Normal
Of course I want to be helped, the whole point of coming to this forum is to ask for help. The problem is whether the help is forthcoming. Not the will to help - that is beyond doubt, you are all very generous, but whether the help itself is possible.I've always had the sense that MediaPortal is too big a beast, slightly out of control. I'm not sure any one person has their head round the whole thing. The whole server client architecture adds to the complexity. Choosing a complicated bloated database back end for TV adds yet more complexity. MySQL is famously inpenetrable - their refman pages contain all the information ever known to man about MySQL except that which you want to know (eg how to increase logging verbosity - hours of intelligent googling and I still can't find it). Current versions os MS SQLEx weigh in at close to or over 1GB. 1GB??? For Heaven's sake, all we need to do is keep a record of some channels, EPG data, recordings and a handful of other settings. It's a bit like using a Saturn V rocket to go shopping at your local store.So far as I know I didn't do anything that would explicitly mess with the database. I installed a parallel version of MS's SQL, and attempted to connect to it, it didn't work (why am I not surprised?), so I backed off. I didn't save the connection, just tested it. Or maybe this is one of the infamous cases of MP TV not being clear (I'm thinking of things like cleaning up recordings, where the warnings are really rather misleading).I mentioned ShowShifter earlier as an example of what works. SSF and MP in their own way also highlight the fundamental problem in this (software PVR/media centre) area: for some bizarre reason it work commercially, ie you don't get competent affordable third party SW (which is what SSF was until it disappeared and development stopped) which sticks around. It's either wobbly branded bundled stuff (WinTV, Pinnacle etc), some less than perfect cranky third party solutions or the big open source ones like MP and NPVR, which, to put it shortly, are always running a few fries short of a happy meal. I for one can (and have over the years) accept being a few fries short, but when the whole meal disappears, as it did last night, then I get disgruntled. I start asking how many days is it reasonable to spend trying to fix something that shouldn't need fixing.This General Support (for MP1) section of the forum has almost 500 threads. This suggests two thing to me; firstly that MP generates a lot of problems, and secondly there is an active community asking for help and providing help. Often problems are solved swiftly, which is great, but there are some older longer running sores that, I fear, are probably, beyond help. I've had a number of generously offered suggestions in this thread, but none of them work, indeed the fact there are so many suggestions itself suggests none of them work, because if the solution was known it would appear rapidly and the problem be solved.The bottom line is for me the MP database architecture doesn't work, in the sense that it is unstable. I'm not the only one who has found this: witness all the other threads about database corruption, connection problems etc. The wiki, as I have noted before, is less than perfect, often incomplete, and sometimes just plain wrong (eg the way to get the database connection dialog is setuptv.exe --configure-db when its /configure-db. OK I would probably have worked it out, this being a Windows setup, but why keep wrong information out there? It's back to MP being a too big beast slightly out of control.At the moment, after over three days of trying to sort this out, and ending up with an installation that really is FUBAR, I really can't face that rigmarole of getting log files, zipping them and all that - if they are there anyway, as I say, MP is currently FUBAR, and getting more info in the MySQL logs appears to be impossible, and then transferring them to another computer so that I can post them here. I sort of feel I've been there, done that, and got the tee shirt, only the tee shirt turned out to have lots of holes in it and then fell apart.I use image based backups and yes I do have an image of the relevant partition from the relevant time ie about a week ago ie after the new tuner card was installed so I can restore that image and get back to quite literally where I was a week ago. But we're no closer to solving the root problem, which is why MySQL is playing up. I fully accept it might not strictly speaking be a MP problem, though I would also say that in a way it is, because MP chooses to use a dysfunctional bloatware database system. After the last week, I'm not persuaded anybody actually knows the cause of the problem, or how to fix it. One possibility was to use another bloated database system, but that blew up in my face. The MySQL logs are useless, and there doesn't appear to be any way to improve (why am I not surprised?) their usefulness. I'm at, I think quite reasonably, the 'life's too short' point. I've tried to fix it, it hasn't worked, and so its time to move on. Here in the UK it's summer, and the weather forecast is good, time to enjoy the summer, not be stuck in a darkened room trying to fix software that on the face of it can't be fixed.None of what I have said diminishes my appreciation for the help that I have been offered, for which I am genuinely grateful.
