New version of DVBLink for HDPVR released (No network pack support yet)

Over at www.1Geek1Tool.com the guys have announced the release of DVBLink for HDPVR 2.0. First of all let me say the version number is confusing as this is not a version for DVBLink server 2 and does not include any of the network pack functionality. It does, however, bring with it a number of notable changes in particular the ability to have more than one HDPVR (of course that also means having more than one set top box)

If you want to know more about the HDPVR functionality check out my post from a few weeks back or listen to the podcast I did with Ian. One final note this version, unlike the latest DVBLink server builds still requires UAC to be turned off which I dislike.

The Official Release note:

The long time promised “2.0 Release” is finally here. For those who followed with the 2.0 Beta versions, here is what has changed since 2.0 Beta 3:

• Added a “Prefix Key” in MceIR so that you can now prefix all your channel changes with a custom key of your choosing.
• Added a “Learn Timeout” parameter in MceIR. It is usefull for some set-top-boxes remotes which we fail to learn correctly with the default value.
• Added a new parameter “AcquisitionLostManualPowerCycleTimeout” which allows you to control how long to wait before calling the on-device-error-power-cycle hook. Default value is 30000 seconds (actually we retry once before calling the hook, so the total time is twice that). If you set it too short, you run the risk of power cycling your HD PVR needlessly.
• Trial period is back to 30 days instead of 15 days. However, the trial counter is not reset.

For the others still using 1.0, here is a recap of the improvements between 1.0 and 2.0:

• Full support for Multiple HD PVRs
• Improved stability with a higher process priority AND an intermediary FIFO buffer between DirectShow and Media Center.
• New built-in and easy to use line-up editor. That means you don’t need to use DVBLink Add-in anymore (within Media Center) to synchronize your line-up.
• New improved installer. You only have a single installer to run and it will check UAC for you. The new installer also verifies that a compatible version of DVBLink is installed. You also won’t need to save your configuration manually anymore.
• New hooks feature (change-channel, on-idle, on-standby, on-device-error-power-cycle). They allow you to customize your setup yourselves.
• Fixed and improved MCE Compatible IR Blaster support (frequency detection, port selection and various options)
• Added access to the Hauppauge HD PVR Encoder properties from within DVBLink for HDPVR (you don’t need to fiddle with graphbuilder or TME anymore)
• Added support for sub-channel numbers (ex: 700.1 or 700-2)
• Changed the hardware fingerprint to use the Ethernet MAC Address
• Fix the registration dialog for all platforms.
• Multiple UI/Configuration edition improvements.
• Various logging improvements.

As an additional note, you should be aware of the following changes:

• The location of the configuration files, log files, IR files and hooks has moved to %ProgramFiles%\Dvblink\Data\<sourcename>
• The log file is now renamed to output.log

The upgrade from 1.0 to 2.0 is free. However, since this version now uses the Ethernet MAC address as the hardware fingerprint, 1.0 users will need to request a new activation key. Users using 2.0B2 and up do not require a new key and can use the same key used with the beta versions.

Due to the overall improvements, DVBLink for HDPVR 1.0 will no longer be available for download. All new installations should move to 2.0 and we also hope everyone still using 1.0 will progressively move to 2.0 as support for 1.0 will be more and more difficult to provide.