When ?

[Callifo]

I think where most of the problem is coming from is people arent using this a htpc softare, they are using it as a casual tv watching program. I mean, for people who actually use it as htpc, Im using the a very recent cvs build as my stable build because its simply awesome. It may not be that way to someone who's routinely open/closing/minimising/try to resize the window (thats always caused problems).

[wewe]

to Callifo: I am using the machine as htpc only. There is nothing on the machine that is not necessary for MP. I am having a "standard config" as I think (see my signature). I am applying all the updates and driver versions that are recommended. I do not do window resizes at all.

to Taipan: it is very good for you that you are using MP without problems. But that does not help that ones that are having problems ...

See, what I mean: there are still a lot of people that are having problems with the elemetary functions (like me). And it does not help if the others say: "strange! - for me it works!" or "don't complain - take an other software!".

I think the basic function (watching TV) must work for EVERYBODY (100%) if they meet the given prerequisites. Otherwise MP will stay a "specialists tool".

(Still: I do not compalin about MP, I still stay with MP, I like this project very, very much - my wife lately said I am "MP drug addicted")

thanks+regards
WeWe

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by wewe

it is very good for you that you are using MP without problems. But that does not help that ones that are having problems ...

On the contrary - I think it does help that I state that I am not having any problems. All we need to do is find out what is different about the various configurations (those that work well, versus those that have instability issues) and focus on fixing those differences.

Maybe I am just lucky, but I do wonder how many of these "issues" are caused by things outside the control of MediaPortal - like TV card drivers, video card drivers, hardware and so on?

Originally Posted by wewe

I think the basic function (watching TV) must work for EVERYBODY (100%) if they meet the given prerequisites.

I don't think that this is realistic, for the reasons that I stated above - if the manufacturer of the TV card provides crappy drivers or crappy hardware, then MediaPortal can't be expected to compensate. I think that you would only ever achieve 100% success if you restricted the choice of TV cards to a small well controlled set.

Originally Posted by wewe

my wife lately said I am "MP drug addicted".

Yes, it is very easy to fall into that trap, isn't it.... Oh well, at least it keeps us out of mischief.... :wink:

[jawbroken]

Originally Posted by Taipan

Maybe I am just lucky, but I do wonder how many of these "issues" are caused by things outside the control of MediaPortal - like TV card drivers, video card drivers, hardware and so on?

Yes, I think this is quite true. In fact, most of the issues I have had while beginning to use MediaPortal have been traced to things outside of MediaPortal control. I especially think that some big problems people have with the TV module are traceable to the drivers of the tuners, nothing to do with MediaPortal.

[wewe]

well, I did think about sort of a poll the other day in order to put the problems and bugs in a table together with the used components.

But that probably would be "chasing moving targets" because you need some weeks to gather the informations and in the meantime everythnig changed ...

But how about a "Media Portal Reference Design"? We could collect all of the "rock solid configurations" (like Taipans) and make that available for users who are looking for which components to buy and/or install. We should do that for hard- AND software.

How about that? I would do that survey if some "official guys" (moderators and/or developers) support it / want me do it.

thanks+regards
WeWe

[FlipGer]

Hi wewe,

I surely agree that the most common module (TV) should run rockstable! I know that there are problems, I also run into bugs from time to time.

Originally Posted by wewe

And it does not help if the others say: "strange! - for me it works!" or "don't complain - take an other software!".

But please, don't get me wrong with this sentence. I did not generally mean to sent people who have problems to other software. But esperado just posted the above comment into bugs. No information about system specs and no detailed problem description. If he would have posted this in support with more infos, I would never have reacted that way!

I always try to be as helpfull as possible and want the people to bind their souls to MP, because I love this software. :twisted: But postings like that in bugs just screw me up from time to time.

A collection of rock solid reference designs is a good start to sort some problems out. A big problem also is, that the people have totally different usage of MP. I use it stand alone and would never run it windowed or resize it, but others do (and they surely have the right to do it). The resize bug is very old, and I can (somewhat) understand esperado in this case. But his post was just nagging, not asking for help.

Flip.

[wewe]

you are right - I also don't like naggers that are NOT looking for help but only complain.


How about the "reference design" poll? I would ask:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Those of you who have a ROCK SOLID installation of MP for the core funtions of:
- Live TV
- Recording
- Timeshifting
- Remote control
- EPG
- DVD

What are your specs for:
- motherboard, graphics card, video card(s), sound card, remote control
- drivers for graphics card, video card(s), sound card, remote control
- versions of Windows, MP + CVS
- video codecs for TV, Video, DVD
- audio codes for TV, Video, DVD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

What you guys think?

thank+regards
WeWe

[ronilse]

I have a solid (most of the times) MP installation & it's in use everyday.
Also tested to run MP with TV (with Timeshift) on for several days without breaks & for me it works.
Sometimes there are bugs, but that’s Beta & it's free.

Regards
Roy

[mba]

Hi there -

I don't post here very often, even though I scan the forum every day, my girlfriend and I rely 100% on MP for television (even threw out the television and cancelled my tv licence fee because a PC capture card isn't duty bound here in Denmark) DVD playback and soon we'll be relying 100% (if I get my ways) on music playback. The reason I don't post here is that if I have a problem it will with almost 99.9% certainty have been answered/solved already so here a big thank you to the helpful people out there.
To my point and my 2cents:
I sometime get the same feeling as esparado, forgetting the hard work the developers put into this project, forgetting the development status of the project (only 0.2rc), setting aside the fact that I'm myself a professional sw developer who should know better, I just enter the mode: "I wanna be entertained and I don't want to fiddle with settings!" I only have reasonably small problems such as the infamous "no signal detected" but I'm resting assured that the talented developers will also solve these problems. One reason for this seemingly ungrateful attitude could be that MP already looks and feels like a finished product, it ought to have a big label across the main window Work In Progress so please have patience.

Kind regards, a big hug and thank you from
Martin

[wortelsoft]

At the moment i'm having very good experiences with the lastest cvs builds. A lot of anaoyences I had with 0.1.3 have been dealed with.
Also one huge thing which is being worked on right know is better documentation. As a lot of new users are have simular problems were solutions are already known.