Sanity Check on my setup and MVPMCX2

[jt25741]

Hello Martin and All,

OK here I am, across my trek from the NMT to SageTV to NPVR Forums. Thanks to support from others, especially Martin….I am almost there. I wanted to explain what my environment looks like, and what would like to “fix” – and hopefully you good folks can tell me if mvpcm2 is going to work for my setup, or what I need to change, if anything:

1) I have a single little server, with relatively small fast SATA drives for core storage. This local storage supports WinXP/Pro OS, and runs numerous services for the house (file/print/fax), including Audio(squeezeboxserver), Video (NPVR) via HDHomeRun (wired connection) for local TV – and some others too.
2) When large video files come into NPVR, I do not view them from the NPVR video files directory. I would run out of space if I did. Instead, every night(very late when nobody watching/accessing USB storage) I run Robocopy and move all the Video files to the USB storage, call it drive X. This drive is large and perfectly fast for streaming video, and sleeps when not in use. This drive wouldn’t be fast enough to be the native NPVR Video directory – as multiple TV/PCHs will access it for reading only through the day. The PCHs are in use in my house all the time, and take the place of any cable or set-top boxes.
3) Drive X is NFS shared(over UDP) to the PCHs over Wifi-N via some Ethernet bridges. I use Microsoft Services for Unix to provide the NFS server function on the Win XP server. I have tried native SMB/CIFS – but the Samba NMTs use is not as efficient over wireless, and I have trouble streaming MPEG2 HD streams otherwise. NFS works well for me over Wifi, and is a good reason why PCHs work well in my house (versus most others that don’t support NFS)
4) All Videos from various sources appear in different NFS shares on the PCHs. All Videos from the NPVR source are filed away in a directory called PVR which is also NFS shared.
5) PCHs have no local disk added.
6) NPVR never has any videos or files to manage, as they all get moved to the USB connected NFS shared storage. As far as NPVR is concerned, there are usually 0 available files for viewing at the end of each day.
7) PCH/TV viewer watches shows…then deletes them from the remote, which delete them from the NFS share….
8) For TV sources, the EWA interface works well enough …and we use that from PCs or whatever to schedule recordings.
9) This all works fabulously so far. But one problem…
10) The problem is about 50% of the Tuner/NPVR sourced content has difficulty playing on the NMT. I can manually fix them so they play by remuxing them using ffmpeg (thanks again Martin). But this is a manual process….unless I somehow automate it with other batch files or scripts with NPVR. My understanding is that mvpcm2 improves the native stream-handling capabilities of the PCH NMTs, so I wouldn’t need to worry about remuxing them.
11) Based on my limited understanding, mvpcm2 is running on the PCH (A110), and provides a user interface into NPVR and streams video over HTTP (not NFS). If this is true, can mvpcm2 look at this separate drive X(normally NFS shared), and stream from there, even though NPVR doesn’t know about these files or location? Or will this not work because I move the files away from NPVR each night?
12) Does mvpcm2 change the normal function of the A110, where no longer see the NFS shares that have the bulk of my video content, or does it augment the features and just provide another Web Services selection under Sources on the PCH interface? I have been looking for exactly what it changes in the NMT interface and cannot find that too easily in the threads
13) Being diskless, on the PCHs……does this present challenges or sacrifices for full mvpcm2 function?
14) At the end of the day…. I only want to fix the remuxing issue, and this is main reason I feel compelled to try mvpcm2. Is this a good reason?
15) If I do install, In the Installation instructions (Dummies), the link that shows the installation GUI has options for installing the software: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post337156 Since I already have NPVR installed, is all I need the first two checked boxes as shown in the link? Or do I also need to install Skins/Plugins and/or NMT Setup?

Based on the description of how things are setup, what, if anything, do I need to change to use mvpcm2, or should I just stop now and just remux when I need to?

Thanks very much!

Jim

[mvallevand]

Frankly when I read wifi all bets are off on performance especially when it comes to HD, however typically http is more efficient than nfs on the PCH's so you might be ok. In the worst case NPVR can provide the UI and the PCH could still access files by NFS.

NPVR would have to know about the USB drive which should be trivial on the same machine. Instead of the Recordings Screen you would use the Video Library to access drive X. Later you might be able to integrate the SuperSimple Archiver scripts into your Robocopy process, letting you manage recording.

mvpmcx2 augments the PCH software, you change the Source to the mvpmcx2 share to load and run mvpmcx2 but when you exit mvpmcx2 you get the native UI and you can select your Source as normal. You may not need to go back to the PCH software for most playback you might like http speed.

Diskless is good, don't worry about it.

I detest remuxing mpeg-ts, I'd suggest trying mvpmcx2 to see. It's likely not necessary but I can certainly look at any file that NPVR creates and mpvmcx2 should be able to play it.


