I’ve been a Windows Media Center user for years. I’ve been a programmer professionally for over 10 years, and personally for my entire life basically. So I decided it was time to put the two together, and I created a Media Center plugin. I also love the Ceton InfiniTV 4 CableCARD tuner in my Media Center box. I’ve always really enjoyed the data that the InfiniTV diagnostic web page offers, but you can’t easily get to that while you’re using the Media Center UI. I thought that this might be a great little project to get my feet wet in the plugin development world.
The InfniTV Status Media Center plugin allows you to quickly see the common information about your InfiniTV device on a per-tuner basis including: playback status, channel, temperature, signal strength, and copy protection status.
This is still a VERY early release, so I expect there to be problems. One thing to know is that sometimes it doesn’t retrieve the data from the tuner fast enough. If that happens it will just show “n/a” for all of the data. Just hit the Refresh button and it should grab it. Also, when you first launch it, it may take a few seconds to load. Just give it up to 10 seconds before thinking it crashed. I need to put in a loading screen. It will be in the next release.
I haven’t released the source code yet, but I most likely will soon.
Download the infiniTV Status plugin
Updated 2011-2-24 9:30pm – Version 0.06:
Better code for determining copy protection status
Added signal to noise value
Updated 2011-2-24 – Version 0.05:
Hopefully, maybe, finally have the copy protection bugs straightened out.
Plugin loads quickly now, and the data is populated as it is retreieved
Updated 2011-2-23 – Version 0.04:
Modification to increase likelihood that the plugin will successfully retrieve data on initial load
Added logging. If you experience an error, look for a file called infiniTVStatus-log.txt in your documents folder. Email that file to me using the Contact form.
Updated 2011-2-22 – Version 0.03:
Version 0.02 was completely broken. Now it displays correctly again, and displays the updated copy protection messages
Updated 2011-2-22 – Version 0.02:
If a channel is copy protected, the protection section will now say “Protected”
This is a great idea for a tool! Thanks for sharing!
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Josh Pollard and Josh/Adam, James Montemagno. James Montemagno said: RT @joshpollard: Windows Media Center plugin for displaying Ceton InfiniTV 4 diagnostic data http://bit.ly/fJbLxL […]
Problem for me is most channels are copy protected and thus I only see data for the first two tuners as the data runs off the right side of the screen.
I have the same problem on my system. The Protection line says “Copy Control Information: “Copy Free” (00) and it is too long so I only see the first 2 tuner info.
Also, my temperature is 52.5 C. Is that what others are seeing?
downloaded version .03. Uninstalled original version and then installed new version (MC was open at the time) and while it starts it comes up with n/a and refresh doesn’t seem to work.
Did I do something wrong?
John
[…] http://www.thedigitalmediazone.com/2011/02/20/infinitv-status-media-center-plugin/ […]
removed .03 and loaded .04 with same results. Log file sent.
Version 6 works like a charm.
Thanks for all your efforts, this is really a handy tool.
John
[…] started the main section off with a quick update on the infiniTV Status plugin that Josh has created. Next up we just reminded everyone that the HTPC build list from […]
Any chance you could add a configuration option so that you could point the plugin to a card in a difference machine? I’d like to use this plugin on all machines that I’m sharing the tuner with…thanks.
that is the next thing I plan to add, as I’ve recently enabled tuner sharing on my system as well
[…] InfiniTV Status Media Center Plugin […]
How about a guideline of the optimal readings we could expect? I like knowing what my readings are, but I’m not sure what I should be trying to get. E.G. What is a good signal reading, also signal to noise? Thanks for the plug-in.
Hey Josh, great tool and thanks for sharing! Quick quesiton, does this only work on WMC with the InfiniTV installed as a host? I have mine in my WHS in the basement with all the tuners spread throughout the house using network bridging.
it does not currently support network-bridged tuners. Sorry. There will be a better solution soon though, and it will support bridged tuners.
[…] your couch, then firing up a web browser on the HTPC isn’t the most convenient solution. We released a plugin earlier this year to show some of this information, but it only offered a limited subset of […]
[…] in February Josh Pollard from The Digital Media Zone had created a simple diagnostics Ceton Cable Card tool for Media Center. Now fast forward today and Ceton has now released their official diagnostics tool. While the tool […]