[closed] [addon] MediaMVP w/BTV (Apr 5 Update)

[mhadick]

I love the BTV addon. It is awesome. I'm on the previous release and have used LiveTV, though it is not a deal breaker for me.

I too have experienced the failure when first selecting Recorded Shows, but just learned to live with it.

I will definitely try the new version.

[tkdDave]

Originally Posted by romanoj

This happens with me too. It has to do with the web service call that is made to BTV when the MVP starts up. Just like you, I wait about 20 seconds or so before selecting recorded shows and that makes it work reliably. Also, it actually refreshes the web service periodically so it can catch when a BTV event happens such as a recording started. It puts the red dot when it catches. This too causes a delay on the response every now and then.

Finally, I was expecting one of the other developers to update the guide or recording function but it hasn't happenned yet. I may give it a go if I don't see something soon. I had created the original Search by Title page.

Yes, delays especially when first starting the MVP. Upon start up it (and intermittently) it must logon to maintain the availability of services and this does take time (even though it is on the same machine). There are other periodic checks too that occur like romanoj mentions that could appear to halt the MPV.

A good majority of the delays occur because the way in which the web services are called. In JS, web services can be called synchronously or asynchronously. That is, code waits until done _or_ code continues and gets signalled when done; everything is currently synchronous. In a lot of the newer code (yet to be released) I've changed the way the services are done in the guide so hopefully it won't intermittently seem to stop responding. Unfortunately I have not done many other parts that exhibit this.

The recording functions are ready for some testing.... just trying to find Splint to help create the new install!

[Dave Gestens]

Originally Posted by tkdDave

Is anyone still interested in this?

I've managed to find bits of time here and there, about 95% there. I have it functioning, just need to complete some testing and talk with Splint about wrapping up a new distribution.

WOW THANK YOU!! I was afraid the developers of this addon had lost interest. This thing works great and we use it in my household everyday. We greatly appreciate the efforts. Thanks.

[pfh]

I, too, would like to add my support to the development team on this app. With multiple kids and little time to watch TV during the weekday evenings, we tended to tape tons of stuff then try to catch up on weekends. Based on the good things I heard about the MVP and this skin, I was able to convince her to stop jamming tapes in 4 VCRs at 6:58pm and let me build a BTV box. We have MVP's around the house now for playback - no way was she letting me put a Link or BTV computer in her living room !!!

Anyhow, this skin makes life pleasant for us. We run BTV 3.7.4, so we're living with the hidden-files restrictions, but overall this tool makes it worthwhile.

Again, thanks, guys, for continuing to breathe life into this skin.

[benz]

Have any PAL users managed to get a decent widescreen (16:9) layout?

When tweaking the stylesheet I either end up with a black block at the bottom of the screen or scroll bars on the right.

Someone must have worked out how to tweak the filter settings.

[tkdDave]

Ok, it's up!

Took a bit of of rebuilding and some organization to get the project back up and going but after rebuidling the install process and learning a bit about sourceforge, we can finally say that release 0.2.5 is now available!

This takes the guide the one step further and now adds recording scheduling!

It also works with LiveTV under 3.7.4 (and should still work with previous versions).

Some tests with 4.0 have not been as successful but that'll need to be another update.

So head on over to the project page http://sourceforge.net/projects/mvpbtv and give it a try!

[NickHark]

tdkDave

The link to the latest beta drivers on your instructions doesn't work. ( http://www.shspvr.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=41 )

What beta drivers are you talking about? For the MVP or PVR250? In the past I just started everything from scratch but it seems like such a waste of time.

Also, I love this add-on and use it everyday.

Thank you for making such a nice interface.

[Dave Gestens]

Cool. I installed this a few hours ago and it is working great. No issues found so far at all.

I have BTV 3.74 and Live TV works fine now. Also they appear to have cleared up some problems with the guide as well. The weather feature has never worked for me but this one just came up and ran.

I did not change anything on the MVP software, only installed the new BTV skin.

I had customized some of the font sizes and colors but I just copied the style.css from my old install and all worked great. Much easier than I expected.

For those of you considering here is a clip from the release notes of the latest new features.

Revision 0.2.5 2005-Nov-5
1. Modified Live TV functionality to operate with new buffering (as include in
BTV 3.7.4) (David Turner)
2. Modified UpcomingEpisodes to operate more like BTV Viewscape(David Turner)
3. Added scheduling recordings to Guide (David Turner)
4. Added nWaitForLiveTV to user_config.js file (David Turner)
5. Weather.html changed feed source from ejse.com to yahoo.com (Yahoo! RSS).
Now displays today's HI and LO temps. (romanoj)

Congrats guys on a great update to a great add-on.

[MuppetLabs]

Will version 2.5 work with the new BeyondTV 4? Or will it only work with BeyondTV 3.x.

[MannyTC]

Originally Posted by MuppetLabs

Will version 2.5 work with the new BeyondTV 4? Or will it only work with BeyondTV 3.x.

I tried it a few night ago with BTV 4. The basic features still work fine. The guide works but scheduling a recording did not show up on BTV. The LiveTV also did not work for me.

[romanoj]

We have an update planned to be released in the next couple of days or week. The update will make Recording and LiveTV work with BTV 4.0. If you can't wait, I can send you the file but we hope to release version soon.

[carteriii]

romanoj - Do any of you guys have an HDTV card to test? I just got a FusionHDTV5 Lite card and made a sample recording but was unable to view it through the skin on MediaMVP. The error said something about failing to connect to an avi file. Sorry I didn't write it down, but I can do that again later. If you don't have an HDTV tuner, perhaps I can just get you/someone a sample .tp file with a few minutes of HDTV video for testing.

I do not know if this is a skin issue or a more fundamental issue that the MediaMVP simply may not be able to play the .tp files. I was under the impression that MediaMVP could generally show anything in a browser, but I don't know how these .tp files are treated. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can at least rationalize whether or not this should work before anyone expends any effort trying to make it work. I wanted to at least bring up the subject.

I'd also like to extend my thanks on top of everyone else's for the work you've put in to make our lives happier.

[wxboy]

Use AutoXviD, MVP can't play HD files, but itt can play XviD files. Just make sure you force 640 width. It won't be true HD resolution, but itt's damn close.

[romanoj]

I believe wxboy is correct. Unlike GBPVR and other hacks, this BTV skin doesn't change the fundemental capabilities of the MVP. The binary file that runs on the MVP is still provided by Hauppauge and it does not list .tp files in its list of support file types.

[EnochLight]

Originally Posted by tkdDave

Ok, it's up!

Thanks so much; I've always loved this skin for my MVP.

Cheers!