Hi all. First post. Just wanted to drop in, give some thanks and perhaps some tips that I managed to get from reading these forums over the last two years. I’m no programmer, but I love to “tinker” which is probably the same for a lot of us who use MediaPortal.
The main thing I use MediaPortal for is for watching TV with gemx’s TVClient - a BIG thank you to gemx for all your hard work. When we upgraded to MP v1.1.0 I was horrified that TVClient was no longer supported – instead we moved on to MPWebServices.
I just wanted to post a little “how to” which gives a bit more detail for those (like me) who aren’t totally familiar with all this stuff.
System
Windows 7 (32-bit) UAC enabled
Internet Explorer 8
MediaPortal v1.1.0 - 1.1.1
MPWebServices RC3
After installing the msi you need to edit gentle.config (a text file) located in
C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\Plugins\MPWebServices\htdocs
You need to edit the <DefaultProvider/> line specifying:
Server= the IP address or computer name where your TVSever is running
Database=MpTvDb
User ID=root
Password=MediaPortal
Above values are given by default MP installation. If you are unsure then cut and paste from gentle.config located at: C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal
The line should look similar to this:
Next, backup the folder: C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\Plugins\MPWebServices\htdocs\bin
Replace the following DLL’s in the bin folder with the newer versions located in MediaPortal TVServer folder: C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server
Gentle.Common.dll
Gentle.Framework.dll
Gentle.Provider.MySQL.dll
Gentle.Provider.SQLServer.dll
MySql.Data.dll
TvControl.dll
TVDatabase.dll
TvLibrary.Interfaces.dll
I didn’t need to do the extra steps shown in this post.
Next, run MediaPortal TVServer Configuration. Go to Plugins and tick WebServices. Select the Webservices plugin that has now appeared on the left side. You can now configure the settings.
For testing just leave default settings including default user name and blank password. It is possible to login if you set a blank username and password, but for me it won’t stream to VLC (using .m3u playlist method), so don't use a blank user name for now. On further testing it appears that USERNAME must be at least two characters long.
To get TV logos to appear, the Streaming URL must be in the same format as the one you will use to login. If you login using this format: http://192.168.0.100:8080, then Streaming URL must be syntactically the same. Alternatively if you login using this format: http://PC-NAME:8080, then use this syntax for Streaming URL. It can find png files but not jpg’s.
Important to restart the TV Service after you’ve made changes to the configuration.
Use Resource Monitor (from Task Manager) to look at Listening Ports located at the bottom of the Network tab. You should see TvService.exe listening to port 8080 and firewall status should say “allowed…”. Make sure you are looking at PORT, not PID numbers – they look similar.
Try to connect using the browser (eg. my server IP is 192.168.0.100, computer name is “PC-NAME”)
http://192.168.0.100:8080 <- this works best (fast)
http://PC-NAME:8080 <- also works (but few seconds lag)
192.168.0.100:8080 <- this does not work (lazy ppl like me who don't want to type http etc.)
PC-NAME:8080 <- and this does not work
To get Streaming working, most of the settings are explained in the Helpfile (button at top right). To give you a bit more detail…
Player installed on client has two disadvantages:
1. the bat file fires up an ugly DOS box and the box stays open unless you close it or vlc.
2. the path to “client streaming player” must be exactly the same for each client, so if it is set to C:\vlc.exe in the server config then it won’t work if your local copy on the client is at D:\vlc.exe for example.
VLC Browser Plugin - I haven’t used it but reading the helpfile it looks like VLC plays in a browser window similar to Youtube. If this is for you, then you need to have the VLC plugin installed on the client.
.m3u playlist – I don’t personally use playlists for anything so I’m happy to associate .m3u with VLC. On most systems m3u would normally be associated with Windows Media Player by default (I suppose for Windows "N" m3u is not associated with anything by default). As WMP is not good for streaming, if you want to use this method, you need to associate m3u with VLC. There are two ways that I’ve done this:
Method 1. Search for *.m3u on your system. I found that some got installed with MediaPortal at: C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\TuningParameters\dvbip
Select one of those and “Open With” then “Choose default program” find VLC and tick “Always use the selected program”
Method 2. If you can’t find any m3u files then you can generate one using the streamer itself. Start a stream in the web client, when the box comes up select “Save”, remember where you saved it, then follow the above steps to associate m3u with VLC.
Once you have it working, then maybe try a prettier skin.
Hope this helps some people. I really don’t know much more than what I’ve written here so I probably won’t be much help if you have any problems. Once again to gemx!
EDIT Just tested on MP v1.1.1. I had some problems with the MP upgrade - got outdated TVPlugin error. After I got that sorted I had to reinstall MPWebservices using the above procedure and it worked. Note, I had to reboot so Windows firewall would open port 8080 again.
