- TopfieldViaJag
Aborigine was kind enough to send me a note about his success with using DABDig and version 3.0 beta of Jag's EPG in LCN mode.
If anyone else wants to run it this way then it just needs 4 simple changes to the dabdig.ini file.
The potential benefit for an existing user is that new channels coming to the platform or any more channel renumbering have an even better chance of working without further update.
For new users - setting this waay should lead to getting up and running more quickly because it by-passes the issue of channel names in DigiGuide not always being the same as used over-the-air by the broadcasters.
The changes to the dabdig.ini are:
TopfieldViaJagFindChanName from 1 to 0
TopfieldViaJagChanLength from 4 to 6
TopfieldViaJagSyntaxRec from
Command.AddTimer:$CP,$DY-$DM-$DD,$DH:$DN,$LH:$LN,$MO,OT,Rec;$TI
to
Command.AddTimerEXT:LCN$CP|$DY-$DM-$DD,$DH:$DN,$LH:$LN,def,def,def,OT,Rec;$TI
TopfieldViaJagSyntaxPlay from
Command.AddTimer:$CP,$DY-$DM-$DD,$DH:$DN,$LH:$LN,$MO,OT,-P-;$TI
to
Command.AddTimerEXT:LCN$CP|$DY-$DM-$DD,$DH:$DN,$LH:$LN,def,def,def,OT,-P-;$TI
The thread about the new version of Jag's EPG is over on the UK Toppy forum.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
ProgDVB
- ProgDVB
Had a report that ProgDVB (in conjunction with a DVB-T set-up) is prompting for something every time it starts up.
So - as a temporary workaround while the ProgDVB users works out how to stop this happening ... I have made the sending of "/Exit" to ProgDVB optional. This means that it can be configured so that it will only prompt when run the very first time (e.g. put it in the Windows startup group).
My guess is that there is a progdvb.ini setting that could be used to prevent this prompting.
(256b24)
Had a report that ProgDVB (in conjunction with a DVB-T set-up) is prompting for something every time it starts up.
So - as a temporary workaround while the ProgDVB users works out how to stop this happening ... I have made the sending of "/Exit" to ProgDVB optional. This means that it can be configured so that it will only prompt when run the very first time (e.g. put it in the Windows startup group).
My guess is that there is a progdvb.ini setting that could be used to prevent this prompting.
(256b24)
Saturday, February 11, 2006
256b23 available
- General
Had a request to make the Episode Name available as a parameter. Easy enough to do but needs a modern version of DigiGuide.
(256b23)
Had a request to make the Episode Name available as a parameter. Easy enough to do but needs a modern version of DigiGuide.
(256b23)
Monday, January 23, 2006
256b22 available
- General
Add a simple remote execution mechanism.
Initially requires a shared folder (with the remote system where the recording is to be done).
Simply drops a file into the share containing the parameters of the request.
A batch file running in a loop can then easily find the file and get a local DABDig to action it.
Also added an "All" function for multi-device installations - example from requestor was to record the same channel from both DAB and Digital TV - i.e. belt and braces solution.
One day ... should be extended to "Any" and then let DABDig pick the one that appears to be free (and has highest priority).
(256b22)
Add a simple remote execution mechanism.
Initially requires a shared folder (with the remote system where the recording is to be done).
Simply drops a file into the share containing the parameters of the request.
A batch file running in a loop can then easily find the file and get a local DABDig to action it.
Also added an "All" function for multi-device installations - example from requestor was to record the same channel from both DAB and Digital TV - i.e. belt and braces solution.
One day ... should be extended to "Any" and then let DABDig pick the one that appears to be free (and has highest priority).
(256b22)
Saturday, January 14, 2006
256b20 available
- Streaming
Added parameter substitution to Streaming and Streaming2 (via CmdOverride).
- WebScheduler
Added support for "radio" indicator in channel assignment (or channel name) so that it can trigger different URL. This allows a different capture type to be set because WebScheduler seems to have problems with automatic recording of audio only DVB-T stations.
(256b20)
Added parameter substitution to Streaming and Streaming2 (via CmdOverride).
- WebScheduler
Added support for "radio" indicator in channel assignment (or channel name) so that it can trigger different URL. This allows a different capture type to be set because WebScheduler seems to have problems with automatic recording of audio only DVB-T stations.
(256b20)
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Leadtek and DVBViewer - part 2
- Leadtek Winfast
The Leadtek Winfast DTV1000 looks like it is now close to working. There were about 5 fields in the record that have either changed meaning or needed to be set-up.
Now need to parse their channel list file to perform lookups - this will be a bit complicated as the file format is a bit convoluted - but at least it is all in plain text.
- DVBViewer
DVBViewr Pro 3.2.6 is now working. I went the COM route in the end. Turned out to be quite easy. However, they take the date using the local settings of the PC. For now I have made the syntax configurable but really should do it automatically and allow an override.
Handling the new text format does not seem so important for now because the free Technisat version still seems to use the old format.
The Leadtek Winfast DTV1000 looks like it is now close to working. There were about 5 fields in the record that have either changed meaning or needed to be set-up.
Now need to parse their channel list file to perform lookups - this will be a bit complicated as the file format is a bit convoluted - but at least it is all in plain text.
- DVBViewer
DVBViewr Pro 3.2.6 is now working. I went the COM route in the end. Turned out to be quite easy. However, they take the date using the local settings of the PC. For now I have made the syntax configurable but really should do it automatically and allow an override.
Handling the new text format does not seem so important for now because the free Technisat version still seems to use the old format.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Leadtek and DVBViewer
- Leadtek Winfast
Some progress on the revised file format.
Spent some time over last couple of evenings and after a few file exchanges via email I am pretty sure that I have worked out what they have done with their new structure. It is pretty well the same as before but they have done some horrible things - e.g. storing data about the offset of the channel within a Mux and the Mux number - and then storing somewhere else an identifier for the mux and the channel.
Ultimately it will require some automatic parsing of one of their configuration file - but the stupid thing is that on a rescan the file gets re-written and part-time channels that are not broadcasting are lost from the file.
- DVBViewer
I have not had any requests from users for the DVBviewer interface since I first wrote it for someone. My guess is that there are very few users of it - perhaps only one. But a new request has come through from someone else because he could not get it to work. What has happened is that DVBViewer Pro 3.2 has a different interface. The data is pretty much the same as in the old Technisat version but is now in an XML file and has a couple of extra fields. They have also added a COM interface.
So question is - which way to go. Handle the new file format or go with COM.
Initially I thought I would stay file based but since the COM mechanism allows updates to the schedule without having to stop/start DVBViewer then it is probably the best way to go.
Some progress on the revised file format.
Spent some time over last couple of evenings and after a few file exchanges via email I am pretty sure that I have worked out what they have done with their new structure. It is pretty well the same as before but they have done some horrible things - e.g. storing data about the offset of the channel within a Mux and the Mux number - and then storing somewhere else an identifier for the mux and the channel.
Ultimately it will require some automatic parsing of one of their configuration file - but the stupid thing is that on a rescan the file gets re-written and part-time channels that are not broadcasting are lost from the file.
- DVBViewer
I have not had any requests from users for the DVBviewer interface since I first wrote it for someone. My guess is that there are very few users of it - perhaps only one. But a new request has come through from someone else because he could not get it to work. What has happened is that DVBViewer Pro 3.2 has a different interface. The data is pretty much the same as in the old Technisat version but is now in an XML file and has a couple of extra fields. They have also added a COM interface.
So question is - which way to go. Handle the new file format or go with COM.
Initially I thought I would stay file based but since the COM mechanism allows updates to the schedule without having to stop/start DVBViewer then it is probably the best way to go.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Leadtek WinFast queries
- Leadtek WinFast
Two requests came through today.
One from another developer who wants to see how the schedule file works so that he can build his own application. I'll have a look to see how easy it is to extract the relevant parts of my code and send it over to him.
The second was from an existing user who bought himself the new WinFast DTV1000 for Christmas ... and has found that they are using a different mechanism for scheduling to their DTV card. I've asked for some samples and will see what I can do.
Two requests came through today.
One from another developer who wants to see how the schedule file works so that he can build his own application. I'll have a look to see how easy it is to extract the relevant parts of my code and send it over to him.
The second was from an existing user who bought himself the new WinFast DTV1000 for Christmas ... and has found that they are using a different mechanism for scheduling to their DTV card. I've asked for some samples and will see what I can do.
Friday, December 16, 2005
WinTVCap
- WinTVCap
If using GBRecord as a direct replacement for WinTVCap then there is a potential issue with recording consecutive or overlapping programmes.
With WinTVCap it seems to close the current file and start the new one without a problem.
With GBRecord it looks like if there is a slight overlap then the 2nd programme gets cut at the end of the scheduled recording of the 1st programme. Not 100% sure that this is the cause - but put some code in place to wait for GBRecord to exit before issuing the new command.
(256b08)
If using GBRecord as a direct replacement for WinTVCap then there is a potential issue with recording consecutive or overlapping programmes.
With WinTVCap it seems to close the current file and start the new one without a problem.
With GBRecord it looks like if there is a slight overlap then the 2nd programme gets cut at the end of the scheduled recording of the 1st programme. Not 100% sure that this is the cause - but put some code in place to wait for GBRecord to exit before issuing the new command.
(256b08)
Thursday, December 08, 2005
- WinTVPVR
Allow a command line override for people who always record from same channel source - e.g. a Sky box
- General
Make configurable the set of allowed characters in file name - so that extended European characters can be used by those that want to.
Add channel name into list of simple file name substution fields (FileName fields in dabdig.ini)
Allow the divider in the title/filename to be specified - default to a minus-sign as before.
(256b06)
Allow a command line override for people who always record from same channel source - e.g. a Sky box
- General
Make configurable the set of allowed characters in file name - so that extended European characters can be used by those that want to.
Add channel name into list of simple file name substution fields (FileName fields in dabdig.ini)
Allow the divider in the title/filename to be specified - default to a minus-sign as before.
