Screen is blanked while in EPG view (1 Viewer)

[MPUserFromGER]

TV-Server Version: 1.0 RC4
MediaPortal Version: 1.0 RC4
MediaPortal Skin: Blue3
Windows Version: Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit with SP1
CPU Type: AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 (AM2)
HDD: Samsung 750GB + HAMA SSD 4GB (timeshifting)
Memory: 2GB DDR2
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H
Video Card: OnBoard ATI Radeon HD3200
Video Card Driver: Catalyst V8.10
Sound Card: Realtek (On-Board)
Sound Card AC3: AC3 / optical SPDIF out
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: Technotrend S2-3200
1. TV Card Type: DVB-S and DVB-S2
1. TV Card Driver: 5.0.0.19
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 codecs
MPEG2 Audio Codec: ffdshow audio codec
h.264 Video Codec: Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 codec
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Astra 19.2 E
HTPC Case: Ahanix MCE 601
Cooling: power supply fan, CPU boxed cooler, 2 housing fans (all controlled by SpeedFan)
Power Supply: Ahanix
Remote: Logitech Harmony 555
TV: Samsung LCD 32"
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI

This bug was already present before 1.0 RC4 but I just upgraded and it is still there so I decided to report it. I think this should be fixed for 1.0 final.

Preconditions:
- TV server is installed
- In MediaPortal Configuration --> General --> option "Blank screen when MediaPortal is idle" is activated

Use case:
1. Watching TV in full screen
2. Activate the TV guide (EPG) by pressing the "GUIDE" button on the remote
3. Select a show
4. Now wait for approx. 30 seconds (e.g. for reading the details of the show)
5. The screen is blanked
6. You have to press a button to get the EPG back

--> The option "blank screen when MP is idle" should not blank the screen while in the (fullscreen) EPG screen. The EPG should be handled the same as watching fullscreen TV

 

[Seidelin]

Confirmed and mantis'ed.

for a very good bug report.

 

[gemx]

I would say that this works as designed.
If you are in the EPG guide the screensaver should kick in although you are currently watching a tv show because large areas of the screen remain the same.
Only the small video window is updated.
So e.g. people with plasma TVs need to have the screensaver kicking in in those situations or am i wrong here?
Starting the screensaver should be only prevented while:
- viewing picture slideshows
- a visualisation is being displayed in fullscreen
- a video/tv show is shown in fullscreen

To keep it short, the screensaver should always be prevented from showing whenever THE WHOLE SCREEN IS CONTINOUSLY CHANGED. That's what screensavers were invented for.

 

[Seidelin]

To keep it short, the screensaver should always be prevented from showing whenever THE WHOLE SCREEN IS CONTINOUSLY CHANGED. That's what screensavers were invented for.

Good point. But what if user is reading the program description and screens blanks before it can be read? Then MP should not be considered idle until the full text has scrolled through. I haven't tested yet if this can happen.

 

[gemx]

Wouldn't it make more sense to set the timeout for the screensaver to a more reasonable value like 10 to 15 minutes?
That's enough time for you to read a screen and no display device would get burn marks during such a short period.
Given this i would suppose to close this mantis and referring to this thread

 

[Seidelin]

But the timing is not configurable. The timeout is determined by MP and not configurable as far as I can tell. Of course changing the idle timeout to something slightly longer would solve the issue.

I just verified that long program descriptions cannot be fully read when blank screen on idle is active.

 

[MPUserFromGER]

Hi,

as the "problem finder" I can fully agree with Seidelin:

1. Long program descriptions, which are very common with the TVMovie data, cannot be fully read.
This is definitely a bug.

2. The "screen blank timeout" seems to be hardcoded to 60 seconds.
I have NOT activated the windows screen saver because this causes other issues.

3. Increasing this thimeout to 5 or 10 minutes would solve the issue "screen is blanked while reading EPG" and every TV should be able to display the same picture for 10 minutes... However, I would like to add two things:
a) Perfect solution would be to make the blank screen timeout configurable. However, I understand that this will not be an option for MP 1.0 final.
b) In my opinion, the design is here not correct: While reading the EPG, the screen should never be blanked. I don't think that someone activates the EPG, then runs away and is then wondering that the screen has burned the EPG...

4. Please don't forgert that Seidelin has linked a similar bug to this MANTIS:
Screen is blanked after resuming from standby/hibernate.
Please have a look at this as well or separate it within another MANTIS report.

Thanks you guys for the great work that you are doing! MP is, beside these two issue and the flickering screen in EPG view, running perfectly and the best media center SW out there!

 

[gemx]

I added a new config section where the timeout in seconds after which the screensaver kicks in can be configured. MP already reads this setting from config. There was just no place to configure it.
So it was just logical to make this available in MP Config.
So this "bug" should be solved then

 

[Bavarian]

Issue is fixed

Config has now a new section for Blank Screen with an adjustable idle time

the thx goes to gemx, he fixed it a few minutes earlier then me

 

[MPUserFromGER]

You are just incredible!!!

Two more questions:
1. What will be the default setting? 10 minutes?

2. Can you open another mantis ticket for this issue
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...anked-after-resuming-standby-hibernate-49503/
?