MP plugin modification

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › MP plugin modification - please help

aucklander

477 posts

Ultimate Geek

#25144 13-Aug-2008 12:47

I tried this plugin: http://www.team-mediaportal.com/files/Download/Plugins/Automation/SleepTimer/

It allows me to set a timer while I still watch tv. It is very useful for me: If I record a show from 21:30 - 23:00 and watch something else after the recording starts and go to bed at 21:45 let's say, who will turn the pc off when the recording is done? (can something like this be handled by the MP built-in Power scheduler plugin? How?)

This plugin allows me to set a 60 or 120 min sleeptimer, and will turn the pc off after that. I tested the "60 min" option it and it works ok (I used it three times yesterday).

The problem I have:
- the 60 and 120 minutes selections do not show on the screen, you just have two clear buttons with no text on them, and you can switch between them. The top one is 60. This is minor glitch, but would be nice to actually see what you selection make
- only the 60 and 120 min options - not a lot of options, right?

Can anyone modify the code:
- to make the selcted values visible during selection
- add more options, let's say from 20 to 20 minutes up to 3 hours.

Honestly, I have no idea what programming language is used. Is it C++? Is it VisualBasic?

mobo Intel DH55PJ, RAM: 4GB RAM, Nova-T 500 HD + Avermedia Trinity tuner card, Geforce 520 video, 120GB SSD Sandisk + 640 WD + 1000SG, Win7 Home Prem 64-bit, Media Portal 1.15.0; BTC 9019URF Cordless Keyboard, Panasonic 55" (HDMI cable), HTPC Case Silverstone Grandia GD05B.

sbiddle

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#156572 13-Aug-2008 13:40

The MediaPortal PowerScheduler should be able to put the PC to sleep when there is no activity (ie no recordings or no live TV) and wake the PC up for recordings. It's a feature I never got to work and the MP forums have plenty of posts from other people saying the same thing.

I did read somewhere the other day (possibly on GZ) that this now seemed to work fine. Have you actually tried it at all?

aucklander

477 posts

Ultimate Geek

#156578 13-Aug-2008 14:16

I tried several times to get the power Scheduler to work, I was more interested at that time in waking up the pc from sleep (for a recording, or not) than turning off after recording.

It might be able to turn the PC off if there is no activity, but I believe I need to switch to "Home" screen and not leave it on live tv for the Power Scheduler to work. Is this correct? (If it stays on live Tv, how does it know there is no one actually watching tv?)

In order to adjust the "sleeptime" this way I need to enter the configuration menu (the one outside MP) and set "turn off if idle for... minutes" or something like this, right?. Can you play with the Power Scheduler from inside MP, using the remote? that would be great.

In my opinion, the htpc should be accessed by keyboard/mouse only for maintenance, not for everyday settings like this, which tomorrow I might want to have another value. I will give Power Scheduler another try... who knows...

Little

82 posts

Master Geek

#156580 13-Aug-2008 14:18

If you have a single seat installation, just use the built in powerscheduler plugin. In the TvServer configuration, enable the plugin and set what you want the pc to do when the timeout is reached e.g. sleep, shutdown, nothing etc. You also need to tell it to wake up for events such as recording. In the MediaPortal configuration you need to configure the client side of the plugin. This sends the messages to TvServer to prevent the pc being put to sleep. I disabled the "Only allow standby when on home window" so that all you need to do is stop viewing tv and TvServer will do the rest.

aucklander

477 posts

Ultimate Geek

#157915 19-Aug-2008 09:27

Hi everyone!
I have here some screenshots of the settings I am using.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2ltjx9h&s=4
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=106jwv8&s=4
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=11aa17c&s=4
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=73cr2b&s=4

anything wrong with the settings?

I live MP in Home screen but it does not shut down. The Home screen has a small window showing live tv and I am thinking that window prevents the shutdown. That live tv window is on every page I access, even Photos, Videos, EPG, etc. Even on games. Is there any way to get rid of it on Home page? I feel this is where all the problem starts. "all you need to do is stop viewing tv and TvServer will do the rest" How do I stop viewing tv? The tv is activated on every page I go !! I need to manually turn TV server off! Does you system performs the same way? do you have live tv window everywhere you go?

This preview window does not show up on startup. I have the mobo set to start pc up (every morning at 5:30) and MP goes to Home page and there is no live tv preview window. If the Power Scheduler is enabled, it turns pc off after 3 minutes (hibernate). When resuming, an error shows up: "unable to start graph" and I have to restart, then all is good. Is the resuming which messes up something... and it does nor resume by itself, I have to press a key to get it resuming...

It used to go straight to live tv full screen after re-boot, but it does not do it anymore. It starts in Home page, or the page with a larger preview window and the "TV guide / Recorded TV/..." options. No live tv showing. There is nothing in the preview window, I have to select the window, press OK, after 5 sec there is live tv in that window, select it again and press OK again, to get full screen. Then all is working OK. Some time ago it used to go straight to full screen live tv at start up. The options are enabled in MP configuration the same way as before (start up in full screen, on top of everything, hide taskbar, activate last module, etc).

Maybe I should try another re-install? How is RC2?

kiwijunglist

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#158173 19-Aug-2008 22:18

Hi

If you are watching live tv, then goto the home screen (either using the esc key or the button on the top left of the screen), then you will get the preview panel. This is normal behaviour.

