MediaPortal and MDapi Problem

spacemanc

Established Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2011
Messages
543
Reaction score
79
Points
95
I'm having problems installing MDapi with Mediaportal. I've installed it in the recent past on two other PC's with no problems. They are all running Win 7 Ultimate Edition 64bit.

I've found one or two forum posts here and there with people having the same problem, but they have either not followed it up, or simply said "I got it to work" a couple of days later.

I have tried manually registering mdapifilter.ax (though this wasn't necessary in the past) and I've also tried running the directory and "InstallFilter" script from various different locations. When I run it, the cmd window flashes up for a millisecond and then disappears again. The MDplugins folder is not created, and there's no indication of why the script doesn't work. I've spent hours trying to get it to work, including installing and un-installing MP several times.

Anyone else had these problems and know a solution?
 
When you run the "installFilter.cmd" don't just click on it in explorer, do it by opening up a command window in administrator mode. Then navigate to the location of "installFilter.cmd" and then type installFilter then hit enter.

(to make this easier, it might be best to put the mdapi_setup file at the root of c:\

That will then work.

Robbo100
 
Doesnt work :( I get this:

*********************************
** MDAPI Filter Install Script **
*********************************
Automaticly finding installation folder
'LocateTargetFolder.cmd' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
*********************************************
Press ctrl+c to abort
*********************************************
'wait' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Unable to find a valid installation folder
bye

I'm pretty tempted right now to completely reinstall the OS (not a massive problem as its a new install) But I can't see what that would change. Mediaportal has been a standard install, in the standard install location, but the script just can't seem to see it. It's really starting to drive me nuts now.
 
If it's any help this is what I get when I run the 'LocateTargetFolder.cmd' script

C:\Users\TV>c:\MDAPISetup\LocateTargetFolder.cmd
\Team was unexpected at this time.
 
OK, so you have definitely got the "LocateTargetFolder.cmd" file in the folder then (it sounds like it from you post number 4)?

Can you confirm you are doing the following:

1) Are you definitely running the command from a cmd window running in administrator mode? (Start>All Programs>Accessories> right click on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator)

2) rather than typing c:\MDAPISetup\InstallFilter.cmd from any location, try actually changing the current path to c:\MDAPISetup\ ("CD c:\MDAPISetup") before then running the command from there (I am not sure if this will make a difference, but it is what I did).
 
I was running it as a cmd from cmd window in admin mode. I had also tried running it from c:\ as well as many other locations.

Personally I have a feeling it is something to do with C++ packs somewhere. Whilst trying to fix this I have installed various C++ packs in various revisions. In the past this has caused me all kind of problems (with games), so it could be the same here. As the OS is a fresh install, I'm just going to start again because I've already spent far to long on this, and a fresh install will take me less than an hour.

So here goes - see you on the other side! :)
 
I think this is as simple as the batch file not liking spaces in directory names. Not at home and don't have access to the script but I am fairly sure that is the issue (hence a reinstall won't change anything)

I seem to remember you can just register the filter yourself (regsvr32 MDAPI.ax) ?
 
Yes, you need to copy MDAPIfilter.ax to c:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\TV Server\ and then register it in the command prompt by typing regsvr32 c:\Progra~1\TeamMe~1\TVServ~1\MDAPIfilter.ax (I think).

I think you will also need to copy FFDesca.dll to the same directory.
 
I finally got this working! The OS re-install did nothing, but I was kind of happy to have a fresh install after trying to "fix" things so much.

The fix is to edit the LocateTargetFolder.cmd with the line:

if EXIST "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\TvService.exe" (
echo Mediaportal TvServer Found on 64bit system
SET TARGETFOLDER=C:\PROGRA~2\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server
goto end
)

I also deleted some of the other "IF EXIST" lines, though I'm not sure if this was necessary. It looked like this when finished:

@echo off

if not "%TARGETFOLDER%"=="" goto end


if EXIST "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\TvService.exe" (
echo Mediaportal TvServer Found on 64bit system
SET TARGETFOLDER=C:\PROGRA~2\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server
goto end
)


if not "%TARGETFOLDER%"=="" goto end

echo Searching for Installation folder

dir c:\ /a:d /s /b | FINDSTR /c:"\MediaPortal TV Server" /E > %TEMP%\candidates.tmp
dir c:\ /a:d /s /b | FINDSTR /c:"\GBPVR" /E >> %TEMP%\candidates.tmp

