MediaPortal 2 Installation and Setup Guides (1 Viewer)

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Lehmden

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    Hi.
    In this thread I would like to do some "copy & paste" from our new Wiki. Sadly the new Wiki will take some more time before it can be published. As we urgently need some recent installation and setup guides I will copy the overworked parts to this thread. The thread will be closed for discussion, so all information will stay together. If a discussion is wanted and or needed, another thread for the discussion can be found here:
    https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...ortal-2-installation-and-setup-guides.134035/

    If you find a link that is not working, this part is not jet ported to this thread, so be patient. It will be fixed as soon as those parts are ported over here.

    Now let's start.
     

    Lehmden

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    Overview
    This guide will help you get started with MediaPortal, prepare your Windows operating system, and install MediaPortal 2 based on your system or network configuration.

    To start your MediaPortal 2 Experience you first need to install MediaPortal 2.

    System Requirements
    Like any software, MediaPortal 2 has minimal system requirements in order to work. The hardware related system requirements are similar to the ones for MediaPortal 1, which can be found on our website under Products > MediaPortal > Requirements.

    MediaPortal 2 is developed to run on modern operating systems and supports only Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 in both 32 and 64 bit versions. Older operating systems are not officially supported.

    Installation
    The Installer is downloading all necessary requirements automatically as long as your PC is connected to the internet during installation. If you are using Windows 10 N or KN editions (only those) you need to install the latest Media Feature Pack manually before you can install MediaPortal 2.

    Additional requirements for Windows 10 N and KN editions

    Aside this special case a user did not need to pay attention to any previous installed runtimes, frameworks or similar. If you are interested in technical details you will find precise information about what is needed to run MediaPortal 2 successfully further down on this page. If you just want to use MediaPortal 2 download the latest version from our homepage and extract (unzip) the downloaded archive to a temporal directory. Now you can find "MP2-Setup.exe". Execute this file to start the installation. If you encounter issues during installation you also can start the installation with "MP2-Setup-Logging.bat". This will provide verbose log files for the installation so you can get help if you need.

    Hint for a "headless server" installation...
    If you try to install the MediaPortal 2 server on a system accessed by RDP (Remote Desktop) or similar (TeamViewer, VNC,...), it is possible that the automated DX9 installation fails. This is due to the not enough powerful RDP graphics. Windows fails to install DX9 from web- installer in such cases. Then you have to install the full DX9 package (aprox 95 MB, not the 1 MB file, link is above to find) before you can install MediaPortal 2.



    Read more on Installation Procedure.

    MediaPortal 2 specific Software requiremens
    You need the most current DirectX 9 runtime installed (June 2010). DX9 is always necessary, even if a higher DirectX version (e.g. DX11) already exists on your system.

    Starting with MediaPortal Alpha 4 you need .NET Framework 4.5.1 Full or later.

    Make sure you have installed the Visual C++ 2010 and 2013 (x86) redistributables and all Windows updates.

    Summary of requirements:

    Note: Builds newer than the Summer'15 Edition are based on a new installer which automatically downloads and installs all requirements above!
     

    Lehmden

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    Installation Procedure

    This tutorial explains the installation procedure of MediaPortal 2 step by step.

    The provided installer for MediaPortal 2 can install both Client and Server. The setup process is quite simple.

    If you are not used to the MediaPortal 2 components or you don't know which type of network configuration you have, read those pages first.


    When you execute the "MP2-Setup.exe" the first thing you will see is:

    Download the software requirements
    Zwischenablage-1.jpg

    Just click on "Install" and the wizard starts downloading and installing all needed software. When finished the:

    Welcome Screen
    Zwischenablage-2.jpg

    will appear. Click on "Next" shows the:

    License Agreement
    Zwischenablage-3.jpg

    You need to accept the terms before you can continue to the

    Install type selection
    Zwischenablage-4.jpg

    where you can choose what components you want to install:
    • On a "single seat" (all-in-one) system you install both MediaPortal 2-Client and MediaPortal 2-Server. This is the simplest setup.
    • If you have multiple computers you have to install the Server component only on one computer.
    • You always can install as many clients as you want.
    If you are not sure which "type" of Setup you need you may have a look at Network Configurations. You can see, the number of clients may vary but there always is exact one server.

    If you would like to change installation paths, please read Custom Installation.

    Note: The MP2-ServiceMonitor is being installed, independently from what you choose here, so you can track the MediaPortal 2-Server's status from each PC in the network.

