[robbo100]

Advance StreamedMP Setup now complete - See section 11.1.2

To Do List

• Games and Emulators - Already drafted, just needs typing up
• MPExtended plugin (Web Services) - New section which I think is essential to make the guide complete (required for MP2 Alpha & Android Remote)- Already drafted, just needs typing up
• Other useful plugins section - List of plugins with links to be provided
• Trouble Shooting section - Two small sections to write.
• MP2 Setup - Already drafted, just needs typing up
• General tidy-up

[the Dix]

Bought my self a small form factor computer to basically fit my rack and act as a Music store / PVR I added a TBS 8920 S2 and downloaded and Media Portal and after configuring initially bliss.
Then one morning I decided to search the channels to check for up dates. As this was going on an iTunes up date became available so absent mindedly I clicked on it.

So now I cant get TV tried reloading media portal a couple of times no avail. Windows media centre no longer works either. Though hardware manger tells me my hardware is installed and working properly which I take with a pinch of salt .

Any pointers?

Answear seems to be in the guide QXL 5.1 not selected? Though if I knew how this happened? guide is a work of genuis as it happens . Thanks once more

[robbo100]

I am glad you got it sorted.

There may be a delay in me writing the rest of the guide up, since my macbook power supply seems to have died

I will see how much I can get done before the battery runs out completely (but hopefully I will get the power supply fixed soon).

Robbo100

[robbo100]

Now Done:

• Games and Emulators
• MPExtended plugin (Web Services)

To Do List

• WebMediaPortal (goes with MPExtended - I should stop adding things to the list)
• Other useful plugins section - List of plugins with links to be provided
• Trouble Shooting section - Two small sections to write.
• MP2 Setup - Already drafted, just needs typing up
• General tidy-up

[robbo100]

Now Done:

• WebMediaPortal
• Troubleshooting section
• General Tidy-Up

Basically, the MP1 guide is done now! HORRAY!!!!!

I hope that people are still actually using it.....

To Do List (in the longer term)

• Other useful plugins section - List of plugins with links to be provided (formatting done, just need to complete the list)
• MP2 Setup - Already drafted, just needs typing up

[paul77]

I totally am mate!!

Just stuck in the middle of drobo hell at mo, don't suppose you can add sabnzbd on drobo fs to your guide

[Trollslayer]

Robbo,
one minor point.
In post 1, section 1.4 you mention using a SSD for the install and that this is used for the review buffer (live pause).
Given the write cycles on flash this sounds risky even if you use a NOR flash device.
Is there a way to put the review buffer on a different drive to the MP install?
Thanks for all the hard work.

[robbo100]

Originally Posted by paul77

I totally am mate!!

Just stuck in the middle of drobo hell at mo, don't suppose you can add sabnzbd on drobo fs to your guide

No chance!

[robbo100]

Originally Posted by Trollslayer

Robbo,
one minor point.
In post 1, section 1.4 you mention using a SSD for the install and that this is used for the review buffer (live pause).
Given the write cycles on flash this sounds risky even if you use a NOR flash device.
Is there a way to put the review buffer on a different drive to the MP install?
Thanks for all the hard work.

You can change the timeshift location in the same way that you can change the recording location (but using the Timeshifting menu rather than the Recording Menu). See Section 4.7, and this link in the Wiki. (I will look at adding this to the guide.

Robbo100

[robbo100]

New section 4.8 added to address timeshifting folder changing.

Robbo100

[paul77]

So let me get this right I shouldn't have time shift on my main ssd as it might damage it in long term? If so would my only other drive is a nas/drobo attached by gigabit Ethernet would this be better?

Actually thinking about it is rather ware out an ssd than my storage drives, confused

[robbo100]

You can always time shift to a USB stick or a RAM disc.

[Trollslayer]

A RAM disc, all flash devices have limited write cycles.
The reason I raised this is that the buffer will be writte nto automatically while you are watching TV.
I work with STB chips and one guy accidentally did this - had the review buffer on the main flash chip on the development board.
Twenty minutes later...

[robbo100]

Yeah, but you won't care much if your 8 Gig USB stick fails after 1 year though.

[Trollslayer]

"Twenty minutes later..."
You may do a lot better but it's a risk. NAND flash is rated between 10,000 and 100,000 writes per cell.

[richardb70]

Just speccing a HTPC at the moment but just to say a big thank you - in advance! This guide looks fantastic, can't wait to get stuck in.

[paul77]

You've definatly made the right choice with media portal, ticks all the boxes apart from ease of setup, u til this guide that is

[spacemanc]

Originally Posted by paul77

So let me get this right I shouldn't have time shift on my main ssd as it might damage it in long term? If so would my only other drive is a nas/drobo attached by gigabit Ethernet would this be better?

Actually thinking about it is rather ware out an ssd than my storage drives, confused

Wherever you store the timeshift, make sure you have lots of room (HD timeshift uses loads of space so SSD is unlikely to be a good place) - when it runs out of space, mediaportal just freezes without warning. Not good when you're watching the conclusion of Silent Witness with the g/f and TV stops - I got my first 'why can't we just have a normal TV' comment

[paul77]

Oh dear!! Bit worried now as I am already inundated with those comments , is time shift for the tv server only ie not a client issue

Have a 160gb hd lying around will that do?

