STV: Cayars17 Ultimate STV (Release 17 - Jan 18)

[Cayars]

I just uploaded another version which should fix everything reported so far. Let me know of any additional items if they come up.

EDIT: Link Removed

[mbrown3]

Is a right-click context menu possible for show listings in EPG and recorded shows (for options like "record," "delete," "set watched," etc.)? That would be amazing. Thanks.

[redman]

Cooking.

Man it looks fine.
Guide is fixed. Blocks are gone, Descriptions are there, and nary a 'null' to be seen.

Also, since 2.2 gone is any EOF problems I had with my 350... straight back to Menu (disable delete prompt)

Well done Carlos, thanks. Good job.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by redman

Cooking.

Man it looks fine.
Guide is fixed. Blocks are gone, Descriptions are there, and nary a 'null' to be seen.

Also, since 2.2 gone is any EOF problems I had with my 350... straight back to Menu (disable delete prompt)

Well done Carlos, thanks. Good job.

That's what I like to here!

Carlo

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by mbrown3

Is a right-click context menu possible for show listings in EPG and recorded shows (for options like "record," "delete," "set watched," etc.)? That would be amazing. Thanks.

This was discussed a long way back. The simple answer is no because a right click = options.

[Cayars]

Just noticed something in the EPG. If you use a mouse it doesn't highlight the show you have the mouse over. This is caused by some code in progress and I'm aware of it.

[Deadbolt]

If upgrading from 15 to 16 do I need to repace the menu file? Is there a way to easily convert? It seems like every upgrade I have to re-customize my menu...which takes awhile.

Thanks!

[Cayars]

Anyone noticed the new TimeStatusBar in the OSD?

It has two modes:
1) If volume is shown it will use the "normal" look and put the volume on the right with the TimeStatus on the left.
2) If you FF/RW it will use a different TimeStatus bar that is full width but only about 1/2 the height.
a) The new status bar gets rid of the first number usually shown in the Status Bar that reads "0:00:00" which is hard coded to always show this value. Instead the present location is the show/movie is shown in this spot.
b) The icon (play/pause) normally shown to the left at the top in the TimeStatus Bar has been removed. I never saw the need for this icon anyway.
c) The arrow above the TimeStatus Bar has been replaced with a YELLOW LINE going through the TimeStatus Bar showing your current location in the show.
d) The mouse icons for REW, Play/Pause, FF have been moved down and to the right of the Show Duration Text.
3) If you DISABLE Detailed Setup->Interface->OSD Options->Show Volume Panel then the Volume Panel should NEVER show up in the OSD and the TimeStatus Bar should always look like #2 above.

This new TimeStatus Bar will probably look funny at first but it has all the functionality of the old one and only takes up 1/2 the space which has been my goal in the OSD.

NOTE: The volume controls still work just as the used to but you will not see any confirmation on screen with the setting DISABLED.

Also of note and along similar lines I have changed the Channel Status Box when entering channels. The box will use the "normal" size (same as Volume) if you have the Detailed Setting mentioned above set to ENABLE. If you have the setting for Volume DISABLED then the Channel Status Box will only be half the height. I tried to make this follow the "theme" in use.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by Deadbolt

If upgrading from 15 to 16 do I need to repace the menu file? Is there a way to easily convert? It seems like every upgrade I have to re-customize my menu...which takes awhile.

Thanks!

16 uses a different menu system. Not what you want to here but:
1) Learn to use MY menu.
2) Get a good tool that shows the difference between two text files to easily migrate changes or just open two NOTEPADs with each menu in them and compare.
3) Don't upgrade to newer versions of my STV and you'll never have to mess with your menu system again.

Oh, and if that didn't hurt enough, one of the big changes for version 17 is a new style menu system so if you want to upgrade you need to...

[abasu2003]

-The music albums issue is fixed

-The old OSD doesn't display the channel number when you are changing channels. I would switch over to the new OSD but...

-The clock in teh new OSD is kind of small. It actually has been but since I was using the old OSD I didn't say anything

-The new time thing doesn't quite work. When I just push fast forward, I do get the elongated time bar absent the volume, except at the beginning, I don't get a full display of the time. So Instead of 3:12.12 I just get "3: ..." Does that make sense? There is left over space in that the blue background is much bigger than the timebar itself, its just that the first number gets truncated instead of pushing the timebar to the right more

[Demideus]

Sorry...

