VVCR2 is a scheduler for Virtual VCR. It has been tested on Windows XP Pro SP1. The features are:
Option to bring the PC to standby mode after capture.
If the PC is in standby mode at the scheduled time, this option is selected
by default.
So if your PC is in standby mode, it will wakes up at scheduled time to capture
and return to standby after capture.
Early spin up If PC is in standby mode at the schedule time,
it will wakes the PC 1 minute before the schedule time. This will help the
spin-up of HD etc.
3 levels of schedule priorities; high, normal and low.
If there is a crash in schedule, the task that has the highest priority will prevail.
If a copy of Virtual VCR is already running at scheduled time, depending on the task priority, it will handle the situation differently.
For high priority task, it will attempt to close the running copy before launching another one and start capturing.
For the other priorities, it will wait for the running copy to end before launching another one and start capturing. The capture duration is also adjusted.
Ok since I also have PowerVCR, it will check for the present of PowerVCR too.
Dynamic pre and post capture buffer.
You can set a X sec of pre capture buffer and Y sec of post capture buffer. Virtual VCR will capture X sec earlier than the schedule start time, and will end Y sec pass the schedule end time. This will ensure that you do not miss the starting and ending of a show.
The pre and post capture buffer will only kicks in if there is no crash in the schedule. For
example, if you set the post capture buffer to 60 seconds, and you scheduled a capture to end at 10pm, it will end at 10:01pm instead. However, if you schedule to start another capture at 10pm, the first schedule task will end at 10pm as scheduled so that the second scheduled task can start on time.
Starts even the scheduled start time has passed. If you launch vvcr2.exe at the middle of a schedule task, the capture will still starts immediately but with the capture duration adjusted.
How to use: Place vvcr2.exe in the same directory as Virtual VCR. It will create a vvcr.ini and vvcr2.ini file in the windows directory. It will also create vvcr.dat in the Virtual VCR's directory
Just launch vvcr2.exe and it will stay in the system tray. Double click or right click in the icon will show the schedule dialog.
Make sure that you have your default correctly setup.
Double click on any task will edit the task.
To exit, right click on the system tray icon and select “Close”.
You should be able to figure out the rest.
Virtual VCR termination method.
While developing vvcr2, I face some problem will the program crashing my XP system. You can read about it at Virtual VCR forum.
I have since implemented 3 methods of termination.
Close by VVCRS2 VVCR2 will request for Virtual VCR to terminate at the scheduled end time. This is what I am using. From the feedback I have obtained, this is also the most commonly used method.
Send Key to Virtual VCR VVCR2 will request for Virtual VCR to stop capture before request to terminate at scheduled end time.
“Quit on Stop” by Virtual VCR. This relies on the “Quit on Stop” feature in Virtual VCR. “Quit on Stop” must be selected.
For options Close by VVCRS2 and Send Key to Virtual VCR, as Virtual VCR will terminate at end time, the total recording duration would be a few seconds shorter due to the time needed by Virtual VCR to start and the tuner card to init.
So which method should you use? Well, my earlier test shows that different people will different card/driver/codec have different results.
I have written a test program to test on your system. You need to configure it and test with all the three methods. The configuration is quite straightforward. You do need to make sure that the capture duration is set at 60 second.
The program will launch Virtual VCR and capture for 60 sec. Virtual VCR will them be terminated using the selected method. This process will repeat for 10 times to check for consistence.
Last but not least, you can use this program freely. It will be great if you could drop me a mail (Do put VVCRS or VirtualVCR etc on the subject), but don't come after me if the program messy up your system. I do NOT provide any warranty to it and you use it at your own risk. If you do drop me a mail, I can keep you informed of any updates.
Uninstall
Just delete vvcrs2.exe, vvcrs.dat, vvcrstst.exe from the Virtual VCR directory and vvcrs.ini and vvcrs2.ini from the Windows directory.
Lasly, drop me a mail!
1.2 (28/9/2003)
+ Added the ability to launch VirtualVCR from the tray menu.
+ Display a count-down dialog box before standby
+ Better handling of back-to-back capturing
+ Add ability to re-read the data file; and thus enable external program to modify the schedule and facilate integration of other program like myHTPC
* Bug fix on not able to launch VirtualVCR if the previous recording failed to start due to the present of other capturing program.
* Bug fix on the selected termination method is not used when there is a crash of schedule.
Known bug: All channles need to be give a name for editing of schedule to work.
