WatchHDTV player

[paulr]

Hello everyone,
Newbie here who just started using Xlobby yesterday. What an incredible program. This is the first front end I have ever used so it will take me a little while to get things configured the way I want, but I am really looking forward to it.
Anyway, I have a small problem that I can't figure out. I record a lot of HDTV using WatchHDTV, (another great app.) and I use the WatchHDTV player that came with it to play back the files. For those of you not familiar with WatchHDTV player, upon startup it reads a small text file called decoders.txt to let it know what decoders the user wants it to use. Without the decoders.txt, the player will automatically go to it's default decoders (Cyberlink ATI decoders in my case). My decoders.txt file is set up so that the player uses Cyberlink for video and the AC3 filter for audio.
The problem I am having is that I can't get the WatchHDTV player to read the decoders.txt file before startup when I launch it through Xlobby.

Here is how I set it up in Xlobby after I pressed F2.
Went to databases, selected movies and added dvr-ms to file types.
Imported the dvr-ms files to the movie database.
Under file types, I added the path to the WatchHDTV player and put dvr-ms in the extension section and put %parameter% in the command line switch (FYI-I have no idea what the %parameter% means yet, just did that after reading posts here) and then I enabled it.

Then I closed out setup, went to movies and selected one of the files to playback. It launches the WatchHDTV player and the show starts. Everything is great except the audio being sent to my receiver via SPDIF is not in dolby digital, meaning the player isn't reading the decoders.txt before launching. If I launch the player outside of Xlobby, it works with the proper decoders.

Does anyone have any idea on how to get the player to read the decoders.txt file first?

Sorry if this is confusing. I appreciate any help or advice.

BTW-If I set TheaterTek up to play the files back, it also doesn't send the dolby digital signal to my receiver and uses about 80% of my CPU while WatchHDTV uses about 33%.

Thanks,
Paul

[Stimpson J. Cat]

A couple of things:

First of all, the %parameter% thing is just a variable representing the movie file that it will start. Xlobby will replace it with the actual file name.

When you double-click on a movie file in Windows, does it automatically start in WatchHDTV with the correct decoders.txt? If so, you probably don't need to set anything up in the file types section at all. If there is not a specific program set up for a file type in Xlobby, then it will simply execute it with the Windows default.

Other than that, you could check the shortcut to WatchHDTV program, and see how it starts the program. Maybe the decoders.txt file needs to be listed as a command line switch?

Stimpy

[paulr]

Thanks for the reply and helping me understand %parameters%

Yes, if I am say in windows explorer and I click on dvr-ms files, it will start Watchhdtv player and the correct decoders.txt is used. When I click on a dvr-ms file inside of Xlobby, it starts Watchhdtv player, but for some reason by-passes the decoders.txt and uses the default decoders.

I don't have a clue how to list the decoders.txt file as a command line switch. I have read all I can about watchhdtv and it's player but can't find command line swtiches for it anywhere.

Thanks again,
Paul

[dalanik]

Where is this decoders.txt file located? Maybe WatchHDTV can't find it, if it's in it's folder, since in "file types" section of XLobby, there is no way to specify startup directory for the application...

D.

[paulr]

dalanik,
Thanks for your help. Problem solved. I relocated the decoders.txt file to the Xlobby install directory and somehow that worked even though the player isn't in that directory. Go figure.
Now I need to become familiar with skins and figure out how I can have an HDTV button launch WatchHDTV within Xlobby. Looking forward to really getting into this great program and customizing it for what I need it for.

Anyway, thanks again for your help.
Paul