2011-08-23, 06:53 PM
Hi sub, thought I'd try the latest version of NPVR and see if it could tempt me away from the old GB-PVR that I'm still using, and there are still a few things that are just about holding me back.
1. When I'm sitting at the PC I still prefer to use the mouse right-click to come out of whatever I'm doing and go back a level. If I untick the 'Context Menu on right mouse button' option then I cannot get back into the settings menu without modifying the config.xml file (when I can remember where it lives these days! ). I know I brought this up once before and was told that clicking on the 'n' icon in the top-left corner of the nPVR window I'd see the 'Settings' option or I could right-click on the nPVR icon in the taskbar and get to the Settings window. sadly neither of these has ever worked for me. If I click on the icon top-left of the window I just get the standard windows options (Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, and Close) and if I right-click on the nPVR tray icon I get a pop-up menu with "Show Status, Start N-PVR, Restart Recording Service, and Exit" as options, and if I double left-click on the tray icon then I get the device status window.
Please either give an option to have "Settings" as menu option or stick it in the toolbar at the top of most screens or even just a keyboard short-cut would be appreciated.
2. In GB-PVR when watching a video you used to be able to click on the progress bar at the top of the screen (which appeared when you moved the mouse over the GB-PVR window) and jump to wherever you clicked on the bar. (i.e. click halfway along the bar and you'd jump to around halfway through the video.) I know N-PVR asks if you want to resume watching from where you left off, but that just doesn't work if someone else has come along and watched the same recording since you stopped watching it, and skipping through a 2 hour+ film using either the keyboard or remote is just painfully slow.
3. I use GB-PVR/N-PVR on a second screen and in order to give N-PVR the focus you often have to click somewhere on the screen. If the screen is the Main screen (TV Guide, Recordings, Live TV etc. at the bottom) then it doesn't matter where you click on the screen, it always activates whichever menu option is directly above or below where you clicked. It's not a big thing but it has gotten annoying as I always seem to click somewhere in line with the 'Exit' option . . .
One final query, in Gb-PVR I'm happily running with the 'Video Renderer' set as 'VMR9 Custom', and all the other 'Mpeg2 Playback' and 'Advanced Codec' options set to ffdshow video or audio decoders and the 'Audio Renderer' set to 'System Default' and it all works brilliantly. However, in N-PVR it doesn't matter which Video Renderer I use, I cannot get ffdshow to work as the MPeg2 Video decoder and play an MPeg2 .mpg or .ts file, I just get a black screen with audio which IS working through ffdshow. It works fine when playing back XVid files, flv files, mkv, and m2ts files. Strangely it works with vob files from a DVD which I thought were Mpeg2 but not with MPeg2 .mpg or .ts files. Again not a biggie as it works if I use one of the other decoders available (I usually use the 'Cyberlink Video Decoder (PDVD9)' one), just wondering why the difference?
I'm running an Intel C2Q with 32-bit Windows XP Home SP3, 4Gb RAM, plenty of disk space over 3 hard drives, nVidia GTS450 graphics card and the current reference drivers from nVidia, and Norton Internet Security 2011, N-PVR 2.1.5 and the latest cumulative patches from the sticky.
N-PVR seems to have impoved dramatically since v2.0.3 and I'm almost ready to switch, but the not being able to jump to any position in the video by clicking on the prograss bar is the real deal breaker as I'm sure I'd probably get used to the other niggles.
Anyway, keep up the good work and hope you're finding enough time to spend some quality time with the family as well as keeping all us grumpy old(ish) gits happy!
1. When I'm sitting at the PC I still prefer to use the mouse right-click to come out of whatever I'm doing and go back a level. If I untick the 'Context Menu on right mouse button' option then I cannot get back into the settings menu without modifying the config.xml file (when I can remember where it lives these days! ). I know I brought this up once before and was told that clicking on the 'n' icon in the top-left corner of the nPVR window I'd see the 'Settings' option or I could right-click on the nPVR icon in the taskbar and get to the Settings window. sadly neither of these has ever worked for me. If I click on the icon top-left of the window I just get the standard windows options (Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, and Close) and if I right-click on the nPVR tray icon I get a pop-up menu with "Show Status, Start N-PVR, Restart Recording Service, and Exit" as options, and if I double left-click on the tray icon then I get the device status window.
Please either give an option to have "Settings" as menu option or stick it in the toolbar at the top of most screens or even just a keyboard short-cut would be appreciated.
2. In GB-PVR when watching a video you used to be able to click on the progress bar at the top of the screen (which appeared when you moved the mouse over the GB-PVR window) and jump to wherever you clicked on the bar. (i.e. click halfway along the bar and you'd jump to around halfway through the video.) I know N-PVR asks if you want to resume watching from where you left off, but that just doesn't work if someone else has come along and watched the same recording since you stopped watching it, and skipping through a 2 hour+ film using either the keyboard or remote is just painfully slow.
3. I use GB-PVR/N-PVR on a second screen and in order to give N-PVR the focus you often have to click somewhere on the screen. If the screen is the Main screen (TV Guide, Recordings, Live TV etc. at the bottom) then it doesn't matter where you click on the screen, it always activates whichever menu option is directly above or below where you clicked. It's not a big thing but it has gotten annoying as I always seem to click somewhere in line with the 'Exit' option . . .
One final query, in Gb-PVR I'm happily running with the 'Video Renderer' set as 'VMR9 Custom', and all the other 'Mpeg2 Playback' and 'Advanced Codec' options set to ffdshow video or audio decoders and the 'Audio Renderer' set to 'System Default' and it all works brilliantly. However, in N-PVR it doesn't matter which Video Renderer I use, I cannot get ffdshow to work as the MPeg2 Video decoder and play an MPeg2 .mpg or .ts file, I just get a black screen with audio which IS working through ffdshow. It works fine when playing back XVid files, flv files, mkv, and m2ts files. Strangely it works with vob files from a DVD which I thought were Mpeg2 but not with MPeg2 .mpg or .ts files. Again not a biggie as it works if I use one of the other decoders available (I usually use the 'Cyberlink Video Decoder (PDVD9)' one), just wondering why the difference?
I'm running an Intel C2Q with 32-bit Windows XP Home SP3, 4Gb RAM, plenty of disk space over 3 hard drives, nVidia GTS450 graphics card and the current reference drivers from nVidia, and Norton Internet Security 2011, N-PVR 2.1.5 and the latest cumulative patches from the sticky.
N-PVR seems to have impoved dramatically since v2.0.3 and I'm almost ready to switch, but the not being able to jump to any position in the video by clicking on the prograss bar is the real deal breaker as I'm sure I'd probably get used to the other niggles.
Anyway, keep up the good work and hope you're finding enough time to spend some quality time with the family as well as keeping all us grumpy old(ish) gits happy!