List of problems with TVengine3

[Bram]

MediaPortal Version: MediaPortal 0.2 with latest SVN
MediaPortal Skin: Media Portal III
Windows Version: Windows XP SP2
CPU Type: AMD Sempron 2800+ @ 2.2Ghz
HDD: 1.8TB total Maxtor
Memory: 2GB DDR 400
Motherboard: ASUS s754 AGP
Motherboard Chipset: ASUS Nvidia nForce 2
Motherboard Bios: Latest
Video Card: ASUS nVidia 6200AGP (256MB)
Video Card Driver: Latest
Sound Card: Soundblaster X-Fi Platinum
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver: Latest
1. TV Card: AverTV PVR 250MCE
1. TV Card Type: Analog
1. TV Card Driver: Latest
2. TV Card: Hauppage WinTV PVR 150MCE
2. TV Card Type: Analog
2. TV Card Driver: Latest
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: nVidia PureVideo
MPEG2 Audio Codec: ffdshow
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case: Coolermaster Cavalier 2
Cooling: Stock
Power Supply: 400 Watt
Remote: Microsoft IR remote
TV: Philips Matchline 82cm 4:3 CRT (1024-768)
TV - HTPC Connection: Composite


I finaly managed to get the TVserver3 working. It wasn't easy. I'm an IT specialist and it still wass a strugle. I realy think the installation process should be simplified or better documentatd in the Wiki to have more people use it.
A checklist for when things are not working in the Wiki would be very usefull. I'll try to contibute myself, but my English might not be good enough.

I'm using BlueTwo in stead of ProjectMayhem III to be sertain problems are not originated by lack of support by the skin. I can't get a server PC -> client PC situation to work. So the problems I mention below occured on a PC where the TVserver and client plugin are on the same Windows Installation. I've reinstalled the whole thing twice to be sure the problems are consistent.
The things that are not working....


1. Recording does not work at all. Not thrue the "record now" button in MyTV home and not thrue the record button on my MCE remote.
Recording does work when I select a program to record in the TVguide. But when I stop the recording using the "Stop Recording" button, the recording stops and I get an error saying...

Unable to start timeshifting
Unknown Chanel

Returning to the HomeScreen and reentering MyTV results in the same error. The only way to get the TV to work again is restarting MediaPortal.
edit: I have to correct myself here. It's not only when stopping a recording. It occures every time I stop watch tv (press the stop button).

2. The "i" (information) button on the MCE remote does not result in showing the information it should (like in the old TVengine). The is no response to that button at all.

3. It seems to be impossible to sort the TV channels. I've sorted them in the TVserver configurtion in two places. The chanellist (where I can change chanel names) and the screen where chanels are assigned to a TV card (by dragging and dropping the channels).

4. Setting the default aspect ratio to "maintain aspect ratio" or "original source format" does not result in what you'd expect. I use a 4:3 CRT TV and the image is alwas shown as widescreen untill I ajust the aspectratio to pan and scan. Th TV signal I get true analog cable is 4:3.

5. The blue button on my Microsoft MCE (europe) remote used to change the aspectratio. Now it results in switching chanels. I already have a button on my remote for changing chanels, so the button becomes obsolete.

6. I ave two TVcards and I can't find a way to select the primary. I've tested this with one TVcard getting a signal form the cable and one with the cable disatatched. When I go to MyTV I only get noise, from the second TVcard oviously. It seems logical to me that MP chooses the TVcard receiving a signal. Or even better, the card I chose to watch TV. I use the second card mainly for listning ot radio. At first I assumed the first card in the list (in the TVserver configuration) would be the primary card. This doesn't seem to be the case.

I'll probebly come across some more problems. I'll try to report them here as detailed as possible.

This post is not intended to be critical. Respect to the people who are developing this renewing concept!

[frodo]

First of all the Tvserver and TvPlugin are still beta and still under heavy development.
Best is to use latest SVN version since a lot of bugs have been fixed since its first release. Now about your points:

1. Recording does not work at all.

You mean pressing the record button doesnt work, scheduled recordings do work
I'll check this myself

2. The "i" (information) button on the MCE remote does not result in showing the information it should (like in the old TVengine). The is no response to that button at all.

Works fine for me

3. It seems to be impossible to sort the TV channels.

Sorting can be done in setuptv in tv channels or from withing mp itself under settings->tv

4. Setting the default aspect ratio to "maintain aspect ratio" or "original source format" does not result in what you'd expect.

Works here, but be aware some codecs (MPV for example) have AR issues.
If you use a codec like NVidia or Cyberlink then this should work fine

5. The blue button on my Microsoft MCE (europe) remote used to change the aspectratio. Now it results in switching chanels.

Thats actually one of the new features and not a bug. Blue switches channels
via the 'i' you can switch AR

6. I ave two TVcards and I can't find a way to select the primary.

If you have 2 cards, the tvserver decides which card is best to use. This may not be the card you would expect or like. You can influence it a bit by changing the priority of the card

[Bram]

Thank you for the fast respons. I know the whole thing is in early beta fase. That's why I pointed out that I'm not critical. I just want to help testing
I update MP with the latest SVN almost every day. MP itself and from now on the TVserver/client too.
You and your partners are doing respectable work. I'm using MP intensively for about two years now. The progress you've made is impressive.

