Wanted to Give MediaPortal a Try. (1 Viewer)

[Michael Walsh]

Hi There,

I have been using Microsoft Media Center for the last couple of years ... most recently using WIN8 and an Acer Revo PC. In general everything works ... a few silly formatting issues ... and slow as a pig ... but everything works. I use a Hama MCE Remote control.

Given the slow speed of MCE and the much greater functionality that MediaPortal supposedly has, then I decided to try it out last night. The software loads, it finds the (1000!) TV channels and appears to be working ... but I really cannot make any serious use of the product because it is as if half of the buttons on the remote control are no longer working (they worked in Media Center!). Certainly the BACK button doesn't appear to be working ... so once I go into a certain menu then I would appear to be stuck there for good ... or use the "mouse" function of the remote to get to the menu at the top of the screen! And I cannot get the Green Button to start MediaPortal or do anything inside the app ... I've even had to kill the program a couple of times in the Task Manager. And the whole thing is even slower than Media Center.

So ... at the moment I have a HTPC solution in my living room that simply doesn't work ... and I am going to have to fallback to Media Center in a few hours unless I am overlooking something simple. Media Center IS still installed on the PC ... but obviously not running (not sure if being installed on the PC means that some background services are running?). Given that Microsoft are not including it in WIN8 any more, I am reluctant to delete it.

Does anyone have any ideas what might be going wrong here?

Many Thanks for reading ... and if you happen to have any tips!

Michael Walsh.

 

[Arturas1976]

Put attached file to C:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\defaults\InputDeviceMappings

And choose that remote in config. Green button won't work but all other will.

 

[Holzi]

Green button (start MediaPortal) also works if you do this: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...ad-of-mediacenter-with-your-remote-etc.59144/

Tested by myself.

 

[Michael Walsh]

Many thanks to Holzi and Arturas1976 for making suggestions, but I still cannot get this to work ... and, as mentioned above, the remote control was not the only issue anyway ... I've even had to kill MediaPortal from the Task Manager (where it has had a status of "not responding" on more than one occasion).

I really think that the descriptions of MediaPortal show it to have a huge range of features produced by dedicated folks ... but I have spent hours and hours trying to get it to work on a PC where Microsoft Media Center has been running for months (slow ... but quite stable). Surely it should be a simple matter for someone to write some sort of migration utility? What many people are looking for is something simple ... and not something with 1000s of options. We turned to HTPC because we are sick of having different devices for sat receiver, recorder, blu-ray player, CD Player and the accompanying half-dozen remotes!

So ... if there is any working group within MediaPortal that is working on a migration utility from Media Center, then I will gladly make a donation to the cause ... but for the moment it is back to Media Center for us!

Regards - Michael.

 

[Neild7744]

Michael,

3 weeks ago i was in exactly the same position as you. I used MCE oin windows 7, ran all the hacks and tweaks such as my channel logos, media centre studio, mediua center master, epg collector etc and thought it worked ok...I was wrong.

I got soo fed up with MCE that I basically formatted my PC, installed windows 7, turned off a load of pointless features and put mediaportal on. I spent 2 weeks playing around, reading mediaportal forum and guides which helped massively and came to the conclusion it was worth the switch. I did another format, installed windows and put mediaportal and ONLY the plugins i wanted...and i have to say have never looked back.

Not sure about you but i had all sorts of hassle with MCE. For example EPG collector would auto map channels then they would go missing...id download a windows update and my guide would default back to 7 rows instead of 11...etc. The list goes on. I was forever messing about and tweaking whereas mediaportal just works.

The added advantage i wanted was that a TV server and client setup can be used which MCE cannot do (unless you use an extender) and the customisation of mediaportal is immense.

My advice...formal your PC, reinstall windows and all up to date drivers then install mediaportal and have a play. I found it daunting at first (having been a media centre addict since the beginning of windows 7) and i do like the MCE look and menus etc...its configurability and customisation that lets it down.

Good luck!

 

[kiwijunglist]

good advice to format. after installing drivers you can make a system image. then after setting up the media software make a 2nd image. if problems you have 2 sperate points to go back to. you can also create a txt file that lists what you have installed and save it next to the image so you can consult with it if you break something or mess up and have to start again.

having a clean system eliminates a lot of problems due to unwanted software interactions. you never know what kind of mess old programs have left behind even after uninstalling then. this is particularly true with mce plugins and codec packs. mepo doesn't need codec packs it only needs lav which is installed by the installer. if you ever want more codecs then saf codec pack is the only safe option, it is designed especially for mediaportal.

with regards to remotes the only remote i would ever recommend is mce clone remotes. they can be identified by gaphaving ehome listed in device manager after plugging them in and they don't require drivers or software to install. mepo setup involves ticking one box only in setup.

 

[Michael Walsh]

Thanks also to Neild7744 and Kiwijunglist for your comments ... but they both really do confirm that no one gets this stuff working in a couple of hours ... or even a couple of days.

So ... in order to move from Media Center to MediaPortal without telling my wife and Family that they can't watch TV in the Living Room for 2 weeks, it looks like it is necessary to go out and buy duplicate Hardware, including satellite connectivity ... and give up my evenings for at least two weeks.

Need to think about it some more ... and who knows ... maybe someone is really working on a simple Migration tool?

Thanks everyone!

 

[HomeY]

Might be a bit to much hassle for ya, but... you can always try MediaPortal out on a Virtual Machine first

You're correct that setting up our system isn't as easy as with Media Center, but like Neild7744 says: in the end you'll be happy you did it.
You simply get SO much back if you invest a little bit more....