MediaPortal Install Guide - Page 46

Hi,

I am currently using the moving pictures plug-in to manage my film collection and I am wondering if I can split some films off into a folder? i.e. James Bond films. Can I have a james bond folder which contains all 20 odd films rather than having them all listed in my 'all movies' collection. (Or harry potter, or star trek etc)

Also, at the moment I am running MPC-HC as an external player, this works great. However .vob files are using the internal player and I don't know why. MPC-HC plays the .vob files correctly

Thanks in advance

Is it because there is an external player checkbox under both Video and DVD sections under the MP configuration application? Personally I use the internal so I'm unfamiliar with using an external.

Thanks Andrew you learn something new everyday - hadn't even noticed that before. Like you I use the 'internal' player so don't have the problem - makes sense though that unless checked it will continue to use the internal player for DVD.

Just checked and your bang on mate - good catch

yep, that worked

Thanks

Anyone any ideas on box set folders within moving pictures plug-in?

Also I have a further question: MPHC is playing sound just fine, but using the rest of media portal I have no sounds. I.e. no click when changing menu options and more important, using the online videos plug-in to get trailers I cannot get any sound, any ideas?

Thanks in advance again

Which skin are you using with sounds? It may be the way you have sound configured. OH... it's not just the mouse but you have no sound from online-videos or is it any of the .... arghhhhh... you're not using the internal player!

I use the internal player exclusively. I also have StreamedMP & OnlineVideos. I use HDMI audio from my HD4550 to Onkyo 803 using SPDIFer as my audio codec (to passthrough DD & DTS) and the Default Audio Renderer. This passes audio streams as well as PCM audio and my O is configured to AUTO select/decode... when I use the player I get the (DD/DTS) sound decoded by the O, and when I use the mouse, the plugin-generated PCM audio (which takes the O a second or two to switch over to then) plays those PCM sounds through my speakers.

There's so much you haven't mentioned about your system it's hard to help. There's your wiring (HDMI, analog, SPDIF, DD, DTS, DolbyTruHD, DTS-MA, flac, 5.1, 7.1, OS, AVR, video card)... let me assure you sound is possible.

Should I be using MPC-HC instead of the internal player? Are you using it for post-processing, flac, codecs, why complicate MediaPortal if you don't have to. What are you using it for that the internal can't perform?

I am using madvr and lav for scaling and bitstreaming, and setup just as in the mpc sticky.
Ati 5858 hdmi straight to receiver, and haven't really set up much else other than mpc.
And it is 5.1 through a demon 1910
Hope this helps :-)
Thanks

Is it possible to add pandora and last fm into my main music folder? Im running streamedmp and have tried the basic home editer and adding them into sub layers but I still can't get it to work. Am I doing something wrong?

Does anyone else use myemulators?

It seems to work very well, but I am hoping to be able to customise it a bit more, background images for emulators and ROMS, descriptions. There seems to be an automated tool for ROMS, but it is hideously inaccurate, does anyone know what database it references so I can try and get my naming correct for my ROMS?

and finally, if I want to improve the background images and cover art does anyone know where it is stored? So I can replace it

Thanks in advance

Myemulators is pretty fantastic, but is definitely rough around the edges. I think the source it uses for screenshots and stuff is mobygames. When you do an "online" match you can use custom search strings and choose your result to match your actual rom. Using the platform dropdown menu can help as well. I did a one-shot unattended import which caused a lot of bad matches. Thankfully you only have to clean it up once.

Here's a thread regarding background art for emulators:
http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/my...64/#post820284

The art for games is probably somewhere in that tree. Alternatively you can drag and drop custom art onto a game in the import window thing.

Thank you mostly got my emulators working now it is just a bit more of a manual process than with my film collection

I am just wondering is it worth trying to use the internal player instead of MPC-HC at the moment? This guide seems a little out of date. As I understand I should now no longer use Haali etc.

Atm I use LAV and madvr with mpc-hc to get the best picture quality but I like the integration the internal player provides. I am wondering what the next closest for image and sound quality is? I understand LAV will still work, but madvr wont? What can I replace madVR with? Do I need any other pieces of software?

Thanks in advance

You are correct that the LAV products will work. EVR is the best option for renderer when using the internal player

Hi all,

I've been running MP for a few years and love it! However, I recently upgraded to a GT430 card in order to take advantage of bitstream HD audio (so no more ripping audio in Flac format and finally could see my AVR's logo lights up). And no matter what I do, I just couldn't get any HD audio bitstreamed??

I'm running the lately Nvidia driver, latest MP version, and is using SAF5.0 codec (FFDshow for both video & audio). I did check the bitstream option for all HD audio format in FFDshow. I could get DD/DTS bitstream no problem. But no HD audio?? And yes, according to Nivida control panel, there's no handshake issue between the card & my AVR.

