Previously recorded TV & Radio programs list, not displaying correctly. (1 Viewer)

[CyberSimian]

Those 4 TV programs can be seen in the folder-view, in folder: Test-Folder-02. But they are also still listed in the main-view, so it doesnt seem to reduce the number of .ts files being 'seen' in the main-view

I think that there are two different ways to manage and view your files:

(1) View as a folder tree, and navigate up and down the tree to access the subset of files that you want to list (e.g. list a particular TV series that resides in its own folder).

(2) View as a "single list", but use selection criteria to reduce that list to the specific files that interest you (e.g. "all films that feature John Wayne"). With this approach, the files in the separate folders are logically glued together (but not physically re-arranged) to create this single list, and then the selection criteria are applied. So I think that what you have found is probably the correct behaviour -- the single-list view will include the files that you moved to separate folders.

If you moved all files into relevant folders (e.g. one folder for each TV series), you would then use only the folder view in the future, and completely ignore the single-list view, so it would not matter that the single-list view still showed all files. But you may not want to do this (too much work to re-arrange the files, or perhaps you like using the single-list view for some files).

@ge2301 may be able to suggest a solution.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[2BitSculptor]

I don't use MP2; but I make my TV Recording folders, which I have 1 for each of 4 tuners, network shares, so I can "copy" my ts files to another, designated folder that I have as a source folder in Videos, and view it in folder/shares view. I then either view and/or delete the file(s) in the TV Recordings screen, to clean up the database. I can then (at my leisure) edit the commercials out of programs I want to keep, convert them to another format, and put them in TV Series folders, or just keep them in a Videos folder.

 

[ge2301]

So my MP2 config page doesn't have the 'Video' folder listed, it looks like this image from the wiki...

View attachment 215055

My TV recordings are in folder E:\TV-Recordings
...so to avoid any confusion with current folders, I used Windows Explorer to...
a: make this test folder: E:\Test-Folder-02
b: then I moved 4 current TV program files, and their .xml files,
from that E:\TV-Recordings folder / to the E:\Test-Folder-02

Then I tried to follow the info in this wiki:
and as this media is on this HTPC, I set the provider to: Local File System
NB: The Server & Client are both on the one PC.

Now: Those 4 TV programs can be seen in the folder-view, in folder: Test-Folder-02
But they are also still listed in the main-view, so it doesnt seem to reduce the number of .ts files being 'seen' in the main-view, so presumably, they are still being counted as part of the 1500 .ts files that are causing my current problem.

I dont know, but perhaps I am doing this all wrong ?

Many thanks.

In MP2 there is no external configuration too, everything is in the GUI and possible with remote. The window from your screenshot is the configuration for the TV Engine, this is not replaced to and visual things in MP2. To switch the folder view just go to the side or top menu (differs by screen) and select „view mode“. Here you have library and folder view.

 

[groovybaby]

I think that there are two different ways to manage and view your files:

(1) View as a folder tree, and navigate up and down the tree to access the subset of files that you want to list (e.g. list a particular TV series that resides in its own folder).

(2) View as a "single list", but use selection criteria to reduce that list to the specific files that interest you (e.g. "all films that feature John Wayne"). With this approach, the files in the separate folders are logically glued together (but not physically re-arranged) to create this single list, and then the selection criteria are applied. So I think that what you have found is probably the correct behaviour -- the single-list view will include the files that you moved to separate folders.

If you moved all files into relevant folders (e.g. one folder for each TV series), you would then use only the folder view in the future, and completely ignore the single-list view, so it would not matter that the single-list view still showed all files. But you may not want to do this (too much work to re-arrange the files, or perhaps you like using the single-list view for some files).

@ge2301 may be able to suggest a solution.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

This seems way to complecated then it needs to be!

I thought the whole point of moving the program files from the TV Recordings folder, to the Video Folder, was to reduce the number of files in the TV Recordings folder, to less than 5000 files?
This would then make sure that the main-menu list of programs was displayed correctly?

 

[CyberSimian]

I thought the whole point of moving the program files from the TV Recordings folder, to the Video Folder, was to reduce the number of files in the TV Recordings folder

That is the way that MP1 works. But it seems that MP2 does things differently. Possibly it provides no way to distinguish between recordings and other video files, but instead glues them all together into the single-list view.