If you want to stop the TV feed this option is under "MY TV" 6th option down "TV On [X]"

If you want "My TV" to automatically have TV On this is setup under mediaportal configuration

Mediaportal -> Configuration -> Television -> When entering My TV -> [X] Turn on TV
Mediaportal -> Configuration -> Television -> When entering My TV -> [X] Start TV in fullscreen

I'm not sure how to make mediaportal automatically start in My TV rather than the home screen.

If you want to setup My TV as a button on your remote you can use the "short cutter plugin" to map My TV to a keyboard shortcut then map your remote control to the same keyboard shortcut.

There is also a setting that makes mediaportal automatically start in the basic home screen. Try disabling this option and also disable reboot mediaportal on resume. You can also enable use last active module on resume from standby, this should mean that if you fall asleep or standby in My TV it should resume to My TV.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

kiwijunglist

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#158175 19-Aug-2008 22:28

Why do you use hibernate, why don't you use S3 sleep?

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

aucklander

477 posts

Ultimate Geek

#158217 20-Aug-2008 08:29

If you want "My TV" to automatically have TV On this is setup under mediaportal configuration

Mediaportal -> Configuration -> Television -> When entering My TV -> [X] Turn on TV
Mediaportal -> Configuration -> Television -> When entering My TV -> [X] Start TV in fullscreen
I did that.

If you want to stop the TV feed this option is under "MY TV" 6th option down "TV On [X]"
I have to go there and turn it on every time I start up the pc, but strangely, sometimes it goes into full screen live tv by itself. Most of the time, I have to enable "TV On" manually.

Just a question regarding the MediaPortal "architecture":
what happens when you turn the TV feed off as explained (TV On [X])? Does that option deactivates the TV Server, or just stops passing the stream to MP Client, but TV server is still able to record as scheduled? I was under the impression that completely disables TV Server thus making Powwer Scheduler impossible to do its job.

I go through all this trouble to be able to use Power Scheduler the way other user are doing it (wake up and going to sleep for recordings, without any issues) and at the same time, to avoid navigating through the menus everytime. I was thinking you just go to the Home page and if you let it there, it will go to sleep and resume for recordings. But is doesn't, due to the preview panel.

at this stage is not the end of the world, but when the holiday time come, I would really want to rely on the recorded shows to be where they are supposed to be, after not being home for 3-4 days...

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aucklander

477 posts

Ultimate Geek

#158219 20-Aug-2008 08:43

I am using Hibernate and not Sleep, as Hibernate is more energy efficient (everything is basically off). If Sleep will perform better, I will clearly start using that option. I think last time when I tried the Sleep option, the PSU fan stayed on. Is this normal / required? (However, I might be wrong about this)

I also have "reboot mediaportal on resume" activated, thinking that will help MP to have a "fresh start" in each session, thus preventing errors to show up (like "unable to start graph"). I will disable that as well, see how it goes. I assumed "reboot mediaportal" has simmilar effect but a smaller scale with system reboot, which fixes 99% of the system strange behaviour.

While watching the Olympic Games on TV1, there is occasional pixelation, clearly localised on the moving objects, not on the background. It happends not very often, maybe 3-4 times an hour, for a split of a second only. Did you notice such thing?

Thank you.

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

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#158335 20-Aug-2008 13:47

Hi again

I have also noticed the occasional pixellation or freeze frame during the olympics. I think this is a result of having multiple live feeds (ie a problem with the broadcast), and not a good indication as to how well your htpc is running.

On my computer the power supply fan winds down and usually eventually stops in S3 Suspend mode. You must active S3 suspend in the bios settings. I'm not sure if this is a PSU dependent feature (ie dunno if your PSU has to support this feature or if all PSU can do this). I like suspend because its faster to turn back on. I'm not sure if its more reliable to wake up for events compared to hibernate, but i have never had any missed recordings.

There is an alternative to powerscheduler called "MCE Standby Tool". You could google this. I used to use this program with Vista and it worked well. It has more powerful settings and has some settings designed for mediaportal. You should be able to google a guide to setting up MCE Standby Tool, and there is some information on the mediaportal forums. Currently I am using pwoerscheduler plugin in mediaportal/tv server under XP and it seems to work ok.

I doubt that TV On/Off under MY TV in mediaportal would disable TV Server. I think it just stops requesting the TV Stream and then TV Server stops sending the stream, but it doesn't disable TV Server as far as I'm aware. Because I have turned the TV Off previously and TV Server still does the recordings.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

aucklander

477 posts

Ultimate Geek

#158529 21-Aug-2008 08:03

I will focus on the sleep / waking up issues this week-end.
Too many users are using the feature successfuly. It has to work !

I am confident everything will be OK if I swtch "TV Off" but I was trying to make it as simple as possible (only by going to Home page) for other people using my setup... If pressing an extra two keys on the remote is all it takes, a 2-minute training session will have it covered.

kiwijunglist

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#158690 21-Aug-2008 14:34

I don't understand why you need mediaportal to goto sleep on the home screen if inactive.
If you want to goto sleep you just hit the power/sleep button on your remote control.
If you want to watch TV and then goto sleep then you can use the sleep timer plugin you installed.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.