I think I'm missing something in the software/codec setup??

Thanks!

You may have to post this on SAF's support forums if you haven't already. I can tell you I have the same card and have no problem bitstreaming HD codecs in MediaPortal when using LAV Audio codec. Currently running the latest Nvidia driver, but the capability was there with previous drivers as well.

Maybe someone here knows the answer to this weird question. I have been running Mediaportal just fine for the last year, and added a projector to my PC. Basically the main problem is sometimes during a movie, MP will escape out of the movie on its own.

By escape I mean, it will behave as if esc was pushed and go back to the movie description. Seems to happen every 30 min, but has happened in random time frames also. Sound familiar to anyone?

Still couldn't get the GT430 to bitstream.... I'll try the team-mediaportal forum then. Thanks.

I just got my Logitech Harmony One and HP IR port. I set MCE SE remote inside mediaportal and everything works fine except two things.

1. I cant figure out how to start Mediaportal from inside windows. The green button does not work, and I have the MP tray start with windows, so this SHOULD work, but its not. Any workarounds?

2. How do I program an ESC key? I got the exit button to work as clear but it actually exits the program, not just go back one menu.

I use EventGhost to assign keyboard commands to various button presses, including starting MediaPortal, previous menu (esc), single button press to switch to Moving Pictures or TV Series, enable / disable subtitles, etc.

I found this to be the easiest and most flexible way to control everything.

New guy here, please be gentle!!

I followed all of the directions in the original OP in regards to setting everything up with MediaPortal and all of the associated codec's. After 2 hours of fighting with the graphics card (Nvidia GT220), I did finally get everything resolved and was streaming audio out and the receiver was reading MPCM, which I believe indiciates that the HTPC was doing the decoding (which is fine).

MediaPortal looked stunning on my Samsung 55inch 720P DLP TV. Even my wife was like "wow!". Dropped a bunch of my music on the hard drive and it sounded great over the receiver. No complaints there.

The standard DVD however looked less than stellar. I have a Samsung blu-ray player that I play standard DVD's and they look alot better than what I am seeing from my HTPC. I did run some streaming video from ABC and Netflix and it looked great as well.

As someone mentioned earlier, should I be using a different set of codec's as maybe the OP is a bit outdated? Can anyone suggest some tweaks?

One more question, what is the best way to store copies of your DVD's/Blu Ray's on the hard drive to watch at any time? I tried the MKV format using MakeMKV and it turned out pretty poorly. Should I use ISO's and an emulator like Dameon Tools?

System - Dell XP 400, 2.8GHZ Pentium D, 4 GB RAM, NVidia GT220 running HDMI to Pioneer Receiver. Receiver sending via HDMI to Samsung TV.

Any suggestions/hints would be sincerely apprecaited.

1. In Win 7 you can "pin" a MP shortcut to a position, then assign a button to trigger that function on the Harmony, namely Win-1 for the first "pin" Win-2 as the second...

2. Use the "Exit" key... be sure it's not Alt-F4 which will exit the application... although I have Alt-F4 as my "0" so I have a means to Exit an app (that I want to close, or gets hung).

What action if any happens when you attempt 'green button' start - does it load Media Centre? Did you enable "micorsoft media centre services" - in MP Configuration, under "Additional 3rd Party Checks"? - this blocks MP from opening WMC and focuses on MP.

It really is strange as the remote was about the only thing that just worked in my set-up - no workarounds necessary.

Did you purchase an HP remote and IR receiver, or just the receiver? - if you have both, try using just the HP remote to start up MP, then we can move to the Harmony One.

Also make sure that under "Remote" you have "Use MCE Remote or Keyboard" enabled.

Glad you like MediaPortal - it can be taxing to install although with Win 7 it is easier since MS has their codecs installed on your machine as a part of the OS. You didn't mention your OS...

