My wish-view recordings while watching live tv

[pcostanza]

I feel bad sharing what I'd like to see in NPVR since I've done nill to add to the experience but I'd like to be able to view both recording programs as well as scheduled recordings while in live tv. Or at least a box showing live tv or in the background.
I know I can use the settings menu do this but it's not as nice as having pressing a button on the remote or a hot key on the keyboard and viewing the info much like the tv guide below live tv.
I'd gladly donate a few $$$ to anyone who takes this on.

[johnsonx42]

You might talk to imilne about this; he's building pretty much the exact screen you're looking for into his System plugin (in the announcements forum if you haven't seen it yet). I *think* sub has made it possible for a plugin to pop-up over livetv now, so it might be a somewhat simple matter to bind his recording status screen to a remote key and get it to display.

edit: this is the bit I was referring to from the N-PVR release notes:

Plugins can now show themselves above video
Plugins can now get monitor for keypresses while video is playing (for example, to launch themselves over the video on a certain key combination)

[pcostanza]

Yep, I thought about the system plugin when I posted but didn't fully realize the the bit about the release notes. That's good news. The system plugin might not work due to the fact that it's already taking up lots of real estate but something like that on a smaller scale would be fine with me.
Not to harp on Media Center but when in live tv, you can press the recorded tv button and sound continues and a small live tv screen appears in the lower left hand. A few other PVR's offer similar features. I am certain it's possible in NPVR, and I waited a while to ask knowing that it's still maturing.

[johnsonx42]

yeah, I agree; a function where you could just bring up the main menu right over whatever video is playing would be great, and probably fairly easy to implement (for sub anyway); make the UI come up semi-transparent so you could still somewhat see the video behind it - that would be the shiznit (translate to the "mutt's nuts" for our English-speaking friends).

[imilne]

I was always a fan of how it worked with GBPVR (assuming you weren't using EVR), where the video could be popped into the corner and then you could browse your way around the other screens and plugins. It would be nice if nPVR could do this too, and even nicer if it could manage it with EVR.

But the fullscreen video with other screens overlaid on top is a great idea too. Most controls on the plugins are already slightly transparent, so maybe it could work if sub did something to them that stopped the background element of the skin drawing, effectively making the video the background instead. Actually, to be honest, I wouldn't mind that much if the video disappeared completely, as long as the sound continued while you checked something on another screen/plugin.

I'll investigate what's possible with the "Plugins can now show themselves above video" thing too, and see if there's anything I can do with the System plugin with it. If sub could provide pointers on how to get started, that would be fantastic too.

Iain