    After you have made the decision what you want to install (the only needed decision during installation, not too hard, isn't it?) you will see the:

    Confirmation Dialogue
    Zwischenablage-5.jpg

    When clicking on Install your MediaPortal 2 Installation finally starts and the:

    Installation progress
    Zwischenablage-6.jpg

    is displaying what is going on in the background. As soon as the installation is finished a:

    Installation Completed
    Zwischenablage-7.jpg

    pops up. Now only one step is left, the clean up of temporal things. This will be fired up with a click on "Finish" and the last screen is shown:

    Success
    Zwischenablage-8.jpg


    What's Next

    When done, you'll find MediaPortal 2 links in the start menu
    Zwischenablage-12.jpg


    and on your desktop:
    Zwischenablage-11.jpg


    Also two new items are added to your system tray area
    Zwischenablage-14.jpg

    The orange item is the MP2-Traylauncher app that starts MediaPortal 2 if you press the "Green Button" on a "Windows Media Center" compatible remote. It only will appear if you have a client installed.

    The other item is the MP2-SystemMonitor and it is changing it's colour with the status of the MediaPortal 2- Server. Red (as above) means, the MediaPortal 2 Server is not running.

    Zwischenablage-13.jpg

    Green means, the MediaPortal 2 Server is running

    Zwischenablage-15.jpg

    and grey means the MediaPortal 2 Server is running and at least one client is connected to the server.
     
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    Lehmden

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    Custom Installation

    This page describes how to change Installation Directories and Data Directories.

    The Installation Directory is the directory in which the executable files (in particular .exe and .dll files) of the respective application are located. The Data Directory is the directory in which the respective application stores its data (such as settings, fan art or the MP2 Server's database).

    Default Directories
    The default Installation Directories on a Windows x64 system are:

    Application

    Default Installation Directory (x64)

    MP2 Server

    [SystemDrive]:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Server

    MP2 Client

    [SystemDrive]:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Client

    MP2 Service Monitor

    [SystemDrive]:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MP2-ServiceMonitor

    The default Installation Directories on a Windows x86 system are:

    Application

    Default Installation Directory (x86)

    MP2 Client

    [SystemDrive]:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Client

    MP2 Server

    [SystemDrive]:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Server

    MP2 Service Monitor

    [SystemDrive]:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MP2-ServiceMonitor



    The default Data Directories of these applications on both, Windows x64 and x86 systems, are

    Application

    Default Data Directory

    MP2 Server

    [SystemDrive]:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Server

    MP2 Client

    [SystemDrive]:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Client

    MP2 Service Monitor

    [SystemDrive]:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MP2-ServiceMonitor

    Please not that the [SystemDrive]:\ProgramData directory is by default a hidden directory. To access it through Windows Explorer you either have to enable displaying hidden files and folders or you have to enter the respective path blindly into the Windows Explorer path box.

    Changing the Installation Directories
    You can change the Installation Directories during the install process by selecting Custom.

    There you can change the Installation Directory of each MediaPortal 2 component separately: MediaPortal 2 Client, MediaPortal 2 Server and MediaPortal 2 ServiceMonitor

    CustomClient.png

    CustomServer.png


    CustomServiceMonitor.png


    Changing the Data Directories
    You can also change the Data Directory of each of the three applications separately. However, currently this has to be done manually after the installation process. Changing the Data Directories may make sense if e.g. your system drive is too small for the MediaPortal 2 Server's database or if you want to have your MediaPortal 2 Server's database file on a drive which is faster than your system drive, such as a SSD.

    Before you change the Data Directory of one of the applications, make sure you quit the respective application. I.e., if you want to change the Data Directory of your MediaPortal 2 Client, quit the MediaPortal 2 Client. If you want to change the Data Directory of your MediaPortal 2 ServiceMonitor, quit the MediaPortal 2 Service Monitor. If you want to change the Data Directory of your MediaPortal 2 Server, stop the MediaPortal 2 Server service.

    Then go to the Installation Directory of the respective application. You will find a subdirectory called "Defaults" containing a file called "Paths.xml". When you open e.g. the Paths.xml of your MediaPortal 2 Server it should look like this:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <Paths>
    <!-- Default paths can be overridden here -->
    <Path name="DATA" value="&lt;COMMON_APPLICATION_DATA&gt;\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Server" />
    <Path name="CONFIG" value="&lt;DATA&gt;\Config" />
    <Path name="LOG" value="&lt;DATA&gt;\Log" />
    <Path name="PLUGINS" value="&lt;APPLICATION_ROOT&gt;\Plugins" />
    <Path name="DATABASE" value="&lt;DATA&gt;" />
    </Paths>
    When reading this, please note that < stands for the lower than character '<' and > represents the greater than character '>'. The reason for this is that e.g. in the fifth line what we want to do is setting the value="<DATA>\Config". But we cannot do so because all this is within an XML file and there '<' and '>' are reserved characters. So we have to write value="<DATA>\Config" to achieve what we want.

