Live TV

[colin]

Hey All,

I installed myHTPC on my machine yesterday and setup the live tv plugin as the hauppauge is rubbish. The TV plugin worked very well and did timshifting extremely well.

Sub this maybe worth checking out for ideas for your live TV module.

Cheers,

[Corey]

Colin,

I've been playing around with TV plugin and GB-PVR.  Check this out...

Set your windows desktop wallpaper to be the same as the background image your GB-PVR skin is using.

Add -pvrmode=2 as an argument for the TV plugin in the Misc section.

Check the "Hide GB-PVR...." box.

Now you have to make sure all of your other programs are minimized and fire up GB-PVR.  Launch the TV plugin from there.

It's not too pretty, but it shows that the TV Plugin can be used for more than myHTPC.

TV plugin is great, I've been using it for a couple months.  It uses more memory/CPU load than the WinTV apps, but the developer offers great support and you can look forward to about 3 software updates a month I found a bug in his newest version a couple nights ago and he had it fixed and uploaded minutes later.

[sub]

I'll check it out. I'll see if I can "gather" some ideas.

[colin]

Hey Corey,

i'll try that tonight. I don't mind this using more cpu power as this works and WinTV doesn't.

Cheers,

[sub]

I've had a quick look. Looks quite nice. I'll take a proper look tonight after work.

What are the specific things you like about it? What would be the features you'd most want to see included in my Live TV mode?

[Corey]

Sub,

The channel can be passed using the -channel argument. If the TV Plugin is already running and you choose another channel by executing the same command (c:\programfiles\myHTPC\myHPTC_Runner.exe - channel 005) it will change the channel to channel 5 without restarting the program.

You can set the the width/hieght/postition using parameters too. It should be easy to set the guide up to display a direcTV like preview window on the TV Guide by passing parameters to the TV Plugin when highlighting a new channel on the guide.

I'll try to get a list of parameters for you with an explanation of each one does.

Corey

[Corey]

This is from the readme file:

-dll=[dll_name]
default is myHTPC_WTV.dll in the same directory as exe.
-x=[x_pos] -y=[y_pos] -w=[width] -h=[height]
when all of them are 0, just shows the window without resize.
default is the screen size.
negative w or h will set distance from screen right or bottom.
-showbar=[0,1,2]
0 - no navigation bar.
1 - show navigation bar.
2 - show navigation bar with Close/Back button.
default is 2.
-plugin=[0,1]
0 - the EXE runs standalone.
1 - the EXE hides and shows the tray as needed.
-channel=[number]
starts with given channel number.
by default last used channel will be selected.
-command=[command_number]
0 - stop
1 - play
2 - record
-play=[video file to play]
-fullscreen=1
starts in fulscreen mode
-trace=1
creates log of initialization in file myHTPC_WTVLog.txt, at same location as myHTPC_Runner.exe
-configure
opens plugin settings dialog
-timeshifting=[0,1]
0 - regular mode.
1 - timeshifting mode.
-videocapindex=[number]
video capture device index to use for multi-tuner mode.
-pvrmode=[0,1,2]
1 - starts in PVR mode - shows myHTPC style menu on the right.
2 - same as 1 + hides/unhides myHTPC child windows as needed.
-commandfile=[file name]
set tvvi or tvpi file to be used for viewing or recording.
-recordermode=[0,1,2]
0 - regular mode.
1 - recorder mode - the plugin hidden and closes after recording done.
2 - smart recorder mode - without affecting current mode.
will behave like 1, if TV currently not visible.
-inputtype=[0,1,2]
0 = Tuner.
1 = Composite.
2 = Super Video.
-hidetaskbar=[0,1]
0 = Not hiding the taskbar (even when needs to).
1 = (Default), hides the task bar when needed.
-client=1
Run in client mode.
-server=1
Run in server mode.
-forceMPEG2=1
Forces to use the card as supporting MPEG2 encoding.

[Corey]

I guess it should be noted that you can not be watching TV at the same time you have a recording scheduled.

Maybe you could display a box a minute or 2 before a program is scheduled to begin recording asking if we want to contiune watching TV and cancel the recording, or if we want to quit watching TV and let it record.

Using the TV Plugin you could also ask if they wanted to watch & Record the scheduled program by canceling the winTVcap recording and calling the TV plugin to record using these arguments:

-command=2 -channel=005

I havent tried to record using arguments yet... but according to the readme that should work.

if you use channels 254 or 255 it will use the s-video and compsite video as the source (I forget shich one does what)