Yes, you read right. Attached to this news you will find the pre-release test version for MediaPortal 1.4.0. From the pre-release test version to the final version we are only doing bug-fixes. This means that in only about 2 months we will release 1.4.0 final!
You will be able to upgrade from the MP 1.4.0 pre-release test version to the MP 1.4.0 final version easily!

But how is this possible? No more annual (Christmas) final Releases?

The team has successfully transitioned to a new release process. We're calling the process a "train model".

The idea is to enable us to deliver the features you want faster by working to a more fixed schedule. That means no need to wait for our traditional Christmas releases. "Christmas" will come more often from now on!

Have a look here if you want to know more.

So what's in store?

You might think that because of the short development timeframe, the 1.4.0 release will be just a few small tweaks here and there. But thanks to the fantastic help from the community in Area 51, we think you'll be surprised!

HDMI half/fullscreen fix:
HDMI is THE connection these days. In 1.4.0 we have finally managed to fix the issue that plagued so many people in our community. MediaPortal no longer resizes into a small window when you use HDMI to connect your HTPC with a TV or AV receiver!

MediaPortal starts faster:
MediaPortal can take a fair amount of time to start. This release introduces a few changes which should reduce that startup time a bit.

Standby (S3) hibernation (S4) handling reworked:
MediaPortal's compatibility with Windows power saving features has been improved. Hopefully this will allow you to save some money from your power bill.

Compensate for Windows DPI settings different than 100%
Windows has a feature that enables you to increase the size of text (to make it easier to read). This version of MediaPortal works better than previous versions when that feature is enabled.

Video and TV-recordings thumbnails creation
Our thumbnail creator for videofiles has been worked on to make it more reliable.
We are also now able to create thumbnails for TV recordings on multiseat systems!

Picture thumbnail creation
MediaPortal 1.4.0 pre-release creates picture thumbnails more than 10x faster than MediaPortal 1.3.0.

Music playback
The music player implementation has also been given an overhaul. WASAPI support has been added and the existing ASIO support has been cleaned up.

MediaPortal Audio Renderer
Based on your feedback, the MPAR which was first introduced in MediaPortal 1.3.0 has been refined and improved even further.

Blu-Ray Playback
We know you love the native Blu-Ray support that was introduced in MediaPortal 1.3.0. We've made further improvements in this release.

TV-Server enhancements
The TV-Server has received numerous small fixes and enhancements such as the option to also import and export your tuner settings.

New logging framework
The new log4net logging has elements that can be configured, specifically the log file size and log rotation.

Full list of changes

You can review the complete change log for 1.4.0 by using the following links:

• Changelog: MediaPortal
• Changelog: TV-Server
• Changelog: Installer - DeployTool

 Compatibility

When introducing new features and reworking areas of MediaPortal, we try very hard to make sure that compatibility to previous versions of plugins and skins is maintained. However, sometimes this is not possible. In 1.4.0 we have a few changes which will render sins and some extensions incompatible.

Skins:

Due to the changes introduced in 1.4.0, none of the old skins are compatible. However the changes are not that massive or numerous.
Skin Designers can find out about what needs to be changed in the 1.3.0 to 1.4.0 section of the Wiki.

Plugins:

Due to the changes introduced in 1.4.0, you will find some plugins reported as incompatible after the upgrade. Many plugin developers have already released 1.4.0 compatible versions.
But before you start testing the 1.4.0 pre-release, make sure that the plugins you are using are available in a compatible version.

Developers can find out what needs to be changed to become 1.4.0 compatible in the related wiki section.

WindowsXP support is about to end

A little over 4 years ago, Microsoft ended the mainstream support for Windows XP, and the extended support for developers and businesses is to end in less than a year.
Windows XP has served many of us well during the last 12 years. Most have already moved on to Windows 7 or even Windows 8 which both bring a lot of features and optimizations that especially HTPCs benefit from.

Since quite some time we are in a state where nearly no active team member has access to a Windows XP system for development or testing, which makes maintaining Windows XP support quite a challenge.