Sorting can be done in setuptv in tv channels or from withing mp itself under settings->tv

I've checked that. I get a button named "Group". When I select the button a dialog appears that allows me to choose a channel group, but when I select any of them the dialog closes (as you would expect), but nothing is showing. The screen stays empty.
In my humble opinion the natural way to sort chanels would be from the TVserver setup where I'm able to name the chanels.

A small sidenote... It would also be nice if the server could host the channel logo's. Maybe even the posssebility to link an image to a channel directly form the cTVserver setup.


About the "i" button...

Works fine for me

I've reinstalled the whole thing again (except for the SQL server part) and this still doesn't work. Not in BlueTwo, not in Project Mayhem III and not in Mepo Green.

edit: I've tested this with the seperate UI renderthred off and on. I thought it might be a bug in the renderthread. This is not the case. The behaviour is exactly the same.


about recording...

You mean pressing the record button doesnt work, scheduled recordings do work
I'll check this myself

Pressing the red record button on the romte doesn't work, and selecting the "Record Now" button in the MyTV homescreen doesn't work.

edit: Recording thrue selecting a program to record from the EPG works. But no sound is recorded. I use the ffdshow codec and the BASS engine. I'm not sure if this influences the recording but thought it might be helpfull to note.


Aspect Ratio's....

Works here, but be aware some codecs (MPV for example) have AR issues.
If you use a codec like NVidia or Cyberlink then this should work fine

Indead, was using MPV. With the PureVideo codec everything is fine. Thanks for the tip.

Thats actually one of the new features and not a bug. Blue switches channels
via the 'i' you can switch AR

Ok, but why? Switching channels is directly accessable from every remote. For switching channels a user has to go to a contextmenu. To me it seems more logical to not have the some button twice on the remote. But to use that button for an otherwise less accessable feature. Or am I totaly missing the point here?

If you have 2 cards, the tvserver decides which card is best to use. This may not be the card you would expect or like. You can influence it a bit by changing the priority of the card

You're right. I would expect MP would choose the card that is actualy showing a channel instead of the one showing the stream with noise. But where can I change priority's? Can't find it in the TVserver configuration.

The client doesn't realy have a configuration, does it?



One more thing...

1. Recording does not work at all. Not thrue the "record now" button in MyTV home and not thrue the record button on my MCE remote.
Recording does work when I select a program to record in the TVguide. But when I stop the recording using the "Stop Recording" button, the recording stops and I get an error saying...

Unable to start timeshifting 
Unknown Chanel

Returning to the HomeScreen and reentering MyTV results in the same error. The only way to get the TV to work again is restarting MediaPortal.
edit: I have to correct myself here. It's not only when stopping a recording. It occures every time I stop watch tv (press the stop button).

This also happens when TV is stopped by starting music or movies.

[Bram]

My error.log is showing several tvclient errors. Mybe they can give a bit more insight.

http://pastebin.team-mediaportal.com/11543

[Bram]

Does anyone else have simular problems with the new TVengine? I'd love to help testing, but I use MyTV a lot and I'm not realy able to use it now because I have to restart MP every time after stopping TV and can't record anything because there is no sound recorded.

If more people have the same problems maybe they can be fixed easier.

[tourettes]

Originally Posted by Bram

Ok, but why? Switching channels is directly accessable from every remote. For switching channels a user has to go to a contextmenu. To me it seems more logical to not have the some button twice on the remote. But to use that button for an otherwise less accessable feature. Or am I totaly missing the point here?

I'm also not liking that feature, but there is no need to worry as you can map your remote keys inside the config

[infinityloop]

@Bram
thanks for testing
but please start ONE thread per issue and ALWAYS attach all logfiles from the server and the client.

[Vasek]

Hi Bram,
I've tested TV server this weekend (I'm newbie to MP) with similar troubles. I've had the problem with "Unable to start timeshifting", choosing "TVStreams" and particular stream there helped. However, I played with it only shortly.

[mrmojo666]

First of all the Tvserver and TvPlugin are still beta and still under heavy development.
Best is to use latest SVN version since a lot of bugs have been fixed since its first release. Now about your points:

Works fine for me

Same Here

Sorting can be done in setuptv in tv channels or from withing mp itself under settings->tv

Doesn't work here, seems work but don't save order...... when close setup tv, and reopen...channels have standard sorting


And i add some little things.......

there's some problems about channels with same name but different tunig parameters and providers ----> you can find all here Some of weird in channels DB

and sometimes when channging channels i get picture coming from worng start point on ts file... like this .. zap channel... and image start from old point of ts file...i have to press several times timeskip FW to reach AND of ts file ..and finally get right channel with right picture..... this happens sometimes after several channels change.

bye

[infinityloop]

Originally Posted by mrmojo666

Doesn't work here, seems work but don't save order...... when close setup tv, and reopen...channels have standard sorting

inside of a tv-group, right?

Originally Posted by mrmojo666

And i add some little things.......

please start a new thread for new issues!
one thread per issue!