Not satisfied with MVP

[TickTock]

Hello everyone.

This maybe answered elsewhere, but I don't have any more time for searching and I'm trying to get my wife to stop nagging me.

I have a GB-PVR 1.1.5 system and a wireless MediaMVP.

Question 1) I don't really like the connection options to the TV from the wireless MediaMVP. Is there a better option? Even if I have to hard wire to the network? I'd like to be able to watch TV, play music, recorded videos, DVDs and even Internet Radio would be great. I'd basically like to have the full functionality of GBPVR on my remote television, along with better hookup options - VGA, Component, DVI, Etc.

Question 2) Assuming that I have to stick with the MediaMVP - I'd like to play DVDs over the MediaMVP as simply as "pop it in the PC and hit play in the other room" (There's no DVD option in the MediaMVP that I have.) I noticed in the forums, it looks like there are some options for this. Can someone post - or link me to the post that contains some detailed instructions?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[zehd]

Hello everyone.

This maybe answered elsewhere, but I don't have any more time for searching and I'm trying to get my wife to stop nagging me.

I have a GB-PVR 1.1.5 system and a wireless MediaMVP.

Question 1) I don't really like the connection options to the TV from the wireless MediaMVP. Is there a better option? Even if I have to hard wire to the network? I'd like to be able to watch TV, play music, recorded videos, DVDs and even Internet Radio would be great. I'd basically like to have the full functionality of GBPVR on my remote television, along with better hookup options - VGA, Component, DVI, Etc.

Question 2) Assuming that I have to stick with the MediaMVP - I'd like to play DVDs over the MediaMVP as simply as "pop it in the PC and hit play in the other room" (There's no DVD option in the MediaMVP that I have.) I noticed in the forums, it looks like there are some options for this. Can someone post - or link me to the post that contains some detailed instructions?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Almost all of the functionality of native GB-PVR will work on the MVP. That said, there are a couple of things that many say can't be done, others say will only be done with a lot of trouble, trial and error...

DVDs are one of them. Some people have success with xDVD. Although I'm fairly adept at installing and using third party plugins, I have never been able to get it to work. I have also tried to get my own software (ZProcess) to work with DVDs. So far nothing to write home to mom about.

Some people will copy the dvd to hard drive, decrpyt, and transcode into a playable file. That's really how xdvd and my attempt with ZProcess were supposed to work, and make that seamless to the user.

I may also be missing something that is actually now offered, that others will doubt chime in on... But I think that's the current state of affairs

On the video ports issue, composite and svideo are it for NTSC and also SCART for PAL versions. That's it.

You may be interested in some of the other media extenders that are now starting to be worked on and with. 'PopCorn Hour' support in GB-PVR is in development right now, and the work being done seems more easily portable to other extenders as well...

Personally, I'm working on building a simple yet powerful PC that will act as a Client for GBPVR, which, for many, is the VERY best way to have a remote GB-PVR...

[gazoo]

...Personally, I'm working on building a simple yet powerful PC that will act as a Client for GBPVR, which, for many, is the VERY best way to have a remote GB-PVR...

Frank, how simple is this build?

I posted in the hardware section regarding which are the best uATX boards with onboard video. Is it along those lines?

[nitrogen_widget]

Frank, how simple is this build?

I posted in the hardware section regarding which are the best uATX boards with onboard video. Is it along those lines?

I can get a mATX gateway MB with a P4 1.6ghz & intel onboard extreme graphics to work as a client surprisingly well on a PC monitor at 1024x768 running GBPRV.exe.

the CPU tanks for a few seconds in the beginning then everything evens out & goes down to about %40 I think.

Using PVRx2.exe is a different matter. CPU is around %90 & it's very slow to respond to the remote.

I'm actually wondering though if the onboard NIC doesn't have it's own processor because when I did the "turn on nic processor" reg setting nothing changed.

I may pair this setup to a 14" LCD monitor I have & put it in the kitchen.

[zehd]

Frank, how simple is this build?

I posted in the hardware section regarding which are the best uATX boards with onboard video. Is it along those lines?

hah, when I say I'm working on it, I mean IN MY MIND. I'm gathering stuff to keep in mind when I buy...

That post is one that I'm keeping in mind...

[zehd]

I can get a mATX gateway MB with a P4 1.6ghz & intel onboard extreme graphics to work as a client surprisingly well on a PC monitor at 1024x768 running GBPRV.exe.

the CPU tanks for a few seconds in the beginning then everything evens out & goes down to about %40 I think.

Using PVRx2.exe is a different matter. CPU is around %90 & it's very slow to respond to the remote.

I'm actually wondering though if the onboard NIC doesn't have it's own processor because when I did the "turn on nic processor" reg setting nothing changed.

I may pair this setup to a 14" LCD monitor I have & put it in the kitchen.

If your remote is sticky (and maybe other processes) you may want to crank the CPU priority for the GUI and the Remote software (Are you using HIP).

Anyway, I notice a sticky remote sometimes. My Program MVPServerChecker (which does much more than watch for MVP Servers all day) will up the GUI and Hip, and with both processes running at 'above normal', remote is bang on...

[mvallevand]

To meet TickTock's requirement, I think the mvp can do everything wanted really well except for playing DVDs (I assume from iso or from video_ts). I have a few media extender's like the PCH that do this so well outside of GBPVR that it is hard to recommend anything else. Losing the wireless connection will be a big step forward.

I don't think that the current mini-itx solutions really meet the minimum spec for GBPVR or are all that great as PVRx2 clients, I'd wait for better hardware h264 solutions. Even then when you start figuring that the PCH doesn't cost any more than Windows XP and the mini-itx board itself and add on the difficulties of drivers and codec hell add basic Windows configurations issues, to me it's no contest.

Martin