Media Portal Satellite Setup Guide

MediaPortal Satellite Installation/Configuration:
(Customer submitted article - thanks to Matthew Carter!)

In this guide you will learn how to install and configure the basic settings in MediaPortal and TV Server3. I have tried to collate the information I’ve collected from using MediaPortal and put it into one simple guide. Before we begin installing MediaPortal there are a two documents you should read to ensure everything goes smoothly.

General Requirements:

Firstly you should read the General Requirements page on the MediaPortal website. Don’t worry too much about the database requirements; these will be installed during setup. Make sure you’ve installed all of the required updates for windows, these are a necessity!

Encryption / Viewing Cards:

Bear in mind that if you want to watch encrypted channels you will need a sattelite tuner supporting a CAM module and an appropriate viewing card. Information on how to setup a CAM module and viewing card for Sky UK use is covered in the earlier part of ourSky / MCE Integration guide.

Codecs:

To avoid any potential headaches, uninstall any individual codecs or codec packs you may have installed. The recommended codec for media portal is FFdshow, I found an excellent guide written by a user called Goose to be the most helpful for new users. This can be found on the Codecs and Containers page.  If you plan on watching HD content, you will need to install a H.264 decoder. FFdshow is capable of H.264 decoding but isn’t the most efficient on HD streams; there are much better alternatives. Examples are the trial version of PowerDVD from Cyberlink this includes a MPEG2 decoder capable of hardware decoding; the full version supports hardware H.264 decoding. If your hardware isn’t capable of hardware decoding H.264 then the CoreAVC H.264 codec is the fastest software decoder available, although you will need the professional version.

Most modern graphics cards support hardware decoding. This drastically reduces the CPU usage involved in decoding TV streams.

You are now ready to install MediaPortal!

Installation:

1.     Download the latest MediaPortal release from here.

2.     Run MediaPortal_Setup_1.0_RC2.exe and follow the wizard. Leave all the options as default.

3.     Once installation is complete, run “TV Server Configuration”. A window should appear asking you to select a database, leave the options as default and enter the password “MediaPortal”. Press test, if all is ok press save. You will now be asked to start the TV Service, press yes. The main TV Server Configuration window will now appear.

TV Server Configuration:

1.     Expand the TV Servers menu on the left and then expand the menu with the name of your computer, remember the name because you’ll need it later. TV Server should pick up all your TV tuners automatically, providing you have installed BDA drivers for your TV card. If you have installed any of these in Media Center mode, I would recommend installing them again.

2.     Select your tuner from the list on the left, the tuning window will now appear.

3.     For DVB-S/S2 you need to set up your LNB configuration accordingly. Tick SAT#1 and then in the satellite drop down choose “28.2E Astra2A/2B/2D...” for standard TV, or “28.2E Sky HD” for any DVB-S2 channels (you will need to scan twice in order to get both). If you have a DVB-S2 card (egFloppyDTV S2), you will need to tick the “Enable DVB-S2 tuning features” tick box at the bottom of the window.

4.     Now select the Scanning tab. To make sure you’re scanning the most up to date transponders, hit “Update Satellite list”, this will download a current list. When you’re ready to scan press “Scan for Channels”. Repeat as necessary, this will take some time.

5.     For DVB-T you only need to choose your country and transmitter e.g. “UK – Rowridge” from the drop down list. This will scan the frequencies broadcast by your local transmitter. Press “Scan for channels” to begin.

Once you have scanned all the channels you can now begin sorting them, select the TV Channels menu. You should now be presented with a list of channels found on your scan. Choose a channel and click preview to test it’s all working. For DVB radio channels the same applies.

If you have a DVB-S card and are looking for ITV-HD, look for the channel name “10510”, this is ITV-HD. If you press the edit button you can rename this to make it easier to find in the guide.

If you wish you can sort channels into groups, by default all channels are put into a group called (you guessed it) ‘All Channels’. If you click the all channels tab, this is the default view in the TV guide and the order the channels are shown in here is the order they will be listed in the guide.

In order for media portal to grab an Electronic Program Guide you will need to setup the EPG grabber. Click the TV EPG grabber submenu and tick the box “Store data only for selected channels” and click the “All” button under the “Grab EPG for channels” list.

 If you have two or more tuners of the same type (e.g. DVB-T) then you only need to scan with one, the channels can then be mapped to any other tuner using the TV Mapping menu. More advanced users with multiple different tuners (e.g. DVB-T & DVB-S) can use the Combination tool to combine the identical channels on the different cards, e.g. combine BBC 1 on DVB-T with BBC1 on DVB-S thus providing two different tuners available for BBC 1.

All of the other settings in the TV Server configuration can be left as default. (Have a look around once you’re feeling brave!) Press OK to exit.

Now load up the MediaPortal Configuration.

MediaPortal Configuration:

1.     Expand the Television menu; you will now be presented with a load of settings.  You can configure whichever decoder you wish to use for your chosen codec, I recommend using the PowerDVD codec for MPEG2 and CoreAVC for H.264. Have a play with which decoders you think give the best picture.

2.     At the bottom of the Television menu there is a section called “When entering MyTV” tick the boxes “Turn on TV” and “Directly Show Full Screen” if you want the TV to start straight away when entering the TV menu in MediaPortal.

3.     Select the TV Client submenu; in the section that says “hostname” enter the hostname of your PC. (That’s the name I told you to remember earlier)

4.     Choose the Audio Settings Tab, tick the box at the bottom that says “Prefer AC-3 sound” as this will ensure on HD channels you’re listening to the correct audio stream.

TV is now setup in media portal and ready to go. You may wish to have a look around the rest of the settings menus. Test that TV is working correctly before fiddling with the settings too much, most of the default settings are OK. By default any advanced settings are hidden, you can enable them by pressing “Switch to Expert Mode” in the top right corner.

You’re now ready to start up MediaPortal. Once the program has started choose MyTV to get channel surfing.

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