My opinion is that every single media-centre program in existence has behaviour that you as the user don't like. The challenge is not to find the best media-centre program; the challenge is to find the "least worst" media-centre program. It may be that there is a different media-centre program that better fits your needs. Unfortunately, I don't think that MP2 is likely to change (but I am not a member of the MP2 team).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[groovybaby]

That is the way that MP1 works. But it seems that MP2 does things differently. Possibly it provides no way to distinguish between recordings and other video files, but instead glues them all together into the single-list view.....

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

Reading the MP2 Wiki I mentioned earlier, which says...

'The Concept of Media Sources ​

MP2 uses the concept of distributed media, but centralized information. This means that your media items can be anywhere - on your MP2 Server, on your MP2 Client, on any other computer in your network, on a NAS or maybe even in the Internet....
...The big advantage of this concept is that from the perspective of an MP2 Client it does not matter at all, where the media items are located. As soon as you attach a freshly installed MP2 Client to your MP2 Server, it has immediately access to all the media items your MP2 Server knows about. Unlike in MP1, there is no need to import your music collection on every single client. '

So in MP2: This seems to confirm that all .ts files are displayed (in the main Recording listing) from wherever they happen to be on your HTPC system, so from all the internal & external drives, NAS etc, etc.
So moving programs from one place to another will not solve this listing problem!
NB: I have also discovered that there must be a matching .xml file, for its .ts file to be displayed in that list.

Personally from a users POV: I dont think imposing a limit of 5000 files makes any sence.
It would be nice to know why there is any limit?

I know that sometimes when writing programs you have to set some limits, to allow a program to run correctly, but 5000 does seem low, when you consider the use that MP was created for.

Many american TV series have about 25 episodes per series, so that a maximum of 200 series.
If you just watched something, and then deleted it, then the problem would be less likely, but many of us like to save programs for possible future reference. I have many music-program recordings, which I save like I would save an artists album, etc.

Is it possible to install MP1 on to my MP2-HTPC ?
Without it causing any problems with its MP2 install ?
eg: If I installed MP1, and then used MP1, and didnt use MP2 ?

I cant think of any other way to solve this listing problem.

It would be great to know if other MP2 user have had this issue, and if, and how they solved it,

Many thanks.

 

[CyberSimian]

Is it possible to install MP1 on to my MP2-HTPC ?
Without it causing any problems with its MP2 install ?
eg: If I installed MP1, and then used MP1, and didnt use MP2 ?

It is possible to have both MP1 and MP2 installed on the same drive (I have a test partition with just such an arrangement). However...

The TV Server parts of MP1 and MP2 start when the system boots, and TV Server runs all of the time, even when it is not recording and live TV is not being viewed. If both TV Servers were active, they would fight for access to the tuners, so this is not a usable arrangement. What will work is to use the Windows "Services" panel to disable one of the TV Servers. On the "Services" panel, right-click the entry to be disabled ("TV Service" for MP1, "MP2 Server" for MP2), and select "Properties". Then on the "General" tab select "Disabled" from the drop-down menu:



Note: you must disable the TV server in order to prevent it restarting the next time that you boot your system. If you merely stop the TV server, it will restart on the next boot.

Here are some steps to follow:

(1) Before making any changes to your system, I would strongly advise you to create a drive image of your "C:" drive, using one of the free drive-imaging programs that are available. If you do this, you can restore that drive image if/when things go horribly wrong.

(2) Next, disable the MP2 server as detailed above. I would suggest rebooting after disabling MP2, to make sure that any ports used by MP2 have been freed.

(3) Download the MP 1.36 installer in either 32-bit or 64-bit versions, and run it using "Run as Administrator". Note: you must have the internet accessed when you run the installer. Reboot on completion of the install.

(4) You will now have two shortcuts labelled "TV Server Configuration" -- an old one for MP2, and a new one for MP1. If they have the same name, rename the shortcuts so that you know which is which.

(5) Run "TV Server Config" for MP1, and define the settings required. It is very similar to MP2.

(6) Run "MP Config" to define the settings for the MP1 client.

(7) Invoke the MP1 client and see if it works. Job done!

(8) If you want to test MP1 for a few days or a week or two, remember that MP2 will not be recording the programmes that you have already scheduled to record, so you will need to schedule recordings in MP1 for those programmes.

(9) To return to MP2, disable the MP1 "TV Service" in Windows "Services", reboot, and then enable the MP2 server in Windows "Services".

-- from CyberSimian in the UK