Trying to put the PCFriendly issue to bed

[rickd]

This could explain why I loaded your code tried it and it seems to suppess Auto insert though dvdspy kicks off TT or this another problem? Iam testing it on XP though have ME on HTPC have not put it there yet always test first....

Rick

[rbmcgee]

Bear with me:)

One of the biggest nagging problems associated w/ HTPC is the existence of PCFriendly. It gets constantly discussed and re-discussed. I'm relatively new and inexperienced with Girder, but...

On my HTPC I've gotten girder to kill off PCFriendly (actually any 1 of the 4 versions) before launching the DVD player and therefore eliminating the problem.

Here are the steps:
1) DVD arrives (F:) - I use DVDspy and a multigroup command (the rest are commands under the multigroup command)
2) close my aquarium screen saver if it's running (which, for some reason does not close automatically)
3) wait 3000 ms
4) close PCF (and then close the other 3 PCF in 4 separate commands one after the other)
5) wait 3000 ms
6) launch theatertek player
7) wait 3000 ms
:cool: move mouse out of the way

At this point, TT automatically bypasses all menus, picks the correct sound, sets the correct aspect ratio, and begins playing at the start of the movie. I also have a 'close tray' IR command. Therefore, all I do is place the DVD into the tray and then sit down. When I execute the 'close tray' command, everything else happens automatically. I have to believe many people would really like this.

This works every single time without fail. If a DVD does not have any PCF, it simply ignores the close and proceeds on.

The DVD-ROM is set up for auto insert notification and the TT player is not set to auto start.

Here's the problem. I created and exported the grx file but no one who used it got it to work. Then, for yuks, I imported the grx file to my desktop pc to see if I could get it to work. It does not.

Here are the differences between my htpc and my desktop:
desktop (WinME), htpc (WinXP)
desktop (powerDVD), htpc (TT)
desktop (no Irman no irserver), htpc (both)

The problem seems to be that wait commands on my desktop cause PCF to wait to appear whereas wait commands on the htpc do not. Obviously if wait commands halt pcf, then pcf has not even appeared while I'm trying to close it. Therefore it doesn't close. If I run a 'test command' for the multigroup while the pcf window is already displayed, everything works perfectly. All other commands associated with the multigroup work perfectly except closing pcf, which is the purpose of the exercise. I have increased wait times to 45 seconds and all that does is halt the appearence of pcf.

If someone could help, I have no doubt that many people would be thrilled.