Any Chance for Xcard OSD Support?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by jptaz

Even if it is not on the roadmap I think it should be given that Jeff said it should be easy to add and it is a known stable product as mentioned numerous times before.

That was probably also before Jeff knew about the 256 color limitation he would have to work wirh.

Originally Posted by insomniac

Opus4 is getting all riled up at us

Riled? If I were riled, I've got the power to delete anything that displeased me. I'm just responding directly to a few comments/questions.

Maybe I need to start using those icons some more?

Hey -- this one works now on the new forum software:

I love it.

Oh... and go stare at my cats for a few seconds...

- Andy

[jptaz]

Andy,

I see that Sub did basically figure it out on his own and didn't get an SDK. I would voluteer to work on this if Frey was to get the SDK. I am willing to bet that any one of us getting the SDK is not going to happen, but if Frey went and arranged on behalf of a specific developer that we would see more action.

John

[insomniac]

ok...here I go misquoting people . I basically took what Opus4 said in previous posts as fact. I should not do that. I am absulutely unaware if he can or does speak in the behalf of Frey, and do not, by any means hold anything against him for sharing knowledge. I very much appreciate his input.

As in my previous post(and many more like it throughout the forum), It sure would be nice if Frey would consider communicating their true stance on hot topics. Most of these topics could be eleviated by a very simple "road map" w/ brief explination(if they feel inclined).

The response that I have received from posts such as these, in more or less words is, "Frey doesnt communicate anything that they dont want to, for various strategic reasons"


I.

Originally Posted by jptaz

I,

I have been looking all over and where did Frey say XCard is not on the roadmap?
Some one else mentioned this, but I have not seen any response as to where it is?

Even if it is not on the roadmap I think it should be given that Jeff said it should be easy to add and it is a known stable product as mentioned numerous times before.

John

[insomniac]

I Knew IT! Riled!

Originally Posted by Opus4

That was probably also before Jeff knew about the 256 color limitation he would have to work wirh.

Riled? If I were riled, I've got the power to delete anything that displeased me. I'm just responding directly to a few comments/questions.

Maybe I need to start using those icons some more?

Hey -- this one works now on the new forum software:

I love it.

Oh... and go stare at my cats for a few seconds...

- Andy

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by jptaz

I see that Sub did basically figure it out on his own and didn't get an SDK.

I know that. Isn't that what I just said? (Here's the obiligatory ) I've conversed with him in the past too. He figured it out by taking a lot of time to do it the hard way & isn't interested in sharing the info he discovered -- Note that I'm not complaining about that; just commenting. After all, he has his own product he is developing.

Originally Posted by insomniac

ok...here I go misquoting people . I basically took what Opus4 said in previous posts as fact. I should not do that. I am absulutely unaware if he can or does speak in the behalf of Frey, and do not, by any means hold anything against him for sharing knowledge. I very much appreciate his input.

I have no idea whether Frey has said publicy what their stance on the Xcard is. I'm saying what I heard when I asked them directly and what others have been told & reported on the forum. See this post for an example.

- Andy

[jptaz]

Andy,

Fair enough. That explains why when I searched posts by Dan and Jeff I saw no direct indication either.

I can understand Subs view too.

John

[salsbst]

Serves as a nice reminder that GB-PVR is free as in beer (for now), not free as in speech.

[Opus4]

BTW: I'm not really faulting sub on this -- I was just commenting on that because GB PVR's use of the Xcard for its UI was mentioned as a reason it ought to be doable for SageTV. Then, the reason I mentioned that he wasn't interested in sharing it was to head off the next question about why not get the info from him. Depending on the situation, I don't always share my own source code, but I couldn't resist asking that a while back just in case.

- Andy

[Crowdx42]

Well GBPVR has not good a very nice looking OSD on the XCard compared to TVedia, maybe TVedia designed originally in 256colors and made better use of the alpha fading but it does look and feel nicer, very close in looks to SageTV.
Patrick

[salsbst]

Originally Posted by Opus4

BTW: I'm not really faulting sub on this

BTW: Nor was I.

[sub]

Originally Posted by salsbst

Serves as a nice reminder that GB-PVR is free as in beer (for now), not free as in speech.

GB-PVR wont be becoming a commercial product, so you can drop the "for now" type of comment.

The last time the XCard OSD stuff came up, I asked the frey guys if they were interested in taking on an extra programmer (myself). They got me to send over a resume, and I havn't heard from them since. I guess they've either been busy, or I didn't have the skills they were looking for. EDIT: I think the Frey guys are entirely up to doing xcard and mvp support themselves, but at the time I liked the idea of job doing this stuff full time, instead of Java J2EE telco work I do in my day job now. To me, it was an angle worth exploring...

[sub]

..and before we start picking on me for not being free as in speech, remember my software a lot more open than SageTV / BeyondTV etc. I've been actively adding developer APIs that have been requested by my users, allowing them to extend GB-PVR anyway they like.

[salsbst]

Nobody's picking on you, sub --at least I'm not. I congratulate you on your work, and here's one vote for open-sourcing it (though I guess there's probably not any sort of vote happening on the subject).

Cheers.

[SHS]

Plases do not pick on GB-PVR (sub) after all he out standing job with info he manage to get on the Xcard which was 0 I do belive so it not world's great but be side the point.

[sub]

Its also not going to be open-source any time soon.

I think open source is good for the end user (who typcially want stuff for free), but hurts small companies that want to sell software. Whilst I'm not personally in the position of selling software, I know several people that are. I think there is nothing wrong with a company putting a lot of work into a product and expecting to get paid a few dollars in return.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Crowdx42

Again XCard is just a nicer picture, no tearing issues and I didn't have to buy a $150 - $200 video card which still "may have" issues with tearing. Has anyone nailed tearing down definitively with VMR9? This was my main reason for moving to hardware decoding.

You don't have to use VMR9, in fact on most Radeons, Overlay is better

[salsbst]

Fair enough -- I totally respect your reasoning. Everyone who donates the fruits of their labors, whether open source or not, has good reasons for doing so.

[sub]

BTW, the XCard seems to produce a better video quality on my Fujitsu Plasma than my Radeon 9200 connect via DVI, but admittedly I havn't invested huge amounts of time tweaking my software decoder setup.

[Crowdx42]

Originally Posted by stanger89

You don't have to use VMR9, in fact on most Radeons, Overlay is better

BUT if I use overlay I lose the transparent menus which then make the OSD harder to read.
Patrick

[insomniac]

This is exactly the reason why we are pushing for xcard support here. There is no need to tweak anything. Just plug the hardware in and go. Great picture.

I hope that for your sake and ours, that frey will take a second look at your resume and put you up to the task.

Like you said, its not like they arent capable, they just dont have the time, i guess....

I.

Originally Posted by sub

BTW, the XCard seems to produce a better video quality on my Fujitsu Plasma than my Radeon 9200 connect via DVI, but admittedly I havn't invested huge amounts of time tweaking my software decoder setup.