The null in the details above listings is indeed gone. And when I turn the episode number for that location off, I even have the description and categories back. But unfortunately I'm still missing the episode name.
Of course this is only an issue in the guide screen and in the 'Schedules by Capture Device' screen, since those lists simply don't display the episode name in the list itself (standard OriginalV2 behaviour). The latter screen I can work around by mostly using 'Upcoming Recording Schedule' in stead. But for the TV Guide I'd really like it if you could fix it.

Nice job on the time-bar. I also like the yellow time-line through it, that really makes it stand out. Too bad that the clock had to go as well.

So far I've had only one point where the interface freezes on me. When playing a show from the 'Video Library (TV Recordings)'. Sage window iconized and output through the PVR350. Pressing back on my remote (passed through by Girder) returns me to the library. Pressing down (or anything else for that matter) does what it's supposed to do. Pressing another (or the same) button on my remote then causes the interface to freeze. I then have to un-iconize Sage's window to un-freeze the interface. It then processes the backlog of button-presses.
If I go from a playing show direct to the TV Guide, the interface freezes directly after drawing the guide.
Befor you ask. This is not the behaviour in OriginalV2. Of course the obvious difference here is that OriginalV2 (and Cayars 15 for that matter) leave the video playing in the background.
...
Just did another test with the switch 'Hardware Decoding Only' enabled. This fixes the freeze. It must be that the hardware decoder was stopped but not the software decoder. I'll just leave it off and consider this fixed

I see you've also reverted to the 'old' TV Guide. Petty I really liked having the yellow time-marker over the rows.

All in all, good work! Why don't you take a breather and watch a show, you've earned it...

[Cayars]

I really like the yellow line going all the way down too but it was causing other problems. I AM GOING TO GO BACK and work on this after the release of 16 to get it into version 17. It's something of a bugger to get worked out and everytime I think I've got it I notice it broke something else

PS I never gave a thought to the clock. I forgot that was in the volume panel. I'll have to see if I can work that back in somewhere.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by abasu2003

-The music albums issue is fixed

-The old OSD doesn't display the channel number when you are changing channels. I would switch over to the new OSD but...

-The clock in teh new OSD is kind of small. It actually has been but since I was using the old OSD I didn't say anything

-The new time thing doesn't quite work. When I just push fast forward, I do get the elongated time bar absent the volume, except at the beginning, I don't get a full display of the time. So Instead of 3:12.12 I just get "3: ..." Does that make sense? There is left over space in that the blue background is much bigger than the timebar itself, its just that the first number gets truncated instead of pushing the timebar to the right more

Glad the music issues are fixed. It was a pain in the *ass.

The other issues you mentioned have been put on my ToDo list. Just to clarify one thing on the new time bar. It's the text on the left of the timebar that is messed up correct? How is the time text to the right of the bar?

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by Demideus

Sorry...

The null in the details above listings is indeed gone. And when I turn the episode number for that location off, I even have the description and categories back. But unfortunately I'm still missing the episode name.
Of course this is only an issue in the guide screen and in the 'Schedules by Capture Device' screen, since those lists simply don't display the episode name in the list itself (standard OriginalV2 behaviour). The latter screen I can work around by mostly using 'Upcoming Recording Schedule' in stead. But for the TV Guide I'd really like it if you could fix it.

So we're talking about in the EPG itself in the top text. In this description everything is correct for you EXCEPT that you don't get the episode description correct?

I broked the logic in this section down into multiple if/then statements (if you program at all this will make sense) so it's now much easier to trace and figure out. It's just a pain for me to debug since I can't duplicate the problem. (none of the wiz.bin/property downloads will work for me).

After we get this screen sorted out I'll see about adding this information to the Schedule by Capture screen. Shouldn't be to hard once all the logic is correct.

Carlo

[Demideus]

Originally Posted by Cayars

So we're talking about in the EPG itself in the top text. In this description everything is correct for you EXCEPT that you don't get the episode description correct?

