These could be here already...

[jpete1019]

I just got my GBPVR Server setup yesturday and love the software. Just have a couple newbie questions...

Is there a way to bring up the guide and still have my live tv or recorded show in the background? And when you go to the guide still have the show in the corner playing, or is this a wishlist item?

Also did anybody get anything setup on the DigiGuide for GBPVR? (scheduling recordings online away from the home network?)

Also, how well does the MVP work for streaming? I'm looking to put one in my bedroom, and I want to know if this will work well for a Tivo replacement.. (my wife is stuck on the Tivo and I want to make the transistion easy...) I also see that you can do some skins for the MVP rather than the bland Hauppuage background, is this correct? Anybody's thoughts, or opinions?

[kayak4ever]

1. Viewing the guide while watching LiveTV is possible. From the wiki http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manual/LiveTv "You can also access the TV mini-guide, by pressing Ctrl-G on the keyboard, or [Green] on the remote control." There are more details on scrolling and changing channels. I don't use it much but I like the set up.

2. I don't know what Digiguide is but look at the wiki for Enhanced Web Administration. It allows you to schedule recordings from almost anywhere provided you have given yourself access from a remote computer.

3. I got my first MVP and it works well enough for me as is. I have yet to play with the other dongles, etc. Since it is working well out of the box, I can't imagine what improvements are available with the other dongles. At minimum, however, look into the mvpserverchecker also described on the wiki: http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...verChecker

p.s. for changing the skin on the mvp or the main computer, look at the community skin and the skinplugin. There are other skin options in the wiki under skin but the community skin with skin plugin allows you to modify almost everything. There is even a skinning tutorial to help you make your own modifications!

[jpete1019]

Thanks for the reply. I'll look into those things...

Not get off topic... but I see you have a 150 and 1600 Dual card setup. These are exactly the same cards I'm using right now. Do you happen to have the 1600 setup to run ATSC and NTSC at the same time? Is that even possible or do you have 150 running your NTSC and then just get ATSC over the air via Antenna? I guess I'm looking for some HD but I don't think my 1600 supports QAM, so I'd have to pull ATSC and I'm currently just running through the cable jack directly in my home (no Mediacom box). I guess I just want to see what somebody else is doing who has been using this setup for awhile now who has the same hardware as I do. Thanks for your help!

[kayak4ever]

I don't know what ATSC and NTSC mean but I know I don't have PAL because I have the North American standard. I do not have an antenna or receive over the air stations. I have my pvr150 and the analog side of the hvr1600 hooked up directly to the cable (i.e. not using the set box which supposedly gives me digital TV*). I haven't yet been successful in hooking up the digital side using the cable. When I scan for clear QAM stations, everything stays black. I almost had some stations once but when I tried to record or watch it, I received a message that the signal wasn't strong enough. I have a 4 way splitter (3 for the 3 pvr inputs and one for the set box) as well as 1 other TV that is not hooked up to the system which is likely the cause but it would household friction to deny cable access to the other TV. I need to wait until I get someone with more knowledge about this subject than me to help me set it up. Until then, I am happy to have 2 tuners and the possibility of using a digital tuner in the future.

* The reason I say "supposedly" is that although I pay for digital, sub has advised that I can't hook the digital up to the set box because the set box only delivers analog.

I have a CRT Toshiba TV so I don't think it matters if I get HD since I don't think my TV will display it.

[dgeezer]

I also have a 150 and a 1600 in my main rig. The 1600 will use both tuners at once. Mine is set up to use QAM as well as anlogue cable. I can record 2 regular cable shows and a third HD (digital) at the same time. Some of the 1600 cards will do clear QAM and some won't. Search here for the model numbers that work. All of them will tune over the air ATSC.

[Deusxmachina]

I have a CRT Toshiba TV so I don't think it matters if I get HD since I don't think my TV will display it.

Even if your TV can't display HD, an HD signal, (or even possibly a non-HD digital signal) could improve the picture quite a bit since the source would be HD. If primetime programming doesn't look like a DVD right now (more or less), then it probably could be improved upon.

How much better it would look depends a lot on how good your analog signal now is.

[jpete1019]

kayak4ever...thanks for the tips...I should have just looked around a bit but I was being lazy.... Yea, I don't think I have the model number that supports QAM but I got with Mediacom Cable who is basically a bunch of crooks so I doubt I'll see any QAM in the near future anyway.

[zehd]

Also did anybody get anything setup on the DigiGuide for GBPVR? (scheduling recordings online away from the home network?)

I started looking into it last week, and my first few hits I thought that it would be quite possible to get xmltv out of the digiguide database.

Alas, I don't believe it's currently possible. That said, it seems to be one of the first requests digiguide users are making recently on the forums, and supposedly there will be a feature soon...