some advice on making graph and menu adjustments

[frazer]

Hello,

 

I am building a DVB-T and -S HTPC using a Via EPIA motherboard and Sigma Mpeg card output to a CRT television (it will either be a Hollywood Plus or Xcard, but i'm using the H+ for testing at the moment), and have been searching long and hard for the best software to use.

 

I must say that DVBViewer is the most appealing of the many I have tried, for its functions and its professional look, as well as the support for custom set ups that is given through the plugins and the help on this forum. Very few pieces of HTPC software seem to be aimed at those using hardware decoders (and I do both for the picture quality and the fact that I'm using a fanless case, so need to keep the CPU use low), and even though DVBViewer does not support the Sigma cards for OSD display (which would be very nice!), it does offer the potential for a workaround solution, using the TV out of my motherboard for the OSD, and then switching the TV to the Sigma output for viewing.

 

Anyway, having said all that, there are a couple of things I would like to be able to do to make it work comfrotably with my set up. The first is to make a graph that outputs the TV picture to both the Sigma card and the motherboard TV out simultaneously, so that I can see what is on whilst browsing the EPG. I have manged to make a graph using the Infinite Pin Tee Filter which sort of does this, but it creates the software decoded picture in a separate window on the OSD screen, rather than in the background. And this window, apart from looking a little messy (having the Windows border around it) keeps disappearing and returning at a different scale when I use any of the OSD buttons.

 

So I wonder if anyone knows if it's possible to build a graph with the infinite pin filter that puts the TV picture behind the OSD as it should be- I know the one in Skyview works properly, but that uses a different source filter which has two video outputs (video and mpeg stream).

 

The more important challenge, though, would be to make this graph selectable with an OSD button, so that I can return to the Sigma alone graph (for watching with minimum CPU usage) using the remote control, rather than having to go through the plugins/graph selector menu. If this is possible, I know that at least I could just change between a software graph and the Sigma graph when moving between the two TV outputs if the infinite pin graph doesn't work. (the advantage of having the simultaneous graph is that I wouldn't have to keep switching when just dipping in and out of programs- I'm only really worried about the high CPU usage the software output graph would cause over an extended period, and would rather turn it off if it's not going to be used for a while).

 

So far I have manged to make a new OSD menu button to launch an external program from within DVBViewer (I still occasionally need to use Skyview for certain DVB-S channels where the CPU usage is too high on DVBV), but that was very easy using the menu editor. I have also tried to make a button to disable the graph, as the Disable AV menu option doesn't release the Sigma card for another program to use, but that seems to be much more complicated, if indeed it's possible at all through the menu editor (Ideally both the graph disable and external program launch would be done by one button).

 

I really don't understand scripts etc. though I have read around on the forum and in the manual to try and get some ideas, so I'm not sure if I'm asking for the impossible, or just missing something obvious! But to recap, what I basically need to know is if it's possible to get the TV picture in fullscreen behind the OSD using a graph with the infinite pin filter, and then if i can make a menu button to swap graphs, and also if I can make my external program launch button disable the Sigma graph first (perhaps by initialising the null renderer graph, which links the two parts of the question together I guess).

 

Thanks to all the admins for this software and the advice you offer on this forum. I wonder how many others like me are struggling to find software to make use of their hardware cards? I suspect the lack of a real plug and play option with set top box quality picture for people wanting an HTPC for use with an old fashioned TV (and the XCard with scart ouptut still seems the best method for this) might hold back the ###### of the HTPC market; I see that Beblu, who were trying to market an attractive and small media center system, but without scart connection, went out of business recently. Certainly user-friendly software like yours would be a major attraction, but I guess that the hassle of enabling OSD output through the Xcard would be more trouble than it's worth if there aren't that many of us out there using them. There's certainly a gap though, as TVedia, the only software commited to supporting the XCard, has woeful DVB support at present.

 

Thank you!

 

Frazer