The main thing I use MediaPortal for is for watching TV with gemx’s TVClient - a BIG thank you to gemx for all your hard work. When we upgraded to MP v1.1.0 I was horrified that TVClient was no longer supported – instead we moved on to MPWebServices.
I just wanted to post a little “how to” which gives a bit more detail for those (like me) who aren’t totally familiar with all this stuff.
System
Windows 7 (32-bit) UAC enabled
Internet Explorer 8
MediaPortal v1.1.0 - 1.1.1
MPWebServices RC3
After installing the msi you need to edit gentle.config (a text file) located in
C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\Plugins\MPWebServices\htdocs
You need to edit the <DefaultProvider/> line specifying:
Server= the IP address or computer name where your TVSever is running
Database=MpTvDb
User ID=root
Password=MediaPortal
Above values are given by default MP installation. If you are unsure then cut and paste from gentle.config located at: C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal
The line should look similar to this:
Code:
<DefaultProvider name="MySQL" connectionString="Server=192.168.0.100;Database=MpTvDb;User ID=root;Password=MediaPortal;charset=utf8;Connection Timeout=300;" />Next, backup the folder: C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\Plugins\MPWebServices\htdocs\bin
Replace the following DLL’s in the bin folder with the newer versions located in MediaPortal TVServer folder: C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server
Gentle.Common.dll
Gentle.Framework.dll
Gentle.Provider.MySQL.dll
Gentle.Provider.SQLServer.dll
MySql.Data.dll
TvControl.dll
TVDatabase.dll
TvLibrary.Interfaces.dll
I didn’t need to do the extra steps shown in this post.
Next, run MediaPortal TVServer Configuration. Go to Plugins and tick WebServices. Select the Webservices plugin that has now appeared on the left side. You can now configure the settings.
For testing just leave default settings including default user name and blank password. It is possible to login if you set a blank username and password, but for me it won’t stream to VLC (using .m3u playlist method), so don't use a blank user name for now. On further testing it appears that USERNAME must be at least two characters long.
To get TV logos to appear, the Streaming URL must be in the same format as the one you will use to login. If you login using this format: http://192.168.0.100:8080, then Streaming URL must be syntactically the same. Alternatively if you login using this format: http://PC-NAME:8080, then use this syntax for Streaming URL. It can find png files but not jpg’s.
Important to restart the TV Service after you’ve made changes to the configuration.
Use Resource Monitor (from Task Manager) to look at Listening Ports located at the bottom of the Network tab. You should see TvService.exe listening to port 8080 and firewall status should say “allowed…”. Make sure you are looking at PORT, not PID numbers – they look similar.
Try to connect using the browser (eg. my server IP is 192.168.0.100, computer name is “PC-NAME”)
http://192.168.0.100:8080 <- this works best (fast)
http://PC-NAME:8080 <- also works (but few seconds lag)
192.168.0.100:8080 <- this does not work (lazy ppl like me who don't want to type http etc.)
PC-NAME:8080 <- and this does not work
To get Streaming working, most of the settings are explained in the Helpfile (button at top right). To give you a bit more detail…
Player installed on client has two disadvantages:
1. the bat file fires up an ugly DOS box and the box stays open unless you close it or vlc.
2. the path to “client streaming player” must be exactly the same for each client, so if it is set to C:\vlc.exe in the server config then it won’t work if your local copy on the client is at D:\vlc.exe for example.
VLC Browser Plugin - I haven’t used it but reading the helpfile it looks like VLC plays in a browser window similar to Youtube. If this is for you, then you need to have the VLC plugin installed on the client.
.m3u playlist – I don’t personally use playlists for anything so I’m happy to associate .m3u with VLC. On most systems m3u would normally be associated with Windows Media Player by default (I suppose for Windows "N" m3u is not associated with anything by default). As WMP is not good for streaming, if you want to use this method, you need to associate m3u with VLC. There are two ways that I’ve done this:
Method 1. Search for *.m3u on your system. I found that some got installed with MediaPortal at: C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\TuningParameters\dvbip
Select one of those and “Open With” then “Choose default program” find VLC and tick “Always use the selected program”
Method 2. If you can’t find any m3u files then you can generate one using the streamer itself. Start a stream in the web client, when the box comes up select “Save”, remember where you saved it, then follow the above steps to associate m3u with VLC.
Once you have it working, then maybe try a prettier skin.
Hope this helps some people. I really don’t know much more than what I’ve written here so I probably won’t be much help if you have any problems. Once again
to gemx!EDIT Just tested on MP v1.1.1. I had some problems with the MP upgrade - got outdated TVPlugin error. After I got that sorted I had to reinstall MPWebservices using the above procedure and it worked. Note, I had to reboot so Windows firewall would open port 8080 again.
