New to MP, where to start? (1 Viewer)

[Slugger]

So after thinking about it for a few months, I've decided to take the plunge and at least start to investigate a possible move to MP.

All of my HTPC hardware is currently dedicated to SageTV with no plans to kill any of that setup -- it's heavily used by all in the house and I'd be signing my own death warrant if I just ripped it apart. I'd be building a new server for MP, if I decide to make the switch. Until a decision is made, I'm currently restricted to a Win7 VM running from my laptop with no tuners.

If I make the switch, my server would be strictly Colossus tuners (at least 2, hopefully 3-4) and I'd like to attempt to simulate this environment from the VM I've constructed.

I've created the VM, got all the prereqs installed, grabbed the src from Github and I've successfully built the 1.2.3 installers. Problem is I have no where to install it to get a feel for how MP works. What I'd really like to be able to do is create some "fake/dummy" tuners (preferably ones that simulate the behaviour of Colossus cards) so I can convince the TVServer that I have some inputs, setup the Schedules Direct plugin, attach the tv listings to these "fake" tuners then get the TVServer running on my VM to get a feel for how it all works. Is this possible? I don't want to (and really can't) invest in a new server with tuners just so I can install and be able to run it, being able to run the TVServer from a VM would be ideal (and beneficial as I start to play with the code). How do devs test? Strictly on systems with actual tuners, etc.?

Any help/pointers would be appreciated.

 

[toricred]

Welcome Slugger. one thing you might want to look at is using 4therecord (4therecord.eu) to manage your favorites. It won't natively use the Colossus, but it can use the MP server as a network server. When I came over here from Sage the most frustrating thing was the way favorites worked. 4TR gets much closer to the Sage experience. In addition I've found the Colossus (I've got 4 right now) rock stable with MP.

 

[Slugger]

Ah... a familiar face name.

You're probably going to be able to answer most of my major questions for me.

My first one is Colossus support, but it seems that's no issue. You're using 4 in the same server with no issues? Win7, latest Colossus drivers? 5.1 sound? Do you happen to use a USB-UIRT to control your STBs? Any issues there?

What are you using for playback? I assume you had HDx00 devices? I'd need multiple clients, going back to PC clients is not going to be fun, but at least some feedback from a Sage convert would be helpful/reassuring.

Of all the plugins I used, it turns out the only one I really want is my SRE plugin. This requires the ability to modify recording times during a recording. I haven't even started to investigate that, but maybe you might know if this is possible with the MP scheduler? The 4TR scheduler? I've read some good things about this 4TR scheduler, but haven't looked too closely at it yet, just getting my feet wet here, so to speak.

My big problem is I can't really invest in the hardware to go full blown on a test setup and I can't rip down my current setup to recycle that hardware so I'm really hoping to setup some kind of test env VM to at least get a feel for how the MP env works. Unfortunately, I can't get a tuner into my VM image and it seems without recognized tuners I can't create lineups and schedule recordings, etc. so my first obstacle is somehow trying to simulate it within the VM I've created. Hoping I can get a nudge in the right direction. Ultimately, I'd like to get this VM with the TVServer service running (possibly using 4TR) then install the MP client on a few laptops/whatever I have kicking around to get a feel for how the MP env will work.

 

[netexplorer]

Maybe you are willing to buy a USB tuner stick which should run in your VM.

 

[mbuzina]

btw. No Need to compile the sources yourself, just download the installer...

 

[Slugger]

Maybe you are willing to buy a USB tuner stick which should run in your VM.

Yeah, that sounds like a happy medium. So it sounds like there's no way to simulate tuners in a test environment?

 

[Slugger]

btw. No Need to compile the sources yourself, just download the installer...

Right, but I plan on tweaking.

 

[netexplorer]

Maybe you are willing to buy a USB tuner stick which should run in your VM.

Yeah, that sounds like a happy medium. So it sounds like there's no way to simulate tuners in a test environment?

No, i don't know any way.