But the much bigger concern starts to be that ensuring Windows XP compatibility results in turning down reworks and new features our community would highly benefit from.
The reason for this is that these features and reworks require functions that are only available in later Windows versions, and the required extra work to maintain Windows XP compatibility would result in a lot of additional and duplicate code, making the changes very complex and error prone.

So we decided that in the interest of delivering our community the best Media Center on the Windows platform, the time has come to say "thank you, and goodbye" to Windows XP.

MediaPortal 1.4.0 will be the last version which supports Windows XP. Starting with 1.5.0 we will do some large scale cleanups in our code and start to include new features which will require that you run MediaPortal on Windows Vista or later.

Installation, Upgrade, Download and Feedback

Installation

When doing a clean installation of 1.4.0 pre-release there is nothing special to worry about.

Upgrade

Upgrading from 1.2.x, or 1.3.0 Alpha/Beta/RC/Final to 1.4.0 pre-release

All MediaPortal 1.2.x and 1.3.0 Alpha/Beta/RC/Final installations can be upgraded to 1.4.0 pre-release, without losing your settings.

Plugins:

If you are running MediaPortal 1.3.x, then it is possible that some of your previously installed plugins will be shown as incompatible after the upgrade to 1.4.0 pre-release! Whether or not a plugin is incompatible depends on the MediaPortal subsystems the plugin uses.

If you are running earlier versions of MediaPortal, it is likely that none of your plugins are compatible with 1.4.0 pre-release.

If a plugin provides skin files for MediaPortal's Default skin, then the author should also check the Skin related changes.

Skins:

Warning! Due to the new features and changes introduced, none of the 1.3.x skins are compatible with 1.4.0 pre-release!

Please contact the author of the skin you use for further information and updates.

Upgrading Extensions:

The easiest way to upgrade your extensions is by launching the MediaPortal Extension Installer, and let it check for updated versions. However this only works for extensions that use our MPEI system. If the author of the extension releases it as a stand alone installer, you must contact them for an updated version.

Upgrading from 1.2.0 Alpha or earlier to 1.4.0 pre-release

All MediaPortal installations starting with 1.1.0 RC1 can be upgraded to 1.4.0 pre-release, without losing your settings.

If you are running MediaPortal 1.2.0 Alpha or earlier, then none of your extensions (plugins and skins) will work after the upgrade to 1.4.0 pre-release! You must update your extensions after the upgrade! 

So, please make sure that 1.4.0 pre-release compatible versions of your extensions are available before you start the upgrade!

General note about Upgrades

Manually stop TV-Service!

On some systems our installer is not able to update the TV-Server installation because its files are locked or the service can not be stopped.

For upgrades to 1.4.0 we recommend that you manually stop the TV-Service and make sure, via Windows Task Manager (enable the "all users" option), that the TvService.exe process is really gone before starting to upgrade.

Custom TV-Service properties

If you manually changed the properties of the TV-Service (like restart on error options), then you must redo these changes after the upgrade. The installer is not able to save and restore your custom service properties when it installs the new version of the TV-Service.

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. Incomplete reports will be removed to keep the forum clean.

Download

Finally - the download. We hope that you took the time to read this release news entirely because it includes vital information about the major changes.

  If you would like to support MediaPortal, we would be happy to receive a small donation!

The Team wishes you a lot of fun with this new release!

.::. Download - MediaPortal 1.4.0 pre-release .::.

:: Post a Comment ::

For those of you who don't know already, we created a forum section called "Area 51" some time ago to let the community become more involved with the actual development process of new features, reworks and bug fixes. In "Area 51" you can see what we are working on and actually speed up the development by helping us with coding, testing and documenting those changes.

So let us take a look at what our developers are working on at the moment.

Full/Half-Screen issue with HDMI connection - or thats how it started

The issue where MediaPortal would display in a small window, sitting in the top left corner of the screen, is a problem many users of AV-receivers sadly have experienced. Scythe42 is working on a solution to this problem, and while he is at it, he also started to fix several other small and larger issues in the code areas where the "full/half-screen" issue originates.

The complete list of changes is quite long. So I picked a few highlights for you:

• You can use resume