F1 Live Timings whilst watching the race!

[brendan_dj]

I am getting many private messages from people asking me how I managed to view the live F1 race on ITV and also the official Live timings simultaneously on the Pioneer XDE plasmas...

Here's how I did it....
I have a vga-splitter cable with a VGA cable running to the VGA input of my Pioneer media-box as well as a desktop monitor. Using the split-screen features of the Pioneer, I can have ITV showing at the same time as my computer input.

The official timings come from the official F1 website ( www.f1.com ). Just follow the instructions. You will need to register before you can view the live-timings page. Its a simple procedure, and they will send you an email with a verification code.

Once registered, and signed in, you can go to the live-timings page!

Sounds simple, but how did I manage to make it fill the screen with no Internet Explorer Toolbars etc...? How do you expand the non-expandable popup?

Here's the secret...
First, log in and go to the live timings page, then close down your internet browser. (This is to ensure that you have the "cookie")

Resize your computer display to 400x300 or to the lowest it can go. I find that the advanced options in my NVIDEA driver gives me many more resolution options than the standard Windows Display properties dialogue-box.

Once you have massive-big writing on your computer, click on START.... RUN (or open a DOS command box).

The clever bit is to launch Internet Explorer on the command-line with the "-k" option and the URL of the live timings page.

[FONT=Courier New]iexplore -k http://www.formula1.com/race/livetiming/popup/757.html [/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
This will launch IE with no toolbars or status bars or address bars. Just a nice clean screen.
Use the scroll-bars so that the race timings are positioned properly.

Now adjust your picture-in-picture functions of your Pioneer.
To be safe, you may wish to turn the contrast/brightness down slightly on the VGA input of your Pioneer.

Now sit back and enjoy the race.

White text is the latest data.
This turns to Yellow when the next sector is completed
Green text is the driver's personal best sector/lap time
Pink text is the best sector/lap time by any driver

Dont forget to switch off the screen-saver on your PC




Please press the THANKS button below if this is useful

[James-E]

I can't believe this, it's great it's brilliant. Im gonna try and do this when it's on next.

So just to get this right, could I put this info onto my second graphics card output, (it's dvi to vga) and then open up PIP on my tv.

[johnscarlet]

Very clever

With regards to

This is how Gromit watches Alien , Football , HD Football , and Formula 1 (How did I do that?)

Wouldn't you be better off sitting on the sofa , than standing at all those different angles

Oh and nice centre speaker

John

[sjpeckmore]

Originally Posted by brendan_dj

I am getting many private messages from people asking me how I managed to view the live F1 race on ITV and also the official Live timings simultaneously on the Pioneer XDE plasmas...

Here's how I did it....

Nice idea - I like it!

The clever bit is to launch Internet Explorer on the command-line with the "-k" option and the URL of the live timings page.

[FONT=Courier New]iexplore -k http://www.formula1.com/race/livetiming/popup/757.html [/FONT]

This will launch IE with no toolbars or status bars or address bars. Just a nice clean screen.

That '-k' switch puts IE in what is called "Kiosk Mode", and removes all toolbars, etc, leaving you with nothing but the web page. It's what a lot of terminals and kiosks use (such as those Virgin ticket machines at train stations) - it ensures people can't mess around with them as the only way out is by pressing "Alt-F4".

An alternative is to run IE as normal and then press F11 which puts it into full screen mode - you can hide all the toolbars, etc, exactly the same as Kiosk mode but it allows you to "go back" to normal mode easily by pressing F11 again. The only reason I mention this is that it is easier to get in and out of than "Kiosk" mode, which might be of benefit.

[brendan_dj]

Originally Posted by sjpeckmore

An alternative is to run IE as normal and then press F11 which puts it into full screen mode - you can hide all the toolbars, etc, exactly the same as Kiosk mode but it allows you to "go back" to normal mode easily by pressing F11 again. The only reason I mention this is that it is easier to get in and out of than "Kiosk" mode, which might be of benefit.

Fully agree!

I seem to recall that pressing F11 still leaves certain toolbars or icons on the screen somewhere.

However, in order to further add to the convenience, I have created a shortcut on my desktop which runs the
"[FONT=Courier New]iexplore -k http ://www.formula1.com/race[/FONT]......." .

[sjpeckmore]

Originally Posted by brendan_dj

I seem to recall that pressing F11 still leaves certain toolbars or icons on the screen somewhere.

Yeah, by default it leaves on the toolbars at the top. However you can right-click on those and either turn them off or set them to auto-hide, so that they totally disappear, and IE will remember this setting and use it every time you press F11 so you will only have to do this once.

Originally Posted by brendan_dj

However, in order to further add to the convenience, I have created a shortcut on my desktop which runs the
"[FONT=Courier New]iexplore -k http ://www.formula1.com/race[/FONT]......." .

As you say, the -k approach is far more convinient and is nice in that you can just create a shortcut to it which automatically starts full screen. Much less faffing!

[rcoll]

Why not sit with a laptop by your side and utilise your tv screen with a bigger picture of the race?

As an added bonus with the laptop have bbc 5live playing using bbc web radio player so you can switch on commentary when ITV have their ad breaks.

[BrianC]

Did a test run of this yesterday with the qualifying but wasn't really happy having the race and timings side by side so today I displayed the race in a window on my HTPC via the capture card and had the timings in a window next to it. That way I had a ration of 2 to 1 for the TV picture against the live timings and I was able to have a IM window open to chat to my mates as the race went on.

[OnTheFly]

It sure beats counting sheep!

[Giblets2]

Have you seen IE7 - it's now in Release Candidate 1 form. When you press F11 on the new version it hides everything like the old Kiosk mode but it does it by making the toolbars auto hide (like you can do with the Taskbar) - it's cool. I especially like it for Windows Live Local but it'd do this job well too.

Please note that IE7 may not yet be recognised by your bank if you bank online (that's bank, OK? ) so it may need to wait if that's important on your HTPC.

[Matt_C]

Ie7 only hides the top menu bars and the bottom windows xp tool bar (standard blue bar with your apps on it) when pressing F11.

However, if you right click on the upper menu bars (like, for example, where the URL address bar is an such like) you can "untick" the "status bar" which is the bottom bar on the bottom of all IE pages. Then press F11, and all you are left with is a full page IE window, no borders, no toolbars/menu bars, and no standar apps toolbar - but you do retain the up/down scroll bar on the right side of the page (if the web page is larger than your display settings)

I recommend NOT setting your display to the smallest size, purely cos you get bother up/down scroll bars and also the left/right scroll bar along the bottom, like in the above pic....