    Simple Changes
    Usually, you only want to change where the respective MediaPortal 2 Application - in this case MediaPortal 2 Server - stores all its data. This can be achieved by changing only a single line in the Paths.xml file. Let's assume you want your MediaPortal 2 Server store all its data - including settings, the database file and the log files - on F:\MP2Data\MP2-Server. You can do so by changing line 4 from

    <Path name="DATA" value="<COMMON_APPLICATION_DATA>\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Server" />

    to

    <Path name="DATA" value="F:\MP2Data\MP2-Server" />

    No need to change the paths for the settings, the log files and the database file separately. These definitions in lines 5, 6 and 8 of the file are relative to the path called "DATA", which we just changed. So the settings will automatically be stored to F:\MP2Data\MP2-Server\Config, the log files to F:\MP2Data\MP2-Server\Log and the database file directly in F:\MP2Data\MP2-Server without any further changes. Just save your changed Paths.xml file and you are (nearly) done.

    Important Note: When you have already started the respective application before and used it - in particular when you already attached a MediaPortal 2 Client to the MediaPortal 2 Server or even added a Share to be imported, there is already data contained in the default Data Directory. If you want to keep this data, copy it to the new location before you restart the respective application. If you don't do so, MediaPortal 2 Server, MediaPortal 2 Client or MediaPortal 2 ServiceMonitor, respectively, will assume that they have just been started for the first time and create the respective data files with default values. This means in particular that you have to re-attach your MediaPortal 2 Client(s) and reimport your Media Source(s). If you did so by mistake, end the respective application again, delete the newly generated default files in the new Data Directory, now copy your old Data Directory's content to the new Data Directory and then start the application again.

    The Path.xml file in detail
    Now what do all these lines in Path.xml do exactly? The important lines here are lines 4 to 8. In line 4 we define a path called "DATA" located at "<COMMON_APPLICATION_DATA>\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Server". "<COMMON_APPLICATION_DATA>" is a system defined path which usually points to "[SystemDrive]:\ProgramData", so what we really define is a path called DATA pointing to "[SystemDrive]:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Server". Does that ring a bell? Yes, that's the default Data Directory of MP2 Server as explained above.

    In line 5 we define a directory called "CONFIG" pointing to "<DATA>\Config", i.e. to a subdirectory named "Config" located in the Data Directory we defined above. The MP2 Server stores all its settings there. In line 6 we define a directory called "LOG" located in a subdirectory named "Log" under the Data Directory. Guess what MP2 Server stores there: its log files. Line 8 defines where MP2 Server stores its database file (assuming you are using an embedded database like the default SQLCEDatabase or SQLiteDatabase). It is stored directly in the Data Directory.

    Line 7 is somewhat different as it tells MediaPortal 2 Server where to look for its plugins. So this does not affect "data", but program files. "<APPLICATION_ROOT>" is nothing more than the Installation Directory you chose during install for your MediaPortal 2 Server. So as a default, MediaPortal 2 Server looks for plugins in a subdirectory of the Installation Directory named "plugins".
     

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    Network Configurations
    An overview of possible and useful network configurations for a MediaPortal 2 environment.

    Single Seat - using local shares only
    SingleSeat.png
    SingleSeat_USB.png



    Single Seat - using network shares
    SingleSeat_NAS.png


    Client Server - mixed
    This means the server also acts as a client, which is technical a single seat installation with additional clients.

    ClientServer_Mixed.png


    Client Server - pure
    ClientServer.png
     

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    MediaPortal 2 Components

    Gives you an introduction to the MediaPortal 2 components / applications and their responsibilities.

    MediaPortal 2 Client
    Executable:

    MP2-Client.exe
    Default data directory:

    C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Client
    The client is the main GUI for MediaPortal 2. You can run multiple clients in your network, they can share the media resources with all other clients. This requires the MediaPortal 2 server to be running and the clients to be attached to it.

    MediaPortal 2 Server
    Executable:

    MP2-Server.exe
    Default data directory:

    C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Server
    The server is the responsible for the central management of all media. You can connect multiple clients to the server and across all those clients you get the same data. Besides the media files itself, this also includes the meta data like genre, summary, actors, as well as the play count, watched state and last time a media has been played etc.

    The MP2-Server.exe is a windows service, that means it is started automatically with windows. A windows service is already running even if no user is logged in to the system, yet. Windows is able to detect stops or crashes of the service and automatically restart it.

    The server itself does not have a graphical user interface and it is running in the background completely, but it can be monitored by using the service monitor and configured using any attached client.

