MVP Software Client

[pBS]

liking it alot...there was an old client around but it was way buggier and the guy disappeared and haven't seen him since..[and no source code either]
so glad someone started this back up..also liking the way you have mplayer as the player.. it's very efficient at playing the in-progress files..
would love to see the overlay code when you get it ready..
also,how do we change the size of the window? tried alt-enter but didn't do anything..
pretty stable for me so far...keep up the great work!
and thanx for the source! that way it won't die and others can help speed up releases..

[haarvik]

I should mention that my media is on a mapped/shared drive, not local. Don't know if this helps or not. When I first used the client I could see the media. After trying to view WMV files, that's when it all disappeared. I even tried re-installing the client to no avail

[TivoGuy]

haarvik, I'm not sure why you aren't seeing your media folders any more. The client really only displays frame buffers that GBPVR serves up (like VNC). If it's not showing on the client screen, then GBPVR didn't put it there. You might want to restart the MVP server. Sometimes the client will cause the server to crash. Most of the time, though, the server will right itself automatically if you give it a few minutes.

It's funny that you mentioned the STB. That's the reason I started looking into this, too. I use GBPVR as a central scheduling service for my Tivos, but I wanted to be able to maintain the scheduling and conflicts from any Tivo. I am writing an HME application that will allow me to view the MVP gui from my Tivo so I can do this. Before I could do that, though, I needed to understand the protocols, so I started this project. If you want to build a STB from scratch, you should check out http://www.gctglobal.com/. Kind of expensive, but cool.

pBS, thanks for trying out the client. I'll post the source and binary for the new version with the overlays when I get a chance. The reason you can't change the screen size right now is that I set the screen to the size that the server tells me. Since the MVP is meant to run on the TV, the size is usually around the 640 x 480 range. I can try to make it so that you can watch videos in full screen mode.

For anyone testing the client. I found that you can run the program straight from the Support directory where the setup.exe file is found. This might be good if you don't want to keep installing and reinstalling the program. It worked on all of the machines on which I tested it so far.

[haarvik]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I checked them out 2 years ago and they are expensive. I am going to try and mount the dongle.bin file on my linux box and take a peek under the hood. If this is no more than a pimped up VNC client, then it shouldn't be too hard to get an image for an Arm processor board with a TI DSP chip on it at a fairly reasonable price (< $50). My first STB ran about $500 using the Mini-ITX boards. I think now you can get a decent STB build with it for around $250.

I'd be willing to work with you in developing this, but for an STB similar to the MediaMVP you are gonna have to go with Linux. MS is just way too beefy to be viable.

[blader_se]

I tried the MVPClient and it partially worked.

First, what are the MVPViewersetup adding to my Windows? I have not run this and that could be my problem....

But, when starting the mvpclient I got a "CreateProcess failed. Error: 2", Hitting OK brings up the interface, and it looks like it's working (I can use the Weather plugin e.g.) but I'm unable to play anything.

When trying to play video, I get a black screen and it dies with "Run-time error '6': Overflow.
(Though it starts the Live-TV stream from the GB-recording service.)

Audio (mp3) just doesn't play..

Really looking forward to getting an mvpclient on my PC, so is there anything I can do to help out...

[TivoGuy]

The CreateProcess failed because it couldn't find mplayer. That's why the video does not work. mplayer just needs to be in the same folder as the MVPClient executable.

There are a few dlls that get installed, also, like zlib and YUV, but if they are in the same folder as the client, it should work okay.

[haarvik]

Ok, I found a potential contender for an STB. Check out:

Akimbo

For $70.00 it may just do the trick

Of course hacking the MediaMVP and doing an OEM agreement with hauppauge may be a better option later on

[hondo]

haarvik, I can understand that some people would like a software MVP client, so they can have another machine pretend to be an MVP, but now that you are talking about hacking the MVP, or other set top boxes...what are you trying to do that the MVP doesnt already do with GB-PVR?

[blader_se]

The CreateProcess failed because it couldn't find mplayer. That's why the video does not work. mplayer just needs to be in the same folder as the MVPClient executable.

Ok, thanks. Now the audio (mp3) works, and the video (mpg) starts, but I still get the Overflow error just after it starts....

[haarvik]

Create a viable STB box that isn't a full size PC. Just my nature to hack like this

It's not the features that drive me, it's the ability to create a married system both client/server. The future of home entertainment will be a centralized system (server) that feeds STB's (client) via a wired/wireless network. This would obviously include features found with X10 allowing for remote control/security as well. Why would I want to put a PC next to every TV when I can just run RG56?

Point being if I can do this type of setup, I can take a unit anywhere (garage, deck, etc) and have my media. In addition, just like VoIP, if I have my system set correctly, I should be able to take my STB to a friends house, or a hotel room with broadband and connect it up so I can watch my programming and/or local TV no matter where I am.

Getting in too deep yet?