Media Portal 2 nub (2 Viewers)

[Jason Williams]

Hello all,

I'm making the jump from MC7 with Media Browser (which I love) and would like to jump into the MP2 Alpha.

My question is this:

I just bricked my Hauppauge HDPVR and I am wondering what device to purchase for Live TV in MP2 (I know it is still in Alpha, but I want to know if there is a direction for Live TV). I am in Canada, so we are forced to use decoder boxes. In my current setup, I use the HDPVR, the Rogers Cable Box, DVBLink for HDPVR (now discontinued) and MC7.

Is this type of setup even on the radar for MP2?

TIA

 

[mm1352000]

Hello and welcome Jason

Is this type of setup even on the radar for MP2?

Yes, absolutely!
There are 3 choices for TV support in MP2:

1. "Native" support (AKA TVE 3.5).
2. MP 1 TV Server (AKA TVE 3).
3. Argus

The first two options support the HD-PVR [v1] and Colossus already. Support for the HD-PVR v2 will happen at some point, and more general capture device support is on the wishlist.
Argus doesn't support analog/capture devices.

mm

 

[Jason Williams]

Thanks mm.

I took the leap and installed MP2. All I can say is wow. Every exciting.
I'm trying to get Live TV working.

I installed SlimTV native. It detected my HDPVR and now I'm stuck on the channel setup.

From reading the forums, I believe I need to install SchedulesDirect, but I'm getting lost in the overwhelming posts and instruction guides. It's hard to figure out which guides apply to the Alpha version. Do I need to use a plug-in installer to install the Schedule Direct MPE1 file? Is this the best provider I should be using?

...or - Am I completely off track here.

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[mm1352000]

Hello again Jason.

Technically you don't absolutely need SchedulesDirect... but it does make things a lot easier.

@morpheus_xx
I recall there was some kind of issue with plugins not recognised by TVE 3.5. Has that been fixed, or are there still issues?

mm

 

[Jason Williams]

Thanks again for your help.

I guess the question is how do you install plugins or is there a guide somewhere to assist with HDPVR type setups?

 

[mm1352000]

Thanks again for your help.

No problem.

I guess the question is how do you install plugins...

On an MP1 + TVE 3 install (ie. "single-seat") you'd use the MP Extension installer.
On a standalone TVE 3 install (ie. "server only") you'd have to install the plugins manually. This is usually as simple as changing the .mpe1 extension to .zip and extracting the files into the right places (generally the plugins subdirectory of the install folder - c:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\plugins by default).

With MP2 + TVE 3.5... well, I'm just not sure for a couple of reasons. First, I don't think MP2 uses the [MP1] MP Extension installer. Second, as I hinted at in my question to morpheus_xx, I think there are or were a few plugin related issues with MP2/TVE 3.5.

...or is there a guide somewhere to assist with HDPVR type setups?

To be completely up-front with you, the answer is pretty much a no. That's not to say there aren't people and material to help you. For example:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/3_IRSS_(IR_Server_Suite)/Set_Top_Box_Blasting

...BUT that guide was written for MP1 + TVE 3 and doesn't use SchedulesDirect.
There is a wiki for SchedulesDirect here:
http://code.google.com/p/mp-schedulesdirect/w/list?can=2&q=

...BUT it isn't a guide.

Capture + blaster setups are basically the most complex setup for TVE 3 (which was not designed to handle them). TVE 3.5 currently only has evolutionary improvements for capture device support - in other words, handling has not been dramatically improved yet (it is on the wishlist as previously mentioned). Additionally, as you might expect for an alpha release, there are aspects of MP2 and TVE 3.5 that are not polished or complete, and this will almost certainly make it tough to get up and running.

In general terms there are 3 capture + blaster setup phases:

1. Adding channels.
2. Configuring and testing the blaster.
3. Pulling in EPG.

The second and third steps require plugins of some description or another. So, while SchedulesDirect is not absolutely required for the first step I would advise to wait for a comment from morpheus_xx as to the state of play with plugins in MP2/TVE 3.5. Otherwise you could still back out and use TVE 3 which is more of a known quantity. You should have no problem getting the various plugins that might be needed - SchedulesDirect, IRSS TVE3 Blaster Plugin, DirecTV SHEF, XMLTV, WebEPG etc. - installed in that environment.

 

[morpheus_xx]

@morpheus_xx I recall there was some kind of issue with plugins not recognised by TVE 3.5. Has that been fixed, or are there still issues?

Yes, plugins should work now inside MP2-Server as host. The change was merged here: https://github.com/morpheusxx/MediaPortal-1/commit/9f00b8217dbf546bb0b6adb26fecbd37cb5f8411

First, I don't think MP2 uses the [MP1] MP Extension installer

correctly, MP2 doesn't have an own extension installer and also can't use the MP1 one.

 

[morpheus_xx]

I nearly forgot some potential issue with SetupTv:

When you run it the first time, it tries to download all available plugins from the server component. It then tries to save them as copy into SetupTV\Plugins subfolder. This might fail due to UAC restrictions on ProgramFiles folder.

You might try to copy SetupTV folder into another place with full write access on folder and run it there!

 

[Jason Williams]

Thanks Morpheus & mm.
Coming from DVBLink for HDPVR connected to MC7, I am not afraid of tinkering. In fact, if I can figure it out, I will document and post here so other beginners can start using the product.
I am resisting the temptation to install MP1.5 because if I do, I might get lazy and I want to work with MP2.
When I extract the files, I get a folder and an XML file. The folder is called "Installer{CopyFile}".
My Media Portal directory looks like this:
Program Files <-> Team Media Portal <-> MP2-Server <-> Plugins <-> SlimTv.Service <-> Plugins
I’m starting to think I extracted the SlimTV plugin to the wrong directory and I’m completely off base. Guidance would be greatly appreciated!
TIA

 

[Jason Williams]

I nearly forgot some potential issue with SetupTv:

When you run it the first time, it tries to download all available plugins from the server component. It then tries to save them as copy into SetupTV\Plugins subfolder. This might fail due to UAC restrictions on ProgramFiles folder.

You might try to copy SetupTV folder into another place with full write access on folder and run it there!

By the way - I wasn't ignoring this advice. I have UAC disabled. I think my problem is deeper (not understanding the way plug-ins are installed in MP2). When installing SlimTV Native, I just dumped the files into the plugins folder for my MP installation. Is that right?