(256b06)
Saturday, December 03, 2005
- TwinHan VisionDTV
Changed the installation defaults to match a TwinHan 2.6 software release since new installations are likely to be running that. Modified the documentation to help users with old TwinHan versions to change the settings back.
This will not change existing settings for someone that is upgrading - i.e. it remains backwards compatible.
(256b01)
Changed the installation defaults to match a TwinHan 2.6 software release since new installations are likely to be running that. Modified the documentation to help users with old TwinHan versions to change the settings back.
This will not change existing settings for someone that is upgrading - i.e. it remains backwards compatible.
(256b01)
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
- FusionHDTV
Just had a new query on this one - again from Australia. The database record formats appear to be the same - so sent over the pre-existing test version to see how it goes.
First reaction is that it appears to work so a few more things to investigate that were left over from before.
e.g. how is the channel number really calculated
Also stuffed the programme title into the file name field - checked for overlength and truncated first.
(255b18)
Just had a new query on this one - again from Australia. The database record formats appear to be the same - so sent over the pre-existing test version to see how it goes.
First reaction is that it appears to work so a few more things to investigate that were left over from before.
e.g. how is the channel number really calculated
Also stuffed the programme title into the file name field - checked for overlength and truncated first.
(255b18)
Sunday, October 02, 2005
- WebScheduler
Had a couple of queries about interfacing with WebScheduler.
Both have similar work-arounds.
One was that recordings of some channels were not working.
The failing ones were where the channel name from the EPG (DigiGuide in this case) did not match the channel name in WebScheduler (e.g. BBC 3 and BBC Three).
This sort of thing could potentially happen with other software that DABDig schedules into. Often it is cirumvented by DABDig performing matching on "3" and "Three" or by using the channel number rather than the channel name.
If the automated ways to get around this do not work - then the user has to do something.
There are essentially 3 routes:
a) tackle the problem at source - and change the name in the EPG (in DigiGuide you can right-click on the channel icon and change the channel detaild)
b) modfy the name in the target - but this might be based on data in receives over the broadcast network and could change back on the next scan that it performs
c) using a mapping facility in DABDig
In this case - the mapping in DABDig was used.
However, there is one extra twist. The mapping facility in DABDig (via the optional dabdig.map file) is really for generating a channel number from a channel name.
So - although this might appear to change BBC 3 to BBC THREE ... that resulting conversion is stored as the "Channel Assignment" (think of it as channel number).
So - you then have to make a small configuration change in DABDig (via dabdig.ini) to tell DABDig to use the channel number when controlling WebScheduler rather than the channel name. The result is that DABDig then sends "BBC THREE" ... exactly as required.
But - there is now an additional problem. Namely, for channels that do not have a name map, the real channel number will be sent rather than the required original channel name. So - while I think of a simple way to resolve it via a change to DABDig - the simple work-around is to put all of the channels into the dabdig.map and for those where the name is the same ... simply put the same value on each side of the mapping.
e.g.
BBC 3=BBC THREE
five=five
The second problem reported was that a feature of WebScheduler is that if it is asked to record an audio only DVB channel (often called radio) using using capture type that it usually uses to record TV (video and audio) then it appears to record but the end result is not saved properly.
Therefore, until WebScheduler is changed, it is necessary to be able to specify a different capture type for audio-only stations.
In theory - this should be easy - especially if a dabdig.map has already been created from the steps above.
Simply hide the capture type in the output map.
e.g.
BBC Radio Four=BBC Radio 4&captype=5
(It might also be necessary to remove the captype=2 from dabdig.ini and add &captype=2 to each of the TV stations if WebScheduler can not handle 2 captypes in the request)
Had a couple of queries about interfacing with WebScheduler.
Both have similar work-arounds.
One was that recordings of some channels were not working.
The failing ones were where the channel name from the EPG (DigiGuide in this case) did not match the channel name in WebScheduler (e.g. BBC 3 and BBC Three).
This sort of thing could potentially happen with other software that DABDig schedules into. Often it is cirumvented by DABDig performing matching on "3" and "Three" or by using the channel number rather than the channel name.
If the automated ways to get around this do not work - then the user has to do something.
There are essentially 3 routes:
a) tackle the problem at source - and change the name in the EPG (in DigiGuide you can right-click on the channel icon and change the channel detaild)
b) modfy the name in the target - but this might be based on data in receives over the broadcast network and could change back on the next scan that it performs
c) using a mapping facility in DABDig
In this case - the mapping in DABDig was used.
However, there is one extra twist. The mapping facility in DABDig (via the optional dabdig.map file) is really for generating a channel number from a channel name.
So - although this might appear to change BBC 3 to BBC THREE ... that resulting conversion is stored as the "Channel Assignment" (think of it as channel number).
So - you then have to make a small configuration change in DABDig (via dabdig.ini) to tell DABDig to use the channel number when controlling WebScheduler rather than the channel name. The result is that DABDig then sends "BBC THREE" ... exactly as required.
But - there is now an additional problem. Namely, for channels that do not have a name map, the real channel number will be sent rather than the required original channel name. So - while I think of a simple way to resolve it via a change to DABDig - the simple work-around is to put all of the channels into the dabdig.map and for those where the name is the same ... simply put the same value on each side of the mapping.
e.g.
BBC 3=BBC THREE
five=five
The second problem reported was that a feature of WebScheduler is that if it is asked to record an audio only DVB channel (often called radio) using using capture type that it usually uses to record TV (video and audio) then it appears to record but the end result is not saved properly.
Therefore, until WebScheduler is changed, it is necessary to be able to specify a different capture type for audio-only stations.
In theory - this should be easy - especially if a dabdig.map has already been created from the steps above.
Simply hide the capture type in the output map.
e.g.
BBC Radio Four=BBC Radio 4&captype=5
(It might also be necessary to remove the captype=2 from dabdig.ini and add &captype=2 to each of the TV stations if WebScheduler can not handle 2 captypes in the request)
Monday, September 26, 2005
Thursday, September 15, 2005
- DigiGuide
Had a request to be able to set the time range in DigiGuide - e.g. to help avoid repeats on BBC 7 when using an Anytime marker.
A more comprehensive solution would check to see if the show was already recorded and skip it - but ... for now at least ... added time range to the DABDig.dgmarker.
Has to be enabled by modifying default marker and changing intRanged = 0 to intRanged = 1 (or some other number).
Had a request to be able to set the time range in DigiGuide - e.g. to help avoid repeats on BBC 7 when using an Anytime marker.
A more comprehensive solution would check to see if the show was already recorded and skip it - but ... for now at least ... added time range to the DABDig.dgmarker.
Has to be enabled by modifying default marker and changing intRanged = 0 to intRanged = 1 (or some other number).
Saturday, August 27, 2005
- Topfield
If the Toppy is used in conjunction with a (slugged) Linksys NSLU2 then it is possible to FTP direct to the Toppy. This can be enabled in DABDig by make 2 one-line edits to the dabdig.ini and creating 2 small text files (that contain the FTP commands). More details are in the next update to the DABDig "manual".
If the Toppy is used in conjunction with a (slugged) Linksys NSLU2 then it is possible to FTP direct to the Toppy. This can be enabled in DABDig by make 2 one-line edits to the dabdig.ini and creating 2 small text files (that contain the FTP commands). More details are in the next update to the DABDig "manual".
Saturday, August 06, 2005
- DABBar
Had a request to be able to use substitutable parameters within OutputTarget when scheduling to DABBar (so that the show name can be used in the directory name).
This did not work because parameter substitution was not used when writing DABBar schedule.
Made a new version that does. It now means that there are some anomolies - i.e. USADateSyntax and ForceRetune. Plus SupportSecondary just results in a fixed string being appended.
You can force the old way of working by setting the new DABBarSchedLine to an empty string - i.e.
DABBarSchedLine=
(255b13)
Had a request to be able to use substitutable parameters within OutputTarget when scheduling to DABBar (so that the show name can be used in the directory name).
This did not work because parameter substitution was not used when writing DABBar schedule.
Made a new version that does. It now means that there are some anomolies - i.e. USADateSyntax and ForceRetune. Plus SupportSecondary just results in a fixed string being appended.
You can force the old way of working by setting the new DABBarSchedLine to an empty string - i.e.
DABBarSchedLine=
(255b13)
Sunday, July 31, 2005
- Topfield
I should have added this entry about a week ago - quick summary now.
A few new beta builds have been made. Some of the changes for the Topfield support have been done in a fairly general way so that, for exmaple
- General
If more than one DABDig is running at once there can be a reported problem with not getting write access to the log file. This is handled in the code by reporting the issue to the screen and continuing without logging for that run.
I have now enabled the retry code so that it will try a few times to write to the file because there are a few more configurations where people are increasing the alert look-ahead time to being longer than 1 day. Plus a new function to request an immediate action (rather than waiting for the marker to fire) is exposed in DigiGuide 8.2 (Beta) which I have used to help people who want to record on devices that are not always connected to the PC where DABDig is installed.
A problem has been found in command line handling when there is more than one word enclosed in quotes - e.g. "this is a "Programme Description" with quotes in it"
It is more of a feature of how commmand line parsing works in Windows (DOS).
This results in a mess!
This next one will work - although the internal quotes will be stripped - "this is a programme description with "one" quoted word"
There are numerous possible solutions - but I went for one that allows the parameters on the command line to be encoded in the same way as a URL. I then modified the command line parser to decode the data before before "echoing" the command line to the log file. This is to make things look the same to anyone who parses the log file (bad idea) and also to keep the log file easily readable. This additional parsing will only happen if the parameter is prefixed by a special marker - which is currently set to "DABDigURI:" but I might change that before release. Therefore - this new code will not be activated unless that calling program does something special. For DigiGuide it needs a new DABDig.dgmarker - a very simple change. I am holding off making this the default way of working though because DigiGuide 8.2 (beta) will include a new function that allows the marker to modify the command line just before sending it to DABDig ... so I could then replace double-quote with single-quote.
