MediaPortal Install Guide - Page 32

I've been wondering the same thing! Thanks to MegaHurtz for asking and Brian for answering!

I've just finished building my new htpc, a windoes 7 based asus 785 in a fusion remote cabinett.
A friend demonstrated Mediaportal and I want to try it as well.
But installing it I am a bit confused.
I've allready installed the 64 build of mpc on my system, can mediaportal cope with the 64 bit codec?
At the moment I've installed Saf standalone and have picture but no sound on my xvid, mkv files. any suggestions?

Actually right now I have messed up my configs and can't get any movies to play. i think I will reinstall and start fresh. what's the best solution for me?

mediaportal is a 32bit application so you need to install the 32bit version of mpc, not 64bit. You dont need to completely start over, just make that change and you'll be good to go,

Anyone here using the PureAudio plugin? It appeared to be installed correctly , also have asio4all and it lists the Nvidia HD audio as green for my ASRock 330, but can't get any sounds to play, using HDMI, tried both last stable & the beta with the appropriate versions of the plugin , but no go. Using WinXP Pro 32bit.
Is the PureAudio/Asio able to output via HDMI, or only spdif?

bump?

I am having trouble getting media portal to detect my TV tuner properly. I am using a VistaView Saber DA-1N1-E tv tuner, with BDA compatable drivers.
When I start the tv server configuration for mediaportal, it only sees the analog side of the tuner, not the digital. Anyone have any suggestion how I would go about convincing it to find the digital?

Thanks everyone.

eh, never mind. Switched back to the new beta of XBMS instead.

Well, when I use the external Player Option, everything is fine. I use DXVA MPC with AC3-Filter and Reclock. Rockstable.
Going through that Guide I exactly configure the Parameters like you told.
But the internal Player stutters on Sound with DTS 1,5 MPS and went asynchrony. Video is still smooth. This is happen only to a few files.

Trying a lot. But the stutter is still there. The handling in MediaPortal with an external Player is quite uncomfortable.

Thank you for any Idea.

My Hardwarespecs:

Vista SP2
Intel 6300
Ati Radeon 4850
Asus p5k-vm
Realtek ALC883 @ Intel 82801IB ICH9 - High Definition Audio Controller
RME Digi96/8 Pad(Just for FLACS)

Rather than a new thread, I'll ask a quick question here on the Media Portal page...
Just put together my HTPC: Vista Business, AMD Athlon II X2 245, 2Gigs of ram, 250GB and 500GB drives, no tuner, no optical drive.
I used to play .avi, .mpeg4, .divx etc movies on KM Player or VLC Player with a mouse/keyboard.

I would like to use WMC but Vista Business does not include it...

I would love to have a plug and play solution to play movies with a remote.

I have briefly tried XMBC and Media Portal and I quickly found I need to explore codecs and plugins etc. I am not too familiar with them and I have found them frustrating in the past...

So, are the instructions on page 1 of this thread still current even though it was written in December 2008? I would like to try it but I don't want to be jacking with my codecs to the point of no return.

Also, what remote would you recommend? The Rosewill Vista Media Center Remote I bought with a combo only works with WMC or WMP
Thanks!
John

MCE remote works really nice, i have a harmony program to act like a MCE remote.

Oh, after I posted I wondered if a harmony was a good idea.
what program do you use?
What about current codecs/plugins for a given media center application? Go with what the first page of this thread suggests or is that out of date?

Anyone else getting micro-stuttering with EVR? I can't seem to fix it, it appears even when playing simple Xvid files. Bloody annoying!

I have problem setting up the analog tv with my hauppauge1250. I installed the softmce but MP doesn't seem to able to find the encoder. Do I need to install something else?

I followed this guide, everything went fine. However, I can play some x264 1080p videos but not all, some play just fine, while others are a bit choppy. Does anyone know why? I use the MPC video decoder for playing h264 content. Im running windows 7 32bit on a P4 2.8ghz processor, ATI Radeon 4350 and 2gb of ram. I installed the 1.2..something version of the video decoder, maybe I should get the latest one? Where would I get that? Or is it because the bitrate or something is just a tad too high on the ones that are choppy?

I admit I haven't read the whole thread, but how well does media player handle shared files over a network? Both systems will be running Windows 7

Not sure what to say about W7, but my gut tells me to check your CPU usage on that single-core P4/4350 combo. HOW do those choppy files play inside MPC-HC as a stand-alone player? I also did a Google and there may be help using CCC 8.9 with W7 and higher resolutions.

i think this thread is getting out of control!

we should create new threads when it comes to problems and leave this one for setup recommendations and such.

I have media portal on 3 pc's all of my movies are on a server. All use windows 7, works good.

what version?

