MediaPortal Install Guide (1 Viewer)

[ltfearme]

The thing that is really a problem is that I haven't even be able to successfully get back to the old faithful xface skin yet. TV Series, since installing this skin is now doing strange things in xface, such as displaying fanart in the series view

The Fanart in Series View is a setting in the TVSeries Options Menu:

1. Press F9 or press Menu on remote
2. Select Options
3. Disable Fanart in Series View

This had nothing to do with the StreamedMP skin, you must of changed this setting yourself.

and "permanently" displaying banners in season and episode views. Have reverted all the TV Series settings back to default, uninstalled MP Streamed.... even deleted the TV Series database and recreated it, to no avail.

The fact you see Banners in Season view might be a Xface skin issue. Have a look here for a possible resolution:

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/xface-251/banners-season-view-51391/

I tried installing XFace v1.7 and dont see this issue, so not sure why you do.

Perhaps your seeing the series banners because your using MediaPortal v1.0 and not using the latest TVSeries. If you are using the latest MediaPortal then to fix visibility issues you need to have the latest TVSeries dll that supports it. You can get the latest TVSeries from the TVSeries forums or by installing StreamedMP v0.4.298.

 

[globaldonkey]

OK, got it sorted.... at least the streamed MP crashing part. I was running Streamed MP 0.3.270 (which installed TV Series 2.0.32.79). Not sure where I managed to dig that up from, but it was only a week ago, and pretty sure I followed the link in the first post..... noticed everything has been updated in the last couple of days. Anyways installed 0.4.298 (which has TV Series 2.0.32.96), and noticed that it had automatically configured TV Series correctly with all the logo and display rules, and Streamed MP is working like a dream.

BTW, Xface still looks horrible, if I switch back to it, but the "permanent" banners have gone.... I just haven't tried reconfiguring TV Series back to "default" display settings, which is what I'm sure the older skins need. Not going to bother now that Streamed MP is all good, but would be nice if there was a simple way for "backward compatibility" with older skins - ie switch all the TV Series display settings between old skins and Streamed MP.

Also Damien, I did try that same setting for fanart inside the plugin configuration - that was the setting I thought was the problem - even checked it, saved, unchecked it, saved again. Before I upgraded, I did try what you suggested from within MP, and it did work. Probably something weird with the older TV Series 2.0.32.79.

Thx for the help guys.... this is a really great package.

 

[ltfearme]

BTW, Xface still looks horrible, if I switch back to it, but the "permanent" banners have gone.... I just haven't tried reconfiguring TV Series back to "default" display settings, which is what I'm sure the older skins need. Not going to bother now that Streamed MP is all good, but would be nice if there was a simple way for "backward compatibility" with older skins - ie switch all the TV Series display settings between old skins and Streamed MP.

I created a SkinSettings pack for most of the popular skins so you can easily go back n forth between them without fiddling around with settings: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/my-tvseries-162/new-skin-settings-xml-51732/

Download the zip and you will find a SkinSettings for XFace. Dump the file in the XFace skin directory and you will find it should display everything correctly. The purpose of this file is to allow the skinners to present the skin as it was intended. It will override any options set in the TVSeries Configuration that are related to Skin Display Settings.

Also Damien, I did try that same setting for fanart inside the plugin configuration - that was the setting I thought was the problem - even checked it, saved, unchecked it, saved again.

In the previous build there was a problem with it saving correctly in Configuration, but it worked with-in MediaPortal. Changing it in Configuration has been fixed in the build you have now though. Note: this setting is not controlled in SkinSettings so its not overridden on load of the plugin.

 

[globaldonkey]

Perfect. Thank you very much. Xface back to normal. No logos, as that was my own template, but that's understandable, and I can see in the xml file how I can put them back in if I really want them back.

Now, given that you've been two steps ahead of me every time with the solutions to my issues I'm guessing that an upcoming release of the streamed MP installer would export the old logo and display rules, generate a skin settings file from them, and drop that settings file automatically if those skins are installed??