(255b12)
I should have added this entry about a week ago - quick summary now.
A few new beta builds have been made. Some of the changes for the Topfield support have been done in a fairly general way so that, for exmaple
- - there is a new substitutable parameter for the duration in hours and minutes (i.e. a 90 minutes programme can be shown as something like 01:30)
- - some number to name mapping can be applied e.g. to match "BBC 1" with "BBC ONE". This will not work for all devices though.
- General
If more than one DABDig is running at once there can be a reported problem with not getting write access to the log file. This is handled in the code by reporting the issue to the screen and continuing without logging for that run.
I have now enabled the retry code so that it will try a few times to write to the file because there are a few more configurations where people are increasing the alert look-ahead time to being longer than 1 day. Plus a new function to request an immediate action (rather than waiting for the marker to fire) is exposed in DigiGuide 8.2 (Beta) which I have used to help people who want to record on devices that are not always connected to the PC where DABDig is installed.
A problem has been found in command line handling when there is more than one word enclosed in quotes - e.g. "this is a "Programme Description" with quotes in it"
It is more of a feature of how commmand line parsing works in Windows (DOS).
This results in a mess!
This next one will work - although the internal quotes will be stripped - "this is a programme description with "one" quoted word"
There are numerous possible solutions - but I went for one that allows the parameters on the command line to be encoded in the same way as a URL. I then modified the command line parser to decode the data before before "echoing" the command line to the log file. This is to make things look the same to anyone who parses the log file (bad idea) and also to keep the log file easily readable. This additional parsing will only happen if the parameter is prefixed by a special marker - which is currently set to "DABDigURI:" but I might change that before release. Therefore - this new code will not be activated unless that calling program does something special. For DigiGuide it needs a new DABDig.dgmarker - a very simple change. I am holding off making this the default way of working though because DigiGuide 8.2 (beta) will include a new function that allows the marker to modify the command line just before sending it to DABDig ... so I could then replace double-quote with single-quote.
(255b12)
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Thursday, June 30, 2005
- WinTV
Added channel name look-up for WinTVPVR (and WinTV Nova-T USB2) users.
Earlier versions of the Nova-T devices used the Technotrend front-end but the Nova-T USB2 uses an updated version of WinTV2K.
If users do not renumber their channels then they might be confused when the wrong channel gets recorded. Unusually the WinTV2K software, when driving the Nova-T USB2 device, does not use the LCN to sort the channels or to use as an index for recording hence the typical channel numbers do not match.
Made this a configurable option because users who have renumbered within WinTV have no problem.
Thanks to AMacdonald for highlighting this facility.
(255b04)
Added channel name look-up for WinTVPVR (and WinTV Nova-T USB2) users.
Earlier versions of the Nova-T devices used the Technotrend front-end but the Nova-T USB2 uses an updated version of WinTV2K.
If users do not renumber their channels then they might be confused when the wrong channel gets recorded. Unusually the WinTV2K software, when driving the Nova-T USB2 device, does not use the LCN to sort the channels or to use as an index for recording hence the typical channel numbers do not match.
Made this a configurable option because users who have renumbered within WinTV have no problem.
Thanks to AMacdonald for highlighting this facility.
(255b04)
- DABBar
Some users of DABBar have reported that recording from a different mux to the last used does not always work.
So - added option to request a 1 minute recording from the same channel just before the real recording. This could cause problems for back-to-back recordings from different mux but that is relatively unlikely.
(255b03)
Some users of DABBar have reported that recording from a different mux to the last used does not always work.
So - added option to request a 1 minute recording from the same channel just before the real recording. This could cause problems for back-to-back recordings from different mux but that is relatively unlikely.
(255b03)
Sunday, June 26, 2005
- MyHD
Started some work on MyHD from Macro Image Technology. It can be driven already by using DABDig's support for TVPI-mode. However, this will not work if DABDig is being run as a background task. Plus - TVPI-mode sometimes requires keyboard strokes to be sent which can get blocked by anti-virus tools (AVG in particular).
The underlying mechanism appears to be very similar to FusionHDTV - i.e. holding the recording schedule in a combination of registry and a database. Have worked out most of the fields and have someone willing to test.
Started some work on MyHD from Macro Image Technology. It can be driven already by using DABDig's support for TVPI-mode. However, this will not work if DABDig is being run as a background task. Plus - TVPI-mode sometimes requires keyboard strokes to be sent which can get blocked by anti-virus tools (AVG in particular).
The underlying mechanism appears to be very similar to FusionHDTV - i.e. holding the recording schedule in a combination of registry and a database. Have worked out most of the fields and have someone willing to test.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
- DigiGuide
Initial beta of DigiGuide 8.2 was made available today.
The new XML parser that is embedded within it does not like come of the constructs in many existing markers - including DABDig.
So - worked out the differences and managed to re-write parts so that it works with DigiGudie 8.2 while remaining backward compatible.
Made a new 2.54 releasse to get this out quickly.
Since this does change the marker - then anyone who has made their own customisations of the marker will have to make the same changes again.
(254b09)
Initial beta of DigiGuide 8.2 was made available today.
The new XML parser that is embedded within it does not like come of the constructs in many existing markers - including DABDig.
So - worked out the differences and managed to re-write parts so that it works with DigiGudie 8.2 while remaining backward compatible.
Made a new 2.54 releasse to get this out quickly.
Since this does change the marker - then anyone who has made their own customisations of the marker will have to make the same changes again.
(254b09)
Sunday, June 12, 2005
- TwinHan VisionDTV
A real bug found - if there is no channel number specified then it could result in a crash. Looks like a problem introduced in 2.53.
No-one had hit it in production because channel numbers were always present ... however, it tripped up one user while trying to do something else.
Decided to fix it and make a full release of the current 2.54 with this fixed.
(254b08 released)
A real bug found - if there is no channel number specified then it could result in a crash. Looks like a problem introduced in 2.53.
No-one had hit it in production because channel numbers were always present ... however, it tripped up one user while trying to do something else.
Decided to fix it and make a full release of the current 2.54 with this fixed.
(254b08 released)
Monday, June 06, 2005
Sunday, April 10, 2005
- WebScheduler
Looks like default port number has changed from 8080 to 8429.
Also, looks like the channel "number" can be a channel name - so need to ensure that spaces (etc) are encoded within the URL. It might also be better to include ability to use channel name rather than number via config. First 2 items done.
(254b02)
Looks like default port number has changed from 8080 to 8429.
Also, looks like the channel "number" can be a channel name - so need to ensure that spaces (etc) are encoded within the URL. It might also be better to include ability to use channel name rather than number via config. First 2 items done.
(254b02)
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Saturday, March 19, 2005
- ATiMMC
For ATi MMC handling - added code to look up TV and FM radio channel names when no channel number (or FM frequency) is given.
- Nebula DigiTV
Modified code that checks for timer key being in registry so that it does not wait for user input. The old code waited because it was treated as a fatal error and needed to be sure that the user saw the message. However, in 2.51 code was added to crate the key if not present - so it is no longer fatal.
People re-installing their Nebula DigiTV software because of major updates from Nebula would hit the issue if they had not done a quick test timer recording after the upgrade.
(254b01)
For ATi MMC handling - added code to look up TV and FM radio channel names when no channel number (or FM frequency) is given.
- Nebula DigiTV
Modified code that checks for timer key being in registry so that it does not wait for user input. The old code waited because it was treated as a fatal error and needed to be sure that the user saw the message. However, in 2.51 code was added to crate the key if not present - so it is no longer fatal.
People re-installing their Nebula DigiTV software because of major updates from Nebula would hit the issue if they had not done a quick test timer recording after the upgrade.
(254b01)
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
- WinTVCap
Extended the previous change so that the OutputTarget field can take the substitution parameters (with simple check for recursion). At the same time - added ability to request that the output directory should be created if not already present.
Done this because WinTVCap (unlike WinTV2k) does not auto-create the output directory chosen for a recording.
(253b14)
Extended the previous change so that the OutputTarget field can take the substitution parameters (with simple check for recursion). At the same time - added ability to request that the output directory should be created if not already present.
Done this because WinTVCap (unlike WinTV2k) does not auto-create the output directory chosen for a recording.
(253b14)
Sunday, February 20, 2005
- WinTVPVR
Had a request to be able to pass the Category of the recording so that it could be used as a directory name for the recording.
A quick test by the requestor showed that WinTV2K created the requested directory if it was not present ... so looked safe enough to include the field in DABDig and not have to worry about checking to see if the directory exists etc.
Included code and updated DABDig.dgmarker to pass the parameter (as parameter number 12). While there - added Description to the Play command for consistency.
Made WinTVPVR command line processing perform substitutions and added new substitutable parameter - $CT (Category).
Added command line substitution to WinTVCap at the same time since some WinTVPVR users use that utility instead as it is less CPU intensive.
(253b12)
Had a request to be able to pass the Category of the recording so that it could be used as a directory name for the recording.
A quick test by the requestor showed that WinTV2K created the requested directory if it was not present ... so looked safe enough to include the field in DABDig and not have to worry about checking to see if the directory exists etc.
Included code and updated DABDig.dgmarker to pass the parameter (as parameter number 12). While there - added Description to the Play command for consistency.
Made WinTVPVR command line processing perform substitutions and added new substitutable parameter - $CT (Category).
Added command line substitution to WinTVCap at the same time since some WinTVPVR users use that utility instead as it is less CPU intensive.
(253b12)
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Sunday, January 23, 2005
- GBPVR
Been contacted by someone who would like to see this working - so another chance to work on it (things stalled first time round back in September 2004 because that requestor moved to WebScheduler instead of GB-PVR).
Looks like entries that I add into the schedule database while the GB-PVR service is running are not being picked up - but they do work if you stop/start the service. Implies that the format is right but I need to do something else to wake it up if it is already running.
Been contacted by someone who would like to see this working - so another chance to work on it (things stalled first time round back in September 2004 because that requestor moved to WebScheduler instead of GB-PVR).
