Guide to IMON VFD with GB-PVR?

[blzbubb]

I am trying to work out how to get my IMON vfd that is in my Silverstone SST-LC-16m case to display usefull GB-PVR info like recording status etc. This thread: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...light=Imon seems to cover everything I need but I just can't figure out how to get it all working. Specifically where to put the plugin for the IMON software to use.

As i understand it the way it works is: GB-PVR ----> LCDsmartie -----> IMON -----> VFD

Which seems like a real pain. I noticed that Imon have released an Api which would make a gbpvr plugin a little more straight forward.

Can anyone who uses the previous setup give me an idiot's guide I'm finding it hard to figure out going through all the old posts. Or if anyone has another way of doing it.

Cheers

[OscarL]

Have you got LCD smartie to work with your Imon. It is easiest if you use the 5.4 RC2 release. This one has bult in support for Imon.
Once you got that follow the instruction in th readme for gbpvr-lcd smartie plugin. See below
1. (Download and install LCDSmartie 5.3) from use 5.4 RC2 instead http://lcdsmartie.sourceforge.net/
2. Copy LCDSmartie_GBPVRPlugin.dll to LCDSmartie's plugins directory.
3. Copy GBPVR_LCDSmPlugin.dll to GBPVR's plugin directory.
4. Run GBPVR's config.exe if this is the first time you install this plug-in.
5. Delete your old GBPVR_LCDSmPlugin.dll.config file from your BGPVR directory. Otherwise, the new version will not load. If you have customised the file, make a backup first.
6. Run GBPVR. This should create a new config file for the LCD plugin in the GBPVR directory.
7. Close GBPVR. Locate this config file and edit any settings you want. Save. See GBPVR_LCDSmPlugin Info.txt
Steps 8-12 are optional if you have the LCDSmartie plugin from version 0.46 beta already installed.
8. Delete the LCDSmartie_GBPVRPlugin.dll.config from your LCDSmartie directory.
9. Open LCDSmartie's configuration
In LCDSmartie's configuration, make sure the Screens tab is selected.
You will see a frame headed "Screens settings". Choose a screen.
There will be text boxes for the lines to display. To use this plugin, enter:
$dll(LCDSmartie_GBPVRPlugin,1,x,y) <- gives Line 1
$dll(LCDSmartie_GBPVRPlugin,2,x,y) <- gives Line 2
10. Click apply. The first time you do this, a config file will be created in the LCDSmartie directory.
11. Click OK and close LCDSmartie.
12. Locate the config file in the LCDSmartie directory and edit any settings you want. Save. See LCDSmartie_GBPVRPlugin Info.txt
13. Run LCDSmartie and run GBPVR (in any order). The plug-in should work.
14. If at first it does not work, try restarting your computer and make sure that the Address/Port settings in the config files match.

[liteswap]

Do you know if there's a more up-to-date version of the LCDSmartie plug-in? The only one I've found is about a year old and it crashes GBPVR...

[OscarL]

I have got it to work with latest GPVR but as mentioned at the end of this thread http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...light=Imon there is some bug causing it to crash. But it is possible to get it to work by only having the plugin in the GPVR plugins directory when you start gbpvr. Remove it before starting recodring service.

[800ster]

I played with the plugin but in the end found a GBPVRcli (part of SlimmGBPVR utils) based solution more stable. I use GBPVRcli to create dynamic text files of "inprogress" and "pending" recordings and then use the text file display features of LCDSmartie to display them. It works for me as I'm only interested in recordings information. There are various posts on this if you are interested in more detail.
I also use the older 5.3.2 version of LCDsmartie with the ImonSmartie utility (emulates an Orbital display) rather than the new Imon support in LCDSmartie. The reason is that with the older version I can display "next recording name/time" on the Imon display while the PC is in standby; the new Imon support does not allow this yet.
Bit more complex but was worth the extra effort for me.

[liteswap]

Hmm, I might try that. However, I'd find the ability to display info on the currently recording programme useful too.

[blzbubb]

I think I understand most of that what i didn't get was how to get LCDsmartie talking to the VFD. I thought there was a plugin that you had to use with IMON but I couldn't find anything that said where you put the IMON plugin and how you get IMON to use the plugin.

[800ster]

Hmm, I might try that. However, I'd find the ability to display info on the currently recording programme useful too.

Which it can do. I display current recording (when there is one) and next 2 pending with name/day/time.