Media Portal thoughts

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I'm not sure about the recording part of Media Portal as don't use it.

I'm using MP tvservice for recording encryted DVB-C channels in the Netherlands with a FloppyDTV and Alphacrypt (not supported in GBPVR), because I never got Multidec working stable in GBPVR. I must say that they've done a pretty good job. It does multiple recordings of different channels on the same frequency and pre- and postpadding on back to back recordings on the same channel. I was really surprised with that functionality. I think the MS SQL server is over the top, but the install procedure is very easy so you never notice it.
Half a year ago their recordings could not be used on a MediaMVP or PCH, because of several timestamp issues, but they've solved those problems. So I'm a happy user of both GBPVR and Mediaportal, no reason you can't use both.

Chris

[Hairy]

And I think that fella doing some of the new Community Skin themes is doing a bang up job

Tongue very firmly in cheek

[Fatman_do]

Tongue very firmly in cheek

Not in mine though. I cannot express how grateful we are for those themes to breathe new life into skin designs that are several years old and dated.

Not a knock on the previous skins, but what was "in" a few years ago is "dated" for us long timers.

To get back on topic, I use my HTPC just for recording and playback, I read many reports of MediaPortal being a resource hog, vs. gpbvr being a more reliable product. Plus, at the time, Media Portal could not record if the program was not running (whereas gbpvr ran as a service and could wake up from hibernate, ect.)

Never downloaded or tried MP. It may be fine for some, just never had a need for it.

[peely]

I've just come from Mediaportal to GB-PVR. The only reason I've done this is to get an NMT working, Mediaportal are still hellbent on developing a PC based thick client over support for relatively cheap media renderers like the NMT. I really see the way forward being support for devices like the NMT, and MP is only getting close to this with the work of EvilDude in developing C++ code for MP in XBMC, which will never have HD support on the XBox.

In MP's defence I found it very stable and it never missed a recording, although I may well be in a minority. RCs 1 and 2 fixed a lot of historic bugs and has forced frontend / backend support for everyone including single seat installations which has brought everyone onto the same codebase and improved general reliability.


Neil.

[stangdaman]

I used both on and off for quite a while. It would just depend on what I felt like dealing with.

MP is a very attractive interface but the new PVRX2 has been a huge improvement on GBPVR that makes that almost a non-issue, IMHO. My first reaction to Mediaportal was that it was very buggy and the initial reason I changed was that the setup was such a pain that when I tried GBPVR for the first time it was like a miracle. I will say though that they have made huge strides in this department over at Mediaportal. It is a much, much more stable app. then it was when I first tried it a couple years ago and the setup is a ton easier. I have to say too that I've never had it miss a recording. I think sometimes it gets a bad rap because of what people heard about it years ago and have never tried it again since. It does however use a lot more resources still then GBPVR does.

If I have someone ask me what PVR application to use however I almost unanimously point them to GBPVR first for a couple reasons. One, as stated, Mediaportal uses a lot more resources and since a lot of people are trying to build their media PCs out of older PCs that they have laying around that doesn't always make for a very happy experience. The other reason and the biggest reason is that GBPVR is the best supported software I have ever used. Comparing that with Mediaportal GBPVR blows them out of the water. I have seen a lot of support questions over there go completely unanswered but, generally speaking, when I post one here I'm always amazed at how quickly it's answered.

[peely]

I don't know if it's just a coincidence, but things got a lot more stable after Frodo disappeared from the project, they got a lot more focused on fixing bugs than implementing new features and architectures.

One interesting feature of Mediaportal's TV Engine that I havent seen of GB-PVR (possibly because of the way I have configured it) is that MP can use a single tuner to receive multiple channels if they are all on the same TP.

This is only a real benefit on large multi-seat DVB-T installs but it is kinda' cool.

[whurlston]

One interesting feature of Mediaportal's TV Engine that I havent seen of GB-PVR (possibly because of the way I have configured it) is that MP can use a single tuner to receive multiple channels if they are all on the same TP.

Set the BDA Multiplexer to "Full TS" in Config.

[mvallevand]

When I first was looking at writing a server based client for the MVP and other media extenders (which became the NMT client) MP was my choice as a server because I could get access to the source code. Their developers where complelety unwilling to move in the direction of a non-Windows client even considering moving to MySQL or SQLite. sub gave me to the freedom to create a forum here and using many GBPVR users as guinea pigs I think a pretty good client.

I don't consider the XMBC as a true media extender in the sense I mean it, because of the power of the processor.

As for Full TS, I consider it experimental right now and it isn't quite what MP offers for multi channel recording, but it gives the idea. Streaming a full 40 Mbs TS to the NMT will really task the network, but it is cool to toggle between the various channels with the angle key.

Martin

[peely]

Set the BDA Multiplexer to "Full TS" in Config.

This is a bit of a "random channel feature". About 50% of the time I get another channel on the same TP.

Are logs of interest?