Looks like entries that I add into the schedule database while the GB-PVR service is running are not being picked up - but they do work if you stop/start the service. Implies that the format is right but I need to do something else to wake it up if it is already running.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Monday, December 27, 2004
Thursday, December 09, 2004
- Replay Radio
Odd - 2 mentions in a few days. When I first looked I could not see an easy way in.
No obvious command line parameters and binary file that was a pain to create (but possible).
Good news though - the second requestor had spotted that they have documented a way in by passing it a formatted file. Similar idea to TVPI.
Implemented it. But - it shows up something interesting.
To get it to close a dialogue box I had to send a keystroke to it - but ZoneAlarm firewall seems to be blocking keyboard stuffing. I can understand why, but it does not seem to be configurable. This will cause a few problems for other devices so will have to do some digging around.
(252b22)
Odd - 2 mentions in a few days. When I first looked I could not see an easy way in.
No obvious command line parameters and binary file that was a pain to create (but possible).
Good news though - the second requestor had spotted that they have documented a way in by passing it a formatted file. Similar idea to TVPI.
Implemented it. But - it shows up something interesting.
To get it to close a dialogue box I had to send a keystroke to it - but ZoneAlarm firewall seems to be blocking keyboard stuffing. I can understand why, but it does not seem to be configurable. This will cause a few problems for other devices so will have to do some digging around.
(252b22)
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
- TotalRecorder
Had a comment which lead to including a new substitution field - OutputTarget ($OT).
Then modified TotalRecorder to allow substitution to be called. Utimately all devices will have this support when invoked from command line but doing it as other changes happen in similar area. Did it in a way that will not affect existing installations - but would prefer to remove the "old" method.
The person who wanted it has written a useful page showing how he configured things.
(252b20)
- TwinHan VisionDTV
One user is finding that the recording is sometimes from the wrong broadcast type (e.g. radio rather than TV). I cannot see anything wrong with what I am doing - but looking.
Had a comment which lead to including a new substitution field - OutputTarget ($OT).
Then modified TotalRecorder to allow substitution to be called. Utimately all devices will have this support when invoked from command line but doing it as other changes happen in similar area. Did it in a way that will not affect existing installations - but would prefer to remove the "old" method.
The person who wanted it has written a useful page showing how he configured things.
(252b20)
- TwinHan VisionDTV
One user is finding that the recording is sometimes from the wrong broadcast type (e.g. radio rather than TV). I cannot see anything wrong with what I am doing - but looking.
Saturday, December 04, 2004
Monday, November 15, 2004
- Intervideo WinDVR3
Had a request to support WinDVR3 today. In theory it shouldn't be needed because it supports TVPI and acceptes plaintext version of the file. However, the requestor wants to record from the Composite input and it looks like WinDVR3 does not allow the source to be specified in the TVPI file - it assumes that it is the tuner.
Could write to their somewhat complicated Scheduler.xml file - requires inserting a record-set in the right place since it is organised by internal Windows user id.
Looks like the proper way to do it would be to call their Server Proxy DLL - which is what their TitanTV (TVPI) integration module does.
Had a request to support WinDVR3 today. In theory it shouldn't be needed because it supports TVPI and acceptes plaintext version of the file. However, the requestor wants to record from the Composite input and it looks like WinDVR3 does not allow the source to be specified in the TVPI file - it assumes that it is the tuner.
Could write to their somewhat complicated Scheduler.xml file - requires inserting a record-set in the right place since it is organised by internal Windows user id.
Looks like the proper way to do it would be to call their Server Proxy DLL - which is what their TitanTV (TVPI) integration module does.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
- ChrisTV
Had first input from someone trying to use this new support.
Two issues reported.
My suspicion is that the MS VBScript processor can not handle .vbe files when machine is set to Chinese. Have suggested some things to try to test that.
The date/time syntax is a bit annoying - but made a quick change to allow specification of dd/mm/yy or mm/dd/yy in the output file for ChrisTV. Proper way to do it is to examine and use what is configured for the PC - but will have to wait a bit before I get round to doing that. Looks like it also wants AM/PM for start time if PC configured that way. Backburner stuff for now as user can easily reconfigure the PC for 24-hour clock.
(252b16)
- DVBViewer
First feedback from tester of DVBViewer interface. Largely works - but seems a bit hit and miss. Not sure if it is me, the way it was tested or the DVBViewer software.
Made some suggestions to narrow it down.
Saw the GUI of the commercial version. Basically the same interface for scheduling (including file format) but a few extra options. One is that it can be configured re-encode radio stations (audio) to MP3 so made that configurable by station type.
For now the station type is specified to DABDig on its command line - but ultimately should work out the format of the DVBViewer channels database and determine station type automatically.
Added code to handle the timer group missing from the DVBViewer config file - it looks like it can be removed by DVBViewer on exit if no scheduled events remain.
(252b15)
Had first input from someone trying to use this new support.
Two issues reported.
- His PC was set for Chinese language and the software failed to run completely.
- The Date/Time syntax on the PC affects the way that ChrisTV processes the schedule data
My suspicion is that the MS VBScript processor can not handle .vbe files when machine is set to Chinese. Have suggested some things to try to test that.
The date/time syntax is a bit annoying - but made a quick change to allow specification of dd/mm/yy or mm/dd/yy in the output file for ChrisTV. Proper way to do it is to examine and use what is configured for the PC - but will have to wait a bit before I get round to doing that. Looks like it also wants AM/PM for start time if PC configured that way. Backburner stuff for now as user can easily reconfigure the PC for 24-hour clock.
(252b16)
- DVBViewer
First feedback from tester of DVBViewer interface. Largely works - but seems a bit hit and miss. Not sure if it is me, the way it was tested or the DVBViewer software.
Made some suggestions to narrow it down.
Saw the GUI of the commercial version. Basically the same interface for scheduling (including file format) but a few extra options. One is that it can be configured re-encode radio stations (audio) to MP3 so made that configurable by station type.
For now the station type is specified to DABDig on its command line - but ultimately should work out the format of the DVBViewer channels database and determine station type automatically.
Added code to handle the timer group missing from the DVBViewer config file - it looks like it can be removed by DVBViewer on exit if no scheduled events remain.
(252b15)
Friday, November 12, 2004
Monday, November 08, 2004
- ATi MMC
Did some more work on supporting alternate recording source. Looks like some versions of the ATi software require that the tuner channel is set to 0 when recoprding from S-Video (and perhaps Composite). Odd because the registry dump that I had of one working had a non-zero number. Anyway - sent it out to test.
Did some more work on supporting alternate recording source. Looks like some versions of the ATi software require that the tuner channel is set to 0 when recoprding from S-Video (and perhaps Composite). Odd because the registry dump that I had of one working had a non-zero number. Anyway - sent it out to test.
Monday, October 25, 2004
- ATi MMC
Had a request to support the ATi card with built-in FM radio.
Made a quick version to prove the principle. Waiting for feedback.
Co-incidently also had a request to be able to schedule recording from S-Video input.
Will be easy once I get to see how it is specified (have done similar thing for another device).
(252b06)
Had a request to support the ATi card with built-in FM radio.
Made a quick version to prove the principle. Waiting for feedback.
Co-incidently also had a request to be able to schedule recording from S-Video input.
Will be easy once I get to see how it is specified (have done similar thing for another device).
(252b06)
Monday, October 11, 2004
Saturday, October 09, 2004
- Leadtek
Had a request, via the new support forum, to allow control of the Standby field when scheduling. I did not put it in before because it only really makes sense to use if all future (at least until PC next turned on) scheduled recordings/viewings are already entered into the Leadtek scheduler. In this case this is how the user is doing it.
So added code and defaulted to old way of working.
(252b01)
Had a request, via the new support forum, to allow control of the Standby field when scheduling. I did not put it in before because it only really makes sense to use if all future (at least until PC next turned on) scheduled recordings/viewings are already entered into the Leadtek scheduler. In this case this is how the user is doing it.
So added code and defaulted to old way of working.
(252b01)
Friday, October 08, 2004
- TwinHan VisionDTV
It looks like the upgrade by TwinHan to their 2.43 has changed the structure of the channel list file.
If you are having a problem since upgrading then try editing dabdig.ini as follows:
VISIONDTVFILERECORDSIZE=104
VISIONDTVFILENAMEPOSITION=69
If your problem is with the Twin Han software rather than DABDig then perhaps try a total rescan to get the new format file written by their software (and then change the dabdig.ini settings).
Thanks to Bob and Laurie for the info.
I will probably make a new DABDig that tries to adapt itself to the changing structure.
It looks like the upgrade by TwinHan to their 2.43 has changed the structure of the channel list file.
If you are having a problem since upgrading then try editing dabdig.ini as follows:
VISIONDTVFILERECORDSIZE=104
VISIONDTVFILENAMEPOSITION=69
If your problem is with the Twin Han software rather than DABDig then perhaps try a total rescan to get the new format file written by their software (and then change the dabdig.ini settings).
Thanks to Bob and Laurie for the info.
I will probably make a new DABDig that tries to adapt itself to the changing structure.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
- Nebula DigiTV
I now have a Nebula DigiTV installation (i.e. with hardware) ... and I discovered that the 3.12 beta3 from Nebula does not like the combination of channel specifier and full-screen mode selection on command line at the same time.
Unfortunately I made this the default way of working.
So - when requesting DABDig is initiate live viewing, either renfigure DABDig to go back to the old stop/start method or configure for non-full-screen mode.
i.e. either set
PlayWinStyle=1
or
ViewViaCommandLine=0
I now have a Nebula DigiTV installation (i.e. with hardware) ... and I discovered that the 3.12 beta3 from Nebula does not like the combination of channel specifier and full-screen mode selection on command line at the same time.
Unfortunately I made this the default way of working.
So - when requesting DABDig is initiate live viewing, either renfigure DABDig to go back to the old stop/start method or configure for non-full-screen mode.
i.e. either set
PlayWinStyle=1
or
ViewViaCommandLine=0
Sunday, September 26, 2004
Saturday, September 18, 2004
- ChrisTV
Had a request to add support for ChrisTV.