 

[Heather]

Wow, AWESOME guide. And FANTASTIC plug-ins. I had no idea they existed. THIS is how MP should work, in my opinion! I kinda like the default MP skin (being a girl and all) but the functionality of these plugins are so fantastic! I feel euphoric having stumbled upon this post!

 

[ltfearme]

Now, given that you've been two steps ahead of me every time with the solutions to my issues I'm guessing that an upcoming release of the streamed MP installer would export the old logo and display rules, generate a skin settings file from them, and drop that settings file automatically if those skins are installed??

Its possible, maybe later. A lot of things are still changing in that area, so until it settles down there is no point adding it as you might experience weird results.

 

[tourettes]

Wow, AWESOME guide. And FANTASTIC plug-ins. I had no idea they existed. THIS is how MP should work, in my opinion! I kinda like the default MP skin (being a girl and all) but the functionality of these plugins are so fantastic! I feel euphoric having stumbled upon this post!

Those plugins are skin independent, so its possible to use Moving Pictures and TV series also with default skin

 

[GeorgeVC]

And this is what you have to do to get MediaPortal running "OUT OF THE BOX"?
My God, I'm glad it's wasn't designed for IT experts.
The essence of QA is to satisfy the expexctation of the customer and if the customer has to be somebody who has a brand-new computer and can install all these filters and decoders and drivers and things and understand them, and then is able to "Add the location of your TV episodes/series here under Import Paths. Add or edit simple or regular expression string matching under Parsing Expressions. Run a Parsing Test to see how many of your episodes match successfully. When you're satisfied with the Parsing Test results, press the Start Import button at the bottom", don't you think that simple common sense would suggest that the home pages and publicity blurbs from the Team should warn potential users what they are getting into and the level of knowledge they have to have?

 

[tourettes]

And this is what you have to do to get MediaPortal running "OUT OF THE BOX"?
My God, I'm glad it's wasn't designed for IT experts.
The essence of QA is to satisfy the expexctation of the customer and if the customer has to be somebody who has a brand-new computer and can install all these filters and decoders and drivers and things and understand them, and then is able to "Add the location of your TV episodes/series here under Import Paths. Add or edit simple or regular expression string matching under Parsing Expressions. Run a Parsing Test to see how many of your episodes match successfully. When you're satisfied with the Parsing Test results, press the Start Import button at the bottom", don't you think that simple common sense would suggest that the home pages and publicity blurbs from the Team should warn potential users what they are getting into and the level of knowledge they have to have?

HTPCs aren't something that common folk should be using. For "normal" people it is just enough to buy a DVB settop box + DVD player (or maybe even a Blu-ray player). For common folk HTPCs are most likely only causing gray hair.

If HTPC software would be designed as easy to use and maintain as the DVD player / DVB boxes it would have severe consequences.

- huge development effort that wouldn't benefit the advanced users at all (the main target audience)
- feature amount would radically be reduced
- advanced features would have to be dropped as old "granny" cannot understand those

Sorry, but I think there are too many people who want to use HTPCs when they dont know their best Customization etc. comes with it own prize tag attached. If someone really wants to have a HTPC but is having hard time configuring / installing MP I would recommend to have a look on Microsoft MCE, its not bad at all. Much easier to set up than MP (but has limited customization possibilities).

 

[fforde]

Wow. Okay sorry tourettes, please don't take this the wrong way because I respect your opinion and your contributions to Media Portal but I could not disagree with you more. Most or all HTPC apps are complicated and a total pain in the ass to setup, this is true. But that doesn't mean it has to be that way! Have a little vision! In my opinion ANYONE should be able to install Media Portal, knowing virtually nothing about codecs or HTPC apps or any of that. Out of the box they should be getting the kind of experience that seasoned user's rave about though.

I am not saying sacrifice functionality, but usability could definitely be improved, and I think we could get MediaPortal to the point where the common person can use it. To suggest otherwise I think is a bit close minded maybe? I don't know. I think this is the biggest area where MediaPortal could improve though.