ExternalDisplay - Beta Testers Wanted

[iwan]

Fantastic iwan. Great to hear that someone has been able to get the plugin working. I assume that you took an LCDHype Driver from MediaPortal and placed it in the LCDHype folder. I had this as a known limitation ie I couldn't get it to work. Looks like it does work though for you, in which case this plugin should work for even more displays.

I took the dlls that come with a normal MP install (directory MediaPortal\plugins\process\LCDDrivers). In the past I had used stlcd and LCDinfo, which worked pretty well. I really missed the possibility to display useful stuff (=GBPVR information) on my display, so I'm eager to get your plugin working. I mean it works, but not perfectly enough yet

This comment and the limited logging suggests that PVRX2 has actually loaded two copies of ExternalDisplay.dll. Have you copied it twice somewhere? For normal operation, users would normally 'uncheck' the PropertyBrowser box in the config. (or set to false in the xml.)

A little update on this:

I had a backup copy in the plugins directory - bad idea, I admit
I falsed the PropertyBrowser setting in the config.
Good news: PropertyBrowser vanished !

Still, ExternalPlugin stops working after about 5-7 channel changes.
What is more, it seems to be about 30 minutes back in time with respect to the EPG-information displayed.

[ralphy]

Hi again,
I only get "gibberish" on the Imon VFD display. What about driver for the VFD, is that included in the plugin or do I need to load it somehow? Sorry but I am not sure how this works.
Using the built in Imon support in PVRX2 it seems to load the driver if placed in the gbpvr directory. How about ExternalDisplay?

Sounds like a similar problem I am trying to resolve with dslowik, but can you please post the logs with PVRX2 logging set to Verbose.

I am not aware of any 'built in' support for iMon. Perhaps you are referring to skat15e's plugin.

The driver for this plugin is installed with the installer into the GBPVR folder.

You might like to try.
1. removing the SG_VFD.dll from system32 (which is where it has been placed for skat15e's plugin) I don't know if this will solve the problem
2. trying both 'autodetect' and 'vfd' in the advanced configuration section with extensive logging and post the logs for each test.

Still, ExternalPlugin stops working after about 5-7 channel changes.

Not sure about this one. The errors are in the PVRX2-native.exe.log. I'l need to investigate further.

What is more, it seems to be about 30 minutes back in time with respect to the EPG-information displayed.

I assume you mean that the displayed information is for a show that started 30 minutes earlier, and the details are for the channel currently being watched. The plugin looks for a show that started before DateTime.Now(), and finishes after DateTime.Now() on the current channel.

[ralphy]

iwan, can you please post your gbpvr.db3 file. I've also noticed an SQL error that might be causing the display to stop working.

[OscarL]

I am not aware of any 'built in' support for iMon. Perhaps you are referring to skat15e's plugin.

From version 1.016 Sub has a feature to display some info on the Imon VFD. This is used by setting <LCDType>iMON VFD</LCDType> in the config.xml file.

I will try to send you some log files tonight when at home.

Regards
Oscar

[ralphy]

From version 1.016 Sub has a feature to display some info on the Imon VFD. This is used by setting <LCDType>iMON VFD</LCDType> in the config.xml file.
Regards
Oscar

One of my mottos is to learn something new every day - I guess this is mine for today!

Presumably you will need to set this to 'none' if you use ExternalDisplay (or any of the other iMON plugins)

[iwan]

iwan, can you please post your gbpvr.db3 file. I've also noticed an SQL error that might be causing the display to stop working.

Sure, here you are:

... no you aren't. File too big. Sent you an email with a link ...

[iwan]

I assume you mean that the displayed information is for a show that started 30 minutes earlier, and the details are for the channel currently being watched. The plugin looks for a show that started before DateTime.Now(), and finishes after DateTime.Now() on the current channel.

Sorry for being not too clear about it ...
What I meant is EPG information for the channel being watched is about 30 minutes behind. When changing channels the situation stays the same.
I checked it again a couple of minutes ago: The delay seems to be between 35 and less than 60 minutes, couldn't narrow it down much more ...

[ralphy]

iwan, can you please post your gbpvr.db3 file. I've also noticed an SQL error that might be causing the display to stop working.

Sure, here you are:

... no you aren't. File too big. Sent you an email with a link ...

Unfortunately, I was unable to reproduce the SQL error with your db3 file. I will create a new build that will print out the SQL in the logs, and also narrow down the reason for the difference in timing between the EPG and display. I assume that the EPG times are in the same timezone as the PC time.

Please set 'Extensive Logging' in the setup, and reproduce the problem and send the logs and db3 file. Thanks

[ralphy]

What is more, it seems to be about 30 minutes back in time with respect to the EPG-information displayed.

Fixed - please download the Jan26 installer from here

Hi again,
I only get "gibberish" on the Imon VFD display.

Please download the Jan26 installer and select the "iMON VFD USD Driver V.1.0"

I believe this version works, but there may be problems with the 'integrated VFD/LCD imon driver'.

Also, it is probably a good idea to make sure that iMON is not running when starting PVRX2. You should be able to start iMON after PVRX2 is running, and be able to use the iMON remote control.

[iwan]

Fixed - please download the Jan26 installer from here

Yeah - program time is displayed correctly. Good job !
External Display doesn't seem to keep track with channel changes, though. It will display the first channel being watched but won't follow when changing channels. Maybe there's something in the logs ...