    MediaPortal 2 ServiceMonitor
    Executable:

    MP2-ServiceMonitor.exe
    Default data directory:

    C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MP2-ServiceMonitor
    The service monitor is a small application running in the system tray to monitor the status of the MP2-Server.
    It can be used from any PC in the network no matter if the server or any client is on the same or another machine in the network.
    The tray icon changes depending on the connection state:

    • MediaPortal 2-ServiceMonitor disconnected from MediaPortal 2-Server / MediaPortal 2-Server not running
      zwischenablage-14-jpg.177746

    • MediaPortal 2-ServiceMonitor connected to MediaPortal 2-Server
      zwischenablage-13-jpg.177747

    • MediaPortal 2-ServiceMonitor and at least one MediaPortal 2-Client connected to MediaPortal 2-Server
      zwischenablage-15-jpg.177748

    From within the context menu of the MediaPortal 2-ServiceMonitor, you can start and stop the service (MediaPortal 2-Server) if it is running on the same machine.
    sm_tray_contextmenu.png


    The MediaPortal 2-ServiceMonitor window displays a list of clients attached to the server and their current connection state.
    sm_mainwindow.png


    MediaPortal 2 ClientLauncher
    Executable:

    MP2-ClientLauncher.exe
    Default data directory:

    C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MP2-ClientLauncher
    The MediaPortal 2-ClientLauncher is a small tray application and allows starting the MediaPortal 2 Client by green button.
    This is part of the official MediaPortal 2 Installation, from the Summer '15 release onwards.
     

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    Setup Guides

    Welcome to MediaPortal 2
    These step-by-step Setup Guides will help you to get MediaPortal 2 up and running with basic features. Basically we designed MediaPortal 2 to be as user friendly and intuitive as possible. This includes using the most common default settings and the possibility to run and use Media Portal 2 without doing lots of configurations. But of course there are a few minor things to consider.

    If you do not wish or need to use a feature, you may skip that step or section.

    If you have not installed MediaPortal 2 yet, see Installing MediaPortal 2.

    After you have installed MediaPortal 2 successfully you need to configure a few things to get full benefit out of your new HTPC system. We recommend to start with the TV Setup, if you want to use the Live TV and Recording features of MediaPortal 2.

    The configuration of the TV section nearly is identical to MediaPortal 1. So if you like to follow any existing MediaPortal 1 setup guides or tutorials you normally can use them without changes for MediaPortal 2 too. There only is one notable difference. For MediaPortal 2 you don't have to install and configure a full blown SQL server (MySQL or SQLExpress) as you need it for MediaPortal 1. The database handling is done internally by the MediaPortal 2 Server. So you always can skip all database configuration parts of any MediaPortal 1 tutorials when using them for MediaPortal 2.

    Read more on Setup TV...

    Once you have finished the TV setup you're ready to configure the "rest" of your MediaPortal 2 System. Opposite to MediaPortal 1 all further configuration is done inside the Client GUI. No extra configuration tool is needed.

    We can separate "global" options like media sources and server settings that has impact on any client connected to the system from "client specific" settings like appearance and codec settings that are used for the local client only.

    The most important global settings are the media sources. You need to configure your media once on one client (no matter which one) to have them available on any clients. So you can configure the media sources on the workstation in your home-office that has mouse and keyboard attached to it and can use them instantly on your HTPC in the living room that don't have mouse/keyboard without any further action.

    read more on Media Sources...

    If you like to alter the visual appearance of your MediaPortal 2 client and / or want to configure some client plugins you can do this inside the client GUI too. No need to close the client only to exchange a theme or so.

    Read more on Client Configuration...

    You can control the MediaPortal 2 client with various devices like mouse, keyboard, remote and even with touch display (skin specific). A list of devices and how they are configured can be found on the page "InputDevices"

    Read more on InputDevices...
     

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    TV & Radio Setup
    How to configure TV and Radio for use with MediaPortal 2.

    Introduction
    MediaPortal 2 provides a whole-house media solution, which includes sharing TV Tuner(s) to multiple systems (clients) on a home network. Thus, the software is split into two parts,:

    1. Server software - MediaPortal 2 server which is a host for the TV engine that connects to the TV tuners, grabs EPG (TV Guide) data and much more. You only need one server for your whole home network. This server provides access to Live TV, recordings, schedules and all of your local stored media to all clients in your home network.
    2. Client software - MediaPortal 2 client which play all your media (Live and recorded TV or Radio, Movies, Music, Online Videos, Photos, etc).. You can use as much clients as you like or need. It is possible to install a client on the same PC than the server and the server still is usable for any other client too.
    Requirements
    Make sure your system meets the Recommended Hardware Requirements. Of course you need a TV Card that supports recording installed in the computer where you install the MediaPortal 2 Server. To check which special features are supported for your TV Card, see TV Card Features

    Methodology
    Depending on your system configuration, and how you installed MediaPortal 2, you will setup:

    • Server and Client software on the same system (Single-seat configuration)
    • Server software only if you do not use your server as a client to use MediaPortal 2 (Multi-Seat)
    • Client software only on each client PC in a Multi-Seat setup
    No matter which setup type you are using you first need to configure the TV engine. This is done by a tool named "MediaPortal 2 TV- Configuration" that is available on the PC where the MediaPortal 2 server part is installed. Opposite to any other MediaPortal 2 setup procedure this part only can (and must) be done on the server PC.

    Read more on Tv Engine Setup...
     

