On Screen Display (OSD)

[andcar]

I have an Hauppauge PVR 250 and is searching for a good software for it. GB-PVR seems to be a good choise.
But I have a question regarding the OSD. Is it an display over the TV image shown only on the computer screen or is it also streamed with the picture to the TV (if I use that way of watching the picture)?

[colin]

Hey andcar,

OSD should work in both scenarios.

Cheers,
Colin.

[andcar]

I have tried that, but the OSD is only visible on the computer screen for me. Is there something special I have to do?

[sub]

How are you showing GB-PVR on the TV?

- If you watch GB-PVR on the PC monitor, you'll see video/menus/OSD
- If you watch GB-PVR on the regular TV out on normal video card (which also show the desktop on TV etc), you'll see video/menus/OSD
- If you watch GB-PVR on an MVP connected to your TV, you'll see video/menus/OSD
- If you watch GB-PVR on an PVR350 connected to your TV, you'll see video/menus/OSD
- If you watch GB-PVR on an XCard connected to your TV, you'll see video/menus/OSD

This pretty much covers the way everyone connects to their TVs.

I know a couple of video cards can perform some special tricks to place the video only on a special TV out connector (Radeon - theatre mode or something like that), then you may not get menus/OSD depending on how these video cards do it. This is pretty rare - I've only heard of one person ever doing this.

[andcar]

I have a Raedeon 9600 XT graphics card and is using the so called "theatre mode". Then the picture is automatically full-screened on the TV, no matter which player program I use. But I cant see any menus osd and so forth.

Maby I am totaly lost (probably I am), but is there other ways of playing a movie on a TV with the computer without showing it on the computer screen? I want to use the computer at the same time as playing movies on the TV.

[sub]

Quote[/b] ]Maby I am totaly lost (probably I am), but is there other ways of playing a movie on a TV with the computer without showing it on the computer screen? I want to use the computer at the same time as playing movies on the TV.

No, everyone tends to set there TV out to show the exact same thing as their PC monitor. You're right - this means you cant be using your PC for other visible things at the same time. There is no way for me to show menus on your theatre mode - sorry.

Other options such as the XCard or PVR350 allow you to output GB-PVR through the TV but not to the PC monitor.

[andcar]

Quote[/b] ]No, everyone tends to set there TV out to show the exact same thing as their PC monitor.

But the resolution on my computer screen is 1280x1024 and I can't set the TV resolution that high (or?). Is everybody using lower resolution on the computer screen or are they using windowed mode and trying to show that part of the picture on th TV. Or is there a way to set the "TV resolution" that high?

[tankd0g]

Quote[/b] (andcar @ Aug. 18 2004,06:33)]

Quote[/b] ]No, everyone tends to set there TV out to show the exact same thing as their PC monitor.

But the resolution on my computer screen is 1280x1024 and I can't set the TV resolution that high (or?). Is everybody using lower resolution on the computer screen or are they using windowed mode and trying to show that part of the picture on th TV. Or is there a way to set the "TV resolution" that high?

It will probably still work on the TV screen even in that resolution, I think the TV out of the card is restricted to resolutions the TV can display. I haven't tried it yet but you might be able to set up multiple displays so that TV-out is one and the VGA connector is another.

[Guest]

Quote[/b] (tankd0g @ Aug. 18 2004,12:08)]

Quote[/b] (andcar @ Aug. 18 2004,06:33)]

Quote[/b] ]No, everyone tends to set there TV out to show the exact same thing as their PC monitor.

But the resolution on my computer screen is 1280x1024 and I can't set the TV resolution that high (or?). Is everybody using lower resolution on the computer screen or are they using windowed mode and trying to show that part of the picture on th TV. Or is there a way to set the "TV resolution" that high?

It will probably still work on the TV screen even in that resolution, I think the TV out of the card is restricted to resolutions the TV can display. I haven't tried it yet but you might be able to set up multiple displays so that TV-out is one and the VGA connector is another.

That's pretty much it.

In my case with an nvidia fx5600 on a flat panel 1280X1024 I have to set the vid card to clone mode and change the display to 800x600 to get it to where the OSD is full sized for my sonyxbr HD Tv. Even then the video displayed through gbpvr doesn't stretch to the entire horiz or vert dimensions of the tv screen.

If you fail to set the dimensions properly you end up sending the full 1280x1024 resolution to the tv which means you'll likely only see whats on the center of your computer monitor, but if you move the mouse right, left or down far enough you'll see the portions of the pc screen which encompass the max dimensions the tv is capable of displaying at any given time.

I'm still looking for a better solution.

The vid card offers a dual display system which I haven't been able to work out yet. Still trying.

[Guest]

Quote[/b] (sub @ Aug. 14 2004,16:02)]

Quote[/b] ]Maby I am totaly lost (probably I am), but is there other ways of playing a movie on a TV with the computer without showing it on the computer screen? I want to use the computer at the same time as playing movies on the TV.

No, everyone tends to set there TV out to show the exact same thing as their PC monitor. You're right - this means you cant be using your PC for other visible things at the same time. There is no way for me to show menus on your theatre mode - sorry.

Well, just because everyone TENDS to set there TV out to show the exact same thing as their PC monitor, does not mean that everyone WANTS to set there TV out to show the exact same thing as their PC monitor.

The advancements in video card technology has allowed for even the cheapest cards to have dual display support (PC monitor and TV out as two separate displays)

It is desperately simple to implement multiple monitors using the MS OS (they even provide code on how to do it)

http://www.zarr.net/vb/download/codedetail.asp?code=27

I hope that GBPVR adopts multiple monitor support soon.  It would be fantastic, and open up a LOT of doors.

bh