Mediaportal, good? Bad? Worth it?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Mediaportal, good? Bad? Worth it?

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875 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#1367733 17-Aug-2015 09:04

Normally I dont bother moving the timeshift buffers from my SSD - makes changing channels much better Ive found. I do move the recorded folder to another drive though.

andrewNZ

2487 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1367884 17-Aug-2015 12:41

If your remote is a proper MCE remote, just tick the MCE remote box and use it. It should work flawlessly.

andrewNZ

2487 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1367889 17-Aug-2015 12:57

I had an incident last night that reminded me of something to be aware of.

Databases for various things can become corrupt if the system goes down while it's writing to one. I've found the MP-TVSeries to be particularly susceptible to corruption.
You'll know when it happens because the MP client doesn't start again, disabling the plugin or repairing/replacing the plugins database will allow MP to start normally.
On my main machine it happens about once every 1-2 years which I consider pretty minor considering how many power cuts we get. On my 2nd client, it happens 3-4 times a year which is a PITA, but that machine has issues and is pretty unstable.

I have my PC's backup every night, so if it happens I recover the database and away I go.

I'd recommend a regular backup schedule for this and a host of other reasons. Setting up a proper backup system was the best thing I ever did for my HTPC's. I can't tell you how many times I screwed things up tinkering and had to start from scratch.

rlevis

347 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1368084 17-Aug-2015 16:44

Timeshifting to SSD will shorten the life of the SSD considerably. You can basically read from an SSD for 100+ years, but writing large amounts of data to it regularly, which you are with HD channels, will wear it out.

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

Uber Geek

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#1368114 17-Aug-2015 17:31

I use ram drive for time shifting.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

rlevis

347 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1368127 17-Aug-2015 17:54

A RAM drive would be perfect. Instant channel changes and who cares if the data is lost in a powercut.

I could work it out but what size is required for HD allowing say 15 or 30 minutes of pausing?

Unfortunately my TV Server PC has only 2GB of RAM.

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

Uber Geek

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#1368144 17-Aug-2015 18:40

I had 12gb ram on my tvserver and used 8gb drive.

You can monitor the directory size for your time shifting folder while paused to guess approximate size needed. However i think 2gb maybe not enough for running windows and programs and a ram drive.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

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Kiwibro

69 posts

Master Geek

#1368154 17-Aug-2015 19:25

My install and config is nearly finished. Today I have set up EPG collector and have a full program guide with a .bat in task schedular. I have configured the power settings etc but am having wake to record issues, (I think i have done something wrong there). And have my remote configured and working. I am just working my way through the wiki bit by bit.
My only complaint so far is that I would love to be able to launch MP directly to a full screen live TV view. Unless I'm missing something I don't think it's possible.
Thanks for the advice on making backups, I run regular system images to my NAS which as saved me more than once!!
So far so good with MP, still more tinkering to go though, as always!

andrewNZ

2487 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1368165 17-Aug-2015 19:53

What are your wake issues specifically?

I don't believe you can launch directly into live tv, but you can have the tv option start fullscreen tv, so only one button press.

Kiwibro

69 posts

Master Geek

#1368170 17-Aug-2015 20:27

Hi, I scheduled a record and the system failed to wake but I have since read the wiki properly and have configured Power Scheduler as per the wiki so I think I may be sorted hopefully!
I have ticked the full screen box for live TV but still requires the Live function the be turned on and then a command to open full screen. I am however a newbie to MP so I think it's user error in this case! All the setup so far EPG etc has all been straight forward (thanks to the wiki).

andrewNZ

2487 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1368184 17-Aug-2015 21:03

It's been a long time since I tinkered, but there are two boxes to check that I think allow live TV to start when you select TV from the main menu.

Both "Turn on TV" and "Directly show fullscreen tv"

See here

mm1352000

1149 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1368309 18-Aug-2015 02:31

rlevis: Timeshifting to SSD will shorten the life of the SSD considerably. You can basically read from an SSD for 100+ years, but writing large amounts of data to it regularly, which you are with HD channels, will wear it out.

Sure, it will shorten the life. However, I'd encourage people to do the maths to check if the problem is really worth worrying about for them.

Our HD channels are ~10 Mb/s (= 1.25 MB/s). That's 75 MB per minute; 4500 MB (~4.5 GB) per hour.
As an example: Samsung's warranty is 75 TBW for a 250 GB drive.
http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/memory-storage/MZ-75E250B/AM

75000 GB / 4.5 GB per hour = 16666.66... hours of timeshifting lifetime
If you watch 4 hours of live TV per day, that works out to 4166 days of timeshifting lifetime... which is more than 11 years.
...and that's only the warranty. Some drives actually last for hundreds of TBWs. For example:
http://techreport.com/review/27909/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-theyre-all-dead

Of course, you'd also be doing other writing on the drive.

Disclaimer: this is just a "back of the envelope" estimate. Your results may vary.

rlevis

347 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1368311 18-Aug-2015 03:08

I was guessing about half that, but fair enough. Best results would require the drive to be empty so it didn't have to move static files around to even the load on the memory locations. But anyway, getting somewhat off-topic so will shut up now. Getting extra RAM and configuring a RAM drive is definitely worthwhile considering if planning a new TV Server.

Kiwibro

69 posts

Master Geek

#1368328 18-Aug-2015 07:49

Thanks for doing the figures MM. I am always paranoid about my SSD, mainly the cost of replacement! Your argument is really interesting. No probs about being off topic, as a first time MP user it's all good information for me!

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1368331 18-Aug-2015 08:03

Kiwibro: Hi, I scheduled a record and the system failed to wake but I have since read the wiki properly and have configured Power Scheduler as per the wiki so I think I may be sorted hopefully!

I have ticked the full screen box for live TV but still requires the Live function the be turned on and then a command to open full screen. I am however a newbie to MP so I think it's user error in this case! All the setup so far EPG etc has all been straight forward (thanks to the wiki).

It's been awhile since i updated the wiki and I'm not currently using live TV. Is there anything in the wiki that needs updating?

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

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