GBPVR LCD Plugin for LCDSmartie

[fooman1]

Updated to 0.60 beta. Download attached to the end of this post.

This release has seen some major additions:
- Detailed display of video information; [requires My Videos plugin]
- Detailed display of music information;
- Radio display;
- Netradio display;
- Ability to customise screens shown in the various display modes;
- Ability to customise length of time to show screens in the various display modes;
- More configuration settings added.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to test this version thoroughly owing to the large amount of features and changes and my limited time. I did test and it worked fine when everything was hardcoded, but I have done barely any testing to see how well the plug-in works following the changes to allow custom configuration of the various modes. However, I will not have much (if any) time over the next few weeks to spend on development, so I release it here as it is still a major improvement over the previous version, 0.46b, and I think people will benefit.

Again, if you see any bugs, please make a post. Also, give me ideas about features you like/dislike/want/etc.

This version requires CommonGBPVRUtilities.dll and UltraID3Lib.dll (included).

Download attached to the end of this post.

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Updated to 0.46 beta. Download attached. In this release:
- Ability to change date/time display format.
- Ability to use non-ASCII (ie non-English) characters. ANSI characters should work provided your LCD is capable of displaying them. An update to LCDSmartie is required. See LCDSmartie_GBPVRPlugin Info.txt.
- Fixed minor bug with line 2 display introduced in version 0.46a.
- Fixed minor bug with display not returning to default after watching TV.
- Added ability to display more information in Live TV mode. LCD should cycle between channel name and channel number, and programme title and description if data is available.

I've updated the attachment below to point to the new version.

Provided no-one reports any major bugs, the aim for the next release will be to get the plugin to provide more detailed information for the screens other than live TV.

After that, I will look at adding the ability to completely customise the display, including how and what information can be displayed. This should be the point where those with LCDs with more than 2 lines can benefit fully.

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Plugin has been updated to 0.45 beta. New in this release:
- Minor bug fixes;
- Ability to connect to GBPVR LCD Plugin remotely (ie GBPVR on one machine, LCDSmartie on another) by using custom IP/Port;
- Ability to customise all messages used by the program, even the recording indicator. Only exception to this are the dynamic messages (eg currently playing audio or video file, or current channel number, etc).


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Original post:

My VFD isn't supported by jaLCDs so I've been writing a plug-in for LCDSmartie to use with GB-PVR. It's at a stage now where it is quite usable (at least for me), so I provide it here for others who may also benefit from it.

I do plan to update this a lot more and add more features, but my timeframe is quite open due to a busy schedule coming up. Perhaps the biggest thing going for it at the moment is the recording indicator.

Anyway, here it is at 0.4 beta. Instructions in the zip.

Questions/bugs/feature requests below please.

[b00sfuk]

Thanks for sharing - been waiting for a recording indicator for ages. I have one question and one problem.

Question - it only seem to work if the GB-PVR GUI is running. Is this as designed or can it be made to show a program is recording when just the recording service is running?

Problem - when configured the GB-PVR GUI will only start some of the time. If I remove the plugin from the GB-PVR directory then the problem goes away. I get this error in the gb-pvr.log which might or might not be connected.

The channel tcp is already registered.
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.ChannelServices.RegisterChannelInternal(IChannel chnl)

I'm using LCD Smartie with an IMON VFD (using IMonSmartie software that allows it to be supported as a Matrix Orbital VFD).

Thanks again.

[haxorboy]

I would be interested in knowing a bit more about your setup as that is the next piece of the puzzle I want to work into my HTPC. I have looked around and LCD/VFD's before but just haven't found the right fit yet.

[turkey]

Question - it only seem to work if the GB-PVR GUI is running. Is this as designed or can it be made to show a program is recording when just the recording service is running?

Have a look at my setup in the Smartie Screen Forum

The GBPVR screens are a bit intricate, and they don't use a plugin, just a utility from Mister Slimm that was recently released. It works very well for me, and I never use the GBPVR gui or the tray indicator, only the recording service and the enhanced web interface for scheduling.

[fooman1]

Thanks for the replies,

Question - it only seem to work if the GB-PVR GUI is running. Is this as designed or can it be made to show a program is recording when just the recording service is running?

