Automatically start MP fullscreen on secondary display (1 Viewer)

[HappyTalk]

I'd like a plugin to switch between TV and CRT that can be operated using a key on the remote.

It would be nice to be able to independantly run 2 copies of mediaportal one on TV-out one on CRT-out and when one goes full screen it would set itself as primary display so as to gain the hardware acceleration.

 

[SciDoctor]

I'd like a plugin to switch between TV and CRT that can be operated using a key on the remote.

It would be nice to be able to independantly run 2 copies of mediaportal one on TV-out one on CRT-out and when one goes full screen it would set itself as primary display so as to gain the hardware acceleration.

Odd request, what are your reasons behind the request incase there is already a way to satisfy your needs.

Pre v0.2.x.x could be run sepeately from different folder instals but the latest release checks to see if any MP is running and either awakens from systray or does nothing if already visible.

With two versions running the only conflict I could see is with the TV graphs which are assembled at MPlaunch whereas the Video/dvd/Music are built on the fly and had no problems.

 

[jackelectronics]

Quoting from my own post, I now have a solution to get MP to start on the secondary display via an AutoIT script and nView profiles. However, it needs to be documented before I can post the script as the procedure is not straightforward. I am going to write a MediaPortal tips page on my site in the near future so that I can share my ideas with others. I will notify you once my page is online.

http://www.jackelec.myzen.co.uk/computers/mportal/index.html

 

[franjorge]

Hi Guys, first of all let me congratulate you guys with a very nice (stable) release.

With the following executable (attached is also the source code) you can start MediaPortal automatically in fullscreen mode on the secondary display.

http://www.geocities.com/don_hannema/mp_start_1.1.zip
http://www.geocities.com/don_hannema/mp_start_1.2.zip (now searches for the menu options instead of the id being hardcoded)

*** works with 0.2 RC2 and 0.2 RC3 ***

The program does this using the following steps:
1. start MediaPortal.exe
2. wait for the window to start and then open the Device Settings
3. select the second display
4. move the window to the second display position (e.g. 1280x0)
5. make the window fullscreen

Make sure that the "Start Media Portal in fullscreen mode" option in the general settings is unchecked or the popup never appears. In fact I only have two options checked: "Auto hide mouse cursor when inactive" & "enable GUI sound effects".

The program can also be started a second time, after which the focus is set to MediaPortal again. I use this program myself to activate MP with my remote control without the need to use my PC.

mvg,
don

p.s. Of course I would love to see a configuration setting in MP where you can define your primary display device

Hi,

I have tried your program, but it does not seem to work for me. Here is what I see on the cmd window:


C:\Documents and Settings\Fran\Escritorio>mp_start.exe "C:\Archivos de programa\
Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\MediaPortal.exe"
Starting MediaPortal with command = C:\Archivos de programa\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\MediaPortal.exe
Start result = 00000000
Waiting for program to start...
..EnumMediaPortalProc: 000d05c2 00000c64 MediaPortal
.
Waiting for menu to appear...
&File 256
Exit 257
.
Searching '&Change Device'...
&File 256
Exit 257
&Options 258
&Fullscreen 259
&Configuration... F2 260
Wizards 261
DVD 262
Movies 263
Music 264
Pictures 265
Television 266
Sending message to open Device Settings...
Waiting for popup to appear.....................................................
................................................................................
....................................

Though I see the MP popup, the program does not seem to notice it and hangs there indefinetly.

Would you please help me? I would really like to see this working.

Thanks,
Fran

 

[dhannema]

Though I see the MP popup, the program does not seem to notice it and hangs there indefinetly.

The MediaPortal team has removed support for the "change device" setting in the file menu of the application. This is why you do not see the popup appearing.

Honestly, I also don't know why they did this, since it is the only universal way to get MediaPortal on your secondary device without impacting the high refresh rates required. For the fortunate people with nvidia video cards, a workaround is available (see previous posts in this thread), but for all other people (like me) the new versions just don't work anymore. I'm currently looking at the mediacenter functionality in vista and it's looking pretty slick. Even though it doesn't have as many features as MediaPortal, it's the only thing I currently have that works well on the secondary display.

