CybrDisplay External Status Plugin

[Dirk23]

At the time i migrated to TVserver 1.0.0 RC1 there was NO descriptoin about the changed path's. And because i dont read the whole thread everytime i look in here i didn't see your description that you made yesterday...

But thank you for your support.

Your Plugin works very well by now.

Regards

Dirk

[stantzos]

Hi CybrMage,

Sorry for the delayed reply (upgraded my MPC). The new MPC runs MP 1.0 (RC1).
Tested the latest version(17.4.2008) and here are my findings...

1. MP Configuration-CybrDisplay: The LCDHype "configuration selector" in the "Advanced settings" button does not open LCDHYPE configuration. In fact it looks like it attempts to draw the form border but then it closes it immediately.

2. MP Configuration-CybrDisplay: The test button does nothing. No backlight(as expected) and no message.

3. Mediaportal: Now when MP exits backlight stays on when Contrast(backlit?) is set to max (all the way to the right). It used to switch off in the previous versions.

I will find the logs(all of them extended) and send them over ASAP!

Thank you,

Stefanos

P.S.: Sniffed with a sniffer and arrived to a single conclusion: I am clueless ! :-)

[cybrmage]

Originally Posted by n00n3

my question is: what about displaying rss defined in mediaportal plugin during the idle time of the display? (instead of blanking, for example) would that feature be uninteresting? technically bothering or is it being planned?

In order to display RSS feeds on the display, I would need to impliment an RSS reader. This is not something that I an planning to do.

MediaPortal already has an RSS reader (The MyNews plugin)... but it only runs when that plugin is actually active and on the screen... So, even if it made the RSS data available, the data would quickly become stale.

Originally Posted by stantzos

1. MP Configuration-CybrDisplay: The LCDHype "configuration selector" in the "Advanced settings" button does not open LCDHYPE configuration. In fact it looks like it attempts to draw the form border but then it closes it immediately.

That would be because the LCDHype driver for the AlphaCool display does NOT impliment a configuration screen. The "configuration selector" was added because some of the LCDHype drivers do impliment their own configuration.

Originally Posted by stantzos

3. Mediaportal: Now when MP exits backlight stays on when Contrast(backlit?) is set to max (all the way to the right). It used to switch off in the previous versions.

There are two distinct sliders in the plugin configuration... "Brightness" and "Contrast"... The LCDHype drivers refer to "Brightness" as "Backlight control".... So, for future reference, if I refer to backlight or brightness I mean the "brightness" slider...

In your specific case, the "contrast" slider will have no effect on the display, a the alphacool driver does not impliment the contrast control.

Originally Posted by stantzos

P.S.: Sniffed with a sniffer and arrived to a single conclusion: I am clueless ! :-)

The "sniffing" would not help anyways... the plugin sends commands to the LCDHype driver.... The LCDHype driver sends commands to the display... We need to figure out what commands the LCDHype driver expects... and you can't use a sniffer to determine that...

[stantzos]

CybrMage,

If you are using a fade effect during shutdown...(i don't think you made that clear the last time i mentioned it)
Perhaps one of the values of "brightness" works as "on" and all others are "off".
How can i test it? Perhaps if i increase the value by a click(mouse wheel) and hit "test" ?
Is it possible to write a test version that prints the "brightness" value on the LCD (in 1 second intervals) while shutting down?

I'll go over to lcdhype and see if i can find any info on the SDK.

Thank you(again),
Stefanos

[cybrmage]

Originally Posted by stantzos

If you are using a fade effect during shutdown...

No... There is no "fade" effect during shutdown....

The LCDHype wrapper does one of two things when the plugin exits....

1) If the "turn off display on exit" IS NOT selected, send the shutdown message to the display and terminate the plugin.
2) If the "turn off display on exit" IS selected, call the LCDHype driver's "LCD_Cleanup()" function and terminate the plugin...

When the brightness and contrast (although the contrast silder should have no effect) sliders are all the way to the right (maximum values), what does the plugin do on startup?? does it still turn the backlight off??? (you did not state specifically what changed on startup...)

In LCDHype, does it give you an option for backlight control, or for contrast control?? It may be that the LCDHype driver has the contrast/backlight functions reversed....


EDIT: Try todays release... I have added the option to reverse the interpretation of the backlight and contrast controls (you will need to run configure, go to advanced settings, and select the option in the plugins advanced settings...)

[johnlc]

It seems to have been installed okay, and I figured out that the first error was due to the fact that log4net.dll, was 1.2.10 in Mediaportal directory and 1.2.9 in TVserver directory - now having 1.2.9 both places, if it is 1.2.10 then it asks for 1.2.9

But when I start configuration I get the error
Failed to locate assembly MSASState, version 6.0.6000.0
Note that the program must be executed from inside mediaportal folder.

