MediaPortal 2.1 Pre Release
Attached to this news you will find the Pre Release version of MediaPortal 2.1.
The MP2 team has done a great job in fixing virtually hundreds of bugs and, most importantly, finishing the long-expected MIA Rework! We have now added all those functionalities that you had been asking for since ages.
This Pre Release is provided as a way for the community to test and give feedback on all the new things we have added since the release of Spring '16. We are particularly interested in your feedback regarding functionality and design as well as menu layout and its content. Your feedback will be a valuable source for bug fixing and general improvement, which we plan to apply to the the final release!
Highlights of this release
Besides numerous bug fixes, we have included the following major improvements:
- New WMC skin
Coming from WMC, because not able to use it anymore with Windows 10, but looking for the same lean usability? The new WMC skin will offer the full look and feel, that you are used to and offer a lot of additional opportunities making it even better.
- New BlueVision skin themes
The BlueVision skin has been revamped and new themes have been added: Windows10, Titanium Extended and Grey allow to adjust the look of MediaPortal to your personal preference.
Windows10
Titanium Extended
Grey
- Completely reworked media management
All kind of media (movie, series, audio, videos, etc.) will now be automatically scraped. Respective online information (descriptions, covers, posters, fanart, artists, etc.) is downloaded and added to the central database. Users can define which online sources to use and what kind of data to download. Local fanarts and descriptions are also supported. - Enhanced movie and series management
Movies can now be shown filtered by collections (aka movie sets)
Now there is also an indicator for the watched percentage of movies and their collections as well as for series and seasons.
Several new features have been added. You can now enjoy season FanArt and benefit from a broad variety of metadata to filter and sort on.
- TV
TV engine now supports broadcasts with HEVC/H.265 video e.g. DVB-T2 HD in Germany
Better TV audio support (more AAC formats supported and other reliabilty improvements - Online Videos
Added support for DRM-protected content like Amazon Prime - Resource drive S:\ removed: Media resources are now mounted as folders instead of drives. No strange drive letters showing up in Explorer anymore.
Full list of changes
We have literally fixed hundreds of things. Have a look at the details
Installation, Upgrade, Download and Feedback
Installation
Extract the downloaded zip archive and simply run the MP2 Setup file.The installer will automatically download any missing components and install them.
Windows 10 K and KN editions: You need to manually download and install the additional Microsoft Media feature pack first. This will add the Windows Media Player and related technologies that are required by MediaPortal 2.1 to work.
Wiki: http://www.team-mediaportal.com/wiki/display/MediaPortal2/Installing+MediaPortal+2
Upgrade
MediaPortal 2.1 has a new media database structure that is not compatible with previous versions. The installer will recognize an existing incompatible database and rename it before upgrading the system to the new version.
N.B.:
*** Attention Spring '16 users ***: Please uninstall Spring 16 first from the Windows Control panel (and only from there!). Your databases and user settings are preserved. The 2.1pre installer will recognize your existing TV database and keep your your user-specific setting.
Please refer to the Wiki for a detailed explanation how to prepare a Spring '16 setup for upgrade: https://www.team-mediaportal.com/wiki/display/MediaPortal2/Upgrade+Spring+%2716
The attempt to upgrade from a weekly snapshot will fail. In such cases the installer will stop and notify that the existing setup needs to be uninstalled first.
You will need to redo your server settings including the setup of media sources. MediaPortal 2.1 will automatically scan each path and import online information as per your settings to allow using all the new features.
If you don't like the new version you can easily roll back to your previous version as all data files are preserved. The old database file can be deleted if you decide to stay with MediaPortal 2.1.
The Dokan package will be upgraded to version 1.0.0, however, the installer will leave the existing old version 0.5.3 untouched in case it is used by other software. If you are sure that you don't require Dokan 0.5.3, do a manual uninstall from Windows Control Panel.
Feedback
Bugs
If you think you found a bug then please post a detailed report in our Bug Reports Forum. Make sure your report includes all the required information.
Appearance and functionality
We invite you to make suggestions for improvement with special focus on menu layout, menu content explanatory texts and translations. Please post your comments in a new thread in the General section.
Requests for missing/new features should be made in the Feature Request Forum.
Download
We hope that you took the time to read this release news entirely because it includes vital information about the major changes. Get your own copy of the new MediaPortal 2.1 by selecting the download link.
If you would like to support MediaPortal, we would be happy to receive a small donation!
The MediaPortal team wishes you a lot of fun with this new release!
