Mediaportal, good? Bad? Worth it?

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

Kiwibro

69 posts

Master Geek

#177698 11-Aug-2015 20:40

Hi.
Apologies if this has been covered before....

I need some advice in order to make an informed decision. My HTPC runs Win 7 pro and I have relied on the trusty old WMC for a few years now but I really want to upgrade and fresh install Win 10. I really like Win 10 and am very impressed with it.
I have a couple of questions for the more informed than myself.

Is MediaPortal a good alternative to MWC? Will it wake and record and sleep reliably? (I have a twin freeview DVB-T PCI).
Does it play nicely with EPG collector? Ditto for my Logitech harmony remote?
My next major concern is...should I go with MediaPortal 1 or 2?

I mainly use my HTPC for live TV recording and series recording and it is reliable. Why change I hear you ask? Well...why not?
From what I have googled MP looks pretty sharp, and like I said I am impressed with Win 10 and really want it on my HTPC!
Could be time for a change, or then again maybe not.
Thanks in advance!

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369 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#1363210 11-Aug-2015 21:27

Just installed MP myself for a similar reason (Win10) so far so good; much, much more configurable.
Also like it the fact that it can process multiple channel per stream, so basically with one tuner as long as the channel is on the same stream you can watch and record multiple show at the same time, if the pc is up to it of course.

Setup wise is as you would expect, not as straight forward as WMC, expect to spend a bit of time setting things up and reading the doc online. Works with the epg grabber.

A good selection of plugins available like MPExtender, which does cool thing like being able to remotely watch live steaming, recorded show, schedule record, view epg, act as remote control, etc from an app, I'm using android.
Another cool plugin is the WebMP which is an iis application to stream/play/schedule using a web browser from anywhere, if you have a good upload bandwidth that is.

The windows gui is a mixed bag, on one hand it's more modern than WMC but mouse/keyboard operations seems a bit awkward, might be a different experience if using a remote control, which is supported but no comment as I don't have one.

CYaBro

4590 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1363213 11-Aug-2015 21:30

I've been using MP for years and love it.
I have however recently switched to using Argus TV for the backend TV server as it has a lot more scheduling options, a nice web interface for remotely checking the EPG to set recordings etc, and plays nice with other front ends like XBMC/Kodi.

To get your Harmony remote to work with MP it needs to be setup as a Windows Media Centre remote, which it probably already is if you used it with WMC, then turn on the Windows remote in the MP configuration options.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Kiwibro

69 posts

Master Geek

#1363249 11-Aug-2015 22:11

Mmmm I think I will give it a go, yes forgot to add that yes, my remote is set up as a MCE remote. I am leaning towards MP 2 at this stage. Thank you for the replies! My HTPC is kinda my baby.

andrewNZ

2487 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1363260 11-Aug-2015 22:29

Good, and worth it.

I'd stick with V1 unless you want to be a guinea pig.
Spend a little time setting it up and you wont look back.

I'll recommend a few very good plugins that really make it a great experience.
Moving pictures, for movie management.
MP-TVSeries, for TV series management.
Tract, for tracking what you've watched.
Trailers, integrates into moving pictures and MP-TVSeries and lets you stream trailers from multiple sources.
ArgusTV, if you're feeling adventurous. It has very powerful scheduling options to help you record everything you want to watch. It can be totally set and forget.

Kiwibro

69 posts

Master Geek

#1363275 11-Aug-2015 22:38

Thanks AndrewNZ, ok I will go with V1, that's really good feedback. Do you know if it opens up ports, I'm not so keen on the remote web browser option from WAN. I assume this would be a plugin though? Live TV, series record with reliable wake is what I'm after, and EPG collector to work with it nicely of course!

andrewNZ

2487 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1363365 12-Aug-2015 07:08

I don't believe it opens ports to the internet, but it does use a client/server system so it might require local network access to work even on a single seat setup.
Basically every part of mediaportal is a plugin, so if you don't want it, just disable it.