Yes, this is as designed. I thought if it was used for a HTPC then the frontend would be running all of the time (at least at my place it will be). However, I will look at trying to get it to run when just the recording service is running.

Problem - when configured the GB-PVR GUI will only start some of the time. If I remove the plugin from the GB-PVR directory then the problem goes away. I get this error in the gb-pvr.log which might or might not be connected.

The channel tcp is already registered.
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.ChannelServices.RegisterChannelInternal(IChannel chnl)

Interesting. When developing it I had the same problem when I would run GBPVR, its server thread would not terminate when GBPVR was closed. As a result, one would need to Ctrl-Alt-Del and terminate the GBPVR process to end the program properly and allow GBPVR to start again. However, the fix was simple (make it a background thread) and now it works fine on my machine.

My suggestion for now would be to check if anything on your machine is blocking port 9826. The two DLLs communicate using TCP on that port so if another application is using it or a firewall is somehow preventing them from communicating that could be your problem. In the next update I will make use of a config file so you can change the port used. Hopefully that should fix the problem.

I'm using LCD Smartie with an IMON VFD (using IMonSmartie software that allows it to be supported as a Matrix Orbital VFD).

I'm using the same.

I would be interested in knowing a bit more about your setup as that is the next piece of the puzzle I want to work into my HTPC. I have looked around and LCD/VFD's before but just haven't found the right fit yet.

I'm using an iMon VFD (16x2) that came with my SilverStone case. It runs on USB. I like the software that comes with it, but note that some find it a bit limiting, especially since not all LCD applications support that VFD.

[n@boleo]

This one is working for me !!! thanks so much !

One improvement i can imagine is the ability to automaticaly cycle to an alternate screen when "Media centre + date/tile" is shown : For now i was monitoring my CPU usage, memory and temperatures using classical LCDSmarties with Monitoring MotherBoard... But as my LCD is only 2 lines I can't now have plugin and monitoring at the same time

Would it be possible add such a feature?

[wannabepvr]

Hmmm interesting.....

What is this LCDSmartie? (size?, lines, colour?)
...and where might one get one? Did it come with you case?

photo?

[fooman1]

One improvement i can imagine is the ability to automaticaly cycle to an alternate screen when "Media centre + date/tile" is shown : For now i was monitoring my CPU usage, memory and temperatures using classical LCDSmarties with Monitoring MotherBoard... But as my LCD is only 2 lines I can't now have plugin and monitoring at the same time

I don't fully understand what you mean. You can cycle through a number of screens in LCDSmartie so you should be able to use this plugin and also cycle through your system information.

Actually, now I think I understand what you're getting at. You want HTPC info all the time except for when "Media Centre" and the current date/time is displayed. If you go to the "Actions" tab in LCDSmartie, you can check a condition and make it do something. To do what you want, simply add the $dll(...) command for line 1, check if it equals "<space><space>Media Centre<space><space>" (substitute a normal blank space for <space>) and make the output go to another screen of your choice.

Hmmm interesting.....

What is this LCDSmartie? (size?, lines, colour?)
...and where might one get one? Did it come with you case?

LCDSmartie is software that supports a number of LCD/VFD displays. It lets you display stuff on them. You can find more information and download it from http://lcdsmartie.sourceforge.net/

[n@boleo]

I don't fully understand what you mean. You can cycle through a number of screens in LCDSmartie so you should be able to use this plugin and also cycle through your system information.

Actually, now I think I understand what you're getting at. You want HTPC info all the time except for when "Media Centre" and the current date/time is displayed. If you go to the "Actions" tab in LCDSmartie, you can check a condition and make it do something. To do what you want, simply add the $dll(...) command for line 1, check if it equals "<space><space>Media Centre<space><space>" (substitute a normal blank space for <space>) and make the output go to another screen of your choice.

I wanted to cycle automaticaly through my 2 screens (1st one for MBM, 2nd one for your plugin)... But i guess i was too tired to notice that "sticky" was checked for the 2nd screen, as result, LCDSmarties doesn't cycle screens at all !!

I'm keeping your second trick in mind it could be useful later

Everything is fine now, thanks ! :p

I now have a question : what do you think about a translation for your plugin ? I guess it would increase the usage and also the WAF

[fooman1]

Hi,

I updated the plugin in the first post to 0.45 beta. This allows you the ability to use custom messages for each of the states. Have a try.