7MC says "Tuner not Available" after running MP - why? (1 Viewer)

[Martyn36]

Hi. Please help.

I am running 7MC AND MP (but not at the same time (of course). My missus likes to record TV shows using 7MC because apparently the WAF is higher using the scheduler over there. However, all of our viewing is done using MP because the StramedMP skin is, well, absolutely brilliant...

However...

If I have been watching TV on MP, and then I shut MP down and then open up 7MC, I get an error when I try to go to Live TV saying that the Tuner is in use by another application. I can fix this by going into "Services" in Manage Computer and stopping the MP TV Server, but of course, I shouldn't have to do that.

To make matters much worse, when 7MC tries to wake the computer in the middle of the night to record something, it clearly encounters the same problem and doesn't record the show - but - more annoying than that, it then seems to log an error and then fails to put the computer back to sleep. The net result is that if I have EVER run MP Live TV, the next time 7MC tries to record something in the night, it will fail and the PC will stay awake until I come along and tell it to sleep (usually in the morning, by which time my study is all toasty because of the heat that my pimped up PC kicks out.

So, to cut a long story short - shouldn't MP by shutting down it's TV Server Service when it exits so that 7MC can use the resources (i.e sharing the TV Card?).

Anyone else got this problem? I'd be eternally grateful for a solution....

Oh: btw: latest stable release of MP, latest StreamedMP etc.



Thanks


MediaPortal Version: 1.1.0
MediaPortal Skin: StreamedMP
Windows Version: Win7 x64
CPU Type: AMD Dual Core 5600
HDD: 2 * 1TB Seagates
Memory: 8GB DDR2
Motherboard: Asus SLI M2N SLI Deluxe
Video Card: NVidia GT8800 * 2
Video Card Driver:
Sound Card:
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: Hauppauge Nova HD
1. TV Card Type: DVB-S2
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card: KWorld 216SE
2. TV Card Type: DVB-T
2. TV Card Driver:
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:
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
h.264 Video Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case: Silverstone with LCD
Cooling:
Power Supply:
Remote: Philips Pronto TSU9600
TV:
TV - HTPC Connection:

 

[lightman]

maye because your tv server "claimed" your tuner card.
please disable or stop the tv service and try again.

 

[Martyn36]

Agreed Lightman, that DOES work... but I shouldn't have to exit MP, go to Manage Computer, find the TV Server, Stop it, Exit Manage Computer and then go to bed every night should I ?

I would have thought that when I exit MP, the TV Server should suspend, stop or at least stop "claiming" the TV Card - unless of course I have a client somewhere on the network - which of course I do not.

Thanks for the reply though...

 

[tourettes]

Agreed Lightman, that DOES work... but I shouldn't have to exit MP, go to Manage Computer, find the TV Server, Stop it, Exit Manage Computer and then go to bed every night should I ?

I would have thought that when I exit MP, the TV Server should suspend, stop or at least stop "claiming" the TV Card - unless of course I have a client somewhere on the network - which of course I do not.

Thanks for the reply though...

It works as designed, but as a workaround you can create a bat that has:

net start tvservice
mediaportal.exe
net stop tvservice

 

[funkstar]

It works as designed, but as a workaround you can create a bat that has:

I'll further expand what tourettes has said.

MediaPortal comes in two parts, the TVServer and the client interface. This has major advantages; first off it allows you to close the large full screen front end and use the PC for something else without worrying about missing a scheduled recording as the TV portion is still running in the background as a service. The second is that this service can be run on a completely seperate PC as the client. This is the way I have things configured. It is assumed, correctly, that you will always to have the TV server running in the background looking after schedules. Shutting down MP to then load W7MC is not really accounted for. To me it just seems odd to be honest. I know my gf would find it more confusing to shut one app and load another just for scheduling rather than just learn how to schedule in MP.

My server sits in my study and is always on (does other things too). The client in the livingroom is only on when I need it to be on. I had a plan to set up several more client PCs around my appartment, but never got to it. I'm planning on moving in with my girlfriend soon, so will definitely need more clients in the larger property. This is where MP relly comes into its own when you compare it with W7MC.

I could have any combination digital terrestrial or satellite feeds coming into the study, with all the cards in one place, feeding the TV streams or recordings out to virtually any number of front end clients (hardware and network dependant). In time I can easliy see 6 clients, perhaps more, in a future property.

 

[Martyn36]

Thanks tourettes, good hint...

But... (there's always a "but"...)

I am launching MP from my Pronto Remote Control over WiFi by using a keyboard shortcut to launch the MP.exe.

If I instead use my Remote to launch the .Bat, then the net start tvservice fails because I don't have administrator control. I can only get the .bat to work if I run it as an administrator.... can this be done using a keyboard shortcut without it prompting me?

i.e is there a way to run "set start tvservice" without having administrator control ?

... we're close... very close...

thanks

Bingo....

I created a shortcut to the batch file and set that to "Run as Administrator" and then set my keyboard shortcut to the shortcut (for my Pronto to launch).

Works perfectly

Now I can have 7MC and MP on the same machine and neither of them hog the tuner card.

The only problem I have now is that I had to disable UAC to be able to run the batch file without my interaction. Hey-ho...

Cheers guys....

 

[Peter2]

Just out of curiosity: why do you use MP and WMC 'together'?

 

[Martyn36]

Good question Peter2....

1. Wife likes 7MC and does all our "scheduled recordings" over there.
2. I use several MCE Extenders around the house
3. I tend only to use MediaPortal in the lounge on the big screen, and for distributed viewing on 8 other screens for Music or LastFM.

Ideally I want TVServer to stop claiming the TV Cards when MP is not running.

As an aside, I found out something else today...

I have been playing with the PowerScheduler. this seems to work ok for making the PC shut down when it is idle, and this stops the TVServer from hogging the TV Cards. BUT.... although you can specify a process to prevent the PowerScheduler from shutting down the PC when it thinks it is idle, you can't tell it to prevent shutting down when you're just "doing PC stuff"...

in other words, I set PowerScheduler up today so that it Sleeps the PC after 10 minutes of idle, but now, as soon as i shut MP and surf the web, or play a game or something, every ten minutes the PC goes to sleep.

So it seems that PowerScheduler is not resetting it's timer when a key is pressed, or the mouse moves... this doesn't seem right, right?

 

[Peter2]

Can't you do 1. and 2. in MP?
Don't know how WMC is like today but I do know that with MP you have a lot basic + added (through plugins) functionality.

I think you would make it a lot easier by choosing 1 app to handle your multimedia.

As for your power scheduling issues, you could add the browser process or any other to prevent from going into standby/hibernation - it's in the server configuration utility: Plugins -> Power Scheduler -> Processes and there you select the programs that prevent MP to go into power saving.

 

[Martyn36]

Yes, I agree mate... just trying to transition over to MP fro WMC and bringing the wifey with me.... Believe me the WAF has to be just right (it took long enough to get her over to WMC...) she's still content with analog telly bless her...

As for the PowerScheduler... yes, you're right, I could. I could add all my games, explorer, Firefox, ProntoEdit, etc etc as processes to stop Powerscheduler from shutting me down, but I would have thought that as PowerScheduler is trying to take over and improve on the Win7 Power Options (which is REALLY crap), then I would have thought it would be using MouseMove and Keyboard interrupts to reset it's idle timer....

I guess this is because most people have their TVServer machines on all the time right? But not me...