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    Tv Engine Setup

    A step-by-step guide to setup the TV and Radio part of MediaPortal 2:

    Tune and group your TV and Radio Channels and Groups, setup Recording and Time-shifting folders.

    If you are not familiar with the MediaPortal 2 termini like "Media Sources" just take it as it is now. Those terms will most likely be explained later in the guides.

    Goal
    After completing this tutorial you will have configured all the main TV settings to scan and organize your TV and Radio Channels, setup time-shifting and recording folders and options. Then you will be ready to use the MediaPortal 2 client software for TV on each client connected to your Media Portal 2 Server.

    TV-Engine Setup
    To setup the TV-Engine you must use the "MediaPortal 2 TV- Configuration" tool. You can find a shortcut to this in the Start menu

    Zwischenablage-10.jpg


    and on your desktop.

    Zwischenablage-11.jpg


    Starting Setup
    Double click on the "MediaPortal 2 TV- Configuration" shortcut located on your desktop, or use the Windows Start Menu Shortcut

    Once you've started the tool you will see this screen:
    SetupTV_01.jpg


    Most of the menus within the TV- Configuration are self explanatory, but a little bit of introduction is needed to the second menu in the list: TV Servers. This menu is where all your tuners are configured and where you scan your channels.

    If you expand the menu TV Servers by clicking on the + symbol you will find a single sub menu which is named the same as the network name of your particular PC (referred to as 'Your Server' in this guide to avoid confusion). Click on the + symbol again to display all the tuners you have installed in your PC. This guide refers to these as:

    • DVB-C/C2_Tuner_N - for a cable tuner
    • DVB-T/T2_Tuner_N - for a terrestrial tuner
    • DVB-S/S2_Tuner_N - for a satellite tuner
    • ATSC_Tuner_N - for an ATSC tuner
    where N is number of tuners of the particular type you have fitted.

    Aside your "real hardware" tuners you also will see two other "tuners" that did not use any extra hardware. "RadioWebStream" and "MediaPortal IPTV Source Filter" With the first you are able to add webradio streams like "average" radio stations to your Media Portal 2 server and with the second you can do the same with Web- TV streams.

    Depending on your tuner drivers, you may see more tuners than you actually have, e.g. if the driver supports different types of DVB tuners. If you see tuners here that you don't have (e.g. DVB-S when you have DVB-C), just untick the corresponding boxes to prevent confusion.

    SetupTV_02.jpg


    If you are using a Common Interface (CI) Conditional Access module (CAM) to access coded channels, select each tuner which uses a CAM, click the edit button and tick the box to enable the CAM under CAM Setup in the Edit card properties dialog box which appears. This is usually sufficient, but check the other options in the dialog to see if any apply.
    ATSC_TV Servers_Edit.jpg


    Note: The reason why 'Your Server' is listed is because the original design for MediaPortal 2 was intended to allow multiple servers to work together. However this was never successfully achieved and so this menu layout is a legacy of this intent.

    Tuner Priorities
    MediaPortal 2 will completely manage all of your tuners and allow you to prioritize the way that you use them. This prioritization can be adapted to your individual preferences. You may prioritize the tuner that changes channel the quickest, or you may only have one tuner that will play HD (in which case you might want to set this as the lowest priority so it is always free for HD recordings). If you don't have any strong views or requirements, then just use the default settings.

    If you make changes to your tuner priority then the MediaPortal 2 Server needs to restart. Therefore you should make sure that no clients or recordings are active before making changes.

    To change your tuner priorities click on TV Servers > Your Server. Click once on the tuner to change, then use the Up/Down buttons to move it up and down the list.

    Note: Priority 1 is the LOWEST priority

    Scanning Channels
    This part is broken into sections for ATSC scanning, DVB-S/S2 scanning, DVB-T/T2 scanning and for DVB-C/C2 scanning.

    Note: MediaPortal 2 will allow more than one tuner of any type to run a channel scan at the same, so you do not have to wait for one tuner to finish scanning before you start with the next scan.

    ATSC
    To scan for your ATSC channels you need to select the Tuning mode (Digital terrestrial or so) and probably (depends on your signal type) the QAM tuning frequencies

    ATSC_Scan_01.jpg


    When you press on "Scan for channels" the scan will start.
    ATSC_Scan_02.jpg


    During the scan there are lots of information shown. Once the scan is finished MediaPortal 2 will tell you, how much channels are found.
    ATSC_Scan_03_Completed.jpg


    If you got a subscription card from your provider and want to receive encrypted channels you need to enable the CAM. Select each tuner which uses a CAM, click the edit button and tick the box to enable the CAM under CAM Setup in the Edit card properties dialog box which appears. You also can enable the EPG grabbing here, but most ATSC stations did not deliver EPG "on Air" so most likely you need an other EPG source.
    ATSC_TV Servers_Edit.jpg



    DVB-S/S2
    The DVB-S/S2 tuning section allows tuning with diseqc, however this guide does not currently address this functional capability.

