NPVR 2.4.3 - Current Patches and Getting Started info

[johnsonx42]

Current patches for 2.4.3 - see post #2 for getting started and other reference info

===Individual Patches, Install as Needed=== ALSO SEE THIS NOTE: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post436315
1. Some recordings don't playback on PC Client - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post434159
2. fix occaisional video pause after comskip jump - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post434233
3. correct live tv failure on pc client - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post434474
4. divide-by-zero exception on PC Client - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post434584
5. timeline/skipping problem on PC Client - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post434809
6. playback of in-progress recording on PC Client ends when recording finishes - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post434903
7. correct several aspect ratio issues - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post435172
8. allow playback of .ts files with incorrect PAT (dreambox) - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post435700
9. correct error and improve xmltv processing performance on channel mapping screen - (REMOVED - INCOMPATIBLE WITH 2.4.3)
10. correct audio track selection on ATSC broadcast - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post435949

It should be noted that patches are listed generally in chronological order, but not perfectly so. The thread a given patch is posted in may contain additional information on exactly what a given patch was intended to do, and may also contain information on additional settings required if you wish to use the functionality provided. Finally, not all patches actually fix what they are supposed to, but the changes usually remain in the file going forward, so they are listed as part of the update history.

Installation Notes These "patches" are simply replacement files for the existing NPVR program files. You should extract them and copy them over the existing files; the default directory is C:\Program Files\NPVR. If you are running Vista or 7 and have UAC enabled, you will likely need to do this from an elevated command prompt or explorer window. To get an elevated explorer window, go to All Programs->Accessories, right-click on Windows Explorer and select "Run as Administrator". Now, within that explorer window only, you are the Administrator.

Before installing patches, you must exit NextPVR.exe, shutdown the NPVR Recording Service and close the NPVR Tray Icon (using the "Stop NPVR Service" icon accomplishes both).

I recommend that you restart your system after installing patches. I've seen numerous cases where the Recording Service is not able to restart properly due to a socket error. You can check your NRecord.log to see whether it did or not, or just reboot to be safe.

[johnsonx42]

NPVR Getting Started information

The primary documentation is the Wiki: http://www.gbpvr.com/nwiki. This post is meant to provide some basic information to get you pointed in the right direction.

The current NPVR Installer: http://www.gbpvr.com/NPVRSetup_2_4_3.exe
- v2.4.3 released March 24th (NZ Time). Release notes: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?51920

Installation Pre-Requisites: http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?...requisites
Full DirectX Runtime: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/det...px?id=8109

What is NPVR aka NextPVR?
NPVR is a completely new PVR application. With it you can watch and record TV programs from a variety of sources, play music and watch movies, and extend the functionality with various plugins. It can be thought of as the next generation of GB-PVR, but does not contain any GB-PVR code. GB-PVR skins and plugins are NOT compatible with NPVR. The initial release version number of NPVR was 1.5.19 (all versions 1.4.7 and prior are the older GB-PVR program). Much can be learned by reading sub's release notes in all of the 1.5.x release threads here: http://forums.gbpvr.com//forumdisplay.ph...order=desc (particularly the 1.5.19 notes are relevant if you are familiar with GB-PVR)

What about GB-PVR?
GB-PVR is no longer being developed. 1.4.7 was the final release, there will be no further changes, patches or bug fixes. Most plugin developers have also ended developement of their GB-PVR plugins. Support is still provided in the GB-PVR Support (Legacy) forum.

Getting Started & Accessing Settings:
The first time you run NextPVR.exe, it *should* load the Settings screen. If it doesn't, or when you need to get into it again, simply Right-Click anywhere in the NextPVR window; then you can select "Settings" from the menu.

