Theatertek DVD player

pietplezier · Post by **pietplezier** » October 14th, 2005, 9:49 am

It would be soooo awesome if someone can come up with a Theatertek plugin.

This program gave me a way better display then Zoomplayer or PowerDVD.

BlizzWave · Post by **BlizzWave** » April 11th, 2006, 12:14 am

Yeah, i agree

theatertek dvd player gives soo much better pic qualtiy than powerdvd..
zoom player can be just as good as theatertek if it's configed right with ffdshow..
but thats another discussion

like pietplezier i would also like an plugin for LCD Smartie..
I use a VFD on my HTPC and it would be greate to see info about the movie i was playing in theatertek..

Fast351 · Post by **Fast351** » April 11th, 2006, 12:32 am

Don't hold your breath. All the DVD player software makes it almost impossible to extract any information. The only thing I've seen is a girder plugin that intercepts API calls that draw the numbers. Not exactly a reliable method.

I've put a bug in the ear of some of the people at Theatertek, but their lukewarm to somewhat cool response to my suggestion that they make it easier to get even time info from the player I wouldn't count on anything real soon.

-Mike

Fast351 · Post by **Fast351** » April 12th, 2006, 6:51 pm

Spoke too soon. I just got an e-mail from TT with a sample VC++ application (with source code) that will retrieve information from TT. It looks like they're adding a messaging component in their software with a pending v2.3 release.

I haven't worked out any details yet, but it looks like TT may be a reality in the future.

-Mike

BlizzWave · Post by **BlizzWave** » April 13th, 2006, 4:19 pm

okay, can't wait for the plugin

BlizzWave · Post by **BlizzWave** » April 15th, 2006, 2:19 pm

http://www.theatertek.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=8877

www.theatertek.com
- This version is 'stubbed' for VFD support, so LCDSmartie should be able to support TT 2.3 shortly.

Fast351 · Post by **Fast351** » April 16th, 2006, 2:22 am

BlizzWave, send me an e-mail address, you can test....

xsnrg · Post by **xsnrg** » April 22nd, 2006, 1:24 pm

This hasn't been updated in a while, but the functionality they put into 2.3 works, and does exactly as they say... if only there were a way to get the media title out of it...

Fast351 · Post by **Fast351** » April 22nd, 2006, 2:02 pm

The best bet for that is to get the disc serial number (a unique number by title, not by disc) and then create some sort of lookup for it on the internet. I think there are web services out there that do this translation.

I'll put a bug in the ear of my contact at TT to see if they can spit the serial number back.

xsnrg · Post by **xsnrg** » April 22nd, 2006, 2:04 pm

This what I was thinking too.. basically have the plugin query a DB like the FreeCDDB and grab the info for the matching serial #, then just display the variable as one of the options (1,8,0) etc.

Hopefully, TT will be good to us again.

jhoff80 · Post by **jhoff80** » April 28th, 2006, 8:32 am

Will this be up for download on the site anytime soon?

TheaterTek · Post by **TheaterTek** » April 29th, 2006, 3:26 pm

We have just provided the additional information for the unique Disk ID, so hopefully this can be incorporated and used in the plugin.

TheaterTek Support

Fast351 · Post by **Fast351** » April 29th, 2006, 11:14 pm

The beta release for the plugin will be available by Monday.

-Mike

Fast351 · Post by **Fast351** » May 1st, 2006, 1:22 pm

Beta version:

http://www.fast351.com/htpc/theatertek.zip

If you find any problems with this cut, please post here.

BlizzWave · Post by **BlizzWave** » May 1st, 2006, 5:54 pm

Fast351 wrote:Beta version:

http://www.fast351.com/htpc/theatertek.zip

If you find any problems with this cut, please post here.

Have you done anyting new to it sice i tested it 2 weeks ago?

Fast351 · Post by **Fast351** » May 1st, 2006, 6:52 pm

Just a little cleanup, and the Disc ID, but you need a newer version of TT for that, which I'm not sure is out.

Probably no difference for you.

-Mike

jhoff80 · Post by **jhoff80** » May 1st, 2006, 7:21 pm

Newer version of TheaterTek is out, with other features than just the LCD Smartie disc info included.

I was wondering though, this is kind off topic. Is it possible to have three different setups for the LCD (that much I've figured out already), which change to the correct one based on what program is running? I've got one setup for Winamp, another for Theatertek, and a third for when neither are running. I checked the Winamp one to only be when Winamp is active, and the other two for only when Winamp is inactive, and it didn't seem to be changing on its own at all. Also, theres not an option for when Theatertek is active only. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Edit: I got it to change on its own, I'm not quite sure how. Anyway, is there any way to make this Theatertek plugin only turn on when Theatertek is active, like the Winamp one does? Also, is there any way to make a third screen (mine is only the time) which turns on only when both Theatertek and Winamp are inactive?

Fast351 · Post by **Fast351** » May 1st, 2006, 7:28 pm

We need to add a "skip if X is true" function to Smartie. I've been thinking about how to do that because I'd like the functionality as well, but I have yet to figure out an elegant method of doing it.

It's on the list, no promises as to when though.

-Mike

jhoff80 · Post by **jhoff80** » May 1st, 2006, 7:38 pm

Wow that was a quick reply. In all honesty, it doesn't quite matter to me yet, as I'm still in the planning stages for my HTPC; I just know I plan on getting a OrigenAE case, and was trying to see how well I could get things to work for now, but if you could get that implimented anytime, that'd be great.

Fast351 · Post by **Fast351** » May 1st, 2006, 7:39 pm

I just looked at LCD Smartie, and it looks like the actions can enable and disable screens. The right and left variables need to be numeric values, so if we had a DLL call that returned 1 while Theatertek is running and 0 while Theatertek is not running, you could use that to enable and disable screens.

I'll play with this tonight, and see if I can make any headway.

-Mike

jhoff80 · Post by **jhoff80** » May 1st, 2006, 7:42 pm

Sounds great. Thanks a bunch.

Fast351 · Post by **Fast351** » May 1st, 2006, 10:54 pm

http://home.fast351.com:4141/theatertek.dll

Function 4 (no params) returns 1 if theatertek is live, 0 if theatertek is not.

Set up your theatertek screen as not enabled.

Then add two actions

if $dll(theatertek.dll,4,0,0) > 0 enablescreen(1)
if $dll(theatertek.dll,4,0,0) = 0 disablescreen(1)

where 1 is the screen with theatertek stuff on it.

Hope that helps.

-Mike

jhoff80 · Post by **jhoff80** » May 2nd, 2006, 3:27 am

Seems to be working great, thanks.

(Although, I just did = 1, instead of >0 like you suggested).

BlizzWave · Post by **BlizzWave** » May 3rd, 2006, 1:41 pm

Cool! Now my htpc works like a dvd player

If I start TheaterTek the theatertek screen in LCD Smartie comes on and stays on until I shut down TheaterTek

I also used the same method as jhoff80, works like a charm.

Thx for this great plugin Fast351!

xsnrg · Post by **xsnrg** » May 6th, 2006, 3:02 pm

Kudos to Mike, and to Theatertek for gettin er done. It speaks well of Theatertek to be willing to work with us.