MediaPortal startup question

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marmel

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#30821 22-Feb-2009 15:16

I've got MediaPortal up and running with my htpc and LC-16 case. The ipad remote turns the computer on and off OK.

How do I set my system up so when I turn the computer on with the remote it automatically starts mediaportal? My htpc is going to be dedicted to MediaPortal so I don't need or want normal access to the desktop.

I'm running Xp Home.

I've also got some issues with my music collection. I have just over 4000 files all in one directory (my PS3 removed all of the folders unfortunately). Using Windows media player it automaticaly recognises the artist/album details and lists them as such. MediaPortal found all the files but the listings are a real mess. Most of the albums aren't listed at all and the covers are mostly missing as well. Itunes also recognises the artist/album info and covers so I guess I could use the itunes plug-in?

eXDee

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#197283 22-Feb-2009 15:33

What i did:
Set mediaportal as shell (google)
Removed welcome screen
Set autologin
Removed login status boxes (google)
Set background image same as MP skin
Set background the same on login screen (google)
changed bios splash
changed windows boot screen

Still too slow for my liking, AMD 5200+ 2gb of ram.

amphibem

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#197284 22-Feb-2009 15:34

The answer to your first question is simple: In MediaPortal configuration under 'General' there is an option to 'Autostart MediaPortal on Windows startup'. Select that and you are done.

sbiddle

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#197295 22-Feb-2009 15:48

When you say it's "too slow" are you meaning for bootup from scratch?

Is there any reason why you're not using S3 sleep for the PC when not in use? This means "bootup" is around 5 seconds. My system goes into S3 suspend when it's not in use, it would have been a least a month or so since it was last actually shut down fully.

eXDee

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#197478 23-Feb-2009 16:19

Two reasons. One is because the HTPC is mainly used for watching movies/playing music, not TV even though it has a tuner card. This is because we got a MySky HDi shortly after i built it, so it never caught on with the rest of the household and the HDi has a much easier learning curve as you can imagine. So sleeping it for use every few days isn't reall worth it. Hibernation causes problems with wake on lan (doesnt work), so i simply turn it off.
The second reason is because the power light flashes when sleeping and i cant be bothered taping over it

Thats more than 2 actually...

mattyboy2

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#197927 25-Feb-2009 09:37

Regarding your music issues... open MediaPortal Configuration, choose Music and there should be a button to import your music into MediaPortal's Music DB. After that all your Artist info etc should be OK. This should take a couple of minutes to read your 4000 files. Apologies that I can't describe it better than that but I'm at work and only have MediaPortal at home.

-Matt

marmel

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#197929 25-Feb-2009 09:46

mattyboy2: Regarding your music issues... open MediaPortal Configuration, choose Music and there should be a button to import your music into MediaPortal's Music DB. After that all your Artist info etc should be OK. This should take a couple of minutes to read your 4000 files. Apologies that I can't describe it better than that but I'm at work and only have MediaPortal at home.
-Matt

Hi

I have tried this a few times and use it to update as I am slowly putting all the tracks back into folders.

The two main problems I have at the moment are this:

- the artist thumbs all have the one identical picture which is of my kids. I used this picture as a cover thumb for an album I put together of their wiggles songs etc. When I select an artist the album cover thumb(s) is shown correctly.

- aome albums do not show up at all. For instance one artist has four albums on my hard drive, all well organised in seperate folders and correctly tagged with artist/album/thumb info. MP only finds 3 albums, not sure why. Itunes and windows media player find them all.

I am slowly getting MP configured the way I want and some parts of it are great. I think the music side of things could use a little work though after using itunes and windows media player I find it a little long winded to select tracks etc and the track numbering system is odd.

mattyboy2

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#197931 25-Feb-2009 10:04

I myself only started playing with the Music 2 nights ago, and I've also seen weird behaviour with the Album Artwork.

For example, if I browse by Artist or Album the cover art is fine. But then if I play a song from a playlist the album art is all wrong - it shows the art for a different album.
As an example, I looked at Welcome to the Jungle by GnR and the album artwork is correct. If I play it from there the artwork is correct. But when I play Welcome to the Jungle as part of one of my "party" playlists, it shows the album artwork from Gwen Stefani. I think the connection is they both in the same folder (my G folder). I have my music organised by first letter of Artist, just as you have all your music in one folder. Perhaps it would work if we put each album into it's own folder but I much prefer a flatter folder structure.

Guess we'll have to try posting over at the MediaPortal forums...

-Matt

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Dingbatt

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#198023 25-Feb-2009 16:20

amphibem: The answer to your first question is simple: In MediaPortal configuration under 'General' there is an option to 'Autostart MediaPortal on Windows startup'. Select that and you are done.

and "open in full screen" and "always on top"

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

kiwijunglist

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#199918 8-Mar-2009 16:28

I use WMP (Windows Media Player 11) within Mediaportal because the built in music player is not very good.

Goto mediaportal forum
Search "multishortcuter"
Use this program to add WMP to the home menu

With regards to MP music player not seeing some of your albums properly, it probably relates to poor ID3Tags or incompatible audio codec.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.