Analog Capture Devices:
For ALL analog capture devices, you will need some of the Hauppauge SoftPVR components. If your Analog capture source does not show up in Devices, then the needed components are missing. If you first install WinTV7 (not 6, 7!) you will have the needed components installed. You can download WinTV7 from Hauppauge if you have an earlier WinTV CD available AND have a supported Hauppauge device installed: http://hauppauge.lightpath.net/software/...d_2.4d.exe. See the wiki for additional installation options: http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?...ugeSoftPVR

Some Analog devices will also need an appropriate entry added to the AnalogDevices.xml file; if your analog device won't show up after successfully installing the SoftPVR components, run FilterCheck (http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post386360), and post a support request thread with your FilterCheck.log attached as a .zip file. Post from Sub that reminds me how to construct an AnalogDevices.xml entry: http://forums.gbpvr.com//showthread.php?...post386495

North America Digital Cable (QAM) Support
Many ATSC/QAM digital tuner drivers do not properly identify QAM support for the device, and thus the device will appear only in the ATSC form; you will not be able to tune digital cable with this device entry. If the QAM entry for your device does not show up, view the devices screen then post a new support thread with your NPVR.LOG attached, along with a "please sir". sub can use data in the log to add QAM support for your device via a patch.

SiliconDust HDHomeRun
Ensure that you have firewall exceptions to allow NextPVR.exe, NRecord.exe and NDigitalHost.exe to communicate on the network, else the device will not deliver any data. Also, if you were previously using GB-PVR, re-run the HDHomeRun setup and choose NextPVR as the Application; don't leave it set to "GB-PVR".

NPVR Directories
NPVR has a program directory and a data directory. By default:
[PROGRAM] = "C:\Program Files\NPVR" (32-bit versions of Windows)
[PROGRAM] = "C:\Program Files(x86)\NPVR" (64-bit versions of Windows)

[DATA] = "C:\Users\Public\NPVR" on Windows 6 variants (Vista, 7, 2008)
[DATA] = "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\NPVR" on Windows 5.x variants (XP, 2003).

NPVR LOGS
NPVR logs pretty much everything it does in several log files. You should zip and attach your logs to any support post. The default log location is in the logs directory under the npvr data directory:
Windows Vista & Windows 7: C:\users\public\npvr\logs
Windows XP: C:\documents and settings\all users\application data\npvr\logs
--(my personal pet peeve: posted logs must be in .zip format or I probably won't look at them. someone else probably will, but not me... I may even gripe about it, yet still not look at the logs, because I'm just THAT WAY about it)--
To attach the logs, use the 'Go Advanced' button when posting, then click the paperclip and follow the onscreen instructions.

EPG (Electronic Program Guide)
NPVR will read any available EPG data you receive from your broadcasters (the DVB-T/ATSC Broadcast EPG option). However this information is sometimes very limited and not really of much use for more than the most basic TV watching functions (particularly North American digital cable and broadcast). It is recommended instead that you provide an XMLTV file with your desired EPG data. You will need an XMLTV grabber to download your EPG data into a file, and then point NPVR to that file. NPVR can also link directly to an XMLTV file on a web server. Once you setup your XMLTV grabber, you can put the commands to run the grabber in to the UpdateEPG.bat file in the npvr\scripts directory. NPVR runs this file first before updating the EPG each time. Here are a few XMLTV grabbers:

XMLTV: http://sourceforge.net/projects/xmltv/
XMLTVGUI: http://www.birtles.org.uk/xmltv/ - of particular interest to UK users
MC2XML: http://mc2xml.dyndns.org - can grab free Windows Media Center EPG data
DVBGuide: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post387262 - load DVB broadcast EPG into XMLTV
EPGCollector: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?for...icid=61903 - load NZ Freeview-T EPG into XMLTV

In addition, for US and Canadian users, NPVR has built-in support for the Schedules Direct EPG service. Create an account at http://www.schedulesdirect.org; quality, legal EPG data is only $26.00 per year (7-day free trial)

Some quick instructions on the XMLTV setup and channel mapping process here: http://forums.gbpvr.com//showthread.php?...post387096.

