Overview

MP2 has support for many TV features including:

• Live TV
• Electronic Program Guide (EPG)
• Managing scheduling and recordings

The plugin for this is called "SlimTV" but there are different TV Engines (TVE) that provide the features:

• Using only MP1 components (NativeTV, TVE 3)
• Using only MP2 components (NativeTV, TVE 3.5)
• Using both MP1 and MP2 components (MPExtended)

Which TVE is right for me?

There are a couple of decisions to be aware of when choosing the right TV engine for your setup:

Would you like to use only MP1?

• Use stable TVE 3 provided by MP1 installer (TvServer)

Would you like to use only MP2?

• Use stable TVE 3 running inside MP2-Server; all plugins supported
• Use pre-alpha TVE 3.5 running inside MP2-Server; new hardware devices supported but only a few plugins

Would you like to use both MP1 & MP2?

• Use stable TVE 3 running inside MP2-Server; all plugins supported

Would you like to use MP2 and already use MP1 & MPExtended?

• Use stable TVE 3 provided by MP1 installer (TvServer)
• Use the installed MPExtended service
• Use the MP2-MPExtendedProvider to access TV over MPExtended service

Possible combinations

Lets have a look at some of the possible combinations.

MP2 with stable TVE 3 plugin

If you want to mainly use MP2 components and a stable TV engine the combination of MP2 and the TVE 3 (a.k.a. MP 1 TvServer) is recommended.

Pros:

• MP1 clients are able to connect to the TV engine running inside MP2-Server
• All MP1 TvServer plugins are working as in MP1
• No external database installation required

Cons:

• Hardware support is up to MP1, newer generation of TV cards are not yet supported

Additional notes:

• When using the NativeTV 3 plugin with MP2-Server, you must stop MP1's TvServer if it is installed on same computer
• MP1 clients will need some manual adjustments to gentle.config, because the MP2 Server's Sqlite DB will be used

MP2 with pre-alpha TVE 3.5 plugin

If you want to mainly use MP2 components and the still under development ("pre-alpha" state!), cutting edge TV engine, the combination of MP2 and the TVE 3.5 is possible.

Pros:

• Extended hardware support (compared to TVE3 , MP1 TvServer)
• No external database installation required

Cons:

• Engine is in pre-alpha state. There will probably be bugs and missing features (read definitely!)
• Not all TV plugins known from MP1 are available
• There is no official MP1 release which supports this installation

MP2 in combination with MP1 + MPExtended service

For an environment with an existing MP1 + TvServer installation, combined with the optional MPExtended service, there is a 3rd way to get TV support for MP2.

Pros:

• You can reuse the MP1 installation in combination with the MPExtended service
• It's easy to use this set up for testing MP2 without interfering with your MP1 installation

Cons:

• You'll need a full MP1 + TvServer installation
• A full database system is required (either MySql or Mircrosoft SQL-Server)
• The MPExtended service needs to be installed and configured

Note: following sections are intended for a technical overview and are more for developers than for users

Detailed Technology overview of MP2 plugins

SlimTV MPExtended provider

This provider depends on:

• An installed and configured MP1 TvServer
• An installed and configured MPExtended service

You can use this provider if you are using both MP1 and MP2 and want to share the same TvServer installation.

SlimTV NativeTV provider

This provider depends on:

• MP2 Server service
• SlimTV.NativeTV server plugin

You can use this provider if you are using only MP2 and don't need to install any MP1 component (no GUI, no TvServer). You don't need to install any external database (MySQL, MSSQL), as the NativeTV plugin uses the same DB engine as the MP2 service (per default SQLite).

Mixed mode (MP1 / MP2) operation now and in future

SlimTV MPExtended provider

This way is the common approach of MP1 and MP2, using the MP1 TvService ("TVE 3").

SlimTV NativeTV provider

The new "TVE 3.5" (TvEngine version 3.5) as successor of the existing TVE 3 (MP1 TvServer) can be used with both MP1 and MP2 plugins.

Note: An TVE 3.5 compatible MP1 TvPlugin is not yet (as of February 2015) available for any current MP1 releases (1.10,...), because the development branch on our server is not up-to-date with main release branch.

This way should be used for "MP2 only" installations. If the first release of a MP1 TvPlugin "3.5" for current MP1 versions is available, it will be working with MP2 NativeTV plugin as well.

Related

• Reference