DigitalWatch 2.0.1.* Options

[nate]

New Version - DW 2.0.1.3

Changes

• Implemented Settings.xml, including:
  • All six application priorities. Low, BelowNormal, Normal, AboveNormal, High, and Realtime. AboveNormal is now the Default.
  • Window settings to remember Fullscreen, AlwaysOnTop, the Size, and the Position of the window when you close it and restore them when the app is next loaded.
  • Startup volume and mute setting.
  • Startup zoom, zoomMode, and overlay color controls settings.
• Fixed a crash caused when the window spans 2 screens by 1 pixel.
• Fixed menu not hiding after changing channels.
• Fixed channel reorder not saving the channels file.
• Lots of memory leaks removed.
• Added critical sections for most vectors to improve multithreading safety.
• Improved OSD efficiency when displaying long lists (ie. the frequency list).

I've removed all the memory leaks that occurred during ussual operation or scanning, changing channels, showing and hiding menu's etc.
There still might be the odd leak in functionality i didn't test, but at least all the stuff that happens regularly is fine.

The settings.xml file will be created with default settings the first time it's run.

I had some trouble with Ch9 (SD. Havn't really tested HD) stuttering after a few minutes and eventually stalling entirely. Ch9 is the only channel that it happens on. The cpu is only running at 30-40% but I found that it doesn't happen when running DW at above normal priority, so i've set the default priority to above normal. Hopefully that will keep things running smoothly for everyone.

[nate]

Can I get some opinions about the size of the buttons and text on the OSD.

When i originally designed the UI I was using a 19" 1280x1024 screen. Now that i have a 24" 1920x1200 screen it all looks huge.

Is the text too big? the right size? too small? What size is the text from set top boxes? Are they a good example of the size we should aim for?

Should the menu buttons stay the same size, but the OSD elements (network and service name, tuner, time, etc.) be made smaller?

As time goes on there will be more and more things added, such as now and next, volume, mute, recording state and time left, timeshifting position. It might get a bit crowded if i keep things as big as they are now.

[Calvi]

Nate,

I look forward to trying it out and will let you know how it all looks on my TV.

PS> thanks for the volume setting!

[Guest_nexx_*]

Is there any reason why the mouseover bar thingy is not present in v2? Is it s feature you havent got around to adding yet, or is it a decision not to include it at all?
Just curious as it's my favourite thing about DW

[nate]

Is there any reason why the mouseover bar thingy is not present in v2? Is it s feature you havent got around to adding yet, or is it a decision not to include  it at all?
Just curious as it's my favourite thing about DW

No particular reason it's not there aside from the fact that I havn't got around to reimplementing it yet. I don't think i'll make it popup on mouseover this time. I'm thinking about using the right mouse button to show and hide it. Does that sound ok?

[bear]

Hi nate,

Its looking better and better each time.

Just two minor things, one is that I do get a problem sometimes when I select a program and the application closes. Not sure why but will have a look at the log.

The other thing is that if I choose a sub program say in the "TEN" group that is at the end of the list, then go to the "Nine" group I am unable to select any sub programs until I go back to the "Ten" group and reselect a sub program closer to the top of the list. It would seem that the program select position is not limited to the max number of sub programs in that group selected.

As far as the size of the buttons and text for the OSD, if people wish to use the application in a htpc situation then I think, bigger the better. If they want to watch it on their pc screen one foot away then the OSD does look over size. Maybe, if its not too much trouble, allow for pc & htpc OSD in the settings.

Any way channel scan is working ok, although it seems a bit slower now, Mem usage seems to vary between 15 & 20mB, no sign of mem creep with OSD or channel scan. cpu usage arround <17%(SD) & <35%(HD) for 2.8GhzP4 ASUSMB cyberlink video Decoder.

[nate]

Just two minor things, one is that I do get a problem sometimes when I select a program and the application closes. Not sure why but will have a look at the log.

Ussually an unexpected program close is something to do with the OSD rendering failing. There should be something in the log after the crash to indicate what happened. Just make sure you don't start DW again before you check the log or it'll get overwritten.

The other thing is that if I choose a sub program say in the "TEN" group that is at the end of the list, then go to the "Nine" group I am unable to select any sub programs until I go back to the "Ten" group and reselect a sub program closer to the top of the list. It would seem that the program select position is not limited to the max number of sub programs in that group selected.

Thanks for the report. I've just fixed it so it'll be right in the next release.

Maybe, if its not too much trouble, allow for pc & htpc OSD in the settings.

Yeah. That's an option, but i don't really want to have to maintain and test two separate OSD's

Any way channel scan is working ok, although it seems a bit slower now

I notice that sometimes it's slower than other times. Makes me wonder if sometimes the broadcasters put less network and service information tables in the tranport stream than other times.