Of course I want to be helped, the whole point of coming to this forum is to ask for help. The problem is whether the help is forthcoming. Not the will to help - that is beyond doubt, you are all very generous, but whether the help itself is possible.
I've always had the sense that MediaPortal is too big a beast, slightly out of control. I'm not sure any one person has their head round the whole thing. The whole server client architecture adds to the complexity. Choosing a complicated bloated database back end for TV adds yet more complexity. MySQL is famously inpenetrable - their refman pages contain all the information ever known to man about MySQL except that which you want to know (eg how to increase logging verbosity - hours of intelligent googling and I still can't find it). Current versions os MS SQLEx weigh in at close to or over 1GB. 1GB??? For Heaven's sake, all we need to do is keep a record of some channels, EPG data, recordings and a handful of other settings. It's a bit like using a Saturn V rocket to go shopping at your local store.
So far as I know I didn't do anything that would explicitly mess with the database. I installed a parallel version of MS's SQL, and attempted to connect to it, it didn't work (why am I not surprised?), so I backed off. I didn't save the connection, just tested it. Or maybe this is one of the infamous cases of MP TV not being clear (I'm thinking of things like cleaning up recordings, where the warnings are really rather misleading).
I mentioned ShowShifter earlier as an example of what works. SSF and MP in their own way also highlight the fundamental problem in this (software PVR/media centre) area: for some bizarre reason it work commercially, ie you don't get competent affordable third party SW (which is what SSF was until it disappeared and development stopped) which sticks around. It's either wobbly branded bundled stuff (WinTV, Pinnacle etc), some less than perfect cranky third party solutions or the big open source ones like MP and NPVR, which, to put it shortly, are always running a few fries short of a happy meal. I for one can (and have over the years) accept being a few fries short, but when the whole meal disappears, as it did last night, then I get disgruntled. I start asking how many days is it reasonable to spend trying to fix something that shouldn't need fixing.
This General Support (for MP1) section of the forum has almost 500 threads. This suggests two thing to me; firstly that MP generates a lot of problems, and secondly there is an active community asking for help and providing help. Often problems are solved swiftly, which is great, but there are some older longer running sores that, I fear, are probably, beyond help. I've had a number of generously offered suggestions in this thread, but none of them work, indeed the fact there are so many suggestions itself suggests none of them work, because if the solution was known it would appear rapidly and the problem be solved.
The bottom line is for me the MP database architecture doesn't work, in the sense that it is unstable. I'm not the only one who has found this: witness all the other threads about database corruption, connection problems etc. The wiki, as I have noted before, is less than perfect, often incomplete, and sometimes just plain wrong (eg the way to get the database connection dialog is setuptv.exe --configure-db when its /configure-db. OK I would probably have worked it out, this being a Windows setup, but why keep wrong information out there? It's back to MP being a too big beast slightly out of control.
At the moment, after over three days of trying to sort this out, and ending up with an installation that really is FUBAR, I really can't face that rigmarole of getting log files, zipping them and all that - if they are there anyway, as I say, MP is currently FUBAR, and getting more info in the MySQL logs appears to be impossible, and then transferring them to another computer so that I can post them here. I sort of feel I've been there, done that, and got the tee shirt, only the tee shirt turned out to have lots of holes in it and then fell apart.
I use image based backups and yes I do have an image of the relevant partition from the relevant time ie about a week ago ie after the new tuner card was installed so I can restore that image and get back to quite literally where I was a week ago. But we're no closer to solving the root problem, which is why MySQL is playing up. I fully accept it might not strictly speaking be a MP problem, though I would also say that in a way it is, because MP chooses to use a dysfunctional bloatware database system. After the last week, I'm not persuaded anybody actually knows the cause of the problem, or how to fix it. One possibility was to use another bloated database system, but that blew up in my face. The MySQL logs are useless, and there doesn't appear to be any way to improve (why am I not surprised?) their usefulness. I'm at, I think quite reasonably, the 'life's too short' point. I've tried to fix it, it hasn't worked, and so its time to move on. Here in the UK it's summer, and the weather forecast is good, time to enjoy the summer, not be stuck in a darkened room trying to fix software that on the face of it can't be fixed.
None of what I have said diminishes my appreciation for the help that I have been offered, for which I am genuinely grateful.
