Difference between revisions of "User:Robert d"

Revision as of 13:55, 22 October 2011

It is important to note the new version of XBMC, Eden v11.0 will include PVR support, and all of the current downloadable versions of the Eden version of XBMC are experimental, nightly builds. It is also important to note XBMC Dharma 10.1 + PVR v2 is experimental and is not an official release from Team XBMC. In that XBMC Dharma 10.1 + PVR v2 does use Dharma the stable XBMC release, and can be considered the most stablest from the above available choices, this guide will use XBMC Dharma 10.1 + PVR v2.

If a user wants to watch TV on a PC, at least one supported tuner card, or a provider that provides IPTV access is required. The tuner hardware doesn't have to be installed on the same computer on which the user wants to watch TV. The computer with the tuner hardware is called the back-end. The computer used to view TV is called the front-end. The back-end and front-end can be on one computer. XBMC will run on the front-end.

XBMC Dharma 10.1 + PVR v2 does not have the capabilities to support a tuner card, or a provider that provides IPTV access on it's own. It gets this support from another program, MediaPortal.⁽¹⁾ MediaPortal is a two (2) part, dual purpose, self supported, program. It works as both; a front-end for viewing TV or IPTV (also known as a TV Client), and a back-end for controlling the tuner card (also known as a TV Server). When the complete program, TV Client and TV Server, is installed on one computer the configuration is called a single seat set-up. The MediaPortal TVServer can be installed, without the TV Client, and configured to support multiple tv cards on one computer. The MediaPortal TV Client can also be installed, on it's own, and configured to support viewing TV or IPTV on other computers, using the tuner cards installed on the TV Server computer. TV Client computers can use any tuner card that is not in use by another TV Client.

In this guide XBMC Dharma 10.1 + PVR v2 will be used as the front-end, TV Client, and MediaPortal is installed for use of it's TV Server, for the back-end. The problem here is both programs are not written using the same computer code, machine language. They can not communicate with each other. The solution is a plugin written for MediaPortal. After installing MediaPortal the plugin will need to be manually installed into MediaPortal's file/folder structure before the MediaPortal TV Server can be configured for use with XBMC. XBMC can then be configured to use the plugin to communicate with and control the TV Server.

it is also require MediaPortal 1.1.3(2), and MediaPortal 1.1.x - TVServerXBMC plugin v1.1.3.107.

This guide will assume the user is familiar with XBMC Dharma v10.1.

This guide will explain how to install and configure the MediaPortal PVR client addon in XBMC. This addon uses XBMC's experimental PVR front-end capabilities to connect to the MediaPortal v1.1.x TV server as back-end. This manual focusses mainly on a single seat (Windows) installation where both the TVServer and XBMC are running on the same machine. However, the configuration settings for a multi-seat setup will be explained.

To use XBMC Dharma 10.1 + PVR v2 it is necessary to install, set-up, and configure another program to use as back-end support for using (a) tv card/s. The back-end program used in this guide with be MediaPortal and will be installed on a Windows Operating System. After MediaPortal is installed, a plugin is required to be manually installed into the order for XBMC to be able to communicate and control the tv server in MediaPortal.

⁽¹⁾There are several programs available for this support depending on Operating System used with XBMC and which version of MediaPortal 1.1.x - TVServerXBMC plugin is used, such as: HTS Tvheadend, VDR, MythTV, MediaPortal, and ForTheRecord Argus TV Server.

⁽²⁾Scroll down the page to the "Older Versions" section and use link to download site for older versions.