Batch files executed by NPVR:
[DATA]\Scripts\ParallelProcessing.bat <filename> <channelnumber> <oid>: called when a recording begins - often used for comskip
[DATA]\Scripts\PostProcessing.bat <filename> <channelnumber> <oid>: called when a recording completes (not canceled) - often used for comskip or transcoding
[DATA]\Scripts\UpdateEPG.bat : called when the EPG update begins at the time specified in Settings; commands herein should update the XMLTV file
[DATA]\Scripts\PostUpdateEPG.bat : called during the EPG update procedure; can be used for additional EPG-related processing (i.e. xmltvextras)
[DATA]\Scripts\Wakeup.bat : called after PC resumes from sleep.
[DATA]\Scripts\ScreenSaverStart.bat & ScreenSaverStop.bat: called when screen saver starts or exits

Parameters used in the Parallel/PostProcessing.bat: %1=the full path and file name of the recording file, %2=channel number, %3=recording OID for scripts that will modify the database.

The UpdateEPG.bat is only needed when using the XMLTV option.

Sample PostProcessing.bat: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post387833

NScriptHelper docs: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post414127

PLEASE NOTE: the scripts run as 'Local System', not your normal desktop user. Among other things, mapped network drives will NOT be there. Use \\server\sharename or \\ip\sharename instead.

Video and Audio Decoders
You must provide and select decoders for the video and audio streams that you will be playing. Analog video in any country requires only an MPEG-2 Video decoder and an MPEG-1 Layer 2 Audio decoder. The decoders provided with Windows XP/Vista/7 are usually sufficient for this. Digital video in the USA requires an HD-Capable MPEG-2 Video decoder and an AC3 Audio decoder. The Microsoft DTV-DVD Video decoder works well for many users, however the Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Decoder will not work for AC3 Audio. Use AC3Filter (http://ac3filter.net) instead. In other countries H.264 Video and various other forms of Audio are in use; you should familiarize yourself with the format(s) used in your country.

Our good friend Hoborg has developed a codec pack for NPVR: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?50227

Moving from GB-PVR
GB-PVR and NPVR can run at the same time, but be careful not to have both programs attempt to use the same tuner(s) at the same time.
NPVR can import your existing Ready recordings; click Import on the Recording screen in Settings, and point to GB-PVR's recording-dump.xml.
There is a utility for importing season recordings, see: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?47438

NEWA - NPVR Enhanced Web Access
Thanks to UncleJohnsBand, NPVR sports a spiffy web interface. Just point your web browser to [url]http://machine_name_or_ip:8866[/url], and enjoy (or http://localhost:8866 if you're on the same box). You can set an admin password for the configuration functions on the 'MVP & Web' screen in Settings.

[jksmurf]

I think

2. fix occaisional video pause after comskip jump http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post434233 should be
2. fix occasional video pause after comskip jump http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post434233

Missing an ampersand "&" after the 51956, otherwise the link fails ... for me at least.

k.

[johnsonx42]

Thanks. I have to manually shorten the URL's because otherwise I sometimes hit the single post length limit when the patch count gets up towards 40. Sometimes I delete one too many characters. The second post has been shortened and re-worded in places several times as it's bounced off the limit.

[Wakalaka]

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

HDHomeRun Setup 20120128 has choices for GB-PVR and NextPVR. Are you sure I should choose Other?

[johnsonx42]

No, you're right... I'd read some time ago that the HDHomeRun drivers had been updated to include NextPVR as an option, but completely forgot I had that information in the sticky. It will be edited by the time you read this.

[BTJustice]

Not being mean, but what is the point of #1 and #3 when #4 replaces both?

[johnsonx42]

I just list them as they appear. Each of the prior patches fixed something when it was posted; once a patch is in the list I don't remove it. The only time I skip a patch is if the users report it doesn't fix anything, or if it's just one of sub's "more logging" patches.

[smajor]

Also, I remember on one occasion a problem was introduced in a later patch what wasn't in an earlier one. I was able to revert to the earlier one and (hopefully) that helped sub sort out the difference while letting me continue to use NPVR until the issue was resolved.

[jksmurf]

I assume 5 and 6 are both supposed to point to http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post434809 ?