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XBMC = Heaven - Page 2

post #31 of 54
5/8/12 at 11:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin View Post

Its just not ready yet.

Pretty simple.

I know it's not ready. My question was more in wondering if they are developing their own in house dvr solution that will just work out of the box, or if we will always have to rely on 3rd party addons and configurations like Media Portal for dvr playback. If it ends up being the latter, I will continue to use WMC for dvr because it "just works" and xbmc for all other media playback because of its built in codec and collection management.
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post #32 of 54
5/8/12 at 12:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by StinDaWg View Post

I know it's not ready. My question was more in wondering if they are developing their own in house dvr solution that will just work out of the box, or if we will always have to rely on 3rd party addons and configurations like Media Portal for dvr playback. If it ends up being the latter, I will continue to use WMC for dvr because it "just works" and xbmc for all other media playback because of its built in codec and collection management.

It looks like XBMC will always use something like mediaportal for the backend, mostly due to the cross platform of xbmc.

Its pretty well explained in the first few posts here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=127877
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post #33 of 54
5/8/12 at 3:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by musicguy980 View Post

There's nothing close to the enjoyment that a htpc can bring you.

You apparently haven't found women yet. Or maybe you have in which case your statement probably still holds true. Never mind, carry on.
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post #34 of 54
5/8/12 at 9:25pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cdru View Post

You apparently haven't found women yet. Or maybe you have in which case your statement probably still holds true. Never mind, carry on.

Wifey already knows that my htpc is my one true love. I think about her day and night. As a matter of fact i'm using her right now to send this message.
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post #35 of 54
5/9/12 at 1:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boke01 View Post

Without a doubt the hardest part is setting up Mediaportal's TV server. But is easy enough when you have done it a few times.

Here are the steps I took.

Download and install Mediaportal 1.2.3 . You can just install the TV server portion of the software if you like.

Download and install XBMC PVR from http://www.scintilla.utwente.nl/~mar.../prebuild.html. I used the "XBMC Eden (11.0) build" from 03-05-2012 . the pre Frodo build gives me problems.

Download the TVServerXBMC plugin http://www.scintilla.utwente.nl/~mar...erverxbmc.html. I used v1.2.3.114 .


First to configure mediaportal:

Un-rar the Release version of the TVServerXBMC plugin to the Plugins folder in the Mediaportal TV Sever instalation directory.

Start TV-Server configuration, click on "Plugins" and then put a check in "TVServerXBMC" to enable it.
Now click on "Manual Control" and then "Stop Service", when it has stoped click "Start Service" and then "OK". The plugin should now be active.

Configure your tuners, scan for channels and setup the EPG. I use the xmltv plugin with mc2xml to grab the guide data.


Now to configure XBMC:

Goto System-> Settings-> Add-ons-> Installed Add-ons-> PVR clients-> Mediaportal PVR Client (TSReader) and enable it. Then configure the TSReader part of the addon to point to your "Mediaportal recordings directory" and the "Timeshift buffer directory".
Disable all other PVR Clients.

Now goto System-> Settings-> Live TV-> General and enable "Enabled".
Your guide data should be imported and the Live TV menu option will appear in the main menu. You should be ready to go.


It does have some bugs but is becoming very useable. One obvious bug is in the channel list some channels will say "No information available". Even though the Guide data has been imported correctly and shows the correct info in the EPG Timeline.

Hello,

Please do help me with my configuration for Lve Tv with XBMC.
I have followed the steps you listed above but i get lost/confused/nothing happens when i get to this step....could please help with the details on this portion of your setup....
"Configure your tuners, scan for channels and setup the EPG. I use the xmltv plugin with mc2xml to grab the guide data."

I am using hauppauge colossus on a 32bit windows 7. I can watch tv on Media center and arcsoft showbiz.

My questions are...
1. How do you setup your tuners
2. How do you scan for channels
3. I used mc2xml to create my tvguide.xml but i cannot see my channels on MP thus they cannot be mapped. How do you get your channels to showup on MP.

The status on the mapping tab for MP saying 'loading' but nothing ever shows up. I let i run over night and will check tonight when i get home. This is very frustrating, i have been at it for the past 4 days to no avail.

