User's Manual

[GWCowling323]

What would all you gear heads do with your time if you actually put together a User's Manual. Almost none of the stuff I've had to search for or ask about was very intuitive. I've tried some things that ended up being one step forward and two or three steps back, so I'm a ;little leery about trying something without some instruction.

[sub]

The wiki is about as close as we've got to a manual. It's got documentation for most setup things.

The reality is that NextPVR is a development hobby for me, and documentation isn't something I don't like doing, so...

[GWCowling323]

The wiki is about as close as we've got to a manual. It's got documentation for most setup things.

The reality is that NextPVR is a development hobby for me, and documentation isn't something I don't like doing, so...

Took me a while to figure out how to decompress a .t7z file, but I managed. Now I have to ask, how and where do I create a .bat file to get NextEnd to work? The NextEnd Wiki mentions a lot of options. Do they need to be included in the .bat file? If so, how?

[mvallevand]

Took me a while to figure out how to decompress a .t7z file, but I managed

A while? Maybe adding the .t is a problem but what about the first step most people would do http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+a+7z+file#

Martin

[GWCowling323]

[quote=GWCowling323]Took me a while to figure out how to decompress a .t7z file, but I managed/QUOTE]

A while? Maybe adding the .t is a problem but what about the first step most people would do http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+a+7z+file#

Martin

That's exactly what I did. The "t" was a typo in my post. But I still have to ask, how and where do I create a .bat file to get NextEnd to work? The NextEnd Wiki mentions a lot of options. Do they need to be included in the .bat file? If so, how? Apparently I am not using the right words to search for the answers.

[Graham]

... where do I create a .bat file to get NextEnd to work?

NextPVR batch files are described here ... http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?...BatchFiles ... including the ParallelProcessing.bat where NextEnd needs to be.

[HarryH3]

An almost universal truth is that programmers do NOT enjoy writing documentation. Heck, many of them can't even be bothered to write comments within their code. There are many software wiki's on the internet that are years out of date and some have almost zero bearing on the current version of the related software. Now add the problem that writing documentation that nearly anyone can follow is far more difficult than you might think. It is VERY difficult for some people to step all the way back to the beginning and write documentation from the standpoint of someone that doesn't already have an excellent grasp of the subject matter. Just how much can the writer assume that the reader already knows? Did the reader just buy their first computer or perhaps have never done anything with a computer other than surf the web and read email? Or is the reader a tinkerer that has spent years writing and testing batch files and really knows their way around the OS? Keep it too simple and the experienced readers will complain. Make it too advanced and you lose the readers that just see "Blah, blah, blah when they read it.

I have a friend that actually went to college to be a technical writer. It's his job to write user manuals, repair manuals, etc. from the conglomeration of info that he can glean from the engineers and whatever documentation that they can ( or can't! ) provide. It's a job that pays pretty well for those that are good at it.

NextPVR works all around the world, in many different countries, with many different approaches to delivering video streams. Throw in all of the various tuning devices, decoding mechanisms, EPG data availability and formats, etc. and it's amazing that it works at all. Sub has a penchant for working on this software and is VERY FREAKIN' GOOD at writing it and figuring out how to make this magic work. Keeping up with every possible variation and writing it all down so that anyone, anywhere, can understand it is a monumental undertaking. Many of us users on this site have taken on updating various parts of the wiki over the years. It takes a lot of time and effort. Alas, things don't always get updated as updates roll out, mostly because we just download the update, run it, and everything works even better than it did before. For example, I don't remember how to setup NextPVR from scratch, because I haven't had to do that in several years. But if you start here: http://nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php and then ask questions in the support forum if you get stuck, you'll be amazed at how quickly some knowledgeable soul, perhaps from the other side of the planet, will help you get things sorted. Once you get it up and running, it will change your TV viewing habits. We can not stand to watch TV in real time any longer! I just watched a 3-hour drag racing program in under an hour. How? NextPVR recorded the show and I was able to skip over the ads, talking heads, and other time fillers they need to use while the next pair of cars is getting ready for a 3-second race.

BTW, it is also possible for YOU to write things down that you think would make the install process easier and get an account to edit/update the wiki yourself.

[sub]

An almost universal truth is that programmers do NOT enjoy writing documentation. Heck, many of them can't even be bothered to write comments within their code. There are many software wiki's on the internet that are years out of date and some have almost zero bearing on the current version of the related software. Now add the problem that writing documentation that nearly anyone can follow is far more difficult than you might think.

NextPVR works all around the world, in many different countries, with many different approaches to delivering video streams. Throw in all of the various tuning devices, decoding mechanisms, EPG data availability and formats, etc. and it's amazing that it works at all.

Yep - this is sooo true. I find it difficult writing documentation, and it's very time consuming. With so many combinations of things, with different info or processes that are important for people in different countries or with different types of devices, it makes it very hard to create a simple manual to lead users through it.

[GWCowling323]

Yep - this is sooo true. I find it difficult writing documentation, and it's very time consuming. With so many combinations of things, with different info or processes that are important for people in different countries or with different types of devices, it makes it very hard to create a simple manual to lead users through it.

When I gave you guys crap about a User's Manual why didn't anyone point me to http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Manual.Manual
This is fantastic. Great Job sub. I take back every disparaging thing I said and thought!!!!!!!

[Graham]

When I gave you guys crap about a User's Manual why didn't anyone point me to http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Manual.Manual
This is fantastic. Great Job sub. I take back every disparaging thing I said and thought!!!!!!!

NextPVR batch files are described here ... http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?...BatchFiles ... including the ParallelProcessing.bat where NextEnd needs to be.

Eh?