I looked at this back in December 2003. Back then there was a plan for a future version to include a command line interface, but it looks like it did not happen.
However, there is now a ChrisTV scheduling agent that works of a text file - so made a new version that can write to that file. In theory it should also be possible to support live viewing that way - but it is a bit clumsy. Needs more investigation to improve it. Anyway - first version of DABDig made and passed to requestor to test.
(251b18)
Had a request to add support for ChrisTV.
I looked at this back in December 2003. Back then there was a plan for a future version to include a command line interface, but it looks like it did not happen.
However, there is now a ChrisTV scheduling agent that works of a text file - so made a new version that can write to that file. In theory it should also be possible to support live viewing that way - but it is a bit clumsy. Needs more investigation to improve it. Anyway - first version of DABDig made and passed to requestor to test.
(251b18)
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
- GB-PVR
Another PVR solution that has UK users suffering from the outage of the XMLTV Radio Times grabber is GB-PVR (from New Zealand).
A user posted a query which I replied to - and as a result I had a look at the database tables that it uses for scheduling recording. Didn't look very hard to add new entries into it ... so added in the basics.
Have hard-coded a few things for now - but fundamentally it looks right.
As always - now need some users to give some feedback to see if what I have done really works in their configuration.
Have also posted a note in the GB-PVR forums - just in case the developer is not happy with such an approach (for example - there could be cleaner and more supportable ways to do it.)
(251b16)
Another PVR solution that has UK users suffering from the outage of the XMLTV Radio Times grabber is GB-PVR (from New Zealand).
A user posted a query which I replied to - and as a result I had a look at the database tables that it uses for scheduling recording. Didn't look very hard to add new entries into it ... so added in the basics.
Have hard-coded a few things for now - but fundamentally it looks right.
As always - now need some users to give some feedback to see if what I have done really works in their configuration.
Have also posted a note in the GB-PVR forums - just in case the developer is not happy with such an approach (for example - there could be cleaner and more supportable ways to do it.)
(251b16)
Sunday, September 12, 2004
- WebScheduler
There is a problem (short-term) with the XMLTV grabber for the UK (from the Radio Times site). This lead to a user of that to ask if DigiGuide could drive WebScheduler.
WebScheduler is a utility that can drive some DVB cards - some of which are already supported by DABDig but everyone can choose whatever they want of course!
A had a quick look at it and could see that it was pretty likely that it could be driven by DigiGuide directly by using a conventional Marker Alert. Worked out the probable syntax but it turns out that WebScheduler counts months from 0 - so made a quick update to DABDig so that it could fire a modified URL at it.
Yet another hack - but will basically work. Just waiting for the requester to make direct contact so that I can send a copy to try.
(251b15)
There is a problem (short-term) with the XMLTV grabber for the UK (from the Radio Times site). This lead to a user of that to ask if DigiGuide could drive WebScheduler.
WebScheduler is a utility that can drive some DVB cards - some of which are already supported by DABDig but everyone can choose whatever they want of course!
A had a quick look at it and could see that it was pretty likely that it could be driven by DigiGuide directly by using a conventional Marker Alert. Worked out the probable syntax but it turns out that WebScheduler counts months from 0 - so made a quick update to DABDig so that it could fire a modified URL at it.
Yet another hack - but will basically work. Just waiting for the requester to make direct contact so that I can send a copy to try.
(251b15)
Saturday, September 04, 2004
- WinTVCap
Had a request for a few things:
The last one is now the default operation for DABDig because modern versions of WinTVCap can handle being run twice (for same board) - by closing first recording and starting the new one.
All done (251b12 and 251b13)
Had a request for a few things:
- Support multi-board installations
- Be able to override recording quality settings per programme
- Do not insist on stopping WinTVCap if already running
The last one is now the default operation for DABDig because modern versions of WinTVCap can handle being run twice (for same board) - by closing first recording and starting the new one.
All done (251b12 and 251b13)
Friday, August 27, 2004
- Nebula DigiTV
New facility coming in DigiTV 3.12 which should make switching channels easier.
Available in 2 ways - added the easier one for now (command line)
- General
Had a request to allow an override of the duration of a show while adding a marker.
Could have done it all in the DGMarker file - but decided to make the duration field a simple piece of run-time maths which makes it more flexible.
(2.51b11)
New facility coming in DigiTV 3.12 which should make switching channels easier.
Available in 2 ways - added the easier one for now (command line)
- General
Had a request to allow an override of the duration of a show while adding a marker.
Could have done it all in the DGMarker file - but decided to make the duration field a simple piece of run-time maths which makes it more flexible.
(2.51b11)
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Monday, August 16, 2004
- VirtualVCR
Had a request to be able to suppress the "stop" of VirtualVCR if it is already running. This request comes because of a variant of VirtualVCR called "VirtualVCR Max". This stays running as a task in the task bar plus adds a basic scheduling interface (that simply puts events into Windows Scheduler) and interesting has a GUI to allow configuration of scheduled runs of XMLTV.
Done as 251b09
Had a request to be able to suppress the "stop" of VirtualVCR if it is already running. This request comes because of a variant of VirtualVCR called "VirtualVCR Max". This stays running as a task in the task bar plus adds a basic scheduling interface (that simply puts events into Windows Scheduler) and interesting has a GUI to allow configuration of scheduled runs of XMLTV.
Done as 251b09
Saturday, July 31, 2004
- FusionHDTV
Made some progress on reading/writing the scheduling database that it uses.
Still need to work out how it calculates the channel number (8 bytes of data) and what the extra attributes are that it stores. But basic function appears to work.
Done it using ADO. Made a quick and dirty version to prove the principle and passed it over to someone in Australia to test.
(251b08)
Made some progress on reading/writing the scheduling database that it uses.
Still need to work out how it calculates the channel number (8 bytes of data) and what the extra attributes are that it stores. But basic function appears to work.
Done it using ADO. Made a quick and dirty version to prove the principle and passed it over to someone in Australia to test.
(251b08)
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Sunday, July 25, 2004
- Nebula DigiTV
Had a fault report saying that DABDig reported that it could not access the timer section of the Nebula DigiTV registry - but the scheduled recordings worked fine from the Nebula GUI. My guess is that the recordings (etc) are being stored in local memory of DigiTV and only flushed to the registry on exit. The installation is probably new ... and DigiTV has never being asked to exit while there were still recordings on queue. If that is right - then the easy solution for users is to schedule something in DigiTV and then exit from it (including the sleeping module).
Have now included code to create the "missing" key. The danger is that there really is something queued using and that my entry will overwrite it or not be detected.
Ideally .. Nebula should flush out their settings to the registry a bit more frequently - but that is an old request.
Build new version to create key anyway (251b06).
Had a fault report saying that DABDig reported that it could not access the timer section of the Nebula DigiTV registry - but the scheduled recordings worked fine from the Nebula GUI. My guess is that the recordings (etc) are being stored in local memory of DigiTV and only flushed to the registry on exit. The installation is probably new ... and DigiTV has never being asked to exit while there were still recordings on queue. If that is right - then the easy solution for users is to schedule something in DigiTV and then exit from it (including the sleeping module).
Have now included code to create the "missing" key. The danger is that there really is something queued using and that my entry will overwrite it or not be detected.
Ideally .. Nebula should flush out their settings to the registry a bit more frequently - but that is an old request.
Build new version to create key anyway (251b06).
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
- General
Had a request to be able to pass the "StreamType" parameter to post-process.
Easy enough - 251b04
- Generic
Started to add in support for "generic" command-line interface.
Basically - looking at all of the currently supported command line driven applications and trying to see if I can make a generic one that could have handled any of them. Ultimately it should mean that users can add their won support for new tools more easily. Would handle basic things like stop/start tasks, send keys, use built-in timer both for waiting to start things and closing down at the end.
- Forum
First genuine query into the Forum - I guess found by following link from this Blog.
Shows up a couple of issues with the Forum message counter - but basically was fine.
Had a request to be able to pass the "StreamType" parameter to post-process.
Easy enough - 251b04
- Generic
Started to add in support for "generic" command-line interface.
Basically - looking at all of the currently supported command line driven applications and trying to see if I can make a generic one that could have handled any of them. Ultimately it should mean that users can add their won support for new tools more easily. Would handle basic things like stop/start tasks, send keys, use built-in timer both for waiting to start things and closing down at the end.
- Forum
First genuine query into the Forum - I guess found by following link from this Blog.
Shows up a couple of issues with the Forum message counter - but basically was fine.
Sunday, July 18, 2004
Monday, July 12, 2004
- ATi MMC
Had a request to be able to control ATi MMC from a remote PC (because recent DigiGuide seems to be using more CPU and making recordings stutter).
This sort of thing is more achievable with devices that support simply writing to a schedule file. In this case .. teh ATi schedule is held in the registry plus it might be necessary to stop/start tasks.
Remote control of the PC might be possible - but a relatively easy addition would be to make DABDig take a command line from a file (this is safer then pushing batch files over with the full command-line because someone could deliberately sabotage the system that way).
Including code to remain active and poll for a file is not great though because of the possibility of global variables not supporting being used twice (2nd run in loop).
Having an additional support task that listened on a port would be even better ... but would probably have to use a different programming language.
(251b02 includes ability to run using @filename)
Had a request to be able to control ATi MMC from a remote PC (because recent DigiGuide seems to be using more CPU and making recordings stutter).
This sort of thing is more achievable with devices that support simply writing to a schedule file. In this case .. teh ATi schedule is held in the registry plus it might be necessary to stop/start tasks.
Remote control of the PC might be possible - but a relatively easy addition would be to make DABDig take a command line from a file (this is safer then pushing batch files over with the full command-line because someone could deliberately sabotage the system that way).
Including code to remain active and poll for a file is not great though because of the possibility of global variables not supporting being used twice (2nd run in loop).
Having an additional support task that listened on a port would be even better ... but would probably have to use a different programming language.
