How can I migrate from WMC? (1 Viewer)

[o00o]

So, I really like WMC with the recorded HD TV plugin to replace the standard UI but GF and I can't stand the duplicate recording problem as well as other limitations and some performance issues. MS look to have given up on HTPC without providing any good alt so seems a good idea to consider the alternatives.

MP looks to me to be a great alternative for me. I am a windows c#, ms sqlserver developer by trade, so this all feels closest to what I'm happy with.

I currently have a server type PC directly connected to our living room tv with a raid5 style Windows 8 StorageSpaces for the media drive. I have a TBS quad tuner for freeview. I have dvblink setup which consumers the tuners that allows me to
1. Stream live tv to mobile/dlna devices
2. Manage the channels (remove unwanted, combine same channels from multiple tuners etc) and epg information in a centralised location and send to any wmc client.
There is a WMC client that allows it to consume the epg/tuners from dvblink.

I wonder if anyone has migrated from this kind of setup? I'd really like to
A) Try MediaPortal on the same machine for a few weeks while still having WMC deal with the recordings (for Girlfriend acceptance factor, it has already been a challenging time for our relationship while setting up WMC )
B) Once happy migrate the wtv files from WMC somehow so that we can view any previously recorded files in MP (with full metadata etc)
C) Ideally I would like to stay with dvblink as I have already invested time in getting the channels and epgs all setup (and I thought it would be easier to transition then also) but if this doesn't add anything then it may be simpler to abandon it. Any knowledgeable suggestions welcome!

Some features that I'm missing from my current WMC setup that I'm not sure if MP can solve from looking around
1. Project the same interface to multiple machines around the house (with the same EPG showing same recording/series link information). Important are windows phone, windows rt, windows 8
2. Project any recorded or live tv (timeshifted) to any machine around the house (again windows phone, rt, 8)
3. Not record duplicate shows
4. Get more accurate show metadata

Sorry for the wide topic. Just really looking for a push in the right direction to get me started on a path so I can set timescale and feature expectations. any other info would be a bonus.

PS. I've seen MySQL mentioned as the data store, is there any way to use a full/embedded ms sqlserver?

 

[CyberSimian]

MP looks to me to be a great alternative

I also use Windows Media Center with Freeview in the UK, and I also have been looking at MediaPortal as a replacement for WMC. I installed MP 1.4 and spent a couple of mornings playing with it. This was enough to indicate that migrating to MP is not a simple decision, and that really you need to have two completely separate HTPC systems -- your existing one running WMC, and a new one running MP. Why? Because you will need to use MP seriously for a couple of months in order to understand the different set of advantages and disadvantages that MP entails compared to WMC. Only then can you decide whether MP is a better compromise than WMC. Playing with MP for a couple of mornings is not enough to enable you (or me!) to make this decision.

For example, using WMC with the downloaded Microsoft EPG, the "Repeat" flag in the EPG is mostly enough to prevent recording of repeats. MP can perform the trick of receiving the broadcast EPG (including the EPG for the high-definition channels, which is something that WMC cannot do), but MP in its standard form (no plug-ins) does not seem to use the programme-ids that are contained in the broadcast EPG in the UK. The result is that MP records every occurrence of a programme scheduled as a series, i.e. it is even worse than WMC! Perhaps programme-ids in the broadcast EPG are unique to the UK, and that is why the ability to use them has not been added to standard MP. There may be plug-ins that address this, but it all takes time investigating what is available, and understanding its limitations... (hence the reason why you need two HTPC systems to run in tandem).

I was occupied with other matters in 2013, and hope to return to evaluating MP in 2014.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[gonzo90017]

1. Project the same interface to multiple machines around the house (with the same EPG showing same recording/series link information). Important are windows phone, windows rt, windows 8

All of my htpcs are running windows 7. I'm pretty sure Mediaportal works with Windows 8. You can then just install MediaPortal as a client on your windows 8 machine and have the same EPG/Recordings/Schedule etc..

The way I run it on my Windows RT tablet is by using the web interface. For this you need to install a few applications:
iisexpress
MPExtended Installers Service
MPExtended Installers WebMediaPortal
You then have access to all of your recordings /schedule /live tv. Since RT can't play back .TS files natively (as far as I know) the server has to transcode them to flash in order to playback properly on my Surface RT.

3. Not record duplicate shows
4. Get more accurate show metadata

In my experience this depends mostly on your EPG provider. Here in the US you have a few options. I've used Mc2xml and WebGrabPlus+ which gives you the options to mark new shows with an *
This way you can have Mediaportal record only New shows of a particular series.

MediaPortal also has an option to check if a program has already been recorded and skip it. More info here.

 

[Neild7744]

I moved from MCE a year or so ago. I used MCE heavily and had quite a few plugins running...this is what I found...

1) everyone seems to say MCE lacks customisation...which it does. You seem to have to 'hack' everything to alter things...which can be a pain.

2) MCE can only use extenders...then you run into the problems of running 2 MCE machines with duplicate recordings etc.

mediaportal takes care of all that, so if streaming tv over a network is something you want to do, mediaportal has the ability.

I've found however mediaportal does come with its own issues...yes it's totally customisable (which was perfect for me) but as mentioned above takes time to learn and had issues like stuttering video, freezes...etc. There is also the lack of UK support for Netflix...etc and in my opinion online videos plugin for streamed tv needs more work (I think). MCE has Iplayer plugin and a few others which work nicely. I guess it depends on what you want.

Mediaportal a big plus for me was the ability to have 8 Dvb s2 feeds, 4 Dvb-t2 feeds and 2 Dvb-t feeds receiving tv from uk freeview, astra 28.2 and 19.2. This works very very well. It can all be customised and the TV guide, menu guides...etc look very very good and work very very well. MP is an awesome piece of software. I spent 2-3 weeks just playing around with MP on a test PC. Well worth the effort.