[robbo100]

Originally Posted by paul77

Oh dear!! Bit worried now as I am already inundated with those comments , is time shift for the tv server only ie not a client issue

Have a 160gb hd lying around will that do?

Yes, it is only a TV Server side.

The main issue is running out of space, so as long as your timeshift size is set to a smaller size than the remaining disc space, then you won't have a problem.

The details on this page will show you your disc space requirements (and you can configure your settings to reach an appropriate number): Timeshifting - MediaPortal Wiki

If you set a small timeshift file size, then it will mean that you can't rewind as much when you are timeshifting because MP will drop the old data from the buffer when it is full up, to allow space for the new data.

If you have other data going into a disc, you may be better to partition it to have one partition dedicated to the timeshifting file (set up so that the file can't get bigger than the partition).

160 Gig is easily enought.

[Trollslayer]

Originally Posted by spacemanc

HD timeshift uses loads of space

Typical review buffers are 30 minutes and HD broadcasts are 8Mbit/sec so 30 minutes is 1.8GB.

[spacemanc]

Originally Posted by Trollslayer

Typical review buffers are 30 minutes and HD broadcasts are 8Mbit/sec so 30 minutes is 1.8GB.

The problem I had is that I originally had loads of space on my HDD, but the recordings soon mount up and you start to run low. I have my time shift set to 1 hour, because 30 minutes is often not enough for me - this meant that it ran out of space, without giving me the chance to see any windows warnings of low disk space or anything like that.

[Trollslayer]

I know this only really applies when you're setting up a system but how about a small partition for the review buffer? 10GB would allow for nearly three hours.
In an ideal world you would be able to create a work file during installation that is used but a partition is a simple solution. A work file could mean a fair bit of work for the MediaPortal developers.

[robbo100]

This is what I was trying to say (but badly).

If you have a small partition dedicated only to your timeshift, and set your timeshift size accordingly within MP, you will never run out of space.

[lisag]

Help!

I have just come home from a long weekend in the Isle of Wight, to find that Media Portal has done nothing whilst I was away - no scheduled recordings, and no guide updates

Tuesday - I did a clean install of Windows 7, and installed MediaPortal 1.2.3. Copied all of my data over as discussed previously and it all went well.

Wednesday - re-scanned all my tuners as Crystal Palace switchover day. Superb outcome, lots of channels, all at great strength, MediaPortal working lovely, guide data via DVB EPG sorted for 7 days ahead.

Thursday went away on a mini break.

Sunday - returned home, no recordings had been done and only three days guide data left.

It looks to me like the HTPC has been in S3 sleep for the whole four days and not been woken by the MediaPortal TV server, to either do the recordings or to update the guide data (which I schedule for midnight, every day).

I have checked all my settings, and they seem correct to me.

Any pointers before I head over to the Media Portal forums for help?

thanks

lisa

[Bossk128]

Originally Posted by lisag

Help!

I have just come home from a long weekend in the Isle of Wight, to find that Media Portal has done nothing whilst I was away - no scheduled recordings, and no guide updates

Tuesday - I did a clean install of Windows 7, and installed MediaPortal 1.2.3. Copied all of my data over as discussed previously and it all went well.

Wednesday - re-scanned all my tuners as Crystal Palace switchover day. Superb outcome, lots of channels, all at great strength, MediaPortal working lovely, guide data via DVB EPG sorted for 7 days ahead.

Thursday went away on a mini break.

Sunday - returned home, no recordings had been done and only three days guide data left.

It looks to me like the HTPC has been in S3 sleep for the whole four days and not been woken by the MediaPortal TV server, to either do the recordings or to update the guide data (which I schedule for midnight, every day).

I have checked all my settings, and they seem correct to me.

Any pointers before I head over to the Media Portal forums for help?

thanks

lisa

Did set your recordings after you rescanned?

[lisag]

Originally Posted by Bossk128

Did set your recordings after you rescanned?

Yes. I checked everything was working properly and schedules all set on Thursday morning before leaving.

I had a bit of a fiddle with it last night, and installed the MST tool that I used to use with 7MC. Then set up 3 random recordings to occur overnight. The HTPC was asleep this morning, but it had done all 3 recordings in the night. Looks promising, no idea why it failed over the long weekend though.

[paul77]

I know I shouldn't but I've moved everything onto windows 8, all seems fine except refresh rate is not changing. I have an onboard nvidia gt430 and can change the rates manually but mediaportal is not doing it despite ticking the allow and force options

The reason I moved to win8 was the parity in storage spaces allowing me to have server and htpc all in one

[lisag]

When I had this problem with my ATI card I used the presets in ATI CCC and then added the appropriate path to them in the refresh rate changer settings.

I imagine you should be able to do the same with an Nvidia card?

[paul77]

I'm not sure what you mean by path, is there some sort of dll file for the refresh changer I need to edit?