Waking reliably shouldn't be an issue. Series record I can't really comment on, I haven't used the stock mediaportal TV server for a very long time. I'd say try it and see, but I don't think there is a series link style system.
If it is difficult to schedule what you want, check out argustv.

There are some very experienced mediaportal users on geekzone, and even a few involved in the project. The mediaportal forums are very good too.

Lastly, do a system backup before you begin, that way the worst you can do is loose some time.

Kiwibro

69 posts

Master Geek

#1363367 12-Aug-2015 07:11

Yes good advice, I have a system image so I can go back if needed. I will take the plunge this weekend! Thanks again everyone for your feedback!

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sfrasernz

227 posts

Master Geek

#1364719 12-Aug-2015 15:57

I'm in the exact some predicament. Last time I looked at MP was 5 years ago and I could not get it to work reliably. WMC has been rock solid over the years but like you I'd like to move to Win10.

Keep us posted on your thoughts on Media Portal. I might be tempted to revisit it.

askelon

880 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#1364738 12-Aug-2015 16:23

Been using it for years as well. Runs pretty rock solid for me. Havent used Argus but def couldnt do without Trakt, moving pictures, mptvseries.. Wakes and sleeps no problems. Running Windows 10 on that computer now as well. On my NUC in my bedroom Im running Kodi with the MP tv server for live tv etc. Works pretty well - I think my NUC is what lets the side down really..

Kiwibro

69 posts

Master Geek

#1367490 16-Aug-2015 15:29

Update....windows 10 installed on its own partition, I am going to set everything up then delete the old win 7 partition. Mediaportal installed but need to put some time into the config. Will post results!

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1367502 16-Aug-2015 16:14

Is MediaPortal a good alternative to MWC?
Yes.

Will it wake and record and sleep reliably? (I have a twin freeview DVB-T PCI).
Yes.

Does it play nicely with EPG collector?
Yes.

Ditto for my Logitech harmony remote?
Yes.

My next major concern is...should I go with MediaPortal 1 or 2?
Either is fine, but I'd suggest MP1 as MP2 is still in development. MP2 will have the basic features you listed, but MP1 has some nice plugins that aren't available in MP1.

If you decide to go with MP1, I recommend you install MP1 and latest version of StreamedMP. StreamedMP is a skin for MePo, but the reason I'd suggest you install it is because StreamedMP comes bundled with all the core MP plugins you would likely want to install, eg. Moving Pictures, TV Series, Trailers & Trakt.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

Kiwibro

69 posts

Master Geek

#1367677 17-Aug-2015 00:02

Well all was going ok. I had it all up and running until I changed the location of the timeshift buffer and now I have no live TV, just a message to say I have no space. This is very frustrating. I have a SSD so I moved the buffer to a local drive that has well over 500g of space.

Kiwibro

69 posts

Master Geek

#1367679 17-Aug-2015 00:30

Ok now I feel silly! I restarted MP and all is well! I have the timeshift buffer and recorded tv now recording to my FreeNas via Iscsi. Next steps are EPG collector and then my remote. MP looks pretty slick. Its looking pretty good so far!
Thanks for all the advice!

reven

3743 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1367703 17-Aug-2015 07:27

mediaportal has been around for many years, version 1 is very solid and reliable. I'm using it as my backend with my kodi frontends. it was the hardest windows PVR to setup for kodi, but gives me the best results
- nextpvr, easy setup, but playback on kodi was pretty terrible, most likely due to how it streams the live tv/recordings other addons use file sharing
- argus, easyish setup, can collect the EPG directly so no need for EPG collector, but timeshifting in kodi wasnt reliable for me
- mediaportal, kind of a PITA setup for kodi (have to install addon for mediaportal, setup file shares, windows permissions etc, channel logos manually in kodi) but very reliable timeshifting and recording.

i wouldnt use MP2 just yet, wait for release candidate or final.

Kiwibro

69 posts

Master Geek

#1367720 17-Aug-2015 08:29

Yes I have installed MP one and have the single seat running now, the client laptops are also working. The channel progressions are fast and smooth. It's just the EPG and remote mapping to go and maybe a bit of twiddling and then I can delete my win7 MC partition.

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