GB-PVR with XLOBBY Frontend

[steele]

Hi graeme

Just found GB-PVR, makes me wonder how I missed it. I am buying a epia MII600 mobo and pvr350 card and was browsing for some nice software and look where I ended up!!!

I am a big fan of XLOBBY, which I imagine many of you might never of heard of. Look at http://www.xlobby.com, looks very similar to GB-PVR, but

XLOBBY is great (for me) because of its pocket pc support (if you own one), the music/jukebox features, pictures section and internet browser, but its crap for the pvr section unlike GB-PVR which excels in this.

Question 1,

Could I have GB-PVR pvr's function only, is it possible to delete the other sections that work but don't have the same level of functionality yet like xlobby? Sounds cruel and harsh I know.

Question 2,

What EPG software is best and how oftern do you need to connect to internet to update?

Kind regards

steele

ps do you take donations for all your hard work?

[steele]

Well I guess I am after just the tv tunner/PVR section and set it up so it opens from clicking on a button on the xlobby main screen, nothing to fancy.

I noticed that there has been mention of support for the hollywood plus sigma designs card. http://www.tekheads.co.uk are currently selling just the pci card under the b-stock/graphics section for about £11.

I am sure people who make a hardware support request would not mind you borrowing the hardware so you can write support for it? I am more than willing to send you my hollywood plus card for a few weeks loan if it helps?

steele

[sub]

Sigma Designs XCard support is on my list, but I probably wont support the hollywood plus.

[sub]

BTW, you mention buy a mini-itx board + PVR350. You do know that it wont be possible to see you XLobby interface on the PVR350s tv connection?

Also, I've got a ME6000 + PVR350 and find the GB-PVR menus to be too slow on it. This motherboard/CPU combo is about the same speed as a 300mhz celeron. The PVR350 will record and playback without any problems, but the menus could be quite slow.

[steele]

Its ok that I won't see the xlobby stuff on the pvr350 tv connection as I think I really just going to have a button in xlobby to open GB_PVR and run it normally, so using xlobby as a frontend menu/button only for the PVR stuff.

How bad is the delay for the menus, are they really noticeable and do you know if using a more powerful epia board would solve this problem, really want to keep to near fanless system though. Thanks for all the advice though really helpful in confirming my choice of tv tunner card if nothing else!!

steele

[sub]

I'd say my 6000 isn't really fast enough. The M10000 (Nehemiah chipset) are probably OK (I've not tried one) but then you'll have fans unfortunately.

How will you normally see your XLobby frontend? Will you have a monitor next to your TV or switch AV inputs? What will you use XLobby for? It should be good for sound, but the motherboard is unlikely to be up to playing video (DivX/DVD/etc).

[steele]

I was going to keep the pc in the spare room/ computer room and access it in the living room via my pocket pc (LOOX), the computer would be connected to the hi-fi and tv via cables. This means that when I select the PVR on Xlobby main menu it would open GB_PVR on the tv? and use the loox or my philips pronto to control it via girder. Was thinking about a wireless connection between computer and tv but I have heard that the RF siginal can interfer with wi-fi which was how I was going to do the pocket pc to computer connection.

Think I will go with the M10000 as the best option.

[QUOTE]but the motherboard is unlikely to be up to playing video (DivX/DVD/etc).

Can't I play back recorded video/tv and ripped dvd's (that I own of course) through the pvr350, would they not be handled by the onboard mpeg2 decoder on the pvr350 rather than the mobo and cpu?

steele

[sub]

Yes, video converted/ripped down to a standard MPEG will be able to be played through the PVR350. Other video types requiring CPU decoding wouldn't have been possible on the ME6000. Possibly ok on the M10000

[steele]

Ok, now I am getting abit confused. I thought that dvd's were in the mpeg2 so if I ripped them to my harddrive keeping the original file formats minus the addons like unwanted audio tracks and bonus features, I will be able to watch them with the pvr350 decoding it and not the cpu. Also any tv footage recorded on the pvr350 would be encoded and then decoded by the pvr for viewing?

steele

[steele]

Ok, now I am getting abit confused. I thought that dvd's were in the mpeg2 so if I ripped them to my harddrive keeping the original file formats minus the addons like unwanted audio tracks and bonus features, I will be able to watch them with the pvr350 decoding it and not the cpu. Also any tv footage recorded on the pvr350 would be encoded and then decoded by the pvr for viewing?

steele