How to start MediaPortal (1 Viewer)

[oscar615]

SO I went ahead and setup mediaportal.

I did the advanced setup, but did not change a thing. So basically the one click setup with multiple clicks. I just wanted to see what mediaportal was doing.

I set up one computer as a mediaportal/tv server, hooked to a monitor via dvi. And another as a client, hooked to a hdtv via hdmi.

When done, on the server, I had two new icons on the Windows8.1 desktop. TV server configuration and mediaportal extension manager.

On the client, also win8.1, I had four new icons. mediaportal, mediaportal configuration, mediaportal extension manager and mediaportal watchdog.

So following the wiki, I am supposed to start mediaportal. I assume on the client. But when I click the mediaportal icon it does not start medaiportal, but instead runs mediaportal configuration, just the same as the mediaportal configuration icon does.

So, what did I do wrong if anything, and how do I start mediaportal?

Just in case you need hardware spec:
server: AMD A10-5700, 3.40ghz; 8 gig ram, 4TB of hard drives on two drives; Windows 8.1 64 bit

client: A new computer Celeron J1900, 1.99ghz; 4 gig ram; 500 GB hard drive; win8.1 64 bit

Also when I start the mediaportal coniguration app on the client I see that it put my media folders on the C: drive. I don't want them there. When I go to edit the folder paths, to point the paths to the folders on the server, the client sees the server but won't connect. At least the first few times I ran it. The last time I was asked to provide my network credentials. But it does not accept them.

 

[Edalex]

Hi!
Run Mediaportal Configuration, add some shares/folders for music/videos/pictures and (most important) click OK in configuration to save changes,
Start Mediaportal after that.

 

[oscar615]

Alright, I was able to start working on this again. I now have two clients I have tried. All three computers, server and two clients run win8.1. The first client, listed above, sees the server but won't connect. The second, a PipoX7 does not even see the server. All three are connected to the same router.

I guess I really am having network problems and, mediaportal forum may not be the correct place to ask about this, but I thought I would give it a try before I went and tracked down a networking forum. At the beginning of this process, I was hoping, that I would just install the server software on one computer and the client software on the others and it was all just work.

So the first client can see the server but not any of my shared folders. It is connect via a gigabit switch to the server. The second client attached to the network by wireless does not even see the server.

So the network is like this. Router to switch from switch to server and client. And the same router, wireless to second client.

Do I need to setup a homegroup? Actually the server and first client are already on a homegroup, but the second client cannot see the homegroup at all.

I was thinking I do not need a home group at all. and just needed to share folders on the server.

Any thought on this?

 

[HTPCSourcer]

The last time I was asked to provide my network credentials. But it does not accept them.
I was thinking I do not need a home group at all. and just needed to share folders on the server

Well, you may not yet have fully understood the concept of a windows network.

Sharing folders on one PC is not giving access rights to the same PC from another system. In fact these are two different things and access from another system does require credentials. The easiest way to ensure that the groundwork is laid would be to have all PC's in your network be part of the same homegroup. Although this is not mandatory, it is probably the easiest way for a non-expert to inter-connect PCs at home. Notwithstanding, if they are not within the same workgroup (or domain) they may not even see each other, as you report for one of your clients.

Set up a homegroup and have every PC in your local environment join it. It could be that clients still have trouble to connect with the TVServer, which would then due to incomplete firewall settings. But give the homegroup a try first.

 

[oscar615]

I haven't even gotten to the tv part yet. I am having problems just getting the clients to see the server with my music, pictures, videos.

For my homegroup, I have what I call the server, one client sees the homegroup/server. The other client does not. Do home groups have to be wired? The client that does not see the homegroup is wireless, the other is wired.

 

[HTPCSourcer]

No, they don't need to be wired. But I recommend that you use the same workgroup name for each network member and then join the home group with the other PCs.

Check out for example this article for understanding and resolving network/workgroup problems:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/why-can-t-i-see-other-computers-on-my-network

 

[oscar615]

Well, I finally got it worked out, sort of.

I created a homegroup, that did not work. I left the homegroup existing and then shared all of the drives/folders with full access. Still did not work. the computers would see each other, the computers would see all the drives, the computers would see the home groups, MediaPortal would not. I could not add my folders for anything. Only when I went on to my client computers and mapped the network drive on my server, did MediaPortal see the folders and allow me to add my music and movies to the clients.

Now my problem is, every time one of the computers goes to sleep, the client loses its drive mapping and takes forever to see the shared drive and homegroup again. At that point, either I am too impatient or the client never again sees its mapped drive. (I have waited less than five minutes with this) So I then disconnect and remap it and everything starts working again.

Any thoughts?

I am having some other problems also, but I will start other threads for those.