TV server on VMware ESXi 4.1 (2 Viewers)

[cfg]

I wonder if there is someone who has had success with running the TV server in VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 4.1? I can not find anything written about this in the forum and is a bit curious.
I have managed to install the TV-server and then watch and record programs, but it is unstable and the picture is very choppy. Sometimes it works to watch live TV for a few hours (with choppy picture), and sometimes only minutes before it stops working. When it stops working I have to reboot the server. Recording seems to work better and can function for days if I do not watch live TV in between.
I run it on old hardware: P4 3.2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, TV card Hauppauge HVR-930C. In the guest I run XP pro with TV-Server 1.1.0. Can the problem be due to old hardware, or is it that I think a limit in wmvare? Someone with personal experience that you want to share?

 

[infinite.loop]

No team member ever tried that as far as I know. Nor is TvServer intended to be used in a VM.

Imo. your hardware is quite underpowered for running VMs.

 

[cfg]

I know it's underpowered, but maybe someone else has succeeded with better hardware. I also have a new HP Z400, but unfortunately I don't manage to install ESXi on it.

I can't be the first trying to run TV server on ESXi 4.1 with a USB TV card? If it works, it's a killer solution...

 

[Guzzi]

AW: TV server on VMware ESXi 4.1

... check your system (VM) with DPC Latency Checker (first hit on google brings you to download) - compare it with a native system.
You'll see why there are problems, running realtime applications in VMs - or even on a host that is running a hypervisor (I tried Hyper-V R2 with TV-server on the host itself...).

It is not impossible, but the communication parts would have to handle with the higher latency - and since there is still being worked on stutter problems on native systems, I don't believe, that there will be development efforts for that too soon .....

 

[Lyve]

Interesting thread.

It's exactly what I want to try this weekend. I've got an Athlon X2 235e here with 4GB of RAM with a Gigabyte Board. I've got two Cinergy S2 DVB-S HD cards here, but as VMWare is able to route hardware into a VM I'm eager to see if it works.

I did a backup with Acronis True Image earlier this morning so I can restore everything if it fails.

With VMWare Standalone Converter I'm just converting my TV-Server to a vmx.

After that, the HD will be wiped and I'll try to install ESXi.

I'll keep you updated.

 

[Peter2]

FYI: 5.0 has been released, maybe it has some improvements for this goal as well.

 

[Lyve]

To give an update: ESXi didn't want to install first because my Realtek onboard network chipset is not recognized. I bought an Intel Pro/1000 Gigabit PCIe NIC and could install ESXi 4.1 on a flash USB device yesterday. Unfortunately, all I get when trying to start it up is "Boot Error".

Doesn't seem to be easy...

 

[Lyve]

I'll try to use a regular SATA HDD this evening to install it.

To be honest, I don't expect my PCI DVB-S cards to be working as I don't have a board that supports IOMMU (Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H). I flashed the latest beta bios F8f, I'll check today and let you know. It's really difficult to find an answer in the internet, I might have to exchange my board...

 

[ejtje]

Realy interesting tread!

What I like to test/build is one PC with 2 Vm's. One for the media interface (mediaportal) and one for NAS functionality (FreeNAS). I don't know how to get this working yet, but i'm hoping to learn it on the way

Greatings E

 

[Lyve]

My mainboard wasn't capable to do IOMMU which is required to do PCI-passthrough so I ordered a new one Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3. Hopefully it will arrive today so I can start to setting it up