(251b02 includes ability to run using @filename)
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
- Multi-Device
Added code to allow dabdig.map to have mutiple device channel details within the [Default] section. Makes the map file smaller for users with something like video-capture card plus InfraRed control to set-top-box. Feedback from user - it works.
(251b01)
- General
Add link to new support forum in dabdig.ini
(251b01)
Added code to allow dabdig.map to have mutiple device channel details within the [Default] section. Makes the map file smaller for users with something like video-capture card plus InfraRed control to set-top-box. Feedback from user - it works.
(251b01)
- General
Add link to new support forum in dabdig.ini
(251b01)
Sunday, July 04, 2004
Saturday, July 03, 2004
- TwinHan VisionDTV
Timing issue when closing tasks - if the task exits (for some other reason) between getting list of tasks and closing it down then it resulted in an uncaught exception.
Modified code to handle it.
In theory it could have happened where that I stop tasks but very small window and I think influenced by the fact that there are multiple tasks in VisionDTV and perhaps stopping one made another exit by itself later. Only reported once by one user. (250b11)
- DVICO FusionHDTV
Started working on examining and implementing - but I think that it will not be very successful because they have a background task that is checking a Microsoft format database for scheduled entries.
Might be possible to write to it (perhaps using MDAC) but quite a bit of extra work.
However, the registry is used a bit so might be able to fool the main recording task into doing things.
Has support for TVPI/TVVI files - but cannot get it to read them in. I suspect that it only takes the encrypted ones that TitanTV generates nowadays.
Live viewing/channel switching will probably have to be via keystrokes unless I can get the TVVI working.
- TVPI/TVVI
For HDTV users, need to add support for "Stream" that TitanTV can generate. Means extending the parameter set that already include PSIP-Major and PSIP-Minor.
Timing issue when closing tasks - if the task exits (for some other reason) between getting list of tasks and closing it down then it resulted in an uncaught exception.
Modified code to handle it.
In theory it could have happened where that I stop tasks but very small window and I think influenced by the fact that there are multiple tasks in VisionDTV and perhaps stopping one made another exit by itself later. Only reported once by one user. (250b11)
- DVICO FusionHDTV
Started working on examining and implementing - but I think that it will not be very successful because they have a background task that is checking a Microsoft format database for scheduled entries.
Might be possible to write to it (perhaps using MDAC) but quite a bit of extra work.
However, the registry is used a bit so might be able to fool the main recording task into doing things.
Has support for TVPI/TVVI files - but cannot get it to read them in. I suspect that it only takes the encrypted ones that TitanTV generates nowadays.
Live viewing/channel switching will probably have to be via keystrokes unless I can get the TVVI working.
- TVPI/TVVI
For HDTV users, need to add support for "Stream" that TitanTV can generate. Means extending the parameter set that already include PSIP-Major and PSIP-Minor.
Sunday, June 27, 2004
- ProgDVB
myHTPC user request to support a Cancel function with ProgDVB.
Issue is that you cannot change channel while a recording is in progress. User without keyboard access has to do a few operations to stop the recording and then switch channels - would prefer to be able to do it all from within myHTPC (using remote control).
Putting support for Cancel in general has ramifications across all of the supported systems. However, an interim hack is to issue a /StopRecord if ProgDVB is running when trying to switch to a channel. This is not a great solution because there are side-effects .. e.g.
Also - if recording Muted and then later you try to watch something then the Mute is still in place. Requested a specific NoMute command from ProgDVB developers.
Might be able to do soemthing though - by issuing another Mute at the end of the recording ... which should toggle it back but becuase it is a toggle command then does not handle situation where end-user chose to un-mute during the recording.
myHTPC user request to support a Cancel function with ProgDVB.
Issue is that you cannot change channel while a recording is in progress. User without keyboard access has to do a few operations to stop the recording and then switch channels - would prefer to be able to do it all from within myHTPC (using remote control).
Putting support for Cancel in general has ramifications across all of the supported systems. However, an interim hack is to issue a /StopRecord if ProgDVB is running when trying to switch to a channel. This is not a great solution because there are side-effects .. e.g.
- if you use myHTPC (DABDig) to try to view the same channel that is being recorded then ... the recording will be stopped.
- at the scheduled end of the previous recording ... a background DABDig will kick in and issue a /StopRecord which would be a problem if the user has subsequently startsed to record something else.
Also - if recording Muted and then later you try to watch something then the Mute is still in place. Requested a specific NoMute command from ProgDVB developers.
Might be able to do soemthing though - by issuing another Mute at the end of the recording ... which should toggle it back but becuase it is a toggle command then does not handle situation where end-user chose to un-mute during the recording.
Saturday, June 26, 2004
- Nebula DigiTV
One user having problems with View. Seems to select the wrong channel regardless of setting of the appropriate field in dabdig.ini
All very strange - I cannot yet work out what DigiTV is using as its key for this. It does not appear to be the LCN nor is it the LCN sort order (the number it is using is higher than the LCN) and it is not the Alpabetic sort order (BBC One is still 1).
While looking at the user's registry dump, I could see that there are many channels that are using the 2nd number in the LCN (i.e. bigger than 255). Adapted code to handle this
(2.50b05)
Also spotted that recent Nebula DigiTV software seem to not remove old timer entries from the registry - but simply clears the channel number. This could mean that DABDig would report that there is no space left but the DigiTV GUI would show that there is plenty. So - added new default (configurable) behaviour to treat timer entries with 0 for a channel number as free for re-use.
(2.50b06)
One user having problems with View. Seems to select the wrong channel regardless of setting of the appropriate field in dabdig.ini
All very strange - I cannot yet work out what DigiTV is using as its key for this. It does not appear to be the LCN nor is it the LCN sort order (the number it is using is higher than the LCN) and it is not the Alpabetic sort order (BBC One is still 1).
While looking at the user's registry dump, I could see that there are many channels that are using the 2nd number in the LCN (i.e. bigger than 255). Adapted code to handle this
(2.50b05)
Also spotted that recent Nebula DigiTV software seem to not remove old timer entries from the registry - but simply clears the channel number. This could mean that DABDig would report that there is no space left but the DigiTV GUI would show that there is plenty. So - added new default (configurable) behaviour to treat timer entries with 0 for a channel number as free for re-use.
(2.50b06)
Monday, May 31, 2004
Thursday, May 27, 2004
- General
Did some work on supporting a slightly different command line syntax for users with 3 devices but only wanting 2 to run ...
in this case - WinTVCap and InfraRed together or Nebula DigiTV.
Makes is slightly awkward but works.
At least - it works for me. Not working for the person that wants it but I think it will once syntax is sorted out on his installation. Build 250b01
- Forum
Basis for a support forum now established.
Open for use to see how it goes here.
Did some work on supporting a slightly different command line syntax for users with 3 devices but only wanting 2 to run ...
in this case - WinTVCap and InfraRed together or Nebula DigiTV.
Makes is slightly awkward but works.
At least - it works for me. Not working for the person that wants it but I think it will once syntax is sorted out on his installation. Build 250b01
- Forum
Basis for a support forum now established.
Open for use to see how it goes here.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
- ProgDVB
By default - DABDig takes the given channel name and tries to launch ProgDVB with it. This mode can be overridden by setting ProgDVBTakeNum=1. However, the interface wiht myHTPC seems to never provide a channel name ... so the default way of operating did not work very well. To make life easier - I have changed the software (build 249b11) to act as if ProgDVBTakeNum=1 if the given channel name is empty. Should make defalt installations easier.
By default - DABDig takes the given channel name and tries to launch ProgDVB with it. This mode can be overridden by setting ProgDVBTakeNum=1. However, the interface wiht myHTPC seems to never provide a channel name ... so the default way of operating did not work very well. To make life easier - I have changed the software (build 249b11) to act as if ProgDVBTakeNum=1 if the given channel name is empty. Should make defalt installations easier.
Monday, May 10, 2004
- General
Added a few more substitutions for PostProcessRecord and extended the facility to whereever SendKeys is called (optional in case someone was already using $ in one of their existing sequences). Build 249b09
- TwinHan VisionDTV
Had feedback that (as half expected) the 2.41 build of their system that throws up a dialogue box at the end of the scheduled recording .. does not like being aborted while the box is open.
Might be able to code around it ... but since it is difficult to get feedback about which window has really been selected then this is not really the basis of a good solution.
Since their 2.42 removes the dialogue box then makes sense to ask people to upgrade their software but apparently has introduced a problem with aspect ratio handling.
I have suggested some feedback for TwinHan that gives control over the recorded file name via the scheduled recording entry - which would be even better.
Added a few more substitutions for PostProcessRecord and extended the facility to whereever SendKeys is called (optional in case someone was already using $ in one of their existing sequences). Build 249b09
- TwinHan VisionDTV
Had feedback that (as half expected) the 2.41 build of their system that throws up a dialogue box at the end of the scheduled recording .. does not like being aborted while the box is open.
Might be able to code around it ... but since it is difficult to get feedback about which window has really been selected then this is not really the basis of a good solution.
Since their 2.42 removes the dialogue box then makes sense to ask people to upgrade their software but apparently has introduced a problem with aspect ratio handling.
I have suggested some feedback for TwinHan that gives control over the recorded file name via the scheduled recording entry - which would be even better.
Sunday, May 09, 2004
- General
Added initial support for command line substitution in PostProcessRecord command line.
VisionDTV user is starting ot use it to re-encode the recordings.
Just added 4 substitutions for now - 1 is PartialFileName for backwards compatibility (although I do not think that many are using it ... no-one has told me anyway) another is simply a way to put the escape character back in ($). The other 2 are the ChannelName and ChannelAssignment.
Later will probably add things like date/time of start of recording, title, series/episode and description so that people can write their own library files or populate the ID3 (or similar) tags in the re-encoded files.
Added initial support for command line substitution in PostProcessRecord command line.
VisionDTV user is starting ot use it to re-encode the recordings.
