No screen on resume (1 Viewer)

[wjw]

MediaPortal Version: 1.4.0

Description
Updated to 1.4.0 from 1.3.0 final. When 1.4 resumes for a scheduled recording the TV/Monitor is inactive - no picture at all. Pressing buttons on the remote does nothing, only using the keyboard will produce an active display.
I saw the exact same symptoms using 1.4 pre-release so reverted to 1.3.0 - which runs perfectly except for the half-screen on resume problem.
I attach a log of this afternoon's test. A recording has been scheduled and the system allowed to hibernate (power scheduler). On resume, I waited a few minutes then turned the TV on. Completely inactive. Using the keyboard brought the screen to life with the MP screen off to one side.
The log is full of exceptions and errors I don't understand and would much appreciate any advice/comments on what is going on here.
In the meantime I have gone back to 1.3

Steps to Reproduce:
Is 100% reproducible on my system as described.

 

[mm1352000]

Hello wjw

When 1.4 resumes for a scheduled recording the TV/Monitor is inactive - no picture at all. Pressing buttons on the remote does nothing, only using the keyboard will produce an active display.

You can ask @Scythe42 but I think this is by design. The theory is that if the PC is resumed automatically (ie. you didn't trigger it to resume) then it should behave like this. There is no need for the screen to be turned on if it is just a scheduled recording.

Using the keyboard brought the screen to life with the MP screen off to one side.

So here are you saying that MP was not full screen?

The log is full of exceptions and errors I don't understand and would much appreciate any advice/comments on what is going on here.

The log is not really that helpful because it is only "info level", not full debug. That means we can't see when you turn on your TV (assuming MP detects that event) and how MP responds to it. Please capture new logs with the watchdog tool.


mm

 

[wjw]

OK, I will try to find time to upgrade to 1.4 again and reproduce with fuller logs. As I have said before, the watchdog log collector has never worked on my absolutely standard Win 7 system so I'll do what I can.

However, I have reported this before in the 1.4 pre release thread:

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...-ready-for-download.119007/page-3#post-995629

My reaction would be much the same - this has never been a problem in any previous release. Even if the system resumed itself then the screen was active. If it's not now then it is because of a deliberate design decision, which I think is odd. If I'm out of the room when a scheduled recording starts, why do I now have to do something that I did not have to do before (find a keyboard) just to be able to watch that programme from the start?

And as others have said, this would be solvable if the "Restart on resume" or Turn on TV..." options had not been removed from setup configuration.

 

[Scythe42]

When 1.4 resumes for a scheduled recording the TV/Monitor is inactive - no picture at all. Pressing buttons on the remote does nothing, only using the keyboard will produce an active display.

You can ask @Scythe42 but I think this is by design. The theory is that if the PC is resumed automatically (ie. you didn't trigger it to resume) then it should behave like this. There is no need for the screen to be turned on if it is just a scheduled recording.

Using the keyboard brought the screen to life with the MP screen off to one side.

That is by design. Automatic resume should never activate the screen in MP at all. If it did on your system is is because of a bug that got fixed in MP. It is absolute essential not to turn on the screen at night. @tourettes: I told you this will not happen with 1.4.0 anymore.

Also this follows the guidelines by MS. It fact it is even impossible to do on Win8 to wake up the monitor by any other means than a HID device. The problem here is that your remote is not configured as a HID device or the way you are using it does not do it. That is the sole problem. Only HID devices may turn on a display. By definition a remote is a HID device. That does not mean it has to send keypresses, though!

So no bug. This is as intended.

What remote are you using and how is it configured?

 

[wjw]

@Scythe42

Thanks for the reply and the clarification. I don't like it, nor do I understand it really. If I'm out, then the TV/Monitor is physically/electrically either off or on standby anyway, so even if the PC outputs a signal over the HDMI link nothing will happen. A remote can bring that to life OK.

However, be that as it may, my remote is a Hauppage connected to the input on my Hauppage WinTV-Nova-HD-S2 Tuner card. It is apparently not seen by Windows as an HID device, so I'm a bit stuck here.

 

[Scythe42]

The problem here is really that the remote does not act as a HID device for Windows. So Windows takes any action by it as not done by a human. And when a something happens on a PC that is not done by a human, Windows will not wake up the screen. People rarely turn their screen off and let the screen do power saving based on what is defined in windows. TVs are a bit different though here and often stay on showing "no signal" like computer display from the 90s.

Google a bit about way to use the Hauppage remote as a HID device. Probably Event Ghost might come to the rescue here.

If a remote is not exposed to Windows as a HID device it is a serious flaw in the remote. Your Hauppage setup might be special here. But I am sure you are not the only one having this issue. A quick googling showed tons of posts in regards to Windows Media Center over the years as well.

 

[wjw]

@Scythe42

Thanks again for the clarification and suggestions. There do indeed seem to be lots of issues around Hauppage remotes - never looked before because it's never been a problem. However, it does seem clear that the Hauppage remote system is NOT exposed by the Hauppage drivers and software as an HID device.

I think my best solution lies in the fact that my remote is actually a Logitech Harmony 1 so I need to find a way of adding something into that to kick the screen into life via the keyboard IR receiver - which is an HID device.