Calling all MP New Zealanders (Both of you!!) (2 Viewers)

[justinbyoung]

Ideally the gold nuggets from this thread need to make their way into the NZ wiki area.

Maybe it's time for a group effort to get the wiki up to date. Any ideas on what needs to be added?

My first thought is removing the sadly redundant section on XMLTVNZ (thanks SKY) and adding a section on EPG Collector. Is it possible to attach files to the wiki? The reason I ask is maybe people could attach ini files for each region to make it easier for newbies to get started.

A hardware and codecs recommendations section. 1080i can make things a little more difficult for people to get started.

 

[rocklander]

OK, now that I can speak again...

Who let you into this thread?

it's what the saffas do.. they find it easier to sneak into the aussie threads if they go via the kiwi ones first.. something about immigration here being less stringent


but yep.. they certainly showed us up on the weekend.

I'm with mm1352000 on this.. I find searching this thread for kiwi specific issues easier than the juggernaut of the whole forum, and am confident that sufficient kiwi gurus are watching it to feel comfortable that questions will be answered if I have any and someone has an answer. it may not be the way the forum machine was designed to operate, but people use tools in different ways.

how did one post from one aussie cause so much kaffuffle?

 

[amphibem]

Ideally the gold nuggets from this thread need to make their way into the NZ wiki area.

Maybe it's time for a group effort to get the wiki up to date. Any ideas on what needs to be added?

My first thought is removing the sadly redundant section on XMLTVNZ (thanks SKY) and adding a section on EPG Collector. Is it possible to attach files to the wiki? The reason I ask is maybe people could attach ini files for each region to make it easier for newbies to get started.

A hardware and codecs recommendations section. 1080i can make things a little more difficult for people to get started.

Man crazy stuff, I have been away from MP for a couple of years and come back to find this thread has become massive!


Anyway to the point at hand, if I could just figure out how to (ideas appreciated...) get my Sky box to work nicely with MP 1.1.3 I would happily write the wiki

The short story is I have a standard Sky box going into my PVR150 with composite video, I am getting the EPG off the Optus D1 and combining with the analogue signal that all works sweet. Using TV3IR plugin (forget exact name) and IRSS I can learn IR commands from the Sky remote, and use the test to send out the signal that also works. The issue is I cannot see how to tell MP to send the appropriate signal to the Sky box every time a Sky channel is tuned. It seemed the old version of MP had this ability with the 'external channel' option but this has been removed. All the instructions I have found seem to include recompiling and other non-trivial solutions and I do know how to make sense of it all (plus it doesnt seem anyone has it working).

Anyone out there got this figured before I go back to mythtv (Vista+MP can be fustrating in other ways, only prepared to go through it to integrate Sky)?

 

[mm1352000]

Hi amphibem

You *definitely* don't need to recompile to get that working. Have you seen -->this<-- more recent walkthrough?

mm

 

[amphibem]

I have seen that page thanks mm1352000, but I don't see how it tells me how to map IR commands to channels, in some way I need to tell MP how to tune the 100 or so Sky channels by sending IR commands.

If I didn't say so originally I am not trying to pass through commands (like number presses) to my Sky box, I want to integrate Sky seamlessly into my setup.

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again

I have seen that page thanks mm1352000, but I don't see how it tells me how to map IR commands to channels, in some way I need to tell MP how to tune the 100 or so Sky channels by sending IR commands.

The way IR commands are mapped to channels is by:
1. Setting the channel number in the tuning details for each of the channels that you've created. The channel number will be the number that you key in on your remote to switch to the channel. It will also be the number that your IR blaster sends to the Sky box.
2. Configure the blaster to send commands that the box understands. It sounds like you've done this correctly.

If I didn't say so originally I am not trying to pass through commands (like number presses) to my Sky box, I want to integrate Sky seamlessly into my setup.

This seems contradictory to what you said earlier because passing through number commands is exactly how an IR blasting setup works. Could you explain what you mean by "seamlessly" in a little more depth so we are both on the same page...

mm

 

[amphibem]

This seems contradictory to what you said earlier because passing through number commands is exactly how an IR blasting setup works. Could you explain what you mean by "seamlessly" in a little more depth so we are both on the same page...

mm

Sorry I will try and explain better, using the example of my current guide which has a mix of Freeview channels and a couple of Sky Sport channels for testing. Currently I think I have these as channels 6 and 7 in the program guide.

If I am watching Live TV I want to be able to scroll from channel 5 (Prime, from Freeview) to channel 6 (Sky Sport, from Sky box via PVR-150). In this case I will be pressing the down key on my remote but I want MP to know I need the appropriate channel on Sky (30) and send that signal.

Similarly I might set a Sky Sport program to record, and the Sky box may have previously been used to watch Discovery Channel. I need MP to tune into the PVR-150 and send the channel 30 command through the IR blaster so the correct channel is picked up.


Does this make sense now? I appreciate the help with this, I still cant figure out if there is something I am missing here.

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again amphibem

Okay that is clearer, and your goal should be easily achievable.

You don't need to concern yourself with how you select the channel from within the MP interface. For all intents and purposes that is a completely separate concern to getting blasting working. What you *do* have to do is match the channel numbers in the TV Server tuning details with the channel numbers used on the Sky box. That is the critical link.

All that the Sky remote is doing when you change channels is sending the numbers or arrow keys that you key in to the box. If you're pressing up and down then the box handles the smarts that are required to figure out which channel to tune. Otherwise the box simply selects the channel by the number that you key in on the remote. MP/TV Server is the same - MP handles the smarts required to figure out what channel you're wanting to watch, but you still need to specify the Sky channel number in the TV Server tuning details so that TV Server can communicate correctly with the Sky box (behind the scenes).

The critical things:
1. TV Server is sending commands.
2. TV Server is sending the right commands.

From what you've said, you have (1) working because the "test" function in the TV3 Blaster plugin works. Yes?
Now all that you have to do is tell TV Server which channel numbers the Sky box uses for each channel.

PART 1
1. Open TV Server configuration.
2. Go to the "TV Channels" section.
3. Select any Sky channel.
4. Click "edit".
5. Select the analog tuning detail row.
6. Click "edit".
7. Enter the Sky channel number in the "channel" field.
8. Click OK.
9. Click OK.

At this point you might want to test that switching to that channel works.

PART 2
1. Use the Sky remote to put the Sky box on a different channel.
2. Restart TV Server.
3. Start MP.
4. Start viewing a Freeview channel.
5. Switch to the Sky channel any way you like.

If that works, then all you need to do is repeat steps 3-9 in part 1 for each of the Sky channels that you've added to TV Server.

mm

 

[Bleazle]

This is good stuff.... I want to subscribe to $ky now just to try this out...

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

amphibem

After you have done all mm says, you might want https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/.../backupsettings-tv-server-media-portal-45715/

Saves all the hard work again