If you would like to get the functionality back, I would suggest requesting this to the MediaPortal dev team. Until that time, the last version that supports mp_start is 2.0.0.0 RC3.

 

[dhannema]

I've recompiled the 0.2.2.0 version to use the secondary display by default.

See the start post for the executable !

 

[HappyTalk]

I'd like a plugin to switch between TV and CRT that can be operated using a key on the remote.

It would be nice to be able to independantly run 2 copies of mediaportal one on TV-out one on CRT-out and when one goes full screen it would set itself as primary display so as to gain the hardware acceleration.

Odd request, what are your reasons behind the request incase there is already a way to satisfy your needs.

Well one output goes to a projector the other goes to the TV. They require different aspects (tv=16:9, proj=4:3) and ideally diff resolutions tv@720x576, proj@1024x768 diff colour settings etc. I realise that you can only get dx accel on one output if running a single video card so it's not ideal anyway.

What I really want is to run in single view mode and press a remote key to flick to the other output device and modify the MP aspect ratio setting. Currently I press home & stop video (else flick doesn't work), press a hot key (Alt-F12) to flick to other output device on my nvidia card, go into settings alter aspect (between 1.0 & 1.33), then back to TV, always at 1024x768 - worra polava! I'm investigating if writing a plugin is the best way to address this.


With MP going client/server hopefully in future we could build a single powerful machine with say 4 cheap PCIe video cards (so all have dx-accel) able to run say 1 server and 3 clients. I understand normal practice is to have a seperate pc per client, but electricity costs have gone through the roof in the UK and you're looking at £120+/year to leave a single pc on 24/7, so 1 pc per TV gets pricey.

 

[vuego]

dhannema

Thanks allot for this tool. MP would really be unusable without it.

However there is a small problem. I have my secondary monitor to the LEFT of the primary screen. It looks like mp_start.exe only works when placing the secondary monitor to the RIGHT of the primary screen.

When the secondary is placed left mp_start still tries to send MediaPortal to the right edge of the screen (but it will open in fullscreen on the primary monitor). I also noticed that if a Windows Explorer window is open and browsing the MP folder the window is called "MediaPortal" and it will definitely be sent to the right of the primary screen (where I have no monitor).

 

[dhannema]

However there is a small problem. I have my secondary monitor to the LEFT of the primary screen. It looks like mp_start.exe only works when placing the secondary monitor to the RIGHT of the primary screen.

Thanks for your feedback.

I've added support for a random position of the secondary display (i.e. the monitor is now allowed to be left, top, right and bottom of the primary display).

Grab the 1.4 version from the start post.

I also noticed that if a Windows Explorer window is open and browsing the MP folder the window is called "MediaPortal" and it will definitely be sent to the right of the primary screen (where I have no monitor).

Yes, this is a known 'feature' of mp_start. What happens is that mp_start searches for and waits for MediaPortal to start and looks at the window name to determine this. This means that if there are multiple windows starting with the name 'MediaPortal' or 'Media Portal' that there is a chance that the wrong window will be sent to the secondary monitor !

 

[vuego]

Wow that was quick! And it works like a charm.

Now to my next issue. Since my two displays has different resolutions I have to uncheck Use exclusive DirectX mode or else MediaPortal will crash. With this setting I'm experiencing tearing (no surprise I guess).

If I make both displays use the same resolution mp_start and MediaPortal does work but there's no picture on the second screen due to the fact that it can't handle the refresh rate of the primary screen. Seems that this setting is also inherited.

When I lower the resolution and refresh rate of the primary display to a setting that the secondary display can handle it works perfectly! No tearing... BUT it makes the primary monitor look terrible (16:9 resolution on a 4:3 monitor).

Is there anything I can do to use mp_start with MediaPortal in exclusive DirectX mode on displays with different resolutions and refresh rates?