    Important Note: UK DVB-S/S2 transmissions do not allow detection of channels that are off air at the time of scanning. Therefore, to get a full complement of channels you will generally need to run a scan during the daytime (for CBBC & CITV etc), and then another scan after 19:00 hrs (for BBC3 & BBC4 etc).

    Click on the menu TV Servers > Your Server > DVB-S/S2_Tuner_1 and put a tick in the #1 option. Next is to update the satellite lists. Also it's highly recommended you don't need to do this but without the refresh you most likely won't get all (new) channels properly.
    SetupTV_03.jpg


    To scan for channels do the following steps:
    1. Change the Satellite drop-down list to your desired Satellite (e.g. 28.2°E Astra for UK Freesat or 19.2°E Astra for central Europe)
    2. If you have more than one type of TV source (other tuner or IPTV), put a tick in the Create Groups For: Digital Satellite option.
    3. If the card you are tuning is a DVB-S2 card, then put a tick in the Enable DVB-S2 Channel Tuning/Scanning option. If you miss this you will not be able to receive any HDTV channels.
    4. Put a tick in the Enable Channel Movement Detection option. This is optional and can also be unticked if you don't need it or getting issues with this feature.
    5. Click on the Scan for Channels button to start the scan
    6. When the scan is complete, the progress bar will show 100% and MP will report a list of the new/updated TV and radio channels detected during the scan
    SetupTV_04.jpg



    DVB-T/T2
    1. Click on the menu TV Servers > Your Server > DVB-T/T2_Tuner_1
    2. Using the drop-down list, select your country
    3. Using the drop-down list, select your region (if you live in the UK and don't know your region, then enter your postcode into this website and find your local transmitter).
    4. If you have more than one type of TV source (other tuner or IPTV), put a tick in the Create Digital Terrestrial Group option
    5. Put a tick in the Enable Channel Movement Detection option
    6. Click on the Scan for Channels button
    7. When the scan is complete, the progress bar will show 100% and MP will report a list of the new/updated TV and radio channels detected during the scan
    DVB-C/C2
    1. Click on the menu TV Servers > Your Server > DVB-C/C2_Tuner_1
    2. Using the drop-down list, select your country
    3. Using the drop-down list, select your scan parameters or cable provider.
    4. If you have more than one type of TV source (other tuner or IPTV), put a tick in the Create Digital Cable Group option
    5. Put a tick in the Enable Channel Movement Detection option
    6. Click on the Scan for Channels button
    7. When the scan is complete, the progress bar will show 100% and MP will report a list of the new/updated TV and radio channels detected during the scan.
    Channel Mapping
    If you have more than one tuner of the same kind (e.g. two DVB-S2 tuners) you can do a channel scan for every tuner. But you also can "map" the channels scanned with the first tuner to the other tuner(s) of the same kind. This will save a lot of time. For this you need to click on the menu TV Channels. Then activate the menu entry "TV Mapping". Here you will find a dropdown list with all your available tuners.
    SetupTV_05.jpg


    Choose a tuner you don't have done a channel scan with and you will get a list similar to this:
    SetupTV_06.jpg


    Select all channels in the "Available Channels" list and then click on the ">>" button. Now all those channels are mapped to this tuner and can be received here too, without the need to run a complete channel scan.

    Organizing TV Channels
    Now that your tuning is complete, you can click on the menu TV Channels and you will see a screen with a number of tabs along the top (e.g. Channels, All Channels, Digital Cable, Digital Satellite, Digital Terrestrial - depending on which tuners you have installed, and which group creation options you selected before scanning).

    Each channel has a red or green symbol next to it. Green means that it is free-to-air, and red means that it is encrypted.

    Combining Channels
    If you have multiple TV tuners of the same type, using the same provider (i.e. more than one DVB-S/S2 tuner tuned to 28.2E), the channels are automatically combined for you.

    However,If you have multiple TV tuners of different types, you may end up with a large number of common or duplicate channels. For example, in the UK both Freesat (DVB-S/S2) and Freeview (DVB-T/T2) offer the same channels.

    Before you start arranging your TV channels, you should group these common channels into a single combined channel. By doing this, you will only see a single instance of each channel in your EPG (which will look much better). Once you have done this, MP will use the Tuner Priorities you set above to select which tuner to use when requested.