Martin

[jt25741]

Frankly when I read wifi all bets are off on performance especially when it comes to HD, however typically http is more efficient than nfs on the PCH's so you might be ok. In the worst case NPVR can provide the UI and the PCH could still access files by NFS.

NPVR would have to know about the USB drive which should be trivial on the same machine. Instead of the Recordings Screen you would use the Video Library to access drive X. Later you might be able to integrate the SuperSimple Archiver scripts into your Robocopy process, letting you manage recording.

mvpmcx2 augments the PCH software, you change the Source to the mvpmcx2 share to load and run mvpmcx2 but when you exit mvpmcx2 you get the native UI and you can select your Source as normal. You may not need to go back to the PCH software for most playback you might like http speed.

Diskless is good, don't worry about it.

I detest remuxing mpeg-ts, I'd suggest trying mvpmcx2 to see. It's likely not necessary but I can certainly look at any file that NPVR creates and mpvmcx2 should be able to play it.


Martin

Hi Martin...I am not having issues with the Wifi..via NFS.....HTTP should be fine for performance.

Thanks...didn't realize how easy it would be. I just changed my Video Library to point to one or more of my local USB media media drives, and presume mvpmcx2 will be able to play them over HTTP? I can see them over NEWA just fine now.

About File deletion....the issue I have had with HTTP/MediaServers like NMTServer and MyiHome etc.... is that although they can stream the files, I do not have the ability to erase/delete a file as I would with a NAS connected share. How can this be accomplished with mvpmcx2 via the NMT remote?

You mention I can serve up the files for mvpcmx2 via NFS instead? How is this possible, how do I configure this?

Thanks

Jim

[mvallevand]

Recording management, including delete from NPVR is best done from the recording screen. Let's look at the SuperSimple Archiver solution later on.

As for NFS, I can't see a need for even bothering to configure it, the http solution will be better. The only reason share streaming was added was for user that might want to stream directly from a NAS and not having the file streamed twice, (from the NAS to NPVR and then to the NMT).

Martin

[jt25741]

Can I delete a file from the Music Library, via the NMT/mvpmcx2? They will not be in Manage Recordings -- as they are moved per above to Music Library.

This is the value of NFS...as it allows file operations like delete that may be needed here...thanks for more clarity here for me.

[sub]

Can I delete a file from the Music Library, via the NMT/mvpmcx2? They will not be in Manage Recordings -- as they are moved per above to Music Library.

No, there is no 'delete' function in the Music Library screen.

[jt25741]

No, there is no 'delete' function in the Music Library screen.

Thanks Sub....I'll give this a try.. If a file wont play via native NMT/NFS, I will play via mvpmcx2 as a faillback --- but then with the added step of going back to the NMT interface and delete from the share after viewing....a hastle...but probably better than remuxing every file recorded. I am trying to keep this solution as family friendly as possible. The only big downside is sometimes the file that doesn't play native actually hangs the A110 -- requiring a reboot of the NMT...not family friendly Maybe remuxing everything is best as much as Martin hates this ? ...

I'll ask more questions if I get stuck. Thanks for your collective persistence with me in what I am trying to do/accomplish here NPVR is a great project...thanks a million.

[Jaggy]

Thanks Sub....I'll give this a try.. If a file wont play via native NMT/NFS, I will play via mvpmcx2 as a faillback --- but then with the added step of going back to the NMT interface and delete from the share after viewing....a hastle...but probably better than remuxing every file recorded. I am trying to keep this solution as family friendly as possible. The only big downside is sometimes the file that doesn't play native actually hangs the A110 -- requiring a reboot of the NMT...not family friendly Maybe remuxing everything is best as much as Martin hates this ? ...

It seems to me you are looking at this a bit backwards :confused: Have you tried doing stuff using just NextPVR & mvpmcx2 to see what it can do??

You can delete videos within the vidoes screen view so don't need to go back to the native NMT interface for that.........................actually I am finding it hard to remember the last time I actually went back to the native NMT interface at all.

[mvallevand]

I have to agree with Jaggy, from the beginning you seem to want to concentrate on NEWA, now it's NFS and back remuxing to mpg and that's 100% fine but it is not how I would configure things with my NMT's.

Martin

[jt25741]

I have to agree with Jaggy, from the beginning you seem to want to concentrate on NEWA, now it's NFS and back remuxing to mpg and that's 100% fine but it is not how I would configure things with my NMT's.

Martin

I guess it seems confusing, yet I tried to make it clear in the list of thoughts above.....it is too long I know, apologize for the confusion. But little has changed, I am trying to layer ontop of what I have which is a NFS setup. The remuxing was simply to fix the streams so they play on PCH. Going to mvpmcx2 I see as a way to eliminate remuxing, if it doesnt complicate other things. It seems I cannot delete from the video library using mvpmcx2...so this is actually complicates things while it fixes others. This is the problem. I have not remuxed to mpg.....SageTV creates mpgs..from the stream, this is the only reason I had them -- that was in a different forum