I discovered something interesting. First off, the videos that seem to work all all under 1920 x 1080 in size. One video I played that worked had 1920 x 1040 in size and it played just fine. I used MPC HC set up to utilize the GPU. The CPU usage didnt go up a lot 10-15% max when the video played back smoothly. I only found one video that was choppy in MPC HC. That video had the size 1920 x 1080. Also when I played the videos that worked I noticed that in the bottom status bar it stood Playing [DXVA]. There wasnt anything like that when I played the one that was choppy. Also when I played it the CPU went up to 100%.

Do you think I could just share a drive from my main computer?

Well, have you tried the guides recommendation to use FFDShow?? I had a similar problem when W7 was forcing its own decoder...Here was my fix:


Garen

That did not work. I read up on playing video through the GPU on some other sites and it seems that the radeon 4350 is just not cut out for playing 1080p with the MPC video decoder. I'm now looking into getting a Geforce 210 instead, it's supposed to work much better. And besides I feel more at home with Nvidia products.

As a COMPLETE noob, I got this working easily. Thank You for the great guide. As a stupid question, what is the best way to get a Logitec remote to work with this.

I have to buy an IR usb receiver, what is a decent inexpensive unit?
Also, do I just setup the logitech to use as an MCE remote and away I go?

Tons of them on Ebay, like this if you don't need the remote - http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-Media-Center-...ht_3187wt_1165

You can configure it as a MCE remote, and if desired, use a program like EventGhost to provide even more control of the pc functions

Does media portal have a problem with windows 7? When I hit escape it kicks me out of the system and won;t let it restart.

Windows 7
Mediaportal 1.1
Asus M4785-m
Graphics onboard ati 4200

All drivers up to date.

My computer turns of the monitor after 15 minuttes. In windows I've selected never in screensaver and power settings and I have utrned of the screen saver in mediaportal as well.

Any suggestions?

The GUI has become slow and unresponsive since I changed graphic cards from a radeon to a nvidia. Video plays just fine though. What can I do? Both the keyboard and the remote are slow when navigating through the menus, it freezes up before it moves on.

Very nice write-up!

I've incorporated it into an overall A to Z of Nvidia ION 330 purchase, install, and config guide here - heavy focus on media portal.

Windows 7 (64 bit) customization with bootscreens, log-on screens (dolby digital logo), automatic log-on to one account.

Configuration of remote control with intelliremote after fighting like crazy with keyboard map plug-in and/or the event ghost software.

MKV play-back.

Lots of links to the best possible resources I could find.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=d2frfsz_114dvt6ktft

Hope this was useful to someone!

(unformatted below - formatted above at google docs link)

Nvidia ION 330 Guide - Compilation of Guides/ Tips & Tricks to Fun in the Sun with MediaPortal and MKV play-back.

Order the*Revo*with 330 Nvidia GPU. *Go ahead and order with it the 4 gigs of RAM (comes with 2). *
Advantages - whisper quiet. *Comes with Windows 7 already on it.*

Cons - doesn't look as sleek and shiny black as the*Asrock, which I bought. *
Note - the ASRock is still much more quiet than the PS3 I was using - I just hear that the Revo is EVEN quieter. I'm still satisfied with my purchase though!

Order your*HP MCE Remote*- or the*Gyration Remote. *The HP is $15 - and you'll need to order the*Intelliremote software*for $25 later - overall cost is 40 versus 90. *
And the Intelliremote software will automatically let you switch profiles if you decide to go with a different media player down the road.


While waiting for delivery - read this:

To decide what sort of media player you want*to*install read this.**Before making up your mind, see*these screenshots.

If, like me, you went with mediaportal*so that you can play giant HD .mkv's with no stuttering, then read these:

http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/Extensions-Plugins
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/Extensions-Skins
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/Key...ard)|(shortcut)

And the*motherload install guide*- skip the part about the TV server. *I wasn't really happy with it - and do NOT install it initially (makes the whole thing laggy as hell.

How you'll be adding your videos - it's auto-magic, but you'll have to do a little bit of work. **This is done with two plugins*MovingPictures*for movies. *And MPTV-Series for TV series shows - read*this guide.



Once the equipment arrives - do the following on your regular monitor*- the resolution on the big screen TV can make it very difficult to see the teeny, tiny lettering in windows. *

1. *Update Windows.
2. *Install latest Nvidia drivers.
3. *Add a non-admin account with no username and password and*then follow this guide*to allow launch into that account on boot-up. *This will be the account that you use for everyone.
2. *Download and install logmein.com on the computer - you may need it later, and it's free.
3. *Install utorrent - and configure it with web-access so you can access it later. *Also, sign up for and configure your utorrent with canada.btguard.com - best $6/month I"ve ever spent.
4. *Download a dolby digital logo from google images - use it for your desktop, log-on screen (with*tune-up*- 30 day trial), and boot screen (star dock*- after you install it, simply copy and paste your picture in place of theirs, and then use theirs for the boot screen).

