I've just started using DVBViewer, and have got it working nicely with DABDig, but for a couple of points: I have DVBVIEWERAPIPREFERRED=1 and DVBVIEWERDISABLEAV=1, but the AV isn't disabled when recording - I just get the usual window, with video and audio playing.

Also, there doesn't seem to be an option to minimise the DVBViewer window when using DVBVIEWERAPIPREFERRED=1 - is this right?

What I want is for it to be as inconspicuous as possible, running minimised and with no sound, so I can get on with other stuff undisturbed while it records in the background. Is this possible?

I'll have a look - but I think that if you use the API method and DVBViewer is already running then I only pass it the instructions via the API.

i.e. I don't ask it to run etc

but will check.

If you set TraceFlags=2 in your dabdig.ini then there will be some additional info that can help diagnose issue.

I call DVBViewer "AddItem" with 6th parameter set to the Mute state.

As you spotted on the DigiGuide forum - this forum has been down for a week or so. Reason was because the remote service provider in USA decided to move stuff between machines but without telling and was left without access to fix things.

DABDig creator

Edited by Paul Webster on Monday, May 26, 2008 - 2:16:57 AM

I don't know how to interpret the trace output but here is the logged output with TraceFlags=2:

---

5/28/2008 7:41:01 PM - 2.57b12 - Trace:1 - "RECORD" "Film4" "315" "A Walk in the Clouds" "2008" "05" "28" "19" "05" "115" "Alfonso Arau's delight of a romantic film, made after Like Water for Chocolate, opens with Paul Sutton returning home after World War II to a wife he married the day before he left. Discovering they have nothing in common, he leaves for home by bus. Among the passengers is Victoria Aragon, who is afraid to go home to her family's vineyards because she is pregnant and unmarried. Paul suggests they pretend to be a married couple, then he could go, leaving her looking innocent as the abandoned wife. When they arrive at her home, her father Alberto and his wife Maria are stern and suspicious, as is patriarch Don Pedro, but as the days stretch into weeks, Paul falls for Victoria, her family and their way of life... Edited for content. Director: Alfonso Arau Starring: Keanu Reeves, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Anthony Quinn, Giancarlo Giannini, Angélica Aragón, Evangelina Elizondo (Widescreen, 1995, PG, 3 Star)" "Film" ""

5/28/2008 7:41:11 PM - 2.57b12 - Trace:1 - Channel Map found for:Film4 to:27136

5/28/2008 7:41:20 PM - 2.57b12 - Trace:1 - Programme started 41 minutes ago

5/28/2008 7:41:21 PM - 2.57b12 - Trace:1 - Start time is now: 28/05/2008 19:41

5/28/2008 7:41:23 PM - 2.57b12 - Trace:1 - onVBViewer - Full command line: "C:\Program Files\DVBViewer\dvbviewer.exe"

5/28/2008 7:41:38 PM - 2.57b12 - Trace:1 - onVBViewer - DVBViewer - Calculated substituted data as:27136/Film4

5/28/2008 7:41:43 PM - 2.57b12 - Trace:2 - onVBViewer - Call COM with:27136/Film4,28/05/2008,19:41,21:5,A Walk in the Clouds-200805281941,1,1,0,4,-------

---

I have DVBViewer set to exit after a recording has finished (DVBViewerAfterRec=4), so unless programmes overlap it isn't already running when DABDig calls it (and if it is, I would already have minimised it - I have it set to disable AV when minimised).

I think what I need is a way to add -minimize to the command line.

Edited by Ollie on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - 12:37:22 PM

Since you are using the API method ... then leaving it running all of the time should be OK as well.

Or - is that not possible because the sound is not going off?

This set of parameters is how the DVBView API was called:

27136/Film4,28/05/2008,19:41,21:5,A Walk in the Clouds-200805281941,1,1,0,4,-------

The "1" marked in red above is telling DVBViewer to mute (according to the DVBViewer documentation)

edit:

However, I have found a changelog entry for DVBViewer 3.8 that says that the most of the DisableAV functionality was removed!

And then I found in the DVBViewer forum that the option has been moved ... tick disable AV on minimize in the options.

Which means ... you really should leave DVBViewer running and change DVBViewerAfterRec from 4 to 0

DABDig creator

Edited by Paul Webster on Thursday, May 29, 2008 - 10:45:56 AM

Well, I don't like having things running when they're not needed to save on system resources... I do have it set to disable AV on minimize, just can't get it to minimize on start. I tried creating a shortcut with the minimize flag set, and setting DVBViewerCmd=DVBViewer.lnk in dabdig.ini, but although the shortcut works fine when launched from the shell, for some reason when launched from DABDig the minimize flag is ignored.

Glad to have got to the bottom of why the DisableAV flag in DABDig wasn't working, though.

[edit] Aha - found the option to make it disable AV on start - I needed to untick "tune last channel on start" in the options. Still need to minimize it manually, but the main irritation was if it started recording while I was watching something else via my TV and not sat at the computer, and suddenly I had an extra soundtrack competing with what I was watching. In that situation, as long as it keeps quiet, the fact that it isn't minimized doesn't really matter.

Edited by Ollie on Thursday, May 29, 2008 - 11:48:21 AM

OK - some experiments ...

The value of DVBViewerRecWinStyle (in dabdig.ini) should be controling how DABDig tries to start DVBView (when it is not already running).

The default is 2 - which means minimise (but doesn't always work)

So - try 6

and if that does not work ... try setting dvbviewerrecwinstyle to 10 then queue something up - but before it fires ... minimise DigiGuide.

(10 should mean ... use the same window style as the application that did the laumch ... which might follow the DigiGuide style).

DABDig creator

No, still not starting minimized with either of those two settings. (But I wouldn't have expected them to make a difference, as the DABDig docs say DVBViewerRecWinStyle is not used when DVBViewerAPIPreferred=1.)

Documentation error ... it really does use it - but didn't when I first implemented the COM API stuff.

Have sent you a test build that adds a new field to dabdig.ini so that you can try to pass additional command line parameters when the record opertion has to run DVBViewer. However, I am not sure that DVBViewer has a command line option to tell it to minimise.

DABDig creator