Just added 4 substitutions for now - 1 is PartialFileName for backwards compatibility (although I do not think that many are using it ... no-one has told me anyway) another is simply a way to put the escape character back in ($). The other 2 are the ChannelName and ChannelAssignment.
Later will probably add things like date/time of start of recording, title, series/episode and description so that people can write their own library files or populate the ID3 (or similar) tags in the re-encoded files.
Saturday, May 08, 2004
- TwinHan VisionDTV
Been exchanging email and builds with a user of VisionDTV. This has lead to a few changes and me deciding to document the dabdig.map facility that has been in the software since 2.45 (about 1 year ago). I have explained it to a few people over the last year when it helped them simplify a lumti-device set-up but I thought that I might change it in the future. However, two aspects of the TwinHan VisionDTV implementation have lead me to making this official now. The first is because the VisionDTV software does not store anything that resembles a recognisable broadcast channel number. It is all based on internal sort order. So, matching a request to a channel is hard. This leads to the second reason ... I chose to default to trying to match the channel name. However, the channel name provided by the EPG is not always the same as the name that is broadcast over the air that is used by VisionDTV. For example ... "BBC 1" and "BBC One".
This means that for many (UK at least) users - things would not work first time wihtout making configuration changes somewhere.
So - a solution would be to release a dabdig.map with DABDig that is pre-populated with known channel names. Even if it is not complete, it should be easy enough for an end-user to work out what is missing and add in the extra parts.
This could mean that dabdig.map is always used in future releases and also that existing users of dabdig.map would get their map over-written when they installed a new build. I do not want that to happen. So what I think I will do is stick the sample dabdig.map into a new directory and then suggest that VisionDTV users copy it over or even copy it over myself when DABDig runs and there is no .map already present.
Been exchanging email and builds with a user of VisionDTV. This has lead to a few changes and me deciding to document the dabdig.map facility that has been in the software since 2.45 (about 1 year ago). I have explained it to a few people over the last year when it helped them simplify a lumti-device set-up but I thought that I might change it in the future. However, two aspects of the TwinHan VisionDTV implementation have lead me to making this official now. The first is because the VisionDTV software does not store anything that resembles a recognisable broadcast channel number. It is all based on internal sort order. So, matching a request to a channel is hard. This leads to the second reason ... I chose to default to trying to match the channel name. However, the channel name provided by the EPG is not always the same as the name that is broadcast over the air that is used by VisionDTV. For example ... "BBC 1" and "BBC One".
This means that for many (UK at least) users - things would not work first time wihtout making configuration changes somewhere.
So - a solution would be to release a dabdig.map with DABDig that is pre-populated with known channel names. Even if it is not complete, it should be easy enough for an end-user to work out what is missing and add in the extra parts.
This could mean that dabdig.map is always used in future releases and also that existing users of dabdig.map would get their map over-written when they installed a new build. I do not want that to happen. So what I think I will do is stick the sample dabdig.map into a new directory and then suggest that VisionDTV users copy it over or even copy it over myself when DABDig runs and there is no .map already present.
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
- Leadtek WinFast
Change in 249b01 worked
- ProgDVB
One user trying to use ProgDVB with TwinHan VisionPlus.
Usually it works - but looks like an issue within ProgDVB/TwinHan-drivers which results in occasional crashes.
Took opportunity to change the way that I handle ProgDVB so that it now asks it to exit at the end of a recording and if it is already running at the start of a new recording then it waits until ProgDVB exits. Means that back-to-back (or overlapped) shows are handled better ... but means that the programme should not be left running idle. This new facility can be turned off (249b02 and 249b03).
Change in 249b01 worked
- ProgDVB
One user trying to use ProgDVB with TwinHan VisionPlus.
Usually it works - but looks like an issue within ProgDVB/TwinHan-drivers which results in occasional crashes.
Took opportunity to change the way that I handle ProgDVB so that it now asks it to exit at the end of a recording and if it is already running at the start of a new recording then it waits until ProgDVB exits. Means that back-to-back (or overlapped) shows are handled better ... but means that the programme should not be left running idle. This new facility can be turned off (249b02 and 249b03).
Monday, May 03, 2004
- Leadtek WinFast
Selecting CVBS not working. Never had someone to try it before. Looks like it needs to have an extra field set in the schedule file. (I guessed that it would have a value of 0 but trying now with 2) - made 249b01
- TwinHan VisionDTV
Another user is giving it a try. I think it is the lowest cost DVB-T card at the moment so will probably be a few more users on the way.
ProgDVB can also support it - so more than one way to drive it.
Selecting CVBS not working. Never had someone to try it before. Looks like it needs to have an extra field set in the schedule file. (I guessed that it would have a value of 0 but trying now with 2) - made 249b01
- TwinHan VisionDTV
Another user is giving it a try. I think it is the lowest cost DVB-T card at the moment so will probably be a few more users on the way.
ProgDVB can also support it - so more than one way to drive it.
Saturday, May 01, 2004
Sunday, April 18, 2004
- TwinHan VisionPlus
Had some more feedback about how they use the registry to save the last viewed channel information. Means that my speculative attempt will not work for live viewing .. it will be a bit more complicated to implement because they are using an offset from the start but numbered by type (TV/Radio). This will require additional processing of the favourites file and will need to be a new routine.
Had some more feedback about how they use the registry to save the last viewed channel information. Means that my speculative attempt will not work for live viewing .. it will be a bit more complicated to implement because they are using an offset from the start but numbered by type (TV/Radio). This will require additional processing of the favourites file and will need to be a new routine.
Friday, April 09, 2004
- Kworld
The problem field is the date/time - they store it as a floating point number in raw format. No built-in function to handle this ... and coding it from scratch is probably around 1000 lines of code. However, as pointed out by one of the DigiGuide forum users ... some of the bit sequence will be the same for years to come so I could write something smaller that relies on that. However, the challenge of doing a generic floating point handling routine probably means that I will try to go that route.
- TwinHan VisionPlus
A relatively new (to the UK) card at a low price. Looks like it has been available in Australia for a while and some 3rd-party software has been written for it using hte API that TwinHan make available.
The supplied software package (VisionDTV) looks pretty basic. Only 5 recording slots and a poor mechanism for storing the channel number for recordings (if the end-user changes his sort order then then entries are wrong and not fixed up automatically) ... anyway ... have included some initial support for this in build 2.48b11
The problem field is the date/time - they store it as a floating point number in raw format. No built-in function to handle this ... and coding it from scratch is probably around 1000 lines of code. However, as pointed out by one of the DigiGuide forum users ... some of the bit sequence will be the same for years to come so I could write something smaller that relies on that. However, the challenge of doing a generic floating point handling routine probably means that I will try to go that route.
- TwinHan VisionPlus
A relatively new (to the UK) card at a low price. Looks like it has been available in Australia for a while and some 3rd-party software has been written for it using hte API that TwinHan make available.
The supplied software package (VisionDTV) looks pretty basic. Only 5 recording slots and a poor mechanism for storing the channel number for recordings (if the end-user changes his sort order then then entries are wrong and not fixed up automatically) ... anyway ... have included some initial support for this in build 2.48b11
Sunday, March 28, 2004
- Kworld
Saw a request to have another TV/Radio card supported. Downloaded (100MB !) and investigated. Schedule is stored in a binary file on disk. Header is variable size (depending on default directory) and there is a small trailer record ... but managed to work out most of it. Started implementing.
Saw a request to have another TV/Radio card supported. Downloaded (100MB !) and investigated. Schedule is stored in a binary file on disk. Header is variable size (depending on default directory) and there is a small trailer record ... but managed to work out most of it. Started implementing.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Saturday, March 20, 2004
- WinTVPVR
Had a request to be able to control whether or not WinTV2K goes fullscreen when viewing. I have made it a bit more configurable (2.48b04) but the real reason that the user wants it is because they go in and change to TV-Out ... so would be even better if I could force TV-Out. Needs some more research on command line options to WinTV2K
Had a request to be able to control whether or not WinTV2K goes fullscreen when viewing. I have made it a bit more configurable (2.48b04) but the real reason that the user wants it is because they go in and change to TV-Out ... so would be even better if I could force TV-Out. Needs some more research on command line options to WinTV2K
Monday, March 15, 2004
- Nebula DigiTV
3.11b4 from Nebula came out on Sunday. It includes registry polling but they forgot to save updated registry when deleting entries via web. Had note back from them saying that this is now fixed.
Because of this, I have now changed defaults for fresh installs to not require ForceExit.
Also changed default for web URL data to make channel number 3 digits.
Initiation of recording queue entry through DABDig to Nebula DigiTV web interface works if username but no password is set on DigiTV web interface.
Also removed RegBin as should always be set to 1.
2.48b03
3.11b4 from Nebula came out on Sunday. It includes registry polling but they forgot to save updated registry when deleting entries via web. Had note back from them saying that this is now fixed.
Because of this, I have now changed defaults for fresh installs to not require ForceExit.
Also changed default for web URL data to make channel number 3 digits.
Initiation of recording queue entry through DABDig to Nebula DigiTV web interface works if username but no password is set on DigiTV web interface.
Also removed RegBin as should always be set to 1.
2.48b03
Thursday, March 11, 2004
- External Channel Changer
Added some code to invoke external software to change channel - e.g. Girder.
The basics work but not for all devices - because sometimes there is an in-line wait until the end of the show and other times the event is added directly to the device schedule. Need to make a more general solution - perhaps requeue aimed just at this device. 2.48b01
- Leadtek
Add support for selection of Leadtek CVBS and S-Video. 2.48b02
- Technotrend DVB
Modify support for Technotrend DVB-T to provide channel lookup. 2.48b02
Added some code to invoke external software to change channel - e.g. Girder.
