"on the fly" Xcard display changer (0.0.1)

[jughead]

This is a workaround used in conjunction with ErsatzTom's plugin to switch "on the fly" between SageTV, TVedia and Sigma's Xmedia player while all use the Xcard for their OSD.

If, for example, you are watching live TV w/ the Sage OSD on the Xcard and you're in the mood for a hardware decoded DVD, just stop the file you're watching, run "XMP.bat" & wait a few seconds for Xmedia player to autoplay the DVD. Sage is automatically stopped and relaunched in the background with non-Xcard settings so that your recording schedule will not be interrupted. To switch again, just click on a bat file for the program you want to display on the Xcard. Using girder, you can do it with your remote and never have to see windows.

It's very untested, but as long as you have a backup of your "Sage.properties" file, the only trouble you should run into is that it may not switch properly. I'm sure there's a better way to do this, but it works for me. Please let me know how it is for you.

Instructions

If you have not installed ErsatzTom's plugin yet:
Backup your Sage directory!
Open Sage and make sure your decoder is set to something other than the Xcard. Default may be ok too, but do not select the Xcard.
Set the "screensaver on sleep" to disabled
Make a copy of your “Sage.properties” file
Rename the copy “Sage.noplug” and leave it in the SageTV folder
Install the plugin using ErssatzTom's instructions. Verify that it works and you get the Sage OSD on the Xcard
Download the two batch files to C:\Program Files\Frey Technologies\SageTV\org\sagecommunity\xcard

That's it! Run one of the bat files and wait for the OSD.

If you have installed ErsatzTom's plugin:
Close Sage if it's open & backup your Sage directory!
Download the two batch files to C:\Program Files\Frey Technologies\SageTV\org\sagecommunity\xcard
Make a copy of the “Sage.properties” file
Rename that copy to “Sage.xplug” and leave it in the SageTV directory
Edit the original “Sage.properties” and take out the two lines you added that point to to ErsatzTom's plugin.
Open Sage and set your decoder to something OTHER THAN the Xcard. Default may be ok too, but do not select the Xcard. Check to make sure the video from your video card is working.
Set the "screensaver on sleep" to disabled

That's it! Run one of the bat files and wait for the OSD.

Known issues
stop video playback on whichever app is using the xcard before switching or the computer may hang
If you switch Sage from Xcard output and have trouble w/ the video codec, change the codec to Xcard and then right back to your software decoder.
The bat files briefly close both programs, so you may miss a few seconds of what you're recording while you switch.
Sage is now using two different properties files depending on whether the Sage OSD is visible through the Xcard or not. Your changes will still be saved to that propeties file, but obviously not the other. Keep it in mind when you're wondering why your settings didn't seem to stick.
Don't switch twice within 30 seconds or so

What you may need to edit
If you have a slow computer, or a fast one for that matter, you may want to adjust the timeouts in the bat files to either slow things down or speed them up. The PC I designed it for is a 1.2 GHz Athlon.
If your “Program Files” directory is laid out in a non-standard way, you may need to change the paths in the bat file.
You can also add command line parameters to the bat files to control the startup behavior.
If your DVD drive is not E:\ you will need to edit that in “XMP.bat”

Release
0.0.2 (delete old bat files you installed 0.0.1)
Added support for Xmedia player
Added command line to force Xmedia player to autoplay a DVD when it loads
Increased some timeouts because Xmedia player doesn't like to “let go” of the Xcard
Eliminated the need for creating shortcuts
Updated instructions
various other small changes

[Stuntman]

I see how this should work when a DVD is inserted or exists in the DVD drive, but how would you use it to load and play a ripped DVD? Can it be modified to take a filename such as how Cayars has his working?

Thanks!

[jughead]

i use the cayars stv only for tv & haven't used it to play files or ripped dvds so i'm not exactly sure what you're getting at... but i'll try!

the xmp.bat file now will launch xmp but only autoplay a dvd if it's in your dvd drive. by default the path is "E:\video_ts\video_ts.ifo" (which i just corrected in my first post). you can change the path & filename to point to any video file you want, even to a virtual drive. that way if you mounted your ripped dvd on that virtual drive xmp should autoplay it.

if you're not concerned with autoplaying the video file and just want to load it while xmp is open, just switch to playlist mode & add it to the playlist.

hope that helps