But it is executed from in here!!
I am running 1.0 RC1 clean/new install on Vista 32bit, haven't figured out yet how to include the list from my preferences in here, yet :-)

I have looked inside log files but no errors recorded here. And I cannot turn on extended logging, because I cannot get in the configuration screen - so for now it's disabled.

If you have any idea what can cause this, it wouldbe nice. Probably I am missing something

[cybrmage]

Originally Posted by johnlc

If you have any idea what can cause this, it wouldbe nice. Probably I am missing something

You have ommitted most of the relevant information needed to diagnose the problem....

What display hardware do you have???
What steps did you take to install the plugin??
What version of the plugin did you install??
What was the first error???
What steps produced the first error???
What steps did you take to configure the plugin???

and... POST THE LOGS!!!

[johnlc]

Originally Posted by cybrmage

What display hardware do you have???
What steps did you take to install the plugin??
What version of the plugin did you install??
What was the first error???
What steps produced the first error???
What steps did you take to configure the plugin???

and... POST THE LOGS!!!

1) I am sorry but I don't know the exact name, but it is a Ahanix D-Vine 5 VFD, parallel port connected.
2) I downloaded the CybrDisplayInstaller.782.mpi, clicked on it.
3) 04_20_2008 / 782 (?)
4) See attached jpg
5) Try to Enable the plugin
6) None,because we never get there

The configuration.exe stays in memory, after this crash, and has to be killed through task manager

[rmeredit]

Originally Posted by cybrmage

The issue with the display blanking should have been fixed.... So, I checked the version of the plugin, and you have not updated to the fixed version (the one with extra exception handling!!).... SO, most of the logs will probably be on little use.... (BUT I do appreciate you taking the time to generate them... and I will look over all the logs...)

I was all set to sit down and re-run the tests from before using the updated version of the plugin. Downloaded, copied out the previous version and put the new plugin in - configured, set logging levels in, and prepared to make some logs (so to speak).

Well, I struck a problem: I couldn't make it crash. With EQ enabled, in XFace and using a daemon tools mounted disk (which I was able to pretty consistently crash previously) MP and the display ran like a charm. The blanking is gone (fixed as you said), and no lock ups whatsoever.

I don't know what the original bug was, and whether or not it was an MP bug, a DVD configuration problem or a display plugin problem, but whatever you've done has made the problem go away. So, a great big

I do so enjoy the bouncy bars in the EQ when listening to music.

[stantzos]

Cybrmage,

Did some digging and here are the results:

LCDHype has 3 "LIGHT" related functions on the GUI:

1. ON/OFF in the form of a "light bulb" button. These work fine for ALPHACOOL 200x64
2. Brightness control in the form of a slider. Left(dark)--->Right(bright). When set to the left display is dark. With the first click to the right, the display lights up with full intensity and remains at full intensity all the way to the far right.
This display has NO brightness control as i was informed by some guys at Alphacool.
3. Contrast control in the form of a slider. When i select the ALPHACOOL 200x64 driver this control disappears from the GUI, obviously it has no effect.

Using the LCDHYPE Interface Logger i have this logged when clicking the on/off
OFF
22.04.2008 10:17:52:180;LCD_SetIOPropertys;Port=378;Exectime= 5;ExectimeGfx=1;X=40;Y=16;gX=240;gY=128;LightOn=0; LightSliderValue=247;ContrastOn=1;ContrastSliderVa lue=7;Outports=0;UnderlineMode=0;UnderlineOutput=0
22.04.2008 10:17:52:181;LCD_SendToController;Value=0
22.04.2008 10:17:52:182;LCD_GetCGRAMChar;Position=0
22.04.2008 10:17:52:183;LCD_GetCGRAMChar;Position=127

ON
22.04.2008 10:17:52:180;LCD_SetIOPropertys;Port=378;Exectime= 5;ExectimeGfx=1;X=40;Y=16;gX=240;gY=128;LightOn=1; LightSliderValue=247;ContrastOn=1;ContrastSliderVa lue=7;Outports=0;UnderlineMode=0;UnderlineOutput=0
22.04.2008 10:17:52:181;LCD_SendToController;Value=0
22.04.2008 10:17:52:182;LCD_GetCGRAMChar;Position=0
22.04.2008 10:17:52:183;LCD_GetCGRAMChar;Position=127

Notice that only LightOn=1 changes...

Now, about sniffing. I will try to catch the packet sent exactly when LCDHYPE sends the brightness and ON/OFF commands. Maybe they can be of help.

All these observations come from LCDHype.

In MP-CYBRDISPLAY with the controls set to max the display still goes dark on startup as it always does. Only difference is that with these settings it doesn't turn off when exiting (unless otherwise instructed).


Kind regards,
Stefanos

P.S.: Saskatoon will be my goal for Canada! A crazy friend of mine (living in Canada wants to go hiking)!