The basics work but not for all devices - because sometimes there is an in-line wait until the end of the show and other times the event is added directly to the device schedule. Need to make a more general solution - perhaps requeue aimed just at this device. 2.48b01
- Leadtek
Add support for selection of Leadtek CVBS and S-Video. 2.48b02
- Technotrend DVB
Modify support for Technotrend DVB-T to provide channel lookup. 2.48b02
Sunday, March 07, 2004
- General
Made a release of the 2.47 code - called it 2.47b08
- Virtual VCR
Had a request to allow change of channel parameter because user is recording from a video source note TV tuner. Easy enough to do but need some more details of exactly what the command line should be - e.g. should the parameter simply be left out or does it need something else to tell it where the source is.
Made a release of the 2.47 code - called it 2.47b08
- Virtual VCR
Had a request to allow change of channel parameter because user is recording from a video source note TV tuner. Easy enough to do but need some more details of exactly what the command line should be - e.g. should the parameter simply be left out or does it need something else to tell it where the source is.
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
- Nebula DigiTV
Nebula have released a new Beta of 3.11 - primarily to get around their leap year bug.
However, also gives a chance to try out the new HTTP interface.
Made new version (2.47b06) to use their chosen syntax but issue will remain with Id/Password handling. Needs some more experimentation.
In any case - it does not seem to result in data being saved to registry, even on exit of DigiTV and DigiTV still not polling registry for updates. Sent email to Nebula.
Nebula have released a new Beta of 3.11 - primarily to get around their leap year bug.
However, also gives a chance to try out the new HTTP interface.
Made new version (2.47b06) to use their chosen syntax but issue will remain with Id/Password handling. Needs some more experimentation.
In any case - it does not seem to result in data being saved to registry, even on exit of DigiTV and DigiTV still not polling registry for updates. Sent email to Nebula.
Sunday, February 29, 2004
Saturday, February 21, 2004
- ATi MMC
Had a report that ATi MMC 8.8 was going completely wrong when I entered schedule information. It now requires that the tuner settings (tint, brightness etc) are stored with the timer entry - this was optional before.
Made a 2.47b03 to provide it.
- Nebula DigiTV
Had a request from someone using Nebula DigiTV in conjunction with Total Recorder to record the "radio". This is because the file format used by Nebula DigiTV is difficult to handle on a simple audio device - has to be post-processed etc.
Problem was that Nebula DigiTV running in FULLSCREEN mode (even when for a radio channel) uses a lot of CPU. So added ability to control the windowing a bit when choosing PLAY. Not a great thing to do if PLAY is used for TV - but at least users can now choose.
- General
Published 2.46b16 (essentially same as 2.46b15 with the Matrox code removed)
Made 2.47b01 to renable the Matrox G450 eTV for anyone still testing it.
Had a report that ATi MMC 8.8 was going completely wrong when I entered schedule information. It now requires that the tuner settings (tint, brightness etc) are stored with the timer entry - this was optional before.
Made a 2.47b03 to provide it.
- Nebula DigiTV
Had a request from someone using Nebula DigiTV in conjunction with Total Recorder to record the "radio". This is because the file format used by Nebula DigiTV is difficult to handle on a simple audio device - has to be post-processed etc.
Problem was that Nebula DigiTV running in FULLSCREEN mode (even when for a radio channel) uses a lot of CPU. So added ability to control the windowing a bit when choosing PLAY. Not a great thing to do if PLAY is used for TV - but at least users can now choose.
- General
Published 2.46b16 (essentially same as 2.46b15 with the Matrox code removed)
Made 2.47b01 to renable the Matrox G450 eTV for anyone still testing it.
Saturday, February 14, 2004
- WinTVPVR
Had a request to be able to include "###" in the command line at the end of the file name to enable auto-numbering facility of WinTV2K.
Done (2.46b15) by extending FileNameOrder to allow user to specific any characters anywhere. Could be another way of getting the recording stored into a specific directory.
- VirtualVCR
Had request to add control over forcing exit - 2.46b14
- General
Added a retry on trying to write to log - in fact it is a loop ut set to only go round once. Could make the loop exit configurable if needed in future - 2.46b14
Maybe modify the file handling in general so that all open/write/close goes through similar process.
Had a request to be able to include "###" in the command line at the end of the file name to enable auto-numbering facility of WinTV2K.
Done (2.46b15) by extending FileNameOrder to allow user to specific any characters anywhere. Could be another way of getting the recording stored into a specific directory.
- VirtualVCR
Had request to add control over forcing exit - 2.46b14
- General
Added a retry on trying to write to log - in fact it is a loop ut set to only go round once. Could make the loop exit configurable if needed in future - 2.46b14
Maybe modify the file handling in general so that all open/write/close goes through similar process.
Sunday, February 08, 2004
- WinTVPVR
Might need to change default setting for RecWinStyle - had a report that running it minimised does not work. Might just make it a FAQ entry for now.
- General
A few suggestions received for catching overlapping recordings on Nebula DigiTV but more widely applicable. The principle is more wide reaching.
Also had a suggestion/request to open/close the log file on each event ... making it even less of a chance that running more than one copy will cause the trapped log contention. Made it configurable - 2.46b13
Might need to change default setting for RecWinStyle - had a report that running it minimised does not work. Might just make it a FAQ entry for now.
- General
A few suggestions received for catching overlapping recordings on Nebula DigiTV but more widely applicable. The principle is more wide reaching.
Also had a suggestion/request to open/close the log file on each event ... making it even less of a chance that running more than one copy will cause the trapped log contention. Made it configurable - 2.46b13
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Monday, February 02, 2004
- Technotrend DVB
When launching the Technotrend application to show live TV, it does not start in complete full-screen mode. Maybe there is a command line option to do it, but trying the other way of switching to the screen and sending the key sequence to rull full-screen (F ESC). Might not work though because the title of the screen is hidden. (2.46b11 - used same version number as for previous change because I had not sent it to anyone before)
When launching the Technotrend application to show live TV, it does not start in complete full-screen mode. Maybe there is a command line option to do it, but trying the other way of switching to the screen and sending the key sequence to rull full-screen (F ESC). Might not work though because the title of the screen is hidden. (2.46b11 - used same version number as for previous change because I had not sent it to anyone before)
Sunday, February 01, 2004
- Nebula DigiTV
Prompted by someone who is writing some software to drive Nebula DigiTV from a PDA to schedule recordings (and view existing schedule), I made a suggestion about who Nebula DigiTV could make a web interface available via simple URL.
I then added that, speculatively, into DABDig (2.46b11).
- General
Even if 3rd-parties do not add their own web (or other remote) interface to their software, their is no real reason why I could add some ability into DABDig. This would enable the other devices plus might be interesting to do.
I sent an email out to the DABDigNews mailing list to see if anyone was interested.
Text was:
Remote scheduling via email or web
Over the 2 years that DABDig has been available there have been only two or
three users that have requested the ability to submit schedule requests
while out back to their home recording equipment.
I have thought about doing it a few times, but expected that the various
manufacturers would include this ability themselves - or users might uses
Windows Terminal Server or remote control software like VNC to achieve
complete remote control of their home PC.
A few of the devices that I support with DABDig do have a web interface or a
planning to release one soon ... e.g. TiVo (via TiVoWeb), DigiGuide (planned
for next version), myHTPC, Nebula DigiTV (planned for next version).
Some others allow some sort of remote control via client/server (but you
need to install their software on your remote PC) ... e.g. Nebula DigiTV,
DigiGuide (planned for next version).
So - why would I add it to DABDig?
Apart from it being an interesting thing to do, the reason would be that
some users might want to do it but do not know how to set it up or their
software manufacturer has no intention of including it in their software ...
unless perhaps they buy something new. Or, users might not be allowed to
install their own software on remote (probably work) PCs. Or, firewalls
might block things, but scheduling via email (e.g. when hearing about a
program while at work) might be possible.
What do you think?
Would you use such a facility?
Do you already do something like this?
Do you have an always on connection back at you PC with the recording
hardware?
Prompted by someone who is writing some software to drive Nebula DigiTV from a PDA to schedule recordings (and view existing schedule), I made a suggestion about who Nebula DigiTV could make a web interface available via simple URL.
I then added that, speculatively, into DABDig (2.46b11).
- General
Even if 3rd-parties do not add their own web (or other remote) interface to their software, their is no real reason why I could add some ability into DABDig. This would enable the other devices plus might be interesting to do.
I sent an email out to the DABDigNews mailing list to see if anyone was interested.
Text was:
Remote scheduling via email or web
Over the 2 years that DABDig has been available there have been only two or
three users that have requested the ability to submit schedule requests
while out back to their home recording equipment.
I have thought about doing it a few times, but expected that the various
manufacturers would include this ability themselves - or users might uses
Windows Terminal Server or remote control software like VNC to achieve
complete remote control of their home PC.
A few of the devices that I support with DABDig do have a web interface or a
planning to release one soon ... e.g. TiVo (via TiVoWeb), DigiGuide (planned
for next version), myHTPC, Nebula DigiTV (planned for next version).
Some others allow some sort of remote control via client/server (but you
need to install their software on your remote PC) ... e.g. Nebula DigiTV,
DigiGuide (planned for next version).
So - why would I add it to DABDig?
Apart from it being an interesting thing to do, the reason would be that
some users might want to do it but do not know how to set it up or their
software manufacturer has no intention of including it in their software ...
unless perhaps they buy something new. Or, users might not be allowed to
install their own software on remote (probably work) PCs. Or, firewalls
might block things, but scheduling via email (e.g. when hearing about a
program while at work) might be possible.
What do you think?
Would you use such a facility?
Do you already do something like this?
Do you have an always on connection back at you PC with the recording
hardware?
- Technotrend DVB
The changes I made to switch channels for live viewing worked. (246b10)
Basically it is a simplified command line.
ALso - since this is an immediate switch then changing NOWOFFSET to -1 has the useful side-effect of removing the delay when trying to view a program that has already started. Should not be done for all devices because some will not accept a time that is before "now".
The changes I made to switch channels for live viewing worked. (246b10)
Basically it is a simplified command line.
ALso - since this is an immediate switch then changing NOWOFFSET to -1 has the useful side-effect of removing the delay when trying to view a program that has already started. Should not be done for all devices because some will not accept a time that is before "now".
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