Mem usage seems to vary between 15 & 20mB, no sign of mem creep with OSD or channel scan. cpu usage arround <17%(SD) & <35%(HD) for 2.8GhzP4 ASUSMB cyberlink video Decoder.

Good to hear.

[anthonyshephard]

Hi Nate,
I am not having as much luck...
Scanning worked fine, and after a small change of the decoder settings I got audio and video, but;
Processor usage is very high and the display is very choppy. One application that was taking a lot of CPU was McAfee Virus Scanner. I had a look with File Monitor and it seems that DigitalWatch is repeatedly writing to the scanning.log file.

21:26:59 DigitalWatch.ex:3168 CLOSE C:\DW-2.0.1.3\BDA_DVB-T SUCCESS
21:26:59 DigitalWatch.ex:3168 OPEN C:\DW-2.0.1.3\BDA_DVB-T\Scanning.log SUCCESS Options: OpenIf Access: All
21:26:59 DigitalWatch.ex:3168 QUERY INFORMATION C:\DW-2.0.1.3\BDA_DVB-T\Scanning.log SUCCESS Length: 31246
21:26:59 DigitalWatch.ex:3168 WRITE C:\DW-2.0.1.3\BDA_DVB-T\Scanning.log SUCCESS Offset: 31246 Length: 2
21:26:59 DigitalWatch.ex:3168 WRITE C:\DW-2.0.1.3\BDA_DVB-T\Scanning.log SUCCESS Offset: 31248 Length: 2
21:26:59 DigitalWatch.ex:3168 WRITE C:\DW-2.0.1.3\BDA_DVB-T\Scanning.log SUCCESS Offset: 31250 Length: 2
21:26:59 DigitalWatch.ex:3168 WRITE C:\DW-2.0.1.3\BDA_DVB-T\Scanning.log SUCCESS Offset: 31252 Length: 41
21:26:59 DigitalWatch.ex:3168 WRITE C:\DW-2.0.1.3\BDA_DVB-T\Scanning.log SUCCESS Offset: 31293 Length: 2
21:26:59 DigitalWatch.ex:3168 CLOSE C:\DW-2.0.1.3\BDA_DVB-T\Scanning.log SUCCESS

I think this may be the problem because if I capture the graph settings using GraphEdit and use them in the program with DigitalWatch turned off, the display is absolutely fine.

FYI disabling the Virus Scanner helps but it is still choppy.

Anthony

[nate]

Scanning worked fine, and after a small change of the decoder settings I got audio and video, but;
Processor usage is very high and the display is very choppy. One application that was taking a lot of CPU was McAfee Virus Scanner. I had a look with File Monitor and it seems that DigitalWatch is repeatedly writing to the scanning.log file.
...
FYI disabling the Virus Scanner helps but it is still choppy.

Yes. Scanning happens all the time to detect on the fly changes, like when HD is turned off to become sports active or whatever.
I could probably add an option to disable the scanning log, but until i'm satisfied that the scanning code is working properly for everyone i'd prefer to keep it on.

When the virus scanner is turned off how much cpu usage is there?
What happens if you run the graph in graphedt and simulate hard disk activity? If it's a SATA drive perhaps it's a bottleneck caused by the SATA controller?
Do you have a second physical hard drive that you could try running DW from to see if it's only a problem on one drive? I'm just guessing wildy now.

[Guest_DigiWatchSaver_*]

Hi Nate,

Good work, this version is working much better than the previous one...

I've been testing it a bit and found two more things

First of all, when I use DW2, for a reason I can't really explain, explorer.exe starts to use a great deal of CPU process and most of the time DW and explorer combined together use 100% of the CPU. Explorer is most of the time around 60% and DW arround 40%. As soon as DW is release, explorer.exe comes back to normal (arround 0)

The other thing I've noticed is about the menus. There's 2 things here that are linked. if you press the F1 key then the F2 key, the menu titles get written on top of each other. The other thing is that if you press F1 then F2 then F1 then F2 several times, it seems that each menu get created severals times and to exit all that you have to press the escape key several times. Obviously that's not a normal use of the application but hey you know users, if it's not supposed to be used that way, they wil

Keep up your good work

Cheers

Oh I almost forgot, I also had DW to crash down once when trying to switch channels. I've attached the log, maybe you'll be able to find something there.

[nate]

Good work, this version is working much better than the previous one...

That's good to know. Although i have to wonder, If it's causing explorer to use heaps of CPU now it must have been pretty bad before.