As long as you meant the episode name, yes, you're correct. The description for the episode will display correctly, it's merely the name of the episode that is missing.
Make sure that you turn the 'Show in Description Info' option in 'Episode Number Options' off, or you'll be working on a different screen than I am using.

If the code is doing something with the episode number, then my bet would be to simply test it for nullness first (I still think it is a NullPointerException somewhere ):

if (null != episodeNumber) {
    addEpisodeNumberToTopBox();
}
addEpisodeNameToTopBox();

(none of the wiz.bin/property downloads will work for me).

Probably a license key issue.
I guess your best bet for duplication would be a separate install of Sage where you could import epgdata.xml through the XMLTVImportPlugin.

After we get this screen sorted out I'll see about adding this information to the Schedule by Capture screen.

Most likely fixing it for one screen will fix it for all screens. All screens that use that top text are probably using the same piece of code.

[abasu2003]

time on the right is fine

just to clarify instead of 0:03:56 (3 minutes 56 seconds into the show) you get 0:03...
so you can't see the whole thing.

EDIT: Also just wanted to say the music thing really really looks good now. As sooon as I figure out a way to get my music using the album pics I'll be set. But other than that, everything works as I want it to. Playing albums, playing in shuffle mode, creating playlists rather easily. Very nice work.

[Demideus]

Originally Posted by abasu2003

just to clarify instead of 0:03:56 (3 minutes 56 seconds into the show) you get 0:03...

Have you tried reducing the base font size?

[Endymion]

Originally Posted by Cayars

16 uses a different menu system. Not what you want to here but:
1) Learn to use MY menu.
2) Get a good tool that shows the difference between two text files to easily migrate changes or just open two NOTEPADs with each menu in them and compare.
3) Don't upgrade to newer versions of my STV and you'll never have to mess with your menu system again.

Oh, and if that didn't hurt enough, one of the big changes for version 17 is a new style menu system so if you want to upgrade you need to...

Have you given any thought to coming up with an external menu setup program? I have absolutely no clue if this would be easy or not. I always end up having to edit the XML to change the ordering of the menu items, and it gets pretty tedious. Some kind of external program would be sweet, especially if it allowed you to see all the possible screens you could insert into the menu.

Also, the new Ver C timebar is great, I love it. I think it just needs to be centered properly within the blue background box so you can see the timestamp number to the left of the bar.

Another thing just occured to me, have you thought about putting commercial cutting code into the DVD burning external app? Say an option to have it run video redo and process the commercial cuts automatically before burning. Would that be possible? I've been working on using the recompression menu option to run shows thru Windows Media Encoder so I can take them with me on my PocketPC. Auto commercial cuts would be great, I've got comskip working at near 100% accuracy on my fav shows.

[Cayars]

Endymion,

I never thought of an external menu setup thing. What I'm thinking of doing for 17/18 is rename a lot of the internal pages so they start with something like "NOSHOW-NormalName". Then in the menu system I'd filter out these pages so the list would be much shorter. As anyone who's played with this feature knows, only about a 1/3 to 1/2 of the pages work directly. This would be one step in the right direction.

Another thing that would be of help would be the ability to move the items up or down in the list.

I'm not sure I'll actually get to this or not as I plan on redoing parts of the menu system for 17/18.

I actually already have commercial cutting built into the DVD burning process and it presently uses VideoReDo. This is configurable via the STV (all parameters are) and it will use the ComSkip data if available. I also have an MPG compress engine built in to reduce the size of the MPGs if needed (configurable) but I don't recommend compressing more then 20% as it starts to degrade. This is pretty good if your DVD size is 5.5GB or before authoring.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by abasu2003

time on the right is fine

just to clarify instead of 0:03:56 (3 minutes 56 seconds into the show) you get 0:03...
so you can't see the whole thing.

EDIT: Also just wanted to say the music thing really really looks good now. As sooon as I figure out a way to get my music using the album pics I'll be set. But other than that, everything works as I want it to. Playing albums, playing in shuffle mode, creating playlists rather easily. Very nice work.

Believe it or not using Windows Media Player with the extra MP3 option pack works great with SageTV. It generates all the data and pics needed without any additional steps need on your part.