what, but it would be nice... maybe change of color on the currently playing station? Or change of name to "Playing SR P3" instead of "SR P3"? Something. Anything, really

[ubu]

Yo!
I tried it at home now, and here it works as advertised. No focus on the vlc player->I can stop the stream with my remote! Very, very impressed. Good job!

Well thanks. However I now seem to be experiencing the same problem you have at work. :confused:

WMP - minimizes the player and returns focus to GB-PVR (good!).
VLC - minimizes the player but keeps focus on VLC (not so good!).
RealPlayer - doesn't minimize at all (very bad!).

I'm wondering if you have some preference set in VLC at home that is different from your VLC at work or if they are different vesions even. (I'm running VLC 0.8.5 - wxWidgets interface - with Extended GUI switched off.) You're clearly doing something right at home.

In any case, the problem with RealStupidPlayer means I'll have to look at another solution. Unfortunately, some of the stations I listen to most (notably BBC ones, but some others too) are only available as .rm/.ram streams. I'll probably have to use native Win32 API calls (ugly!) to find the window, minimize it and force focus back to GB-PVR. If that doesn't work it will confirm my view that the RealMedia people are b***ards.

Which brings me to another, minor, issue. It takes a while for the stream to start (5-10 seconds). Since I never see the player starting, I have no idea whether it's working or not. Some sort of visual feedback would be nice. Don't really know how or what, but it would be nice... maybe change of color on the currently playing station? Or change of name to "Playing SR P3" instead of "SR P3"? Something. Anything, really

Whoops! I have code in there to do just that. It's supposed to display "Playing BlahBlahStation" when running in minimized mode. I just noticed it's not working. The rendering cycle in GB-PVR can be a bit tricky so I've probably shot myself in the foot in the last few days. Easily fixed (I think) so this will work as advertised in the next "bug fix" release.

[stefan]

Well thanks. However I now seem to be experiencing the same problem you have at work.

WMP - minimizes the player and returns focus to GB-PVR (good!).
VLC - minimizes the player but keeps focus on VLC (not so good!).
RealPlayer - doesn't minimize at all (very bad!).

(on the realplayer thing - you could try realalternative, I think someone else talked about it in this thread. It's really nice.)

I'm wondering if you have some preference set in VLC at home that is different from your VLC at work or if they are different vesions even. (I'm running VLC 0.8.5 - wxWidgets interface - with Extended GUI switched off.) You're clearly doing something right at home.

Got the same version as you here at work. VLC says there are no available updates, and I downloaded VLC at home two weeks ago, so I assume I have the same version at home.

Eh... I'm such a dork... I just realized what's happening at home I run two desktops (one over VGA and GBPVR over DVI). I guess VLC opens on the VGA desktop (by coincidence? I never understood what makes a window open on a certain desktop). And since I use USB-UIRT I GBPVR doesn't have to have focus to be controled! *doh* So my home environment is not good for your testing purposes... it's only good for working around the problem

Whoops! I have code in there to do just that. It's supposed to display "Playing BlahBlahStation" when running in minimized mode. I just noticed it's not working. The rendering cycle in GB-PVR can be a bit tricky so I've probably shot myself in the foot in the last few days. Easily fixed (I think) so this will work as advertised in the next "bug fix" release.

Sounds great

[ubu]

(on the realplayer thing - you could try realalternative, I think someone else talked about it in this thread. It's really nice.)

Yeah, I use RealAlternative and QuickTimeAlternative from time to time. They are very cool (although they tend to be a bit behind the genuine articles as far as supporting new formats, etc. is concerned). But, I guess, since I'm developing UbuStream for "the average GB-PVR user" (if there is such a thing ), I pretty much have to get it to work with all the "standard" players. (Much as I'd like to say "Screw RealPlayer - get RealAlternative instead").

Eh... I'm such a dork... I just realized what's happening at home I run two desktops (one over VGA and GBPVR over DVI). I guess VLC opens on the VGA desktop (by coincidence? I never understood what makes a window open on a certain desktop). And since I use USB-UIRT I GBPVR doesn't have to have focus to be controled! *doh* So my home environment is not good for your testing purposes... it's only good for working around the problem

I know what you mean. I totally gave up on the two-desktop approach for that reason. It's pretty confusing. I use Windows Remote Desktop from my laptop instead. There's an "undocumented" feature which allows multiple users to be logged in at the same time. So I have GB-PVR running locally on the HTPC, logged in as the user "gbpvr", with its desktop displayed on the TV, while I can be logged on remotely as "ubu" with a totally separate user session. Much easier to manage. (Although important to remember NOT to have your remote control's software automatically run at start up in the remote session. At first I couldn't figure out why, when I pressed the Alt-F4 button to close VLC on my TV, the browser window in the remote session on my laptop would disappear :o ).

Also, I have a separate remote session open to my development machine. So I can sit on the couch watching my "production" GB-PVR on the TV, while tweaking its config details in one window on my laptop and coding and testing on my "development" GB-PVR in another window (and writing this post in a browser on my laptop's native desktop). Wheee! Life is good!

[stefan]

I have it setup that way, so that I can use one 1360*768 for my windows desktop (over VGA), and 720p for gbpvr (over DVI). So it's the same physical screen, just different inputs to it

[ubu]

I have it setup that way, so that I can use one 1360*768 for my windows desktop (over VGA), and 720p for gbpvr (over DVI). So it's the same physical screen, just different inputs to it

Makes sense. Sounds nice. I'm stuck with good old 480i.

[ubu]

I've uploaded the source code for the sample DynSource mini-plugins along with source and binary for the DynamicSource.dll class library. You can download it from this post.