Please anybody help. Thanks.

don
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post #36 of 54
5/9/12 at 2:25pm
You set up the channels like you would if you were using svideo.

Which means adding each channel manually and it is going to be pain to say the least.

Anyway here is a how-to on the mediaportal wiki. http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_M...p_Box_Blasting
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post #37 of 54
5/9/12 at 2:28pm
Unless you aren't running windows I don't see what the attraction is to tv on xbmc at this point. Wmc might not be perfect but for live tv and dvr it just works.
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post #38 of 54
5/9/12 at 3:06pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin View Post

Unless you aren't running windows I don't see what the attraction is to tv on xbmc at this point. Wmc might not be perfect but for live tv and dvr it just works.

Exactly, I don't mind switching between xbmc and wmc too satisfy my needs. especially if you have a harmony remote, it should a piece of cake. I have my harmony 650 setup with a dedicated button for xbmc, wmc and a alt+f4 button. I takes a total of 2 seconds to close one program an launch the other. I can even do it with a ps3 remote I setup for wifey. granted I don't watch much live tv or Netflix, but the process is very fluid when I do.
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post #39 of 54
5/9/12 at 3:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin View Post

Unless you aren't running windows I don't see what the attraction is to tv on xbmc at this point. Wmc might not be perfect but for live tv and dvr it just works.

I agree for TV Wmc is the best. But others are getting close now Jriver, NextPVR, and Mediaportal work nicely these days and are actively being worked on unlike Wmc.

I just have something against using an unsuported/abandoned product even if it is still working... have no idea why really.

The TV portion of Wmc is the only thing I like about Wmc. It has been beaten by all the other programs in every other area IMO.
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post #40 of 54
5/9/12 at 3:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boke01 View Post

I agree for TV Wmc is the best. But others are getting close now Jriver, NextPVR, and Mediaportal work nicely these days and are actively being worked on unlike Wmc.

I just have something against using an unsuported/abandoned product even if it is still working... have no idea why really.

The TV portion of Wmc is the only thing I like about Wmc. It has been beaten by all the other programs in every other area IMO.

Thus the "might not be perfect" part of my statement regarding WMC. I could care less if something is being actively developed or not. I use what I think works best.

You can struggle with all of the others options if you want but until they are at the level of WMC or better for TV I personally would save yourself the stress.
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post #41 of 54
5/9/12 at 4:03pm
From an image quality standpoint, is there a reason to consider anything else besides XBMC at the moment? Using some 720p mostly 1080p high bitrate MKVs.
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post #42 of 54
5/9/12 at 5:07pm
I have about 18tb of ripped blu-rays (folder style.) I have always found it difficult to migrate away from WMC & Mymovies & Total Media. If there's a better way, I'm open to suggestions - I do like the configurable backgrounds / skins and such of XBMC. But last I tried to play ripped blu-rays, and all the contortions asked as of about 2 years ago, I gave up. Is that improved? How about getting the type of metadata that's in MyMovies?
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post #43 of 54
5/10/12 at 11:19am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin View Post

Thus the "might not be perfect" part of my statement regarding WMC. I could care less if something is being actively developed or not. I use what I think works best.

You can struggle with all of the others options if you want but until they are at the level of WMC or better for TV I personally would save yourself the stress.

That's something i could never understand about microsoft. How could a company that huge be so short-sighted. If they could've did a couple of these things.

1. Make netflix come with a pc product that rivals standalone consoles.
2. Continue perfection of live tv.
3. Bluray support
4. A legitimate itunes alternative integrated into WMC7.
5. A more user friendly way to view your media ie.. mediabrowser.

I know a lot of people's argument is that its not a huge user demand for WMC7. Then in that case steal a page from apple's playbook an create one. Make a product so revolutionize that people have no choice but to use it. Microsoft really dropped the ball on WMC7. I know it's a good product but it could've been a game changer.
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post #44 of 54
5/10/12 at 2:26pm
MS's media strategy seems to be revolving around XBox/Kinnect rather than MediaCenter. They're probably right as 99% want an appliance to play digital media and not have to deal with a PC. Couple that with most content providers "opinions" of people getting their precious product onto a PC in any way, shape, or form and I can see why Apple dropped FrontRow on Mac for AppleTV and why MS is going XBox.
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post #45 of 54
5/10/12 at 2:31pm
Sorry for a noob question, but what hardware does it need to get Live TV besides the software we mentioned here? Thanks
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post #46 of 54
5/11/12 at 10:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boke01 View Post

I agree for TV Wmc is the best. But others are getting close now Jriver, NextPVR, and Mediaportal work nicely these days and are actively being worked on unlike Wmc.

