N00b with a few questions (1 Viewer)

[Hefe]

I just got here, and have been searching around and not quite finding the answer to my questions yet..
maybe if I lay it out for ya..

I am wondering if Media Portal is "for me"

I am quite the computer nerd (I have owned and operated a computer store for the last 13 years)
and I love my HTPC..

right now I have:

1 colossus (hooked to a HD DirecTV box via HDMI)
1 USB tuner (hooked to another HD DirecTV box .. not recording in HD, just AV cables)
1 (dual) HDHOMERUN (hooked directly to Cable for digital local channels, hooked to the network via cat5)
the HDHOMERUN is currently not working with media center
running off Windows 7 Media Center
my Cable is just the "free" one that comes with my Cable internet account, no box is hooked up
100 or so crappy quality channels

what I would like to do..

I OWN 2 colossus Cards (would be nice to use both of them)
and I want those both hooked to the DirecTV boxes
still want the Dual HDHOMERUN hooked to my cable for digital locals
and use that 1 USB tuner for analogue Cable (filler in case the DTV boxes are using both colossus cards

lets add a twist... ~
my Directv boxes are hooked to my "work account" and get Detroit MI local channels
and my Cable is based out of Saginaw/Flint area and it needs the guide data from there
as you can imagine, I am very frustrated with Windows MCE for what I want/need to do, and I am looking for a better product, and so far I am quite impressed with Media portal
and since the forum seems pretty busy, I am hopefull that there are many smart people to help "get me through" the rough parts

also, would it be possible to run MCE (in the background) while I am "working" on getting Media portal setup?
would hate to miss my recorded shows
Thanks in advance.

Jeff

 

[kiwijunglist]

Yes I'm pretty sure that you can have both, the only potential problem is if both programs try to access the same tuner at the same time. I'm not sure if this would cause a crash, or would just cause one of the programs to not be able to record/view. However I think this will not be a problem for you as you just want to setup mediaportal so I imagine you would test recording/viewing at a time when MCE is not using the tuners.

So go ahead install MP + TV Server and try it out. Just make sure that any tvserver related activity/configuration/scanning occurs when MCE is not using the tuners to record/get epg data. Wait for MP 1.3 beta is released and try that.

 

[mm1352000]

Hello and welcome Jeff

I OWN 2 colossus Cards (would be nice to use both of them)

No problem.

and I want those both hooked to the DirecTV boxes

Yep, fine. I've seen people here recommend this plugin for controlling the DirecTV boxes:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...ins/TV-Server_Plugins/DirecTV_SHEF_IP_Control

still want the Dual HDHOMERUN hooked to my cable for digital locals

Yep, no worries. This should be straightforward.

and use that 1 USB tuner for analogue Cable (filler in case the DTV boxes are using both colossus cards

I think that is fine too. Certainly MP supports analog tuners. Depending on the brand and model, they can be a little tricky to set up. I'm not quite clear what you mean about switching to the analog tuner in case both Colossuses (Colossae??? ) are busy. Are you saying that the analog cable service carries some of the same channels as you get via the DirecTV boxes? If so, that could be a sticking point.

lets add a twist... ~
my Directv boxes are hooked to my "work account" and get Detroit MI local channels
and my Cable is based out of Saginaw/Flint area and it needs the guide data from there

Guide data is probably going to be a little trickier than with WMC regardless of the twist because MP doesn't have a guide service like Microsoft. That's simply because we don't have the money to make arrangements with the companies that supply the data. You'll probably need to use SchedulesDirect (MP plugin -->here<--) and/or mc2xml for this.

also, would it be possible to run MCE (in the background) while I am "working" on getting Media portal setup?
would hate to miss my recorded shows

As kiwijunglist says, that should be fine as long as you don't attempt to use your Colossae and/or tuners in both WMC and MP at the same time.

mm

 

[Hefe]

wow.. very exciting!

It seems MS is not that interested in furthering development of their MCE project.
so this breathes a new life into my HTPC

I am very excited about trying this out
I might even build a new PC for the occasion!

changing channels via IP address would be awesome (the ir blasters are not very reliable)

I am most likely going to wait till after the holidays to get rolling on this, or I think my wife will have a stroke! lol
she is very frustrated with the tv situation as it stands right now..
and all she says is "I don't care WHAT you do.. as long as it works!"

I'm not quite clear what you mean about switching to the analog tuner in case both Colossuses (Colossae??? ) are busy. Are you saying that the analog cable service carries some of the same channels as you get via the DirecTV boxes? If so, that could be a sticking point.

yes, example:
wife is recording dancing with the stars and some other random show. and Pawn stars comes on, it could "fall back" on the usb analog tuner and record Pawn stars.
not a huge deal anyway..
those instances are not that common

is there a way to prioritize what tuner a channel uses?
like ABC for example
say I want anything recorded from ABC to come from the HDhomerun tuner 1, the HDhomerun tuner 2, (and if those are both busy) then DirecTV box1, then box 2.

so many questions...
just wanna mess with this !
~jeff

 

[mm1352000]

I am very excited about trying this out
I might even build a new PC for the occasion!