5. *Follow this mediaportal*install guide**- but:

When installing Media Portal do NOT install TV server right off the bat. *Unless it's running, MP will be running very very slow.

When installing DO make sure on the General tab of the config, that you uncheck "Start in Full-Screen" mode -essential for trouble-shooting if needed.

When adding a folder, start with a small one - maybe put 10 movies in a separate folder. *Then, launch mediaportal and play with it with your mouse/ keyboard.

Then set up your remote - I'd hold off on adding*all*of the movies etc because it takes forever.....

6. *Set-up your remote with the*intelliremote software, and the*keyboard shortcuts. *

Try the MCE profile first - that may work for you. *I didn't like it. *So, I used and changed the intelliremote profile like this:

I changed all of the following by pressing "learn code" in intelliremote with the intelliremote software selected, then push the remote control keys - then set the keystroke with the button on the far right. *

Click Apply Change after each one.

Remote button*to*Intelliremote software (from left-side selection)*to*keyboard. *

Arrows to Arrows to Arrows. *
Ok to Enter to Enter.
i to Options/Info to F9. *(this is the context menu in mediaportal).
Play button to Play/Pause to space on keyboard.*
Pause - same as above.
Back to Clear to Escape
Mute to Mute to M.
1 to F1 to F1.

I'm working on making the big green button to launch mediaportal or giving me an "H" for home without launching Windows Media Center.
Still launching media center, but this is really more of a nice to have.

7. *Time to move the box to your big screen TV. *Take a deep breath, and remember these tricks:

TIP - leave your USB drives in the same slots, and power off your computer - and then move it.

** *Overscanning*is normal - read*this. *

** *The magnifying glass in windows 7 is your friend.

** *Logmein.com is your friend - it has options letting you zoom in if necessary.

** *Right-click on the desktop, and select Nvidia Control panel. *This is your very best friend.

** *Play games with resolution and the Nvidia control panel resizer.


8. *Go back and*DO make sure on the General tab of the config, check "Start in Full-Screen" mode.

9. *Reboot, and you should automatically be starting in StreamMP, with a working remote.

Gorgeous, no?


Yes - but now to add your videos. *This is done with two plugins read the following for a brief essential overview.

MovingPictures*for movies. *And MPTV-Series for TV series shows - read*this guide.

10. *Take the computer back to your LCD, with your USB drives, and import all of your movies and TV shows. *Do not launch mediaportal again - stay in the mediaportal configuration, and go to the manual import tab of MPTV-Series plug-in (click on Config- oh, and sometimes *you have to double-click on "Plug-In" in the Mediaportal configuration screen for them to show up) * - you'll see you have a lot still to find. *

Never fear - go to the Parsing Expressions, and use regular expressions to find the movies not added.

My technique - change an expression, and then hit "Start Import". *It will seem to freeze, and then it will show a brief pop-up indicating how many videos are in the library. *That pop-up quickly fades -but just watch the number. *If it doesn't increase, then you need to try a different expression.

If all else fails - you can manually add them.

Movies - follow*this .nfo tip.

At this point, you're done and having fun - although you might want to adjust mkv playback.

Personally, I moved the htpc back to the TV and will be using logmein.com to play with mkv, TV server stuff, etc.


Matroska (MKV) Video Playback - I haven't done any of these due to all of the above.
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1057/7/

http://www.guru3d.com/article/accele...he-gpu-guide/3

http://nunnally.ahmygoddess.net/watc...itecture-cuda/

thanks op for the thread, I have posted on the MP forum and havent gotten any help yet.

MP 1.0.2
TV but no server installed
Win XP SP3
NVida 7200GS
Dell P4 3.0ghz, 2gb ram
ATI hdtv wonder
2.0 stereo desktop speakers
no audio card
all drivers up to date

Need help with OTA decoders/codes/audio streams. Problem is with two OTA channels give a few annoying problems when the station is tuned.

Problems: mpsa.ax followed by mp crash
audio on one channel only either Left or Right
Spanish audio instead of English
mp freezes
no audio
one time I had English one one speaker and Spanish on the other?
audio plays for about 2 seconds then stops

Usually I will have one of the above symptoms followed by the mpsa.ax crash. The problem tv stations are WPHL(single channel),WPVI(main plus 1 sub channel). I have the other channels running good audio and video. The rest of MP seems to be running ok.

This maybe a simple problem to you MP experts, but I am pretty frustrated at this point having tried all filters and codec combination's. Haali,AC3,FFDSHOW attempted, no luck also I have gone through the MP forum and guides with no help.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks