Netherlands
Hi all,
This is just a log of what I've tried to do with MP the last two weeks or so; hopefully it'll help someone.
I have two HTPCs. One is an older Dell Latitude D800 (Pentium M, 1.7Ghz, 512M RAM and 40G disk), the other is a brand new Latitude D820 (C2D, 2G RAM, 100G disk).
As input I'm using a FireDTV receiver, which is connected to a diseqc switch, which is connected to two sat dishes. The first points at 19.2 E Astra, and , using smart card +CI, picks up the Dutch Canal Digitaal channels (along with loads of other crud of course...). The second points at 28.2 E Astra, and is used to pick up the FTA BBC and ITV channels.
I was using MP 0.2.2.0 on the old laptop, on top of a 60 day evaluation version of Windows MCE. I had tried to use MCE on that machine, but it turns out that the built-in video didn't have enough memory for that. So I installed MP 0.2.2.0 along with the BDA driver version 4.2 (which was on the CD that came with the FireDTV). After some struggling (until someone told me to do multiple scans) I got this to work properly, and I've used that configuration ever since. As I said, however, this was running on a 60 day version of MCE, so change was inevitable.
I had picked up a new HTPC, that Latitude D820. It came preinstalled with Windows XP SP2 UK, along with a whole boat load of other crud that our system manager had installed on it (i.e. Office 2003, Roxio CD thingie, Embassy Trust Suite, McAfee Antivirus and other stuff). I uninstalled most of that, got rid of the weird partitioning scheme (from C, D, E and F to just C(xp) and D(ata)) and proceeded to install MP.
I'd decided to install the latest and greatest, which by that time was still an SVN of TVServer. I also installed the latest BDA drivers (4.8) from Digital Everywhere, of course.
No go. The scanning process would bomb out.; see this thread for more info. Editing the .ini file (as described here did help, but now I wouldn't have those BBC channels (despite the fact that they were in the ini file).
I put back a clean image (I use TrueImage) and tried MP 0.2.2.0, but with the same result: scanning would bomb out.
I put back a clean image and tried MP 0.2.2.0, with the 4.2 BDA drivers, but with the same result: scanning would bomb out.
I exported the channel list on the old machine, then imported it into the new one. None of the channels (at least, those I tried; I wasn't going to try them all) would give any picture or sound.
I wiped the entire disk clean, install Windows XP SP2 anew, plus Autopatcher May 2007 (then create a new image), plus BDA driver 4.8, plus MP 0.2.2.0: scanning would bomb out; importing channels would not give a picture.
I put back the image created in the previous exercise, try BDA driver 4.2 plus MP 0.2.2.0. Same result (scanning bombed; importing channel list didn't help)
I put back the same image, try BDA driver 4.8 plus MP 0.2.3.0 RC1. Same result.
I wiped the disk clean once again, then installed the 60 day version of MCE + Autopatcher May 2007, plus BDA driver 4.2, plus MP 0.2.2.0 -- all this in an attempt to make the configuration as similar as possible to the old HTPC, which was still working a-okay -- but again, no go.
Tried MCE + BDA 4.8 + MP 0.2.3.0 RC1: same result.
Uninstalled MP 0.2.3.0 RC1, installed GBPVR (yeah, ok:
but I had to try it): no picture.
Uninstalled BDA drivers (and GBPVR), installed the latest MCE drivers, tried MCE: hey presto: we've got a working TV again!
Which is why, at the moment, I'm running using MCE (in a 60 day version) rather than MediaPortal, on my production system.
My conclusion: there's something wrong with the combination BDA driver + Firewire controller in my new HTPC. OTOH, the included MyTheatre application (which, so far I'm aware, uses the BDA driver as well) kept on working throughout each of the attempts outlined above. So: modified conclusion: there's something weird going on with the combination BDA driver + Firewire controller + .Net framework v2 and v3 (I tried both).
As I said, I'm now using MCE on my production box, and while it's working, I'd rather use MP (if only because the EPG in MCE is nonexistent for the channels I prefer.) I can now zap the old HTPC and see if I can get *that* back to work after wiping it clean. Still, to all of the MP team for bringing out a wonderful application. Yes, I still so, even after having spent nearly every evening during 2-3 weeks getting it to work
Comments, anyone?
