New to MP, General Questions (1 Viewer)

[herdofcrickets]

I'm moving from Media Center to MediaPortal because I like the look of the program (I'm vain I guess).

I have a few questions;

I tried to install MP directly on my computer now, but I couldn't get it to work. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to find any channels (in the TV Config options I didn't even see the USA as a choice.) Any ideas?

In the next few days I'm going to do a fresh install of XP, basically following this Here

Anything else I could do or do different?

My system specs are as follows;

2.8GHZ
2.5Gig RAM
250Gig's Hard Drive
ATI 2400 HD Pro Grapics Card
ATI 750 TV Wonder
connected via HDMI to a Optoma HD66 projector

 

[kiwijunglist]

Win7 32bit is better if you have it.
I would recommend you skip the "recommended decoders" section and instead I would install SAF5.0 unlocked version, do this after you install mediaportal but before you setup mediaportal.

Me suggested order would be

Fresh format + Install operating system (prefer win7 32bit, next best choice is win xp sp3 32bit)
Install network card driver, tv tuner driver, display driver, sound driver.
If using XP SP3 then install additional bits per MP requirements guide (check system components + required updates), if win7 you usually don't need to install any additional bits here. just proceed to next step.
Install MP 1.2 alpha or MP 1.1.1
Install SAF5.0 unlocked version
Goto tvserver and scan channels
Setup rest of mediaportal

Your video card / cpu is fine for SDTV, too slow for HDTV, should be fine for 720p video, maybe ok with 1080p video, wont do 1080i video.

 

[herdofcrickets]

Working on this now,

I can't find anything mentioned anyplace about how to get SAF5.0 unlocked. Ideas?

 

[kiwijunglist]

instructions in first post of SAF thread, it tells you to send a private message to hoborg (the creator of saf) to request saf unlock instructions.

 

[2BitSculptor]

For EPG data in the US you have 2 options.

The first (what I would recommend... eg ...works for me) is to download the Schedules Direct Plugin --> https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/electronic-program-guide-67/need-help-installing-schedules-direct-plugin-87580/#post664242

the second is mc2xml ... go to the MediaPortal quickstart link

hope that helps some.

-Chuck

 

[herdofcrickets]

instructions in first post of SAF thread, it tells you to send a private message to hoborg (the creator of saf) to request saf unlock instructions.

Thanks! Not sure how I overlooked that. While I haven't used MP yet, it sure looks nice... wish it was easier to setup, but its free so I won't complain too loud

For EPG data in the US you have 2 options.

The first (what I would recommend... eg ...works for me) is to download the Schedules Direct Plugin --> https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/electronic-program-guide-67/need-help-installing-schedules-direct-plugin-87580/#post664242

the second is mc2xml ... go to the MediaPortal quickstart link

hope that helps some.

-Chuck

Perfect, thanks Chuck.

I was having a problem getting MP to recongize my TV card last night, but I finally got that figured out... but it was too late to do anything else so I went to bed. I'll scan for channels tonight and work on the EPG, starting with your recommended plugin first!

 

[herdofcrickets]

TV shows up now, but looks... not good.
The top half of the screen is the TV, the bottom half is just 'white noise' static

I'm thinking its a codec problem, but i have it setup just like the SAF V5 thread says...

crap, must have changed something... now it says "no audio/video detected"

windows media center didn't look as nice as MP, but it sure was easy to setup... if this doesn't work in the next day or two, i'm switching back to MCE

 

[2BitSculptor]

I can't verify this as I don't have an ATI TV Wonder card. But there is a discussion concerning the ATI 650 TV Wonder -> here <- and its compatibility. I know you have the 750, but there still may be some driver issues.

- Chuck

 

[herdofcrickets]

Thanks Chuck, I've seen that thread.

I'm in the process of obtaining Windows 7 so I think I'm going to go with that, as long as I can get around the pesky Microsoft people

 

[herdofcrickets]

Win7 installed and running great.

I think my TV card just isn't compatiable with MediaPortal (or I'm too lazy to set it up correctly)

Thanks for all the help,