TV-Server on WHS - Collection of fixes and workarounds (1 Viewer)

[yhoogi]

As WHS support by the MP Dev Team is virtually nil, I will start a dedicated tread for all WHS tattered MP people who try to install their TV Server and had to look all over the forum for potential solutions


In case somebody has further workarounds or problems please post them in this thread

Cheers,


P.S.: Before anybody complains - I have read the supported platforms statement but would have at least anticipated the observed and reported install issue of 1.1.0 to be solved. (This never appeared in the former versions)


Topic: Dedicated TV Server on WHS Install Problem


Affected: 1.1.0 Alpha, RC1

Observation: TV-Server install showed an error which was caused by not finding TVService config:
Cause: TVService.config and TVSetup.config were named as TVService.exe.config and TVSetup.config.exe
Fix: Renaming to TVService.config / TVSetup.config



Topic: Guide to TV-Server Install on WHS

Fix:

Install WHS
Apply all updates
Install PowerDVD8 (Trial) or the h.264 codecs
Install MS Mediaplayer 11:

Download MP11
Extract the content of wmp11-windowsxp-x86-DE-DE.exe (or english) via WinRAR or WinZIP into a subdirectory (lets call it "WMP")
Copy this directory twice ("WMP1" & "WMP2")
Copy WMP1 & WMP2 into to C:\ (or somewhere else on the system partition)

Delete WMP1\wmp11.exe and WMP2\wmfdisk11.exe

Open the properties of wmfdisk11.exe and enable on the compatibility tab that the program shall be executed for Windows XP
Open the properties of wmp11.exe and enable on the compatibility tab that the program shall be executed for Windows XP

Start WMP1\wmfdisk11.exe
Reboot
Start WMP2\wmp11.exe
​

Reboot
Apply the DVBfix patch (as described in the MP wiki)
Reboot
​

This is based on a nice step by step description to be found with a good visual description in pdf (both in German) here:
comfortainement.de - Mediaportal auf WHS




Topic: FloppyDTV / FireDTV install of 5.6Beta driver on WHS

Affected: all

Observation: 5.6 Beta driver can not be installed as setup prog denies installation on WHS ("wrong OS")
Simple driver install did not work as the driver is not recognised by the TV server

Cause: Hardcoded version check by setup software
Fix: Two possible ways:

1)
Install 5.3 Beta
Update driver with newest version of 5.6

For WHS use the available drivers in (5.6): \Driver\XP\BDA, with:
FireDTV_BDA_DVBS2 for DVB HDTV
FireDTV_BDA_DVBS for DBV (Standard)
FireDTV_BDA_DVBC for cable
and update via hardware manager (Do not uninstall the 5.3 version)
​

2)
Replace the 5.3 drivers with the one of 5.6

Copy the content of (5.6): \Driver\XP\BDA to (5.3): Driver\BDA\x86
Install this patched setup
​

Topic: Channel search skips HD Transponders (no signal) for FireDTV- and FloppyDTV DVB-S2 cards

Affected: up to 1.1.0 Alpha

Observation: Affect is observed and reported on several Threads in the forum. Mostly affecting PREMIERE HD / SKY HD Transponder frequency

Cause: TBC
Fix:
NOTE: Current 1.1.0 RC1 (with 5.6 driver) seems not affected

For up to 1.1.0 Alpha:

Clean install of TV-Server 1.0.0
Reboot
Install TV-Server of MediaPortal SVN-Snapshot:-03-07-2009 01-58h - Revision:21864
Install and apply DVBfix
Make channel scan (should now be working - at least during the last 5..6 times I had to re-install the server)
Update to a newer TV-Server while keeping the channel list intact​

Edit 16.8.2010:
Although I do not have much time for caretaking, one issue may be of interest (mostly for German population)

/INDENT]


Topic: Channel search skips new Sky HD Transponders (no signal for Sky Action HD, Sky Sport 1 HD and Sky Cinema Hits HD) for FireDTV- and FloppyDTV DVB-S2 cards

Affected: 1.1.0 final (and below)

Observation: Affect is observed and reported on several Threads in the forum. Mostly affecting PREMIERE HD / SKY HD Transponder frequency https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/tipps-tricks-tutorials-176/deutsche-sat-19-2-e-astra-kanaele-inkl-hd-und-sky-tuningparameters-77425/#post574528

Cause: TBC
Fix:


For 1.1.0 final:

Download new Transponder List file and transfer the transponder list and satellite.xml in the DVBs directory (See above link with further details)
Re-Scan the Transponder Channels for ASTRA HD
​

 

[BeLLe]

Great post - I tried to instal the new 1.1beta tv-server on my WHS yesterday but had to give up due to the install error. Now everything is working fine.

 

[yhoogi]

WHS Power Management & TV Service Scheduler

Topic: Power Management & Scheduled Records with automatic WHS Wakeup


For: all versions

Ref: See

• Ref-1: LightsOut Power Management & Scheduler
• Ref 2: WHS Blog Wakeup Script with LightsOut

Description:
LightsOut as a nice power management AddIn with a calender and client presence monitoring function. Main features are:

• Scheduled wakeup and power down (shut-Down/Sleep/Hibernate) of the WHS
• Automatic wake-up (via client software/WOL) and stay awake in case an approved client is present
• Shutdown / Start-Up services during before/at end of power down periods (e.g. TV-Service )

A documentation is available on the Web-Site (see Ref1)

A forum member wrote a handy script running in the background and updating the task scheduler for wake-up in time of a programmed record by regularly checking the SQL server TV-record database.
I would like to express my thanks to him as the script is rather powerful, providing not only TV record schedule, but also further features, like process monitoring (more to come).
Hi Larry, keep up the good work!
If I am not mistaken, he is also available in the German MP forum WHS Script, but it seems like the script is only maintaned in (Ref2) with the newest features.



