A wish directed at new users

[7ore]

A wizard that checks your system and set the system with a couple of questions. For me I have no trouble but I think the market for GBpvr would be bigger with a simpler installation. To set the tv-card can be trouble if you're not a experienced user. You have to go through a lot of steps to get it done:

1. Go to Capture sources.

2. choose "add".

3. Choose recording source. Here is a lot users lost. I have a card, but "I" have no clue of what kind it is. In my case, I now know it's a bda, as I get it in the list when I choose that... Even without a wizard a lot can be done for this part.
* GBpvr can check windows regional settings and display country etc.
* The card can be visible in recording source drop down.

4. Choose epg source so that you can scan for possible stations. To take me as example again. I have to add, close, edit, fiddle little, close again, edit and now it's maybe possible to search for channels.

For a beginner you just want it to work! And I think you loose a lot in this part. As a new user you just want it to work as fast as possible and all tweaking and adding plugins can be done later after you have familiarized yourself with the system.

[sjgore]

As somebody who only discovered and starting using GB-PVR last weekend, I agree that this would be very useful.

Although I would describe myself as an advanced PC user (I always like to tweak programs under the hood), with something like GB-PVR it would be useful to get some of the main functionality working first, ie. getting it to talk to my TV tuner(s).

Then, as you say, the tweaking and adding of plugins can be done later after you have familiarized yourself with the system.

Steve.

[7ore]

After I just had to reinstall GBpvr from scratch, I still think this would be great.

[stustunz]

3. Choose recording source. Here is a lot users lost. I have a card, but "I" have no clue of what kind it is. In my case, I now know it's a bda, as I get it in the list when I choose that... Even without a wizard a lot can be done for this part.

if you tick the box that says only show devices on this machine then you will only get one choice if you only have one device if it anty their then something is wrong

i dont know if a wizard makes it any easier anyway then you have no idea where the settings are

apart from picking the card the rest is easy i thought
the only thing i have issues with is the network stuff but that just me been picky (not really gbpvrs fault more know which part of the firewall to disable etc)

i installed windows media centre that was worse in my opinion
plus it sucked

[pz1]

if you tick the box that says only show devices on this machine then you will only get one choice if you only have one device if it anty their then something is wrong

It might help if this tick box was switched on by default.
I would also suggest to place Help-hyperlinks to the relevant wiki pages on these installation screens.

[7ore]

Yes but before you can tick the box, you have to know which of the drop down alternatives is valid in your case. I just think it's one of the things that can scare new users.
For me, I now have tried mce, mediaPortal, etc and always returned to GBpvr as my favourite choice. It's simply the best. But it's a shame if new users is put off by a rather difficult setup.
I can add a point to the ones above. You have to remember to tick all channels you'd like to use. They're not selected by default.

[stustunz]

yeah the default thing would be the ticket
the explanation should be changed from direct recording plugin to analog Maybe?
and the other option digital dba or something maybe?
that would make more sense cause im sure you shoud at least knbow what signal you are getting if not maybe you could go buy a dvr /vcr already setup

[Etacovda]

to be frank, if you have limited pc experience, gbpvr isnt for you. If people were PAYING for gbpvr, sure... but choosing a tuner is relatively straightforward, i personally think the most complicated part for new users, even users with decent pc knowledge (at least, in nz) is setting up your epg source etc, especially for the likes of xmltvnz, since you have to set up a scheduled task. TIVO or MCE might be better for those people...
In my case, i had to configure xmltv, make a .bat file, download tweakUI and enable automatic log on, and then set up the scheduled task. I'm not sure what its like when you're using the likes of zap2it or whatever others use, but thats waaay too complicated, but thats not gbpvrs fault really...

[7ore]

The thing is that I would like it if GBpvr was made for people with limited experience too. I love it and it would be nice if it where used more widely.
A simple "first time setup guide" so those people get it up and running fast.
that way they start to enjoy the benefits of it and could learn the tweaks later.

[zehd]

It might help if this tick box was switched on by default.
I would also suggest to place Help-hyperlinks to the relevant wiki pages on these installation screens.

Linking to wiki might be good. But we should know, it's sub's Program but not sub's wiki. (It's user driven)

sub tries to make sure pages are correct with their information, I'm sure, but I wonder whether he would want to link to something that is so easily changed by lots of people...