Media Portal with MPExtended

[RedBaron164 18]

I'm testing out Media Portal as a replacement for WMC and so far I have the Emby integration working pretty well. The only issue I've run into so far is that when I'm watching Recorded shows through Emby I'm unable to fast forward. If I try to skip ahead the stream just freezes. Any suggestions?

[pünktchen 1251]

Finished recordings or currently running recordings?

[RedBaron164 18]

Finished recordings, the issue also occurs through both the web interface for Emby and the roku app.

Edited October 14, 2015 by RedBaron164

[pünktchen 1251]

In the plugin settings enable the option "Direct access to recordings".

If the codec informations are visible in the webinterface or Roku it should work without problems. Emby refreshes this information itself after some time. For instant refresh you have to click the button in the webinterface/Roku.

[RedBaron164 18]

Thank you, for some reason last night it started working properly. I had been running the .5.4 version of MPExtended and then upgraded it to .6. Initially that did not fix anything but when I tried it again a couple of hours later I was able to skip around without issue on the two rokus I tested. If the issue returns I'll try enabling direct access.

[RedBaron164 18]

So I was watching a show and video stopped in the middle of a show. I then tried enabling Direct Access and then I was able to fast forward shows at all. Then I tried setting it back the way it was and now I can't watch any recorded tv shows. And now Emby is showing the status for Media Portal as unavailable even though I can save and test the connection and it appears to be fine. None of the tuners are showing up in Live TV anymore either all though live tv still works on the Roku app. I've restarted the MP extend service and removed and re-added the emby mediaportal plugin several times.

 

The server log is spewing this and I've attached a complete log. When I would try to play an episode the transcode log would just unable to find file or directory.

 
2015-10-14 20:53:23.7134 Error - App: Error in Live TV Service Provider
 *** Error Report ***
 Version: 3.0.5724.6
 Command line: C:\Users\administrator.domain\AppData\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Server\System\MediaBrowser.ServerApplication.exe
 Operating system: Microsoft Windows NT 6.2.9200.0
 Processor count: 4
 64-Bit OS: True
 64-Bit Process: False
 Program data path: C:\Users\administrator.domain\AppData\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Server
 Application Path: C:\Users\administrator.domain\AppData\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Server\System\MediaBrowser.ServerApplication.exe
 Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
 System.NullReferenceException
    at MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations.LiveTv.ProgramImageProvider.<GetImage>d__5.MoveNext()
 --- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
    at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
    at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
    at MediaBrowser.Providers.Manager.ItemImageProvider.<RefreshFromProvider>d__12.MoveNext()

 

Also, Emby and Media Portal are on different machines.
 

server-63580451701.txt

Edited October 15, 2015 by RedBaron164

[RedBaron164 18]

So I took MP Extended back down to .5.4 and now the tuners are showing up and the status is showing good. Live TV still works but recorded tv doesn't. Best I can figure by the transcode logs is that emby is trying to play the files off the local drive even though they are on a different machine. I originally set the "local path" to d:\tv which is the local path of the media portal server. I tried setting the "local path" to the network share of the media portal server but that didn't seem to have an effect. I then turned on "requires pathsubtitution" and put the share in the remote share field as well. Still the logs indicate it's trying to play the files off the local D: drive. I've refreshed the guide but that doesn't seem to do anything for recorded tv.

[pünktchen 1251]

Why you had to go back to MPExtended 0.54 i don't know. The "direct access" setting doesn't have any affect on this!

The error from the log you've posted you can ignore. I've removed them in the next plugin version i'm currently preparing.

 

As to the direct access setting - i really should make a wiki about all those plugin settings

For your envirement (Emby and TVServer on different machines) you would need:

- direct access to recordings enabled

- requires path substitution enabled

- local recording path fill your path you have set in TVServer eg. D:\Recordings

- remote path fill with the share of your recordings eg. \\MyServer\Recordings

 

After you have set direct access of recording but you'd like to get rid of it:

- disable direct access and save

- uninstall the MediaPortal plugin and restart Emby server

- trigger library scan and clean library tasks

- restart emby server

- install the MediaPortal plugin and of course restart Emby server

This has worked for me several times.

[RedBaron164 18]

Thanks for the info, I'm going to have to document this whole process for the future

 

I think it might be the clean library tasks that's the key there in my case. I did almost everything you listed like 5 times last night, and finally went through, removed MP Extend completely, reinstalled up to .6 and made sure the tuners were showing up. I cleared out the config for the Media Portal plugin, removed and reinstalled the plugin in Emby, configured it (without direct access), ran a guide refresh and a library scan and then went to sleep because it was still showing D:\ in the path when I went to sleep.

 

This morning I checked it and the path had updated and was showing the network address not D: anymore. I tested via the web interface for emby and when I would try to play a recorded show I would see 3 failed transcode logs pop up and then a 4th where it actually started to play. Then I enabled direct access again, hit my treadmill, then after that I checked it again and it was only generating the one log transcode log and was much more responsive. I also have the ability to resume playing videos now which is nice. I tested it out for about 30 minutes before work and it seems to be good now. I'll give it a more thorough test tonight.

 

Definitely felt like it's just one of those things that I just need to set it, breath, walk away for awhile and let it's do it's thing and then come back later.