FOR /F "tokens=*" %%G IN (%TEMP%\candidates.tmp) DO (
if EXIST "%%G\TvService.exe" (
set TARGETFOLDER=%%G
goto end
)
if EXIST "%%G\GBPVRTray.exe" (
set TARGETFOLDER=%%G
goto end
)
)

if "%TARGETFOLDER%"=="" (
echo Unable to automaticly find installation folder
SET /P TARGETFOLDER=Enter path to installation Folder
)

:end

echo Installation folder found
echo Path %TARGETFOLDER%


Despite spending around 8 hours on this, I'm just happy its working and I really can't understand why I had no problems with my other installs on Win7 x64 machines. :clap:
 
Hehe, I'll get back to you on that.

I install a lot of stuff on MP so when I've installed it in the past I've always had a few problems. But yeah each component has installed individually with no problems. Getting them to work together is another matter, but I think that's just MediaPortal, rather than being related to the problem above.
 
Just to confirm, I've now got Mediaportal all set up running stable with MDAPI, Acamd, Sky Grabber and Streamed MP - the directory problem only affected the MDAPI setup.

It would be interesting to know what caused the problem, but I'm just happy it's fixed. It was worth the effort because I'm very happy with my new HTPC setup - just in time for a bit of drunken Christmas viewing!
 
spacemanc,

did you use my guide? If so, let me know if there were any areas where the instructions could be made clearer, or where it was wrong?

Robbo100
 
No I didn't sorry - is it in this thread? : http://www.avforums.com/forums/windows/319927-howto-sky-through-dvb-s-card-within-mce.html

That thread is so long, with some many extra bits hidden in it, that I didn't bother using it. I used various guides that I found throughout the web, and put together a test system a few months ago. There was lots of research and trial and error the first time, plus experimenting with different setups and plugins. But that meant that this time, I knew what I wanted and pretty much how to do it, so it was far easier apart from the MDAPI problem above.
 
Your guide has some interesting things that I will try.
I still have to setup standby/hibernate settings, as well as some clients on other PC's, so still lots to do, but all good so far.
 
Last edited:
After a bit of testing over Xmas, everything has been stable and glitch free - except for 2 problems, which I think are the same thing.

It happened once after a clrl+alt+del PC restart and another time I think was after waking from sleep mode. All FTA channels were working fine, which narrows down the problem to Acamd. The thing that seemed to fix it was a reinstall of Acamd and MDAPI, but MDAPI reinstall alone didn't fix it. As far as I know, Acamd is just a read file, with no data written to it, so I can't understand why a reinstall of it would fix anything. Any ideas?

Also a question for robbo - I read your OSCAM thread for Sky - any reason that you aren't using Sky epg grabber? :

Custom Data Grabber with Plugins - MediaPortal Forum

It's by far the best EPG I found, and is basically a copy of Sky's EPG but with more features, and therefore better!
 
Last edited:
Because I don't actually have a sky subscription, I just use the technique to get Channel 5 HD.

I could probably still use the link you provided, but I get a little nervous about installing it over my existing TV Server installation, since it is a bit more than a plugin.
 
Because I don't actually have a sky subscription, I just use the technique to get Channel 5 HD.

So robbo100 are you using a 'freesat from Sky' card? What extra channels do you get over conventional freesat? It may be something I'd consider for a one off £25, although maybe not just for Channel5!

SBR
 
You basically only get 5HD and a couple of others like Pick TV I think.

I got it originally. Because you got 4HD and 5HD, but since 4HD went to normal FreeSat it's usefulness has reduced somewhat.

That said, 5 show some OK films and the HD channel does send reasonable HD quality with Dolby Digital sound so it is with it for that (unlike ITV1 HD that just seems to upscale most things and sends normal surround sound).
 
Hi folks,
I'm trying to install MDAPI on Windows 10 (64 bit). I've previously had this working on windows 7 64bit, by following all the instructions on this thread - but can't seem to get it working on windows 10.

Does anyone have any ideas how to get MDAPI working on windows 10?
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom