Austria
MediaPortal Version: 1.1 RC1
MediaPortal Skin: Blue3 wide
Windows Version: XP Pro SP3
CPU Type: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
HDD: 1) OCZ Vertex 30GB 2)WD RE4 GP 2TB
Memory: 2 x 2048MB Kingston DIMM 4GB PC2-6400
Motherboard: ASUS P5B-E
Video Card: Point of View GeForce 9500GT 512MB
Video Card Driver: ForceWare 196.21
Sound Card: ESI Juli@
Sound Card AC3: ESI Juli@
Sound Card Driver: v1.23
1. TV Card: FloppyDTV DVB-C/CI
1. TV Card Type: DVB-C
1. TV Card Driver: 5.2.N BETA
2. TV Card: FloppyDTV DVB-S2
2. TV Card Type: DVB-S2
2. TV Card Driver: 5.2.N BETA
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec:
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
h.264 Video Codec: CoreAVC 185
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Astra 19.2°E/Hotbird 13°E
HTPC Case: Zalman HD160
Cooling: Noctua NH-U9F / Noctua NC-U6 / NF-R8
Power Supply: Seasonic SS-301HT
Remote: MCE over IRTrans
TV: Sharp Aquos LC-46 XD1E
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI
This is rather a general feedback...
In earlier days when I was using only DVB-C and got around a 100 channels everything was quite fine. Before a rescan, deleting all channels was not a big problem since sorting then took maybe a 20 min to get channels sorted right again.
Then I added a DVB-S2 card with 2 LNBs tuned to Astra 19,2 and Hotbird 13. Now when doing a complete scan I get around 2500 channels
Now when sorting the channels, the fun is over
The interface in 1.1 RC1 got well improved for sorting the channels, but things then again still are far from perfect for handling so much channels.
First I don't understand why the channels and all channels tabs got a separate sort order. Why can't they use the same sort order? I've got always the option to add groups with different sort orders if I wish.
One sort order for channels and all channels tabs would be a lot better...
Then the thing with the channel numbers is completely useless in my case. The channels of my cable tv provider all got the channel number 0000, then after scanning Astra and Hotbird and sorting after channel number would give a nice chaos.
Sorting after name does not make much sense either.
Moreover if you have sorted all channels manually and then my mistake click on sort (channel/name) - better have an export made or omg the work of many hours is lost since there is no undo...
Why is there not something like "my channel number" that represents the sort order I made for myself?
When doing an initial scan I then would be glad if the sort order (my channel number) would be the order in what the channels are found during scan. So I simply would scan DVB-C first and have my most important channels in front. And then scan Asta and then Hotbird.
A big part of Astra and Hotbird are scrambled - simply deleting these would be an option to facilitate things, but it not really does so. First if I've got a subscription to some, I simply cannot delete all scrambled and even if I delete the ones I have no subscription manually, when doing a rescan these channels are found again and worse get placed somewhere and mess up my sort order, instead of simply get placed at the end. And then there are channels that got a scrambled flag but are not scrambled and vice versa (but that's not the fault of MediaPortal).
So I ended up by unchecking channels that do not work and placing them after the working ones.
Rescanning is not working perfect either. For channels no longer found there should be an option to remove these after a rescan (I think there's even an entry in the roadmap). Sometimes channels change their name (ZDF Doku -> ZDF Neo). After a rescan the name changes should be applied automatically.
My last complete scan (from zero) I did in December 2008 and it took me nearly two days to sort the channels right. Then did as little rescans as possible since these mess with the sort order and i was using export/import when reinstalling.
To sum up what would facilitate things:
1) one (same) sort order for the channels and all channels tab
2) Add a "My channel number"
3) Initial sort order of "My channel number" order in that the channels are found during scan
4) When doing a rescan of new channels are placed at the end (My channel number)
5) Change channel name when channel got a new name in rescan
5) option to automatically delete channels that are no longer found after rescan
MediaPortal Skin: Blue3 wide
Windows Version: XP Pro SP3
CPU Type: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
HDD: 1) OCZ Vertex 30GB 2)WD RE4 GP 2TB
Memory: 2 x 2048MB Kingston DIMM 4GB PC2-6400
Motherboard: ASUS P5B-E
Video Card: Point of View GeForce 9500GT 512MB
Video Card Driver: ForceWare 196.21
Sound Card: ESI Juli@
Sound Card AC3: ESI Juli@
Sound Card Driver: v1.23
1. TV Card: FloppyDTV DVB-C/CI
1. TV Card Type: DVB-C
1. TV Card Driver: 5.2.N BETA
2. TV Card: FloppyDTV DVB-S2
2. TV Card Type: DVB-S2
2. TV Card Driver: 5.2.N BETA
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec:
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
h.264 Video Codec: CoreAVC 185
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Astra 19.2°E/Hotbird 13°E
HTPC Case: Zalman HD160
Cooling: Noctua NH-U9F / Noctua NC-U6 / NF-R8
Power Supply: Seasonic SS-301HT
Remote: MCE over IRTrans
TV: Sharp Aquos LC-46 XD1E
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI
This is rather a general feedback...
In earlier days when I was using only DVB-C and got around a 100 channels everything was quite fine. Before a rescan, deleting all channels was not a big problem since sorting then took maybe a 20 min to get channels sorted right again.
Then I added a DVB-S2 card with 2 LNBs tuned to Astra 19,2 and Hotbird 13. Now when doing a complete scan I get around 2500 channels
Now when sorting the channels, the fun is over
The interface in 1.1 RC1 got well improved for sorting the channels, but things then again still are far from perfect for handling so much channels.
First I don't understand why the channels and all channels tabs got a separate sort order. Why can't they use the same sort order? I've got always the option to add groups with different sort orders if I wish.
One sort order for channels and all channels tabs would be a lot better...
Then the thing with the channel numbers is completely useless in my case. The channels of my cable tv provider all got the channel number 0000, then after scanning Astra and Hotbird and sorting after channel number would give a nice chaos.
Sorting after name does not make much sense either.
Moreover if you have sorted all channels manually and then my mistake click on sort (channel/name) - better have an export made or omg the work of many hours is lost since there is no undo...
Why is there not something like "my channel number" that represents the sort order I made for myself?
When doing an initial scan I then would be glad if the sort order (my channel number) would be the order in what the channels are found during scan. So I simply would scan DVB-C first and have my most important channels in front. And then scan Asta and then Hotbird.
A big part of Astra and Hotbird are scrambled - simply deleting these would be an option to facilitate things, but it not really does so. First if I've got a subscription to some, I simply cannot delete all scrambled and even if I delete the ones I have no subscription manually, when doing a rescan these channels are found again and worse get placed somewhere and mess up my sort order, instead of simply get placed at the end. And then there are channels that got a scrambled flag but are not scrambled and vice versa (but that's not the fault of MediaPortal).
So I ended up by unchecking channels that do not work and placing them after the working ones.
Rescanning is not working perfect either. For channels no longer found there should be an option to remove these after a rescan (I think there's even an entry in the roadmap). Sometimes channels change their name (ZDF Doku -> ZDF Neo). After a rescan the name changes should be applied automatically.
My last complete scan (from zero) I did in December 2008 and it took me nearly two days to sort the channels right. Then did as little rescans as possible since these mess with the sort order and i was using export/import when reinstalling.
To sum up what would facilitate things:
1) one (same) sort order for the channels and all channels tab
2) Add a "My channel number"
3) Initial sort order of "My channel number" order in that the channels are found during scan
4) When doing a rescan of new channels are placed at the end (My channel number)
5) Change channel name when channel got a new name in rescan
5) option to automatically delete channels that are no longer found after rescan