Installation

• Install LightsOut on WHS as AddIn
• Install the LightsOut Client on all required clients (available in the WHS Software Folder)
• In the LightsOut Settings include in the "Start/Stop these services on Suspend/Resume" enter "TVService" (This will shut down and restart the TV-Service = no issues due to hibernate/standby of the TV server)
• Put the latest script available under (Ref2 = "WHS_LO_Erw.vbs") in a subfolder on C:\ (e.g. c:\scripts)
• Modify the following section (at least):
  
  
  '**************************************************************
  'Einstellungen
  '**************************************************************
  'Logs / Debug
  Log=1 'Set 1 for Logfiles 0=no log
  Logpfad="c:\" 'Logfile path
  
  'Für LightsOut
  Aktion=2 'Lightsout power down mode 0=no power down, 1=Standby, 2=Hibernate, 3=ShutDown
  
  'for TaskScheduler
  PLUser= "<WHS Admin account ; normally Administrator>" 'e.g. "Administrator"
  PLPW= "<Your Admin Password>"
  
  'For Mediaportal
  CheckMP= 1 'for use without Mediaportal =0 ; qith MP = 1
  SQLServer= "<ServerName\SQLEXPRESS>" ' e.g. "MyWHS\SQLEXPRESS"
  SQLUser= "sa"
  SQLPW= "MediaPortal"
  DWH= "MpTvDb"
  Zeitdiff = 8 'No. Number of Minutes before record
  ​
  There are further options, but I would like to keep the merits to the author (as well as bug reports )
  
• at first run of the script a new task is created which needs to be modified:
  • open Scheduled Tasks
  • open properties of "MP_Aufnahmen"
  • enable on the advanced properties that the Computer shall be reactivated for task execution
  • disable that the task shall be terminated after a certain period
• Create a new task for "WHS_LO_Erw.vbs" with the following settings:
  • Task shall be run at System Start (to ensure to start the scheduler during bootup)
  • Enter your admin account & password

Thats it

Cheers


Edit: For clarification:
The script does not create calender entries in LightsOut. It is purely handled via the scheduler, waking up the WHS at scheduled event (in time for the recording) and keeping him awake for the duration of the recording
Standby/Hibernate is initiated by the LO conditions (e.g. 10min without LO client available)
There are some other conditions in the script to keep the WHS awake, like for specified IP addresses present (means some other computer), if a specific task is run (e.g. start of internet explorer), etc. - but thats another story.

 

[charli181]

I tried this procedure today, but no luck in getting 1.1 beta running. It stops the install and says I have win XP 64 bit version. I am running win 2003 Server SP2. Any ideas on how to get around this?

 

[romuz]

I am running win 2003 Server SP2 R2
but doesnt see messages that stop the installation.
You can try to run installer in WinXP compatibility mode.

I tried this procedure today, but no luck in getting 1.1 beta running. It stops the install and says I have win XP 64 bit version. I am running win 2003 Server SP2. Any ideas on how to get around this?

 

[charli181]

If I run the install in compatability mode (windows XP), again will not continue the install due to "OS not being supported". See attached image for complete error popup.

 

[yhoogi]

Only significant difference I see is in the 64bit mode. The WHS is running in 32bit.

Did you try to install the whole mp or only the TV-Server?

Cheers,

 

[romuz]

Only significant difference I see is in the 64bit mode. The WHS is running in 32bit.

Did you try to install the whole mp or only the TV-Server?

Cheers,

Yep i think that a problem, i use 32 bit server version and only got warning that is not supported but not block installation.
So you can try
run installer, goto folder with unpacked mp files and run install mptv server manually.

 

[yhoogi]

So this happened when using the dedicated TV-Server install in the setup - or did you tried the one-click installation?

The only recommended setup selection is for the TV-server. I doubt that a full or client install is working with WHS.

Cheers,

 

[charli181]

Only significant difference I see is in the 64bit mode. The WHS is running in 32bit.

Did you try to install the whole mp or only the TV-Server?

Cheers,

Yep i think that a problem, i use 32 bit server version and only got warning that is not supported but not block installation.
So you can try
run installer, goto folder with unpacked mp files and run install mptv server manually.

All
thanks for all the help here. Finally got TVServer 1.1beta installed.

Had to do manual download and whilst it was downloading everything else, went to doc's and settings/username/localsettings/temp/mediaportal and copied the tvserver package across.

Canceled out of the donwload and then ran the tv server package.

Note, had some problems when this was run as the config files were incorrectly named (found them to be TVService.exe.config - so renamed it to TVService.config and then the TVService started up.
I still get the error message during configuration startup about incompatable OS but atleast it allows me to continue on and use the TV Service. I was getting worried I was going to have to build another machine jsut for the TV Server.