First of all, when I use DW2, for a reason I can't really explain, explorer.exe starts to use a great deal of CPU process and most of the time DW and explorer combined together use 100% of the CPU. Explorer is most of the time around 60% and DW arround 40%. As soon as DW is release, explorer.exe comes back to normal (arround 0)

I can't think of any reason DW would cause explorer to use cpu.
Does it happen as soon as you start DW? At the first menu before you start watching a channel?

The other thing I've noticed is about the menus. There's 2 things here that are linked. if you press the F1 key then the F2 key, the menu titles get written on top of each other. The other thing is that if you press F1 then F2 then F1 then F2 several times, it seems that each menu get created severals times and to exit all that you have to press the escape key several times. Obviously that's not a normal use of the application but hey you know users, if it's not supposed to be used that way, they wil

That one's easy to fix.

In Keys.xml replace
ShowMenu("MainMenu")
with
ExitMenu(-1) ShowMenu("MainMenu")

and in BDA_DVB-T\Keys.xml replace
ShowMenu("TVMenu")
with
ExitMenu(-1) ShowMenu("TVMenu")

Oh I almost forgot, I also had DW to crash down once when trying to switch channels. I've attached the log, maybe you'll be able to find something there.

I took a look and nothing stands out.
I need to improve the logging for crashes.
Do it actually bring up a crash dialog, or did it just quit unexpectedly?

[Guest_DigiWatchSaver_*]

That's good to know. Although i have to wonder, If it's causing explorer to use heaps of CPU now it must have been pretty bad before.

Hmm actually it was using pretty much the same before but I completely forgot to mention it before. Sorry about that

I can't think of any reason DW would cause explorer to use cpu.
Does it happen as soon as you start DW? At the first menu before you start watching a channel?

When I start DW the explorer CPU jumps to arround 70-80% then drops down to zero and stays there as long as I don't watch a channel. if I press escape and go back to the menu (I still haven't watch any channel yet) then again it jumps to 70-80% then drops back to zero. As soon as I start watching a channel then explorer never goes back to zero. When exiting DW it takes a few seconds before it settles down to zero. If I can make a suggestion, maybe it would be worth it to add 2 options in the settings.xml file to enable or disable the 2 log files and see if the same problem happens again...

That one's easy to fix.

In Keys.xml replace
ShowMenu("MainMenu")
with
ExitMenu(-1) ShowMenu("MainMenu")

and in BDA_DVB-T\Keys.xml replace
ShowMenu("TVMenu")
with
ExitMenu(-1) ShowMenu("TVMenu")

hehe can't always give you hard ones

I took a look and nothing stands out.
I need to improve the logging for crashes.
Do it actually bring up a crash dialog, or did it just quit unexpectedly?

Gosh I was stupid on this one!!! Well I had a crash dialog and forgot to write down the information about the error address. If it happens again I'll post all the information I can get

[nate]

That's good to know. Although i have to wonder, If it's causing explorer to use heaps of CPU now it must have been pretty bad before.

Hmm actually it was using pretty much the same before but I completely forgot to mention it before. Sorry about that

That's OK. I can understand why you were so interested in the memory leaks now. It's a shame you still have a problem with cpu usage though.

When I start DW the explorer CPU jumps to arround 70-80% then drops down to zero and stays there as long as I don't watch a channel. if I press escape and go back to the menu (I still haven't watch any channel yet) then again it jumps to 70-80% then drops back to zero. As soon as I start watching a channel then explorer never goes back to zero. When exiting DW it takes a few seconds before it settles down to zero. If I can make a suggestion, maybe it would be worth it to add 2 options in the settings.xml file to enable or disable the 2 log files and see if the same problem happens again...

I will add options to disable each log and we'll see what happens.

From what you've said it does sound like it's something to do with the logs being written. I don't think explorer itself normally cares when these files change, but maybe you have a shell extention or something installed that is indexing the files everytime they change. Google desktop maybe? I don't know, i've never used it. Just a thought.

hehe can't always give you hard ones

Yep. It's things like this that are the reason i started DW in the first place. The more tweaking of config files that can be done to fix problems the better, for the developer, and the user.

[Guest_DigiWatchSaver_*]

That's OK. I can understand why you were so interested in the memory leaks now. It's a shame you still have a problem with cpu usage though.

Well I'm sure we'll find what the problem is so I don't really worry :-)

I will add options to disable each log and we'll see what happens.

From what you've said it does sound like it's something to do with the logs being written. I don't think explorer itself normally cares when these files change, but maybe you have a shell extention or something installed that is indexing the files everytime they change. Google desktop maybe? I don't know, i've never used it. Just a thought.

I don't have anything like this application on my computer and also have turned off windows indexing. I'll try DW2 on another computer tomorrow morning and will let you know if it does the same or not

One last thing for today, I've find a tripple bug for you. This one is about the window position/size/state.
If you maximize DW by double clicking then close DW and restart it, the main window is in fullscreen mode and when you double click on it, its size doesn't change. To solve this, you have to try and move the window when it's in full screen but not in maximized state and resize it. We have a similar problem if you minimize DW and then close it. When you restart it the main windows doesn't want to reappear. If you right click on DW start bar icon, and maximize the window, it does reappear but when you double click on it DW just closes. This brings me to the last part of the bug. When DW closes, it does so because the main window is resized to 0-0 so the next time you run DW it just closes automatically. The only way out is to edit settings.xml and change the size of the window.

[anthonyshephard]

Scanning worked fine, and after a small change of the decoder settings I got audio and video, but;
Processor usage is very high and the display is very choppy. One application that was taking a lot of CPU was McAfee Virus Scanner. I had a look with File Monitor and it seems that DigitalWatch is repeatedly writing to the scanning.log file.
...
FYI disabling the Virus Scanner helps but it is still choppy.

Yes. Scanning happens all the time to detect on the fly changes, like when HD is turned off to become sports active or whatever.
I could probably add an option to disable the scanning log, but until i'm satisfied that the scanning code is working properly for everyone i'd prefer to keep it on.

When the virus scanner is turned off how much cpu usage is there?
What happens if you run the graph in graphedt and simulate hard disk activity? If it's a SATA drive perhaps it's a bottleneck caused by the SATA controller?
Do you have a second physical hard drive that you could try running DW from to see if it's only a problem on one drive? I'm just guessing wildy now.

Nate,
With the Virus Scanner disabled, the CPU varies from 0 to about 80% but in little spikes about one every 2 or 3 seconds. I am not certain it is the drive as its usage barely registers. I can try with the log file writing disabled and let you know if this helps.

Anthony

[Guest_DigiWatchSaver_*]

I will add options to disable each log and we'll see what happens.

From what you've said it does sound like it's something to do with the logs being written. I don't think explorer itself normally cares when these files change, but maybe you have a shell extention or something installed that is indexing the files everytime they change. Google desktop maybe? I don't know, i've never used it. Just a thought.

I don't have anything like this application on my computer and also have turned off windows indexing. I'll try DW2 on another computer tomorrow morning and will let you know if it does the same or not

Ok I've just tried on a second computer with the same card, driver and everything and I don't have the same problem. Hmm that's strange... I'm really looking forward to giving it a try with the logs disabled...

[Guest_varutz_*]

Hi,

I'm new on all this! I am new in using third party software for my mentor(bona) dvb-t usb 2.0 device.
Well, it's a V-stream usb device...
Finding BDA compatible drivers wasn't very easy. After visiting V-stream ftp site for months ... i've given up and .. lookup the web ! Guess what ? found my bda driver on adstech site ! actually, same device from som other retailer that supplies up to date drivers.

Ok so my mentor is working. Tried Media Portal but not realy like it...too slow. Even slower than the original software.

DigiWatch seems good in switching channels. And with NowAndNext to come and some timeshifting...

Yet, i have a problem.
I'm in France and they've just set up (actually, 3 months ago) dvb-t emission.
So it has some bugs... and well, i need some features on DigiWatch:

in france, to be really original, they use same network -id for all the providers/frequency...
Consequence ? The OSD menu allways shows me the services attached to the first frequency saved in channels.xml file...
can SetChannel take also the frequency as a parameter to discriminate between networkIds ?

Thanks

Varutz

[Guest_DigiWatchSaver_*]

Hi varutz,

Just a quick question not related to your post

Do you know if the films broadcasted by the french channels are only broadcasted in french (dubded version) or if they also make original version availlable on a second audio channel?

I'm interrested to know as I might have to move back to France for work

Thanks

[nate]

Hi varutz,

in france, to be really original, they use same network -id for all the providers/frequency...
Consequence ? The OSD menu allways shows me the services attached to the first frequency saved in channels.xml file...
can SetChannel take also the frequency as a parameter to discriminate between networkIds ?

Ahhh, I can't win.

I'd rather not use the frequency if i can help it since it's possible to enter two different frequencies close to each other (eg. 191500 & 191625) and get the same channel.

Do they all use the same TranportStreamId, OriginalNetworkId, and NetworkID? If not, then I could change SetChannel to take all three.

[Guest_JoeyBloggs_*]

The ONID:TSID:SID triplet must be unique for each service Anything else would be a violation of the DVB standards as I understand them ~

NID is not really all that relevant AFAIK.