Personally I use the MPC-HC codec for .264 under TV, Video and DVD. They have both a self-contained player and stand-alone filters - having both installed on your system makes playback easy... install & register (which you may have already done if you followed the guide) the SAF for the MP internal player and install their player on your desktop so you can drag files onto it when you're just in Windows. I do not use the Shark therefore have no comment... although as I understand it, there are post-processing settings you can implement to enhance video quality. You mention your 720p DLP -- you should have your GT220 set to send 1280x720p without any video processing by your Pioneer... also, check the cards settings so you have no scaling, and the necessary video enhancement features active. One more thing: Samsung TVs are picky about which input you're using and oddly enough how you label it - check your TV's manual, you may not be configured correctly for a PC input. You said you have MPCM audio (Do you want 5.1 or 7.1 format audio?) which would make your PC do all bass management for your speakers - personally I have an Onkyo 803 (which doesn't do the HD audio) so for 5.1 audio (DD & DTS) I pass the digital stream via HDMI Audio device and let the AVR decode, and utilize all of the functionality (e.g. room setup, equilization, speaker gain, bass management, etc) I paid for in it. I do not have BR, just DVD so how you want to store BR, especially its audio is outside my knowledge... as far as DVDs I rip then convert to .264 using HandBrake and "universal" settings. The result is 1,400 MB files on average with full quality video & AC3 soundtrack. I have kept .ISO files (typically 6~8 GB storage) when I want to retain the DVD features like soundtracks, extra footage, interviews... but if you want only the main movie there's not much need to keep the .ISO... run it through Handbrake and save the space! YES, I use Daemon-Tools inside MP to mount the .iso files and they just play! I like the StreamedMP plug-in as it brings in a nice skin, MyMovies which is a really cool movie handler to grab synopsis, coverart, and when you point to .264 files, .iso, .avi, .mkv, .m4v file directories (in its configuration) it handles where they are in its database - all you see is a cascade of movie covers, click and they play! You can add OnlineVideo plug-in and it will allow you to watch previews of the movies! There's some really cool stuff available... Oh, and welcome to the AVSforum! Don't forgat there's a forum on the MP site as well...

Thank you Andrew!! I am running WinXP for the OS. Got it all set up in regards to my DVD's. Ripping them using MakeMKV and they are playing very well now using the LAV filters. Sound is better than from my actual BluRay player!! I did run into some issues last night with some MKV's that I ripped from BluRay/HD DVD's. Still plugging away at it!

I am running Win 7 X64 on my HTPC which has the GT430 GPU HDMI into my 7.1 AVR, which is HDMI into the TV, and Windows says my audio is TV Brand 7.1. I use PowerDVD 11 Ultra for Blu Rays, and Splash Pro EX for file playback. With no extra codecs installed Splash Pro EX plays 720p/1080p and up to TrueHD and DTS-HD Master files with correct audio, in 5.1 or 7.1.

Is this program now so much better that it handles all, and should I install it and uninstall all other programs? If so where do I get this program? Does it need codecs? Why do I want codecs, if I don't need them to use Splash Pro EX?

You may need to set your AVR to NOT pass the audio through to your display device, but to strip it and use the AVR to play... this will cause Windows to see youtr AVR for audio, not the TVs 2-channel stereo.

MediaPortal is a great product and it's free. You could give it a try!

My AVR does not pass audio the display, and if it did, it would do no good, my display is set up w/o its speakers attached. Also the HTPC sees the TV's audio as 7.1 and NOT 2.0.

But my bigger question about MediaPortal is does it need codecs installed? My HTPC presently has none, I like it cleaner.

PowerDVD 11 Ultra has its codecs built-in, and Splash Pro EX has its own, as well. The latter is also billed as able to find new ones if needed.

I'm glad you're set to not passthrough the AVR although the PC would have no way to know whether you had disconnected the speakers and/or wiring - it would see the TV and its electronics. In my case, not passing audio through my Onkyo 803 the PC sees my Onkyo 803 as the device.
You sound like an expert - knowing how each of your applications contains codecs... I'm unfamiliar with PDVD11Ultra and that Splash thingy. I thought all but the basic version of Win 7 installed their Microsoft Audio & video codecs but you say there are none on your system. MediaPortal will install MPV & MPA but allows you to configure which you want to use for a given (TV, DVD, video files) operation from what it sees registered on your system. If you install MediaPortal and run its configuration you'll see what it sees, and whether you have the MicroSoft codecs installed... I'd suggest not uninstalling anything in order to load MediaPortal - if you don't like it then simply uninstall it.

I installed MediaPortal. I set it up to use Splash Pro EX to play files, as it plays them all, with correct audio and quickly. I have not tried to use MediaPortal to play a Blu Ray disk, yet. Can it? Or, should I direct MediaPortal to PowerDVD?

My current biggest issue, is getting MediaPortal to recognize all the files I have with IMDB. Using IMDB one file at a time could take years.

Each file I have has the image of the BR Disk in the same directory, but MediaPortal does not use it. But MediaPortal sees the files my HTPC has and from the media PC we have with massive storage. That's great!

Can anyone tell me if MediaPortal can IMDB identify all available files in some auto sequence?

If you are talking about scraping meta data then yes, and better than Media-Browser or XBMC.
I would using the moving-pictures plugin for movies and MP-TVseries for shows (as discussed in the first post).