Questions/issues with Vista 32-bit

[andydrew]

Hi,

I installed release 1.0.16 and all of the patches in the survival guide yesterday on a Vista Home Premium 32-bit system (fresh install). I currently have a Hauppage MCE150 analog tuner in this system. I am trying to find a suitable replacement for Vista Media Center since it does not support three features that I want:

* Correct channel lineups for some ATSC channels (mainly PBS) received via Antenna
* Digital sub-channel lineups
* The ability to have different channel lineups for each tuner - will be adding a HRHOMERUN today with two ATSC tuners hooked to independent antenna's oriented in different directions

Questions/issues

1. Sleep. With Vista Media Center I was able to press the power off button on my media center remote while a show was recording. The PC would stay powered and go into sleep mode when the recording was finished. With GB-PVR, when I press the power button on my remote, the PC goes into sleep mode immediately interrupting the recording.
2. Issues with Vista security. It seems that this app is not Vista compliant. I had to change the gvpvr and pvrx2 to run as an administrator. If I didn't the config changes would not take and I would get an error saying there were no channels configured. Of course when running as admin, there is the issue with UAC (disabled UAC to get rid of the messages when launching)
3. What is the best way to launch gbpvr at startup of the PC? Just add to the startup group? Want to be able to control with remote only, no keyboard. Most of the time this won't be an issue since I plan to sleep the PC vs shut it down.
4. When I use the gbpvr app, the screen image is shifted a bit up and left. Does not fill the whole screen. Anyway to resolve? I don't get this issue using the pvrx2 executable. Config application is set to launch in full screen mode 16:9.
5. I am getting the live tuning issue that other people have reported. When watching live tv, about 40% of the time the image appears then stops, the audio continues for a couple of seconds, then the image just stays there. I have to exit out of live mode and re-enter (sometimes multiple times) to correct.
6. Is there anyway to add the search menu option to the pvrx2 program? Since I have issue #4 above I am using this instead of gbpvr to launch. But then it's not easy to search the program guide. Especially since I can't use the proper key on my MCE remote to seach from withing the program guide (issue #7 below)
7. Remote. I have a MCE 2005 remote. Unfortunately when I push the Guide and Start buttons (maybe others), Vista Media Center launches and tries to set up. I have all of the Windows Media Center services set as disabled. How do I resolve so I can use all of the buttons on the MCE remote without Vista Media Center launching.

I believe this is it for now... Thanks.

[gangaskan]

in regards to question 5 sub suguested to NOT use the "default" filters. pick the ones you seem to like best under your second tab (for playback options) its something you have to toy with.

i'm using vista business edition and i have gbpvr working fine. what you might want to also try is using the zap2xml to get OTA and even cable lineups. its fairly easy to setup and straight forward.

[andydrew]

in regards to question 5 sub suguested to NOT use the "default" filters. pick the ones you seem to like best under your second tab (for playback options) its something you have to toy with.

i'm using vista business edition and i have gbpvr working fine. what you might want to also try is using the zap2xml to get OTA and even cable lineups. its fairly easy to setup and straight forward.

I did try several filters on the playback tab... didn't seem to improve the situation. Also tried increasing the 500ms delay that can be configured when launching live mode.

[andydrew]

7. Remote. I have a MCE 2005 remote. Unfortunately when I push the Guide and Start buttons (maybe others), Vista Media Center launches and tries to set up. I have all of the Windows Media Center services set as disabled. How do I resolve so I can use all of the buttons on the MCE remote without Vista Media Center launching.

If I use a Hauppage remote with the Microsoft MCE beanbag and HIP, will that resolve this issue?

Instructions from the Wiki:

HIP configuration files: Hauppauge Remote, MCE Beanbag, GB-PVR mapping

* Download:HIP-Hauppauge-RemoteConfigs.zip
* Copy these files into HIP directory.
* Start HIP, configure, File, Open Configuration, select appropriate config file.
* From Remote I/O menu, select Remote Key Map.
* Click ‘Open Key Map’ and select appropriate remote control file. Click OK to save. (either ‘MCE-MCE2005 v2 Remote.hkm’ or ‘MCE-Hauppauge Remote.hkm’)
* To save configuration, Click File menu and ‘Save Configuration’…

[andydrew]

Status:

1. Workaround is not to press the power button on the remote to sleep the PC when it is recording. It will sleep automatically after the recording completes per the Vista power settings.
2. Workaround listed in original post
3. Seems to work OK launching from the startup group
4. Using pvrx2 instead
5. No workaround yet
6. Need to resolve #7
7. Need help

The most important thing that I need to resolve at this point is issue #7 in original post. What do I need to do so that I can use the MCE 2005 remote with gbpvr? I can't find a solution to disabling the Vista Media Center responding to certain key pressing by trying to launch the Media Center setup. Any ideas?

[sub]

5. I am getting the live tuning issue that other people have reported. When watching live tv, about 40% of the time the image appears then stops, the audio continues for a couple of seconds, then the image just stays there. I have to exit out of live mode and re-enter (sometimes multiple times) to correct.

I dont remember other reports of this specific problem. Others have had a problem where the no signal popup appears when they first use live tv, but thats not the same.

Your symptoms sound like sound strength problems.

Reproduce the problem and post the logs and I'll see if I can see anything.

7. Remote. I have a MCE 2005 remote. Unfortunately when I push the Guide and Start buttons (maybe others), Vista Media Center launches and tries to set up. I have all of the Windows Media Center services set as disabled. How do I resolve so I can use all of the buttons on the MCE remote without Vista Media Center launching.

Sorry, I dont have an answer for you on this one, but if you find a solution post the details because I'm sure others will be interested too.

[andydrew]

Here is my post on disabling the Microsoft MCE remote for Vista Media Center (issue 7 above):

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=29866

[pcostanza]

Status:

1. Workaround is not to press the power button on the remote to sleep the PC when it is recording. It will sleep automatically after the recording completes per the Vista power settings.

Not sure I understand this 100%. Are you saying that the PC is already asleep, wakes to record and then sleeps again? If not, how does it go into sleep mode?
I've not had much luck with my PC in Vista. I dual boot and the XP side works with sleep perfectly.

[andydrew]

Yes, PC is in sleep, wakes to record, then goes back to sleep.

Haven't watched it closely to see how long it takes to go back to sleep after the recording is done...

Otherwise, the sleep settings are set in the Power Management section. You can configure number of minutes until the PC goes to sleep when idle.

[andydrew]

More info on Vista Sleep.

The computer wakes automatically to record scheduled shows. It goes back to sleep immediately after the show is recorded. Works great.

BTW, I am not using hybrid sleep. Went into the power management settings and set use hybrid sleep to no. Hybrid sleeps suspends to disk vs suspend to RAM. Starts up much quicker (maybe as fast as a set top box) when resuming when suspened to RAM.