Using MediaPortal as a 24/7 tv recorder. (1 Viewer)

[craige1]

Hello there,

I am interested to know if mediaportal could be used as a 24/7 tv recorder. Basically this is a computer with many tv tuner cards that are buffering tv on many channels at once for a long period like 2 weeks, and when a user wants to save "record" a program that was on during that last 2 weeks, it will grab it from the buffer and save it.

This in mediaportal I would imagin would go something like running the timeshift buffer on many channels using the different cards, then saving the program out of the timeshift buffer and into the recorded programs section when a user chooses a program that is in the timeshift buffer.

Can MediaPortal do this or how hard would it be to have this added? Also if a plugin was written, could it add this support or would MP itself need to be changed to allow it?

The only other part to this is the ability to save the recorded programs to file or disk, I couldnt find anything on that. Can this also be done in MediaPortal?

I have done a lot of searching but its at the point where asking directly is a better approch to getting an answer to these questions.

Thank you for your time.

 

[2BitSculptor]

From my understanding.... what you are asking for MP cannot do.

The timeshift buffer is saved on disk as many smaller files for each channel that various clients are viewing. Usually no more than 1/2 hour of buffer (can be adjusted, but I'm not sure how much) for shifting foreward and back. The timeshift buffer can hold more program, but shifting back at a certain point is limited. I believe there where plans for MP to record a currently playing program from the beginning of that program's timeshift buffer. I don't know if it is implemented yet.

I don't believe it is feasible to continuously timeshift 2 weeks worth of TS files on multiple channels (or even one channel for that period of time). The amount of storage space would be prohibitive. You would also have to create a client for each channel, as one client can only play one channel at a time. The database would also have to be remade to store 2 weeks worth of channel information, again, for each channel.

I'm probably blowing smoke from my butt ... but I think it would require way too much in programming and resources that are way beyond the scope and purpose of MP.

best regards,

Chuck

 

[mm1352000]

Hi craige1

An interesting question. If you take MediaPortal as it is right now then I don't think it can be done with timeshift buffers. There are a few reasons for that, the biggest of which is probably that you have no way to reconstitute the recordings from the buffers. I'm not saying that would be hard, as you could probably join the required buffers and then copy the packets that you are interested in into a separate "recording" file (it would include all channels in the original buffer, which might be a disadvantage in terms of filesize if the recordings were to be kept long term). The tricky thing would be automating that - writing a plugin that is able to do the processing required to pull out the programme that you/"the users" are interested in based on records of what each buffer contains. At a high level that might seem simple, but that wouldn't be code I could write just off the top of my head...

An alternative that should work "as-is" would be to simply record every programme. Write a simple DB script that sets the recording flag on every programme for each channel that you're interested in. You would want to automate the DB script to run periodically to keep up with the flagging, but other than that, it should be quite simple. Note that I have assumed that recordings can share tuners, which I believe is true. It would be a relatively simple code patch to allow that to happen if it doesn't already. Then you've got separate recordings for each programme on each channel, and there is no extra processing required.

What do you think?

 

[craige1]

That sounds doable, something like a little tvserver plugin that marks all shows to be recorded. I'm pretty sure mp has a delete files option when hard drive space is getting low.

I work in the I.T. Department for a large school. The thought was to build a computer with as many tv tuner cards as we need and plenty of hard drive space. It would be used to allow teachers to grab shows that have been on in the last week; basically as a mini tv archive. The teachers could then play the show on the projectors we have in each room.

 

[netexplorer]

AW: Using MediaPortal as a 24/7 tv recorder.

Have you really calculated how much disk space is needed to record a channel for two weeks? I think that's around 600 gigabyte for every channel.

 

[craige1]

The machine specs shouldnt be a problem.

 

[netexplorer]

AW: Using MediaPortal as a 24/7 tv recorder.

Maybe the plugin TvWishList can do that if you search for '%' in program title. You can limit the search to a specific channel and use record as action.

 

[craige1]

Ah, great idea. It's starting to look like its do-able with mp as is.