A couple suggestions (taskbar, guide)

[Mangus]

Hello. I've just started using GB-PVR. It looks wonderful and seems to be working great. I had a few issues getting started with it, but once it's set up, it works great.

Some suggestions so far (after 2 days of use):

1) Instead of having an application entry in the application bar, make the opened GB-PVR window have a taskbar entry instead (like GBPVRTray, or, even better, just make GBPVRTray the one and only GB-PVR control point, where you can launch the main application, etc)

2) A user option to lock the aspect ratio regardless of the renderer being used (edit: In windowed mode). This should be rather simple to implement (check the user settings, respond to WM_SIZE).

3) Allow the TV guide to be viewed with the TV program in the background. I'm not a fan of having to exit out of Live TV to look at the guide.

4) (This one a little more vague and ambiguous) - have a setup wizard, or a simplified setup menu (with an "advanced" mode for the lesser-touched settings). Setting this application can be quite involved, with the user presented with many options that are vague and unclear.

GB-PVR is purely awesome. Please keep up the great work! I'll be donating soon!

M
(A fellow freeware developer)

[betlit]

3) Allow the TV guide to be viewed with the TV program in the background. I'm not a fan of having to exit out of Live TV to look at the guide.

you can do this since version... well... since the beginning :-).
i do not know what remote you are using... if it is the hauppauge remote, you can simply press the 'guide'-button while watching live-tv/recordings/video/dvd and voila.

i do not know if other remotes (e.g. the mce remote) do have a 'guide'-button, too... but its always the button mapped to F1... (you can test it and hit f1 on your keyboard while watching live tv/recordings/video/dvd)

[Mangus]

Yes, about 10 minutes after posting this, I looked in the keyboard config XML for Live TV and discovered this.

I use the Remote Wonder that came with my card, so I've since mapped it.

Followup suggestion, then:

Make the number of channels displayed in the live TV guide user-editable, and make the background transparent (unless I'm missing that option too).

By the way, I had to do quite a bit of searching to figure out how to get my remote to function with the software. :-) I know this application is DIY (and free!), but I have a feeling this is a common remote.

Again, the more I play with the software, the more awesome I find it to be!

[betlit]

Make the number of channels displayed in the live TV guide user-editable, and make the background transparent (unless I'm missing that option too).

transparency: you can edit the value of <OSDTransparency> in config.xml. IIRC setting it to 255 is opaque, 0 is fully transparent.
note: this has an effect on _all_ OSD (including live guide, or videoplugins) displayed.

By the way, I had to do quite a bit of searching to figure out how to get my remote to function with the software. :-) I know this application is DIY (and free!), but I have a feeling this is a common remote.

thats what the forum and the wiki is for if you think something generic or common is missing in the wiki, feel fere to add id.
ask blader_se for an account.

[edit:]hmm.. it seems that the wiki is down at the moment... as you already may know, subs hosting provider has some troubles at the moment. but im sure it will soon be up again.

[Mangus]

transparency: you can edit the value of <OSDTransparency> in config.xml. IIRC setting it to 255 is opaque, 0 is fully transparent.
note: this has an effect on _all_ OSD (including live guide, or videoplugins) displayed.

Cool, I'll try that. Just to be clear, this makes the text transparent as well, right? If so, It'd be nice to have the text opaque, while the background is transparent.

Thanks for your help and quick replies.

[betlit]

no, just the background

and it just works using VMR (7 or 9). in overlay, alpha blending is not possible.

[Mangus]

no, just the background

It appears to be the text too. =( It's cool, though!

[betlit]

uhm.. yeah, you are right. i just did a test and it affects everything... sorry.

but, you can try and edit the skin file of the tv guide (skin\live guide\skin.xml) and set the background colour from black to something other (e.g. white? *g*).

you can also try this:

Code:

<DrawRoundedRect loc="50,45" size="600,370" radius="5" borderWidth="6" borderColor="LightGray" fillColor="[color=Red]Transparent[/color]"/>

[MixMan]

I have made a LiveTV OSD skin with 7 channels displaying.
Also made more spece for program descritions.
You can find it in the SharperEdge skin.

[pBS]

i modded my osd so that it's totally transparent and added shadows to the text so i could see it better on same color video backgrounds..works great,can see more of the video and opaque text...i really like it and export it to any skin i use..