    It is easier to combine the channels on the tuner which has the fewest channels with the tuner that has more. For example, In the UK, there are far fewer channels on DVB-T/T2 than on DVB-S/S2, so it is much easier to combine channels by going through each DVB-T/T2 channel in turn and finding its matching DVB-S/S2 counterpart than vice versa. Follow these steps to combine your channels:

    1. Click on the menu TV Channels > Combinations
    2. Use the drop-down Card: list to select one of your DVB-T/T2 tuners (you should be shown a list of channels available from your DVB-T/T2 tuner on the left hand window)
    3. Starting from the top of the list, click on a channel on the left hand window. MP will then scan the DVB-S/S2 channel list for a matching channel name and provide the results in the right hand window (note: the channel naming convention from different suppliers may vary (i.e. BBC THREE vs. BBC3), therefore the channel matching may not also be perfect and some searching may be required)
    4. When you have identified the matching channel, click on the corresponding Rank number on the right hand window to highlight the matching channel
    5. Click on the Combine button
    6. Repeat the above process for all the channels you wish to combine.
    Favorites Channel Groups
    Now that you have your multiple providers sorted, you can setup one or more Favorites Channel Groups to display only the channels you want in your TV guide (rather than 900 odd channels!).

    The following instructions assume that you have DVB-S/S2 tuners installed on your system, but if you have different type of tuner the basic instructions still apply.

    1. Click on the menu *TV Channels *to view all your channels
    2. Click on "Add" in the "Channel groups" region and enter a name for the new group you just created. You can repeat this step as often as you like. In this example we've created two groups, "Favorites" and "Kids".
    3. Right click on the first channel in the list that you wish to copy into one of your Favorites groups.
    4. Left click on the mouse pointer menu item Copy to group (note: hovering the mouse over Copy to group will show you the list of available groups)
    5. Repeat this step for every channel you wish to have in (one of) your favorite group(s)
    SetupTV_08.jpg


    If you now click on one of the Favorites tabs, you will see that it is populated by the channels you just copied there. In this example there are three channels in the "Kids" group.

    SetupTV_09.jpg

    You can order the channels as you like by using either "Order by Name", "Order by Number" or the "Up"/"Down" Arrows. In the GUI the channels are shown ordered as you do here.

    Finally, when MediaPortal 2 displays your channels it will always show the first channel group as default. Therefore, if you want MediaPortal 2 to always default to your Favorites group, you need to move it to be the first group in the list. To do this, left click and hold on the Favorites tab and then drag it until it appears right of the group Channels that can not be moved and is not displayed in GUI.

    Since there are multiple methods of assigning EPG (Electronic Program Guide) data to your channels, this is covered in Advanced Configuration

    Read more on TV Guide Setup (EPG)...

    Organizing Radio Channels
    You can organize your radio channels exactly as you organize your TV channels - see the Organizing TV Channels section above.

    Recording Folders and Settings
    At first there are a few general recordings settings.

    SetupTV_10.jpg


    Depending on your TV stations it can be useful to alter the "Pre- and post recording" settings to different values (minutes). Normally the rest could stay as it is.

    With the next tab you can set custom path and file- names for your recordings. This can be different for "one time only" recordings and for recurring (Series) recordings.

    SetupTV_11.jpg


    Even if you are familiar with MediaPortal 1 setup you may find something new here. As MediaPortal 2 has in-build support for movies and series you can configure the TV engine in a way that all your movies and series recordings are added automatically to the movies and series sections of MediaPortal 2. For this you need to use custom values and define different sub- folders for series and one time recordings in the custom naming scheme. All available tags are listed below. Aside this you can use normal chars and \ for defining folders. Here is an example for movies (one time recordings) naming scheme:
    SetupTV_12.jpg


    All your one time recordings are stored in a sub- folder named "Movies" now. You can name the folder to whatever name you like. The name itself is not important. It only has to be different to the series sub- folder. In the "Sample" line above you can see how your recordings will be named now.

    And the naming for your series recordings may look like this:
    SetupTV_13.jpg


    Depending on your EPG data source you may or may not have season and episodes numbers available. This is independent of MediaPortal 2 and only a feature of your EPG source. All your series recordings are stored in a sub- folder named "Series" now. As for movies you can name the folder to whatever name you like.

    If you don't want this feature simply do not use this sub- folders (means leave out the "\Series" and "\Movies" part in the description. Then all your recordings are only added to the "recordings" media source, that will be displayed in the TV section under "Recordings"


    Setting the recordings folder(s)
    You can alter the default path to store your recordings. Indeed it is very useful to do this, if you have more than one drive in your MediaPortal 2 Server PC. The default path is on C: drive. As this is the system drive it could be critical if the drive gets filled too much by your recordings. Aside this, the system drive very often is used by Windows, so it could disturb the storage of your recordings.
    SetupTV_14.jpg


    First choose the tuner card you want to set the recordings folder. MediaPortal 2 can save your recordings into different folders for every tuner you may have. But you also can use the same folder for all of your tuners. For this you can use the "Same recording folder for all cards" button after you have set- up the folder for your first tuner.

    Hint to former WMC users
    If you move your existing wtv and/or dvr-ms recordings into (one of ) the recordings folder, MediaPortal 2 will import and use them as if they are "native" MediaPortal 2 recordings. This is not possible with encrypted wtv files.


