XBMC + MediaPortal TV Server

I’m working on adding TV support and making my XBMC installation a true Media Centre (including PVR support). The thing about XBMC is that sadly it doesn’t support Live TV features by default but there are ways to get live tv support. Here’s my journey to get UK FTA channels working with XBMC using:

- Windows 7 64bit
- Hauppauge WinTV NOVA-HD-S2 DVB-S2 TV Card
- Sky dish

Install: Download Mediaportal 1.2.0 Beta & Sky EPG 1.1.zip you only need TV engine for XBMC. This is hacked version which allows easy EPG grabbing provided by Sky.

Once this is done add XBMC support using MediaPortal 1.2.0 beta – TVServerXBMC plugin v1.1.7.104, just install it by unpacking Gentle.config and TVServerXBMC.dll to C:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\Plugins

Now it’s time to set up Mediaportal TV server. First thing, scan for channels, this settings work for me:

When the scan is done you should see a lot of channels on your list:

To make them more organized I’m using a XBMC group with the channels I really want (just to test things out I’m adding BBC One HD and BBC HD only)

enable EPG grabbing:

Enable XBMC plugin:

It’s time to get XBMC working, you need hacked version with PVR which can be found here. Out of the box settings should work as long as you enable PVR plugin for Mediaportal, the only thing you should change is to use only channels from specific group (XBMC):

you should see both channels in Live TV > EPG:

Now just need to add some more channels, logos etc.

by Artur Posted on July 9, 2011
This entry was posted in All, Media Centre and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.
  • Phil

    Many thanks, excellent guide. I some issues, which hopefully readers will find useful to know:

    - Download Mediaportal 1.2.0 Beta & Sky EPG 1.1.zip doesn’t include MySql, so I initially installed it separately. As part of the separate installation I set the password to MediaPortal. Then I changed my mind and decided to uninstall it just incase my installation wasn’t the same as a standard MediaPortal install. I decided to install the latest version from the MediaPortal website to get all the components and then install Download Mediaportal 1.2.0 Beta & Sky EPG 1.1.zip. On installing the official MediaPortal, I got on error (set password error : 1), which was down to the uninstall of MySql not completely uninstalling. To fix this, delete the MySql folder from c:ProgramData folder and from  c:Program files.

    - BBC HD and BBC one HD weren’t found on the initial MediaPortal scan. To fix this, click ‘Update transponder list’ before running the channel scan.

    - The MediaPortal PVR client XBMC plugin failed to connect. To fix this reboot the computer. I think this is a MediaPortal requirement, though I don’t know for sure.

    - DXVA is disabled in XBMC by default (See SystemVideo). If your video card supports this, then if you enable it, processing will be done by your graphics card and CPU usage should drop to between 1-5% while watching TV. I’ve currently got a problem when it’s enabled, that is it sometimes goes blocky…Any ideas anyone?

    Cheers
    Phil

  • Phil

    Many thanks, excellent guide. I some issues, which hopefully readers will find useful to know:

    - Download Mediaportal 1.2.0 Beta & Sky EPG 1.1.zip doesn’t include MySql, so I initially installed it separately. As part of the separate installation I set the password to MediaPortal. Then I changed my mind and decided to uninstall it just incase my installation wasn’t the same as a standard MediaPortal install. I decided to install the latest version from the MediaPortal website to get all the components and then install Download Mediaportal 1.2.0 Beta & Sky EPG 1.1.zip. On installing the official MediaPortal, I got on error (set password error : 1), which was down to the uninstall of MySql not completely uninstalling. To fix this, delete the MySql folder from c:ProgramData folder and from  c:Program files.

    - BBC HD and BBC one HD weren’t found on the initial MediaPortal scan. To fix this, click ‘Update transponder list’ before running the channel scan.

    - The MediaPortal PVR client XBMC plugin failed to connect. To fix this reboot the computer. I think this is a MediaPortal requirement, though I don’t know for sure.

    - DXVA is disabled in XBMC by default (See SystemVideo). If your video card supports this, then if you enable it, processing will be done by your graphics card and CPU usage should drop to between 1-5% while watching TV. I’ve currently got a problem when it’s enabled, that is it sometimes goes blocky…Any ideas anyone?

    Cheers
    Phil

    • Anonymous

      Thanks for your comment :)