2016-08-17, 10:09 PM
First, 3.6.6 was working "fine" (relatively), every now and again it would crash right in the middle of watching a show, but oddly enough one show in particular did it always (about half way through the show [30mins/60mins]), "Canada's Worst Driver" (must hate that show or something). Now I've taken out the K-Lite, added the latest SAF (as of yesterday), added 3.7.7 in (still no "Settings" from that menu on the left making me have to quit the program and use the newly added settings option in the icon, just to scan for new channels, especially difficult with that minute font size that settings window has on a large TV).
After putting 3.7.7 in, I found the same issues that 3.6.6 had, the mouse on the remote will let me get the menu while in the TV Guide, but the right context menu (Back button usage) requires 2 times quickly to get it to show the menu (so nothing new, just have to hammer that back button to get it to happen, remote abuse, but it's is still present).
Video playback is 2 seconds behind the audio, skipping ahead multiple times doesn't update the display at all (time bar at the bottom either), annoying when ComSkip doesn't get it right and I have to go searching manually, means pausing 2 seconds between each skip or I see no video change. On another PC (not mine), NPVR is installed, it too has the same 2 second no-video update, after a skip or at the beginning of playback.
ATSC OTA EPG'ed guide results says every show is "New", even shows that aren't. The android app I use that lists OTA tv listings shows them as not-new. With this happening, I'm still seeing it recording repeats when I have it set for "All new shows" on all my recordings.
Guide: Scrolling up and down with the remote (or the arrow keys on the keyboard) results in the spot that the "cursor" in the guide is in, to shift earlier in time (eventually it goes off-screen). When I'm scrolling up and down at 7pm looking for a show, I'd like it to stay in the 7pm range and not shift all the way down to 6am (this isn't a problem if you use a mouse with it, but HTPCs with remotes, this is frustrating).
Recurring Programs: Uneditable, the lot of them, the < > at the end do nothing, if I want to change the hour of the start/stop of a show, I must delete the recording and start over. From a remote standpoint, nothing worked, turned the mouse on and nothing worked, those arrows at the end are dead (they didn't work in 3.6.6 either). They only work in new recordings, once it's created, those arrows don't work in Update, have to Cancel and start again.
Settings: True HTPC usage would mean Full Screen, no task bar, no title bar, no anything but your software up front and personal. Sadly, the settings are completely gone at that point (especially if you use the Right Context for the Back button). The font size in your settings window is difficult to read unless you're up in front of your TV (under 3 feet). Is there no way to incorporate the entire settings into the actual GUI itself and not have a separate window? This would help make the software more "couch friendly", as you could take comfort seeing those new fonts you added (yes, they're nicer in 3.7.7, thanks) and let people scan for channels in the actual program and not some settings window.
ATSC: Does NPVR recognize the addition of channels that happen from time to time, channels show up on the TV automatically, can NPVR be capable of doing this? Would remove the need for a scan each time a new one shows up.
3.6.6 couldn't scan channels properly in ATSC, the original software that came with the tuner (TotalMedia) was able to scan some 44 channels and yet 3.6.6 found 6, so the person who has that PC is back to the TotalMedia because even though it's a clunky piece of software, it scanned the channels fully. It has built-in scanning and settings in it, which NPVR also frustrated the user due to it's small font size in Settings on the TV (person is a senior, so err, yeah). I did see something about scanning timeouts, is there a way to make NPVR "test" longer for a channel than it was in 3.6.6? If so, NPVR could perhaps find the channels properly as the TotalMedia software does, which would be a nicer thing as TotalMedia loves recording in 60fps x 1080i, today's TVs seriously don't need 60fps.
GuruSR.
After putting 3.7.7 in, I found the same issues that 3.6.6 had, the mouse on the remote will let me get the menu while in the TV Guide, but the right context menu (Back button usage) requires 2 times quickly to get it to show the menu (so nothing new, just have to hammer that back button to get it to happen, remote abuse, but it's is still present).
Video playback is 2 seconds behind the audio, skipping ahead multiple times doesn't update the display at all (time bar at the bottom either), annoying when ComSkip doesn't get it right and I have to go searching manually, means pausing 2 seconds between each skip or I see no video change. On another PC (not mine), NPVR is installed, it too has the same 2 second no-video update, after a skip or at the beginning of playback.
ATSC OTA EPG'ed guide results says every show is "New", even shows that aren't. The android app I use that lists OTA tv listings shows them as not-new. With this happening, I'm still seeing it recording repeats when I have it set for "All new shows" on all my recordings.
Guide: Scrolling up and down with the remote (or the arrow keys on the keyboard) results in the spot that the "cursor" in the guide is in, to shift earlier in time (eventually it goes off-screen). When I'm scrolling up and down at 7pm looking for a show, I'd like it to stay in the 7pm range and not shift all the way down to 6am (this isn't a problem if you use a mouse with it, but HTPCs with remotes, this is frustrating).
Recurring Programs: Uneditable, the lot of them, the < > at the end do nothing, if I want to change the hour of the start/stop of a show, I must delete the recording and start over. From a remote standpoint, nothing worked, turned the mouse on and nothing worked, those arrows at the end are dead (they didn't work in 3.6.6 either). They only work in new recordings, once it's created, those arrows don't work in Update, have to Cancel and start again.
Settings: True HTPC usage would mean Full Screen, no task bar, no title bar, no anything but your software up front and personal. Sadly, the settings are completely gone at that point (especially if you use the Right Context for the Back button). The font size in your settings window is difficult to read unless you're up in front of your TV (under 3 feet). Is there no way to incorporate the entire settings into the actual GUI itself and not have a separate window? This would help make the software more "couch friendly", as you could take comfort seeing those new fonts you added (yes, they're nicer in 3.7.7, thanks) and let people scan for channels in the actual program and not some settings window.
ATSC: Does NPVR recognize the addition of channels that happen from time to time, channels show up on the TV automatically, can NPVR be capable of doing this? Would remove the need for a scan each time a new one shows up.
3.6.6 couldn't scan channels properly in ATSC, the original software that came with the tuner (TotalMedia) was able to scan some 44 channels and yet 3.6.6 found 6, so the person who has that PC is back to the TotalMedia because even though it's a clunky piece of software, it scanned the channels fully. It has built-in scanning and settings in it, which NPVR also frustrated the user due to it's small font size in Settings on the TV (person is a senior, so err, yeah). I did see something about scanning timeouts, is there a way to make NPVR "test" longer for a channel than it was in 3.6.6? If so, NPVR could perhaps find the channels properly as the TotalMedia software does, which would be a nicer thing as TotalMedia loves recording in 60fps x 1080i, today's TVs seriously don't need 60fps.
GuruSR.
