LcdWriter

LcdWriter for Sage & Vista Media Center x64

babgvant — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:11:19 GMT

This is a version of LcdWriter for x64 Vista. Thanks to Myst for helping out with this.

Before installing this, you must disable driver signing. To do this open an elevated command prompt and type “bcdedit /set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS”, then reboot.

I don't have an x64 system to test this on, so it's untested. If you have trouble making it work take a look at this thread.

LcdWriter does all the usual things that a lcd writer should do; displaying the current media file, and it's play state (play, stop, pause, etc).

In Media Center it also implements other state information that no other (at least to my knowledge) state display writer does; the currently recording show and disc writing status. LcdWriter will only work on Hitachi HD44780 compatible displays (most parallel port displays are this type), check your manufacturer's documentation to see if your display is HD44780 compatible.

LcdWriter also works with SageTV. To receive playback information neilm's GetStatus pluggin is required, recording information uses neilm's SageTV webserver. Besides the usual writing duties in the SageTV implemenation LcdWriter can also reset the display timer (for those who use agressive power management setttings) and monitors the SageTV service via the webserver on resume from standby to ensure that it comes back up properly. For those who want these features, this version also includes a "NullWriter" which doesn't require an actual VFD.

.Net 2.0 is required. It is intended for Vista, but should work on XP as well. If you have a previous version installed, you must manually uninstall it before installing this version.

Session priority (e.g. playing music while watching a slide show creates two sessions, priority indicates which will be displayed on the lcd) is managed through the config tool. Select the session and "Raise" or "Lower" its priority using the buttons. Some sessions (like Global and Home) support custom text. Select the session, and change the "Display Value" to the desired text.

The icons that are displayed for the play states are configurable.

Click save when you're done.

For Developers:

This version can be made to work with other display types (this is the part you would write), implement ILcdWriter in your writer class, put it in the install directory the select it from the Writers Tab (not shown above).

    public interface ILcdWriter : IDisposable
    {
        void Clear();
        void Init();
        void Render();
        void RenderString(byte row, string buffer);
        void ReviseString(int index, string buffer);
        void SetString(int index, string buffer, bool scroll, string sep, long rate, int repeat);
        void SetIcons(LcdIconCollection icons);
    }

LcdWriter for Sage & Vista Media Center

babgvant — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:03:31 GMT

LcdWriter does all the usual things that a lcd writer should do; displaying the current media file, and it's play state (play, stop, pause, etc).

For Developers:

LcdWriter for x64 Vista

babgvant — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:22:45 GMT

This is a version of LcdWriter for x64 Vista. Thanks to Myst for helping out with this.

Before installing this, you must disable driver signing. To do this open an elevated command prompt and type “bcdedit /set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS”, then reboot.

I don't have an x64 system to test this on, so it's untested. If you have trouble making it work take a look at this thread.

LcdWriter for Vista

babgvant — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 15:05:22 GMT

For Developers:

LcdWriter for .Net 2.0

babgvant — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 20:44:10 GMT

This version will work for those with only . Net 2.0 installed.

Session priority (e.g. playing music while watching a slide show creates two sessions, priority indicates which will be displayed on the lcd) is managed through the config tool. Select the session and "Raise" or "Lower" its priority using the buttons. Some sessions (like Global and Home) support custom text. Select the session, and change the "Display Value" to the desired text.

The icons that are displayed for the play states are configurable.

Click save when you're done.

UPDATE:

For those who needed to customize the number of "Renders"; change HKLM\babgVant\LcdWriter\renderCount to a different value (2 should work) from the default value of 1.

The new version will also write to the Event Log when it starts and whenever anything bad happens.

LcdWriter dll for 2.0

babgvant — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:30:41 GMT

dll for 2.0

LcdWriter

babgvant — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:28:58 GMT

LcdWriter does all the usual things that a MCE lcd writer should do; displaying the current media file, and it's play state (play, stop, pause, etc). But it also implements other state information that no other (at least to my knowledge) state display writer does; the currently recording show and disc writing status. LcdWriter will only work on Hitachi HD44780 compatible displays (most parallel port displays are this type), check your manufacturer's documentation to see if your display is HD44780 compatible.

Session priority (e.g. playing music while watching a slide show creates two sessions, priority indicates which will be displayed on the lcd) is managed through the config tool. Select the session and "Raise" or "Lower" its priority using the buttons. Some sessions (like Global and Home) support custom text. Select the session, and change the "Display Value" to the desired text.

The icons that are displayed for the play states are configurable.

Click save when you're done.

UPDATE:

For those who needed to customize the number of "Renders"; change HKLM\babgVant\LcdWriter\renderCount to a different value (2 should work) from the default value of 1.

The new version will also write to the Event Log when it starts and whenever anything bad happens.

This version will work for those with .NET 1.1/2.0 installed.

Updated 11/12/2006 see this post for details.

RegListener Debug

babgvant — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 21:29:58 GMT

Windows Application to help understand why the reglistener is failing

LcdWriterDebug

babgvant — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 01:19:58 GMT

A debug version of LcdWriter

LcdWriter

babgvant — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 14:12:10 GMT

LcdTest

babgvant — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 14:09:58 GMT

LcdTest is a simple application to write test to the top and bottom line of a HD44780 display. I wrote to help troubleshoot issues with LcdWriter.