Overview

The MiniDisplay plugin replaces the old External Dipslay or LCD plugin as well as the CyberDisplay plugin. It allows you to configure and use various external or mini display devices with MediaPortal.

Settings

You may also select and change some settings for your MiniDisplay device within MediaPortal if the settings are supported by your device. See MiniDisplay Settings.

When you press the Config button for MiniDisplay in the Configuration tool, the following screen appears:

You first need to select the type of display you are using:

Here we describe various configuration options:

• Type - Select the correct type of your display (controller) in the Type list.
• Port - Select the correct port your display is attached to. If you don't know the exact port: most displays in the list have a parallel connection, so try with LPT1 first. Some drivers do not support this option.
• Test Display - Click to run a quick display test.
• TextMode - Enter the correct number of Columns and Rows your display has in text mode. If your display also supports graphic mode, you'll have to the same for GraphMode.

• Comm. Delay - The Communications Delay field is used for slower display controllers. If you are sure you've configured the settings correct for your display but the display still doesn't work, or the display gets distorted or shows weird characters, try to increase this value. For example, set the value to

  100

  . If this works OK, you can try to lower the value. A lower value is better.

• #Chars to scroll - The number of characters we are scrolling by each time the scroll delay expires.
• Scroll Delay (ms) - The number of milliseconds between each scroll operation.
• Update (ms) - The number of milliseconds between each display update. It defines the frame rate you want to run. Some displays are known not to support high frame rates so if you are having issues try using a value higher than 300 ms. If you are using a frequency visualizer or EQ you may want to have this set to 33 ms or 66 ms for a more appealing result.
• Idle timeout (s) - The number of seconds after which MediaPortal goes to idle mode if there was no user interaction.
• Turn OFF display on exit - Attempts to turn the display off when closing MediaPortal. Depending on the display capabilities it turns the power off or simply blanks the screen. Some displays will show a clock or other information if they are not turned off.
• Brightness and Contrast - Drag the slider to adjust visual settings. Some drivers do not support those options.
• ShutDown Message - Enter the text you wish to display on shudown in Line 1 and Line 2. Not supported by all drivers.
• Disable GUI Setup - Disables configuration from from MediaPortal's main GUI.

• Extensive logging - Provides additional information in the

  MediaPortal.log

  file. Much like the Debug logging option for MediaPortal

• Show property browser -  This option is important if you want to create your own message rules.

Advanced

The advanced configuration may contain some driver specific settings that can be important for you. If nothing happens when you press the Advanced button, the selected display doesn't have any advanced settings. If it does, a screen like the following will display:

Troubleshooting

Still having troubles figuring out the correct settings for your display? Check out the Supported Displays

Message Setup

The messages that appear on the external display are fully configurable, although the plugin is missing a GUI to edit them at the moment.

When you press OK in the MiniDisplay Setup, a default

MiniDisplay.xml

is created in the MediaPortal configuration folder

C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal

. This file contains all logic to determine what is displayed on the screen. The plugin will loop through all messages that are defined in it until it finds one that is appropriate (i.e. has the correct window ID, and condition matches). It will then loop trough all defined lines, and for each line display all text and properties that have a matching condition.

If you have any problems with message setup, please ask questions in the Plugins forum or IRC.

Changelog