Do any of these other options play copy once material like WMC does?
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post #47 of 54
5/11/12 at 10:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tawd1992 View Post

Do any of these other options play copy once material like WMC does?

No.
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post #48 of 54
5/11/12 at 5:46pm
I don't understand what the attraction is then. Don't most cable companies use copy once for everything but the locals? Seems like WMC is the only viable option for a DVR.
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post #49 of 54
5/11/12 at 5:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tawd1992 View Post

I don't understand what the attraction is then. Don't most cable companies use copy once for everything but the locals? Seems like WMC is the only viable option for a DVR.

Correct. See post #37.
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post #50 of 54
5/12/12 at 12:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tawd1992 View Post

I don't understand what the attraction is then. Don't most cable companies use copy once for everything but the locals? Seems like WMC is the only viable option for a DVR.

Everything is good for now, but with the way Microsoft is handling Media Center by making it a paid addon in 8 Pro only I think it's done come Windows 9. What that means for the future and how long it will be supported with program data ect I don't know, but 5-10 years from now I think WMC will be totally unsupported, so people are looking into other options and planning into the future. I don't know what cablecard users are going to do though. If they stop supporting that there are literally no other options available. Maybe everything will be over IPTV by then.
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post #51 of 54
5/12/12 at 7:08am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by StinDaWg View Post

Everything is good for now, but with the way Microsoft is handling Media Center by making it a paid addon in 8 Pro only I think it's done come Windows 9. What that means for the future and how long it will be supported with program data ect I don't know, but 5-10 years from now I think WMC will be totally unsupported, so people are looking into other options and planning into the future. I don't know what cablecard users are going to do though. If they stop supporting that there are literally no other options available. Maybe everything will be over IPTV by then.

hopefully XBMC will pickup the ball on this, but my gut feeling is Apple is gonna come out of nowhere with cablecard support. that's gonna blow everybody away. I don't have any inside knowledge, but I just have this feeling.
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post #52 of 54
5/12/12 at 7:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by StinDaWg View Post

Everything is good for now, but with the way Microsoft is handling Media Center by making it a paid addon in 8 Pro only I think it's done come Windows 9. What that means for the future and how long it will be supported with program data ect I don't know, but 5-10 years from now I think WMC will be totally unsupported, so people are looking into other options and planning into the future. I don't know what cablecard users are going to do though. If they stop supporting that there are literally no other options available. Maybe everything will be over IPTV by then.

I am a glass full kind of guy.

M$ is shocked and overwhelmed by the amount of people paying for WMC. They decide to invest the money into it that it needs to be developed.

I can wish, right?
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post #53 of 54
5/12/12 at 7:20am
I agree with boke 01
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post #54 of 54
5/12/12 at 10:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by musicguy980 View Post

That's something i could never understand about microsoft. How could a company that huge be so short-sighted. If they could've did a couple of these things.

1. Make netflix come with a pc product that rivals standalone consoles.
2. Continue perfection of live tv.
3. Bluray support
4. A legitimate itunes alternative integrated into WMC7.
5. A more user friendly way to view your media ie.. mediabrowser.

I know a lot of people's argument is that its not a huge user demand for WMC7. Then in that case steal a page from apple's playbook an create one. Make a product so revolutionize that people have no choice but to use it. Microsoft really dropped the ball on WMC7. I know it's a good product but it could've been a game changer.

Every company now wants you to go through some portal (iTunes, etc.) and buy content from them. That's likely why Microsoft doesn't want WMC -- you're not buying anything. They want to sell you apps, content, and other garbage.

I'd pay if XBMC (or something else) would develop a nicer integration and support cable cards. I definitely won't be getting Win8 until they finalize the WMC issue and I see what happens.
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