what utilities/plugins to download for newbie?

[tunanugget]

just starting out w/ gbpvr. any recommendings utilities/plugins to download?

[lopazopy]

Well, it just depends on what you want to do. There are a lot of great plugins and utilities out there that I don't use because I don't have a need for them.

With that being said, I use utilities: AutoDelete, ChannelLogos, ComSkip, Enhanced Web Admin, and plugins: BleepBloop, Recordings Viewer, and Weather.

Hope this helps.

[symby]

Definitely Comskip.

[Fatman_do]

Weather is a "must have" in my opinion. You have to look at the other ones to see what features they have that may be an advantage for you. There are several nice music and video related plugins that add benefits not found in the default program.

Calendar and the theater listings plugins are "special interest" plugins that I use on occasion.

My htpc currently runs: Comskip, Weather, Calendar, Theater Listings.

My "dev" laptop runs everything for skinning purposes.

Logzip is a handy utility for troubleshooting problems, as it gathers up the logs for you zipped into the c:\Temp folder.

[Ted the Penguin]

I use music library 2, but its mainly because I let windows media player organize all my music, so its a pain to play anything unless I can view by genre.

just browse through the wiki if you have time, see what the plugins do, and if you like them, give them a try. trial and error is how stuff gets figured out

[nightwalker]

Depending how new you are and your level of expertise, my recommendation for extras right now are NONE. Get comfortable with the core features and get everything working perfectly before you start adding and changing things.

That will all come soon enough and there are lots of very good and useful plug ins and skins for you to try and see what works best for you. However until the core is working perfectly with your system and you are familiar with how it all works you do yourself a disservice trying to add more.

[lopazopy]

...get everything working perfectly before you start adding and changing things.

So basically, he can start adding plugins right after he installs it.

[nightwalker]

hehe, pretty close if he followed the instructions to start with

[drewkaree]

IMO, I'm redoing my HTPC for the second time, and what I learned is that I want to know how to enable the plugins that come standard with the skin I'm using FIRST, before anything else. Figure out how to use or edit those plugins before adding others.

After you're solid with what's going on with that, add a SINGLE plugin at a time. DO NOT add a fistful of them and jump around, wondering why something isn't working. Get each plugin working before moving on to the next one you wish to add.

Lastly, what I did was open up the Wiki and (I'm using Firefox), open up EVERY plugin in another tab. Read the descriptions. If it seems like it would be something you'd like to test out, see if it says its compatible with the version of GBPVR you're using. If so, download it. Test them out one by one.

I've found that with several of the plugins, one seems to do what I thought it would, but another works just as well and looks better (to me).

Again, add one at a time and get it figured out before you move on to the next one.