An old customers new experience (1 Viewer)

[thargs]

I once used mediaportal some 6 to 7 years ago. Got it going to an acceptable level and used it for a few years. I cant remember when but ended up using Windows Media Center and have been for ages. I use Kodi for movies, WMC for TV. All works very well. The wife cant kill it so to speak.

I recently had a sound issue pop up with WMC (which is now fixed) and so went and installed Mediaportal 2 and then Mediaportal 1 (latest).

Well after all these years I had high hopes - I have always appreciated the work you as a team have put into this product and how flexible it is. However......

Mediaportal 2 - all sorts of problems channel changing. Seized a number of times, no EPG data, channels not changing properly, black screens, light screens, sound but no image.

So I unstall MP2 and install MP1 - Channel changing good, ABC and associated channels (4 in total) drop out and chunky ( yes I checked the frequency and all good. ABC works perfectly in WMC), jerky TV image (its like some process is causing a hiccup so every few seconds there is a quick pause - sometimes more on one channel than the other but that varies), some channels dont work at all (yes frequency is fine), EPG very slow to update and in the end most of the channels didnt and I did manage to cause some system break and I had audio but no picture for all channels.

If ABC channels and the jerkiness wasnt there I would have stuck with MP1. Believe me I wanted to.

Ive been playing with media players for years on both linux and windows and in all kinds of flavours on all kinds of hardware.

The HTPC is fairly new, drivers the latest, good tuner, good signal and overall perfect system for any player. I dont have any codec packs installed (no Sharky etc). I keep things clean and simple (after learning over the years that it makes the microsoft experience a better one).

Maybe I could have resolved the MPC1 or 2 issues but I really dont have the time. Im almost certain the ABC channel issue is unfixable after looking at my local frequencies and seeing that all was correct. As for EPG, Ive been there done that and in the old days had a web feed but the over the air digital EPG should just work. It does in WMC.

Im just dissapointed that I thought that I install, TVserver setup and away I go. Bulletproof by now so to speak. Alas not so.....

 

[mm1352000]

Thanks for the feedback.

A few counter-points, in case you're interested...

ABC and associated channels (4 in total) drop out and chunky ( yes I checked the frequency and all good. ABC works perfectly in WMC), jerky TV image (its like some process is causing a hiccup so every few seconds there is a quick pause - sometimes more on one channel than the other but that varies), some channels dont work at all (yes frequency is fine)... and I had audio but no picture for all channels.

Sounds very much like codec issues, perhaps with a sprinkling of over-zealous security software (overloading HDD by scanning the time-shifting files) thrown in for good measure. I know you said you hadn't installed codec packs to mess stuff up. However you still have to configure MP to use appropriate codecs:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...nfiguration/9_Codecs_and_Renderer/1_TV_Codecs

...and sometimes also configure the codecs themselves, otherwise you will get problems exactly like you described.

EPG very slow to update...

Can you be more specific - approximately how slow is "very slow" in seconds/minutes?
How many channels did/do you have?
Which import method were/are you using?

As for EPG, Ive been there done that and in the old days had a web feed but the over the air digital EPG should just work. It does in WMC.

I'm pretty sure Microsoft pays ROVI to provide WMC's EPG data, and that they do not take it from over the air. Point is: the money that we receive from donations doesn't enable use to afford to provide EPG data directly.


Sorry that you had a bad experience. I wish you'd taken a moment to ask for help instead of struggling alone. The problems that you mentioned could very likely have been solved in the time it took you to write up this feedback. If you ever decide to come back to MP at any point in future, please don't hesitate to ask for assistance.

 

[thargs]

I agree with time it might be fixable. I have my doubts about the ABC channels. Thats more than codecs. The EPG wasnt populating after at least 15 to 20 minutes on all channels (11 to 12 in total). Some channels populated but only about 4 I think.

The severity of the channel changing and video hang in MP2 didnt look good. I could only imagine that would take some time to resolve. Where do you start on something like that? Drivers, .net reinstall, rendering, something in the subsystem.

Its strange that MP1 channels were much better. Yes I could have played with the codecs and Ive done a lot in that area but I thought the default settings should be the most reliable.

Yep I should have asked for help here first. I just didnt have the time.

I havent uninstalled MP1 yet. Ill check out the codecs tonight if I can and move the time shifting to the SSD.

 

[mm1352000]

The EPG wasnt populating after at least 15 to 20 minutes on all channels (11 to 12 in total). Some channels populated but only about 4 I think.

Well, default configuration limits the EPG grabber to only grab when you're not time-shifting. So, unless you amended the configuration, your 15 to 20 minutes of testing may have actually been blocking the EPG from populating.

The severity of the channel changing and video hang in MP2 didnt look good. I could only imagine that would take some time to resolve. Where do you start on something like that? Drivers, .net reinstall, rendering, something in the subsystem.

Sorry, I can't help you with MP2. However I'm sure there would be other people willing and able to assist you with that if you want to persist.

Its strange that MP1 channels were much better. Yes I could have played with the codecs and Ive done a lot in that area but I thought the default settings should be the most reliable.

From an MP perspective there are no default settings. The recommendation is to install the LAV codecs, but you still have to configure MP to use them.

I havent uninstalled MP1 yet. Ill check out the codecs tonight if I can and move the time shifting to the SSD.

Okay.

Regarding codecs...
As mentioned above, LAV codecs are recommended. You can get 'em via the MediaPortal extension installer "LAVFilters" extension, or direct from the official source. If you do go with LAV, make sure you enable DXVA (hardware accelerated video decoding). That's a LAV video codec setting.

Whichever codecs you decide to go with, you'll need to configure MP to use them. The settings are shown here:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...nfiguration/9_Codecs_and_Renderer/1_TV_Codecs

Incidentally, clicking on the spanner + screwdriver next to the setting is a really convenient way to access the codec's own settings. That's how you'd check that DXVA is enabled etc.

Regarding time-shifting...
Moving the TS folder to the SSD shouldn't be necessary. Instead I'd recommend to check that you've configured your security software to leave the TS folder alone. Windows Defender is really good at causing problems.

There are other possible causes which are more technical, but codecs and security software are most common so that would be the best place to start.

If you can provide log files (please use the Watchdog tool - it's easier and faster), I'll be happy to look at anything you can throw at me.

 

[CarMania]

I also had issues with jerky / Stuttering live TV and it was the codec settings.

I installed MediaPortal 1.15 and there was bad video playback. Found this info that fixed my issue....

Tip
MediaPortal Audio Renderer is often recommended for smooth video playback. However, it may not work with your TV provider(s). If you have TV playback problems (pauses, unsynchronised video/audio, no audio at all) when using the MediaPortal Audio Renderer, try another option (eg. DirectSound).

Full link here ....http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...nfiguration/9_Codecs_and_Renderer/1_TV_Codecs

I ended up setting my Audio renderer to "Media Portal - Audio Renderer" and all now works well.





Good Luck!

Andrew

 

[mm1352000]

Welcome Andrew

I ended up setting my Audio renderer to "Media Portal - Audio Renderer" and all now works well.

Just to be clear: the safest setup is actually to not use the MPAR for TV.

I reckon' simply configuring your codec settings was probably the trick that solved your problem.

Anyhow, glad to hear you're sorted.