• GeneralRequirements

MediaPortal and TV-Server Requirements

• MediaPortal will run fine on recent Windows computers (see supported Windows versions below). However, make sure you have installed the software components decribed in the following list.

Operating System

Operating System Components

• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1

• Microsoft DirectX 9.0c or later

  • Note: Using MP 1.0.0 or above the installer will automatically install latest DirectX if necessary.

  • Note: In Vista it's also required to have November 2008 DirectX End User Runtime installed.

• Microsoft latest avaiable Windows Media Player Version

  • Note: Using MP 1.0.0 or above the installer will automatically prompt you for the download of latest WMP.

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package ATL Security Update

  • Note: Using MP 1.0.0 or above the installer will automatically install latest Visual C++ Redistributable Package if necessary.

  • Note: If the component is downloaded and installed manually, be sure to use the x86 package even on x64 systems.

  • Note: On Microsoft's download page, Windows 7 is not listed for this package. Nevertheless it is required and working fine for Windows 7, too.

Required updates and hotfixes

• Common to all operating systems

  • Run Windows Update to install all available updates

• Only for XP / MCE2005

  • BDA/DVB hotfix

  • This hotfix is essential for viewing digital TV broadcasts.
  • It is already included in roll up 2 of Windows MCE 2005, for Windows XP you have to install
  • it manually. [Updated psisdecd.dll]

  • Firewire hotfix

  • This hotfix is necessary if you have upgraded to Windows XP SP2 and use FireWire devices.

  • It is already included in Windows XP SP3.

  • videoplayback flicker hotfix

  • This hotfix resolves a problem with flickering video playback. [Updated quartz.dll]
  • It is already included in Windows XP SP3.

Filesystem

• Depending on the bit rate of the transmission recordings TV can take up lots of hard disk space. Recording one channel for one hour you get a file size peaking from around 4GB for SDTV to about 8GB for HDTV.
  • FAT16: maximum recording length is ~ 15 (HDTV) to 30 (SDTV) minutes
  • FAT32: maximum recording lenght is ~ 30 (HDTV) to 60 (SDTV) minutes
  • NTFS: maximum recording length is ~ 2000 (HDTV) to 4000 (SDTV) hours
  Obiviously choosing the NTFS filesystem is highly recommended.

Drivers and Codecs

• Always use the most recent drivers for your video and audio card

• For information on video codecs, see the Codecs user guide

• MPEG-2 codec: The opensource MPV and MPA codecs are bundled with MediaPortal allwoing you to watch movies and TV out of the box.

• H.264 codec: If you plan to watch HD content, then you need to intall a 3rd party h.264 codec. Popular ones are from Cyberlink's PowerDVD, CoreAVC or ffdshow which is available for free.

Hardware Requirements

Requirements for running MediaPortal and/or the TV-Server

• CPU: Intel P4 with 2.0 GHz / AMD XP-2000+ or above

• Memory: 1024 MB

• HDD: 600 MB for MediaPortal

• HDD: 50 GB for TV recordings and timeshifting

  • Note: recordings can take up to 8GB per hour and channel

• Video card: DirectX 9 compatible video card with at least 128 MB of video memory such as:

  • ATI Radeon series (9600 and above or X300 and above)

  • NVIDIA GeForce, GeForce FX (5200 or above) and NForce series

  • Intel Extreme Graphics 2 (integrated i865G)

  • Matrox Parhelia

  • SiS Xabre series

• TV card:

  • Necessary if you want to watch and record TV with MediaPortal (Supported TV cards)

  • MediaPortal TV-Server out of the box supports all analog TV cards with hardware MPEG-2 encoder and all digital TV cards which use BDA-drivers.

Requirements for watching HDTV, Blue-ray or HD DVD content

• CPU: Dual-core CPU with 2,0 GHz or above

• Memory: 1024 MB

• Video card:

  • AMD: all cards that include the Universal Video Decoder

  • Nvidia: all cards that include PureVideo HD

  • Intel: boards that include the X 4500

  • Codecs: all codecs that support the hardware decoding capabilities of the above mentioned video cards

    • this includes codecs from latest Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra, ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre, Corel WinDVD 9 and MediaPlayer Classic Home Cinema

• To check if the performance of your PC is sufficient for HD content, have a look a these trailers.

  • DVD HD test films

  • BlueRay test films

TV-Server specific requirements

Database server requirements

• It is necessary to install one of the following databases.

• Note: Since MediaPortal 1.0 the installer takes care about downloading and configuring the SQL server.

• MicroSoft SQL Server

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2005
    

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
    

  • Additional (but recommended) SQL Server Management Studio Express

• Sun MySQL 5

  • MySQL 5
    

  • MySQL GUI Tools
    

Dependencies

• The Tv-Server depends on the RPC Locator service activation. This service should be automatically installed with the Client for Microsoft Network under the properties of your network card.

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