    Time-shift Folders
    Time-shift is a technique to have the possibility to pause and rewind "Live- TV". This is build into the TV engine and don't need any configuration by the user, excerpt for the place to store the temporal time-shift files. Time- shifting can be critical regarding timings, so best is to not use the system drive (means the physical disk, to which Windows is installed). If your MediaPortal 2 Server has enough RAM build in best is to use a "RAM- Disk" for time-shifting as a RAM Disk is the fastest possible drive and it is (opposite to a SSD) very reliable on reading and writing. As the time-shift files are temporal only it did not matter that a RAM Disk is cleared on every restart.

    To change the location where MediaPortal 2 stores the time-shift data (e.g because you don't want it read/writing to an SSD all the time):

    1. Select the menu Timeshifting
    2. Select the Folders tab
    3. Click on the Browse button, select your chosen destination and click OK.
    4. Now click on the *Same recording folder for all card*s button.
    Now you are done with the basic TV Engine configuration.

    Click OK to save your TV Engine Configuration settings and exit the configuration GUI.

    What's Next?
    Maybe you are looking for a way to add Channel Logos to your set-up. MediaPortal 2 contains a plugin that searches for channel logos, downloads and configures them to be used automatically without any user interaction or configuration. This may take a while so on the first run it can be possible that some (or all) channel logos are missing. So be patient.

    Now that you have completed your basic TV Engine Setup, you are ready to configure your EPG.

    Read more on TV Guide Setup (EPG)...
     

    Lehmden

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    TV Guide Setup - EPG
    How to get EPG (Electronic Program Guide) data for your TV Guide in MediaPortal 2

    Methods
    The Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is one of the most important parts of the MediaPortal 2 TV system. Having a reliable EPG makes your TV experience more like a commercial set top box (e.g. Sky Digibox).

    There are many different ways to populate your EPG (via internet data and data received by your TV tuner).The best method depends on your TV Card. region, Service Provider and the quality of data available.

    338481_orig.jpg

    If you are in the USA, Canada or Mexico, Breese's tutorial about using xmltv is highly recommended:

    https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/xmltv-install-configure-for-atsc-ota-u-s-a.133048/

    This guide presents the main methods plus several different Setup tutorials, with examples for specific regions/countries:

    DVB
    if you have a DVB TV Card and your TV broadcaster includes good EPG data this is the easiest method to use:
    However, often DVB sources provide data only for the next 48 hours, which is not very useful for scheduling recordings.

    XMLTV
    XMLTV is an XML based file format for describing TV listings. There are a number of software tools that you can use to download your EPG data and import it into MediaPortal 2 using the included XmlTV plugin - see TV Guide > EPG > XMLTV for some of the more popular tools.

    This guide includes the following Setup Tutorials:

    • XMLTV mc2xml - using the XmlTv plugin and mc2xml program to download TV Listings from Windows Media Center (MSN/Micosoft), TitanTV, or Schedules Direct, - works for most countries including Canada and the US.
    • XMLTV GUI - especially for the UK (Radio Times, Bleb.org, Digiguide), North America (Schedules Direct), Denmark (ONTV) and Israel (AZTV), with Lua scripting support for other sources
    • WebGrab+Plus - more than 130 TV-guide sites worldwide.(see the supported sites)
    Note: Not all sources of XMLTV EPG data are free. Some require subscription or membership fees on the website.

    Note: The TV Listings support for Windows Media Center may be shut down in near future as Microsoft has stopped supporting WMC with Windows 10. So if you are starting new it will be more future proof if you don't use the Microsoft service.

    WebEPG
    WebEPG is a plugin provided with MediaPortal 2. It actually uses XMLTV format, but was designed by and for MediaPortal 2. It can grab data from about 100 different websites from over 30 different countries, with 'grabbers' added regularly. You can even create your own grabber for your preferred TV Listings website.

    One of the big advantages of WebEPG is that your channel names will automatically match the TV Channels you scan into MediaPortal 2. WebEPG uses the channels created by MediaPortal 2 and let you easily map them to the channel from the TV Guide site. In addition with WebEPG you may get up to 14 days EPG data!

    • WebEPG - includes details on using IMDb grabber for US locations.
    SchedulesDirect Plugin
    If you are in the USA, Canada or Mexico, you may also try the SchedulesDirect Guide Importer TV-Server plugin. It includes the ability to "enrich" your guide data with SxxExx (season/episode) information for upcoming recordings from thetvdb.com

    See the Configuration Guide for setup information.

    TV Movie EPG Import Plugin
    If you are in Germany, you can use the TV Movie EPG Import TV- Engine plugin included in MediaPortal 2. The plugin maps data for German TV channels from the TV Movie Clickfinder Database to your MediaPortal 2 TV channels.

    Digital Television
    There are several different broadcast standards throughout the world. The method you choose to get EPG data depends on the standard used in your region:

    DigitalTelevision.png


    For example, you will only get EPG data from DVB Sources in countries that support it.
     
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