Obviously I do recommend making sure you're happy with what MP can do for you before splurging on the new PC.

changing channels via IP address would be awesome (the ir blasters are not very reliable)

Indeed - IR blasters can be a real pain.

and all she says is "I don't care WHAT you do.. as long as it works!"

I hope MP can help you with that situation.

I'm not quite clear what you mean about switching to the analog tuner in case both Colossuses (Colossae??? ) are busy. Are you saying that the analog cable service carries some of the same channels as you get via the DirecTV boxes? If so, that could be a sticking point.

yes, example:
wife is recording dancing with the stars and some other random show. and Pawn stars comes on, it could "fall back" on the usb analog tuner and record Pawn stars.
not a huge deal anyway..
those instances are not that common

The sticking point that I mentioned would be if you wanted to combine the DirecTV channel sources with the analog cable sources.
For example, if you have ABC via DirecTV and analog cable.
You may need to have separate channels in that situation. That would be the worst case scenario. I do have a potential work around in mind, but let's cross that bridge when we come to it.

Note: it is fully possible to combine DirectTV and HDHomeRun sources or HDHomeRun and analog cable sources.

is there a way to prioritize what tuner a channel uses?
like ABC for example
say I want anything recorded from ABC to come from the HDhomerun tuner 1, the HDhomerun tuner 2, (and if those are both busy) then DirecTV box1, then box 2.

Not on a per channel basis.
You can prioritise the tuners to achieve that scheme across all channels, but you'd hit a limitation if you needed to have different tuner orders for different channels. I note that if some channels can only be received from the DirecTV boxes (which is likely to be true) that doesn't prevent you having the HDHomeRuns in priority 1 and 2. Generally MP uses the first available tuner that is capable of tuning the channel. This applies to both timeshifting and recording.

so many questions...
just wanna mess with this !

Our wiki may help on that front. Otherwise feel free to keep asking; I'll do my best to keep answering... and if I can't answer, I'm sure the rest of the community will chime in.

mm

 

[SolusCado]

So, I have MediaPortal setup with the DirecTV SHEF IP plugin (works great) and a Colossus card. I've tried manually adding a couple channels, and then using mc2xml to import guide data - this works perfectly and I am just going to setup a scheduled task to run the command line every night (or every few days). What I cannot figure out though is how to initially populate the TV Server Configuration with all my DirecTV channels. Is there something out there that can do it automatically, rather than me having to add some 900+ channels manually? (Realistically, I would only add the channels that I regularly watch, but still...)

If nothing else, I would imagine there is an export of the channels table from the MP database that we could just import manually. Does anyone out there know of any resources to assist with this challenge?

 

[kiwijunglist]

900+ channels... #first world problems

I think we have ~12 channels in NZ, up from 8 channels 2 years ago.

 

[SolusCado]

900+ channels... #first world problems

I think we have ~12 channels in NZ, up from 8 channels 2 years ago.

Haha. Fair enough. Well, I solved my problem - SchedulesDirect has a 7 day trial subscription which I used to get EPG data, and it can be configured to automatically add missing channels from its EPG. Then I removed the plugin and will handle guide updates through MC2XML.

 

[Hefe]

well, it's been almost a year, and I have been picking at this on and off for the last few months..

let me update my progress..

I built a new Machine for this so I don't have to disable the old one during the transition.
the new machine is:
Asus f2a55-m Mainboard
AMD A8-5600K 3.6 GHz APU with Radeon HD7560D Video
120GB SSD for the OS
2TB WD SATA 6.0 Drive for the storage
Silverstone case

Tuners:
HD Homerun (dual) (QAM Local channels Via Charter Cable)
Hauppauge WinTV HVR 1600 (SD Cable channels, and QAM via Charter Cable)
Hauppauge Colossus #1 (Hooked to DirecTV STB H24)
Hauppauge Colossus #2 (not YET hooked up, still on old MCE PC)

What I have done so far:
Updated everything to 1.5.0.0
Created a Schedules Direct account and built my channel list (.. seems to be working fine)
Installed IP Shef... and the "test" option turns on the receiver, so I assume that works fine.
Mapped the channels to the cards ....
HD Homerun seems to work fine, preview works.. tuning to the channels works fine.. all is good.
the HVR 1600 works good .. it tunes analog cable just fine.. (looks like poo.. but that's cable for ya)
but the Colossus just doesn't work..
my solution was to search on here for a "Colossus Setup guide" ... WOW.. that didn't work out too well
there was one thread that was 100 pages long and old and outdated.
and quite a few that had to do with IR Blaster issues (not my problem)
the preview option doesn't bring up a picture at all.. just the error "no PMT Found"
is there a simple (up to date) how to on getting Colossus working?

 

[Hefe]

finally making some headway on the Colossus..
had to change the input from "HDMI1" to Tuner.... not sure why.. but its showing the channel now..
stay tuned....