widescreen on a normal TV during live tv

[petewxm]

Is it possible to get the MVP to display widescreen on a normal TV during live TV.
I know Zprocess will change recorded programmes, just wondering is it possible during Live TV

On the GBPVR config screen under MVP there is an aspect ratio, but its grayed out and I cant change the selection.

Thanks

Pete

[sub]

Sorry, GB-PVR has no control over the aspect ratio on the MVP.

[mvallevand]

If you use the mvpmc dongle in emulation mode with GB-PVR, it will respect the wide-screen signaling information contained in some live tv streams.

Martin

[jksmurf]

If you use the mvpmc dongle in emulation mode with GB-PVR, it will respect the wide-screen signaling information contained in some live tv streams.

Martin

Hi Martin

"mvpmc dongle in emulation mode with GB-PVR". It's sounds like this thing is hot to trot (incl the other thread on it being able to turn off the MVP remotely- woo hoo!!), can you give us a brief summary of what is LOST or what extra resources if any are required when using your dongle with GBPVR? Is it ready for a WIKI page all of it's own. The "MVPMC Dongle with GBPVR"?

k.

[petewxm]

Hi Martin,

Where can I get this dongle from, and how do I get it in emulation mode.

Thanks for the help

Pete

[rscheller]

Try going here.

[petewxm]

Brilliant!!!!!!! Now I get widescreen

Thanks for the help

Pete

PS any other tips I should know

[petewxm]

Hi, I`ve got another problem now, when I change channel, it goes back to the mvpmc main screen. Anyone know how I can fix this.

Its as if it loses the network connection

Thanks

Pete

[mvallevand]

can you give us a brief summary of what is LOST or what extra resources if any are required when using your dongle with GBPVR? Is it ready for a WIKI page all of it's own. The "MVPMC Dongle with GBPVR"?

I don't think there is a consensus on what is the best combination of Hauppauge dongle and GB-PVR, so in many ways responding to this is difficult. I will add some background which might help put everything into context, so I can't really be brief so be forewarned. You can decide for yourselves what is lost.

The reason I call it emulation mode, is that the MediaMVP's dongle and GBPVR talk using a non-documented protocol, which I try to emulate based on what I see in network captures using Ethereal or WireShark, backed up with and lots of the work that Domenic Morris has done and with some help from sub and even Hauppauge when it gets tough. I have taken sub's approach and test emulation mode with the current GBPVR and the current Hauppauge dongle (at the time of the release). I also test with several versions of the Hauppauge server, since I have found that their current (always beta) server is rarely the best.

The Hauppauge server is not very sophisticated (I guess I don't have to tell readers of this forum that) and emulation works reasonably well with it, although I made a change that made the remote less responsive that I have to look into. With GBPVR there are some bigger issues especially related to changing channels with LiveTV, selecting from the TV guide, and forget about play all video working.

The problem is even with the Hauppauge/GBPVR combination I experience problems in these same areas. Effectively I have taken something that is a bit unstable and made it even more unstable. Actually stabilitly is relative, with mvpmc the power off/on will do a reset so you don't have to reload the dongle (yeah) but you could have to reload the GBPVR mvp service or the recording service or both (boo).

3 GBPVR users actually helped me get it to the point it is now, but testing in the living room with family can be difficult. This all being said once I (or someone else with a solid setup), can get the network captures I need to finish this off. Hauppauge has even committed to helping me once I find the right questions to ask.

Now that I've scared some people off, the question might be why bother? Certainly mvpmc can do things besides just emulation mode, but I consider this out of context for this forum. From an emulation mode perspective some of the things a user can expect today.

- wide screen signaling.
- Wake On LAN
- improved recovery from FF/RW on MPEG1 files.
- working volume controls.
- (I believe) better video buffering
- remote power off (I never thought that this was useful).

FLAC and Ogg audio support could be added to the Hauppauge protocol in minutes today and the changes to GB-PVR might not be too difficult. There is also a significantly more efficient gui protocol included (think of screen delta changes rather then full screen updates) in mvpmc so the remote changes can be much faster albeit with quite a bit more work by sub. Also, AC3 audio and expanded remote control support are seriously being looked into by other developers so there is still more

Where things gets really exciting is the future potential. As a project, mvpmc is going to progress beyond the current MediaMVP hardware, and we are already working on being more flexible. The bonus is that emulation mode will continue to be supported into the next generation of HD video with more native a/v formats. We just need to find the appropriate hardware.

Finally, after reading all this and you still want to try it, there really are no extra resources required, (patience maybe), just swap the mvpmc dongle for the dongle.bin you currently use. Ignore any comments you might read about configuration files, tftp etc, sub takes care of all this with gvpvr. The mvpmc dongle download is at

http://www.mvpmc.org/index.php?pg=downloads

Martin

[HtV]

Martin, this article gave me the guts to try out your dongle. I am really impressed about what you've achieved so far. It really worked quite nice in emualation mode. I only missed the ff/skip function, I guess that is still under construction. I'll follow the project with more interest now. Let's hope something really good/usefull will come out of it eventually. Although I guess you are already having a good time with it, that's what really counts.
Keep up the good work.
cya Hans