Duplicate the video window on multiple monitors

[peter_h]

I have a scenario where my mediaServer has 4 monitors connected to 2 graphics cards.
1 goes to the kitchen, 1 to the kitchen "bar" (between dining and kitchen), 1 to the lounge (open plan to kitchen) and 1 to a bedrooom.

What I'd like is the ability to be able to duplicate the currently playing video in additional windows located in any of these monitors. So that, for instance, whomever is cooking and listening to the show that is playing in the lounge (audio is also fed to the kitchen area) can also watch it playing from the kitchen monitors. Or even have it playing on only 1 kitchen monitor while leaving the other free for a recipe in a browser, say.

Technically, I believe this can be done by inserting the standard "Infinite Tee Filter" into the DirectShow graph, just after the video decoder, and connecting it to additional renderers. I've done some experiments using GraphStudio and managed to achieve it easily, connecting up an additional 3 duplicate windows.

So even if the UI isn't implemented anytime soon, it would be great if the API functions to do this were added to NPVR, so it could be developed further by a plugin developer. (I may be tempted to jump into plugin development myself if the API functions were available for this and no-one else was keen ).

[peter_h]

Taking it one step further... ideally, I like to be able to run multiple, independent instances of the PVR GUI on each screen. Then, on any one, be able to pull up a "Now Playing" window that shows the videos that other instances are playing. Of those playing, you could choose any one to be duplicated on the current screen.

Also would probably need a "Duplicate Video On..." screen that "pushes" video onto a selected monitor, in case an instance of NPVR wasn't running on the target monitor, or you weren't in the room you are duplicating it to.

Here's some quick ideas for possible API functions :

npvrInstance.videoPlayingOnMonitors() ;returns a list of monitors that NPVR is playing its video on
npvrInstance.getMainMonitorNumber() ; returns the monitor the instance of NPVR is showing on
npvrInstance.mainVideoWindow( monitorNumber, position, size) ;tells NPVR to play videos on a certain monitor.
npvrInstance.duplicateVideoWindow( monitorNumber, position, size) ;tells NPVR to duplicate videos on a certain monitor.


BTW, I haven't looked at GBPVR API or plugin development, so I don't even know how it all actually works - this API functionality may already be there, FAIK!

[JonnyCam]

if you wanted something like that, why not just go for a PCH client connected to the monitor - it doesn't give you the listing of what videos are being watched at that time, but you could design some type of plugin for that.
The monitor in the kitchen would then have a fully controllable instance of gbpvr running. (but you would need some type of controller - maybe a usb connected numeric keypad or similar, or you could still have the IR of the pch visible.

[peter_h]

why not just go for a PCH client connected to the monitor?

A few reasons...

- PCH is about $300, for an extra monitor. A HD-capable dual monitor video card is around $50. So that's only $25 per monitor.
- I already run a server 24/7, so it seems most economical to just add another card in. It's centrally-located sub-flooor (which makes everything super-quiet), so I just run DVI, USB and SPDIF/TOSLink cables to each extra room.
- I'm not familiar with PCH/Linux programming

Re controllers...ATM, I've got active USB extensions going to a hub in each room. Which is fine if all the monitors are "clones". I'm planning on making them fully independent screens, controlled by WinMobile-based Dell x51v devices via WiFi using softwares like HIP/Girder/NetRemote/Flash/AutoIT to allow independent control.

I could do everything I want from scratch using a programming environment I'm very capable and familiar with - Macromedia/Adobe Director. But for 98% of it, I'd be re-inventing the wheel, just to get the unique functionality I want. But since Adobe have virtually killed off Director, I'm looking for a new cross-platform multimedia coding platform anyway, so it might be an appropriate time to bite the bullet and jump ship. Which leaves me tossing up between Adobe Air+Flash, or Unity3D+.Net/Mono. I still haven't made up my mind yet! If I knew that NPVR had at least the ability for me to achieve what I wanted, even if it meant me becoming a plug-in developer, then my decision would be made.

[sub]

The closest you're going to be able to get is running multiple independent instances of NPVR. They would have the share the available resources of the server. ie, they'd all be able to schedule recordings, they'd all be able access available tuners on the server, all be able to indepedently play recordings ect.