MediaPortal will run fine on recent Windows computers (see supported Windows versions below). However, make sure you have installed the software components described in the following list.
Recommended Hardware
- 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 time shifting. Recordings can take up to 8GB per hour
- Video card: DirectX 9 compatible video card with at least 128 MB of video memory
- TV card: MediaPortal TV-Server supports all analog TV cards with hardware MPEG-2 encoder and all digital TV cards which use BDA-drivers
Recommended Hardware for HDTV
- 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 Total Media Theatre, Corel WinDVD 9 and Media Player Classic Home Cinema.
- To check if the performance of your PC is sufficient for HD content, have a look a these trailers.
File system
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 length is ~ 30 (HDTV) to 60 (SDTV) minutes
- NTFS: maximum recording length is ~ 2000 (HDTV) to 4000 (SDTV) hours
TV-Server specific Requirements:
Database Server Requirements:
It is necessary to install one of the following databases:
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 (Windows)
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.
Supported Operating Systems
- Windows XP 32-bit Edition with at least service pack 3
- Windows Media Center Edition 2005 with service pack 3
- Windows Vista 32- and 64-bit with at least service pack 2
- Windows 7 32- and 64-bit
We strongly suggest to install always the latest available service pack for your platform
Unsupported Operating Systems
Please note that the following operating systems are not officially supported. However, you will be able to run MediaPortal on some of them. Use the following overview as a guideline only.
- Windows 2000 and older editions
- Windows XP 32-bit Edition before service pack 3
- Windows XP 64-bit Edition
- Windows Vista before service pack 2
- All Beta versions of OS
- Windows Server 2003 and 2008 (Microsoft does not release essential tv-card-hotfixes)
- All beta/release candidate service packs
Please, do not submit bug reports when running an unsupported operating system.
Operating System Components
- Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1
- Microsoft Microsoft DirectX 9.0c (June 2010 redist)
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- 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 available Windows Media Player Version
- Note: MP 1.0.0 or above 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 using either analog or digital TV cards. 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.
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