This is just a log of what I've tried to do with MP the last two weeks or so; hopefully it'll help someone.
I have two HTPCs. One is an older Dell Latitude D800 (Pentium M, 1.7Ghz, 512M RAM and 40G disk), the other is a brand new Latitude D820 (C2D, 2G RAM, 100G disk).
As input I'm using a FireDTV receiver, which is connected to a diseqc switch, which is connected to two sat dishes. The first points at 19.2 E Astra, and , using smart card +CI, picks up the Dutch Canal Digitaal channels (along with loads of other crud of course...). The second points at 28.2 E Astra, and is used to pick up the FTA BBC and ITV channels.
I was using MP 0.2.2.0 on the old laptop, on top of a 60 day evaluation version of Windows MCE. I had tried to use MCE on that machine, but it turns out that the built-in video didn't have enough memory for that. So I installed MP 0.2.2.0 along with the BDA driver version 4.2 (which was on the CD that came with the FireDTV). After some struggling (until someone told me to do multiple scans) I got this to work properly, and I've used that configuration ever since. As I said, however, this was running on a 60 day version of MCE, so change was inevitable.
I had picked up a new HTPC, that Latitude D820. It came preinstalled with Windows XP SP2 UK, along with a whole boat load of other crud that our system manager had installed on it (i.e. Office 2003, Roxio CD thingie, Embassy Trust Suite, McAfee Antivirus and other stuff). I uninstalled most of that, got rid of the weird partitioning scheme (from C, D, E and F to just C(xp) and D(ata)) and proceeded to install MP.
I'd decided to install the latest and greatest, which by that time was still an SVN of TVServer. I also installed the latest BDA drivers (4.8) from Digital Everywhere, of course.
No go. The scanning process would bomb out.; see this thread for more info. Editing the .ini file (as described here did help, but now I wouldn't have those BBC channels (despite the fact that they were in the ini file).
I put back a clean image (I use TrueImage) and tried MP 0.2.2.0, but with the same result: scanning would bomb out.
I put back a clean image and tried MP 0.2.2.0, with the 4.2 BDA drivers, but with the same result: scanning would bomb out.
I exported the channel list on the old machine, then imported it into the new one. None of the channels (at least, those I tried; I wasn't going to try them all) would give any picture or sound.
I wiped the entire disk clean, install Windows XP SP2 anew, plus Autopatcher May 2007 (then create a new image), plus BDA driver 4.8, plus MP 0.2.2.0: scanning would bomb out; importing channels would not give a picture.
I put back the image created in the previous exercise, try BDA driver 4.2 plus MP 0.2.2.0. Same result (scanning bombed; importing channel list didn't help)
I put back the same image, try BDA driver 4.8 plus MP 0.2.3.0 RC1. Same result.
I wiped the disk clean once again, then installed the 60 day version of MCE + Autopatcher May 2007, plus BDA driver 4.2, plus MP 0.2.2.0 -- all this in an attempt to make the configuration as similar as possible to the old HTPC, which was still working a-okay -- but again, no go.
Tried MCE + BDA 4.8 + MP 0.2.3.0 RC1: same result.
Uninstalled MP 0.2.3.0 RC1, installed GBPVR (yeah, ok:
but I had to try it): no picture. Uninstalled BDA drivers (and GBPVR), installed the latest MCE drivers, tried MCE: hey presto: we've got a working TV again!
Which is why, at the moment, I'm running using MCE (in a 60 day version) rather than MediaPortal, on my production system.
My conclusion: there's something wrong with the combination BDA driver + Firewire controller in my new HTPC. OTOH, the included MyTheatre application (which, so far I'm aware, uses the BDA driver as well) kept on working throughout each of the attempts outlined above. So: modified conclusion: there's something weird going on with the combination BDA driver + Firewire controller + .Net framework v2 and v3 (I tried both).
As I said, I'm now using MCE on my production box, and while it's working, I'd rather use MP (if only because the EPG in MCE is nonexistent for the channels I prefer.) I can now zap the old HTPC and see if I can get *that* back to work after wiping it clean. Still,
to all of the MP team for bringing out a wonderful application. Yes, I still so, even after having spent nearly every evening during 2-3 weeks getting it to work Comments, anyone?
