Server or no server (1 Viewer)

[Alexh]

Hi all,

I have been using WMC for over 10 years, been looking for a replacement for some time but for some reason never saw any mention of Mediaportal.
The WMC Live TV is very good but watching MkV's is a big headache.
Mediaportal actually has very good documentation also!
Have not installed yet.

I have 2 HTPC's each with 1 or 2 Hauppauge 2250's.
My network is all hardwire.
At first I was not sure if I should use Mediaportal in server mode but I can think of at least 2 major advantages. Also I already have a server for storage of media files.
Because currently I can only record locally, I have to have very large HDD's on my HTPC. If not I have to move the media files to my server and then of course WMC will re-record the same episodes because It does not know it already recorded it. So does not really solve the issue.

Also, I often schedule the same recordings on both HTPC's or I forget if I scheduled on one but not the other - you get the idea.

So my plan is too move the tuners to my server and install server only on server + 2 HTPC's with TV's.
I already have a schedules direct account.

Is this a good plan?

A big thanks to all the developers etc. as I thought I would have to abandon HTPC.
I will definitely make a contribution.

One additional question - If I have multiple HDD's on my server does mediaportal require that I combine these using NAS for example?
I could probably dedicate one drive to TV, one for movies etc.

Thanks!

 

[mm1352000]

Hello and welcome

Is this a good plan?

My opinion: it's definitely a good idea to have all your tuners in the server. As you've already identified, this is the best way to avoid double-recordings, re-recordings and having to move media around.

Note that unlike WMC which requires one tuner per channel, MP is able to use one tuner to time-shift and/or record all channels from a given frequency (AKA physical channel). In other words, if you have OTA ATSC digital terrestrial TV from an aerial/antenna, you can stream all channels with the same major channel number (ie. if the channel number is 42-2, 42 is the major channel number and 2 is the minor channel number) using just one tuner.

Consider installing the client software on the server. This can be really useful for troubleshooting - particularly network/connectivity issues. The only impact would be the additional HDD space used (~65 MB).

If I have multiple HDD's on my server does mediaportal require that I combine these using NAS for example?

No.
From a TV perspective:

1. Each tuner has its own recording folder setting. If you configure tuners to record to different HDDs, MP will naturally spread your recordings over those HDDs. If an HDD fills up, just change the recording folder for the corresponding tuner(s). Changing a tuner's recording folder setting does not affect client access to previous recordings.
   
2. The location of recordings is transparent to clients. In other words, when you want to view a recording, you don't have to know which tuner recorded it and which folder that tuner records to. The recording grouping/layout is independent of the file system.

Hope that helps.
mm

[edit: One more thing relating to the multiple HDD subject. You can configure "quotas" on each HDD. In short, this enables MP to automatically delete older recordings to make space for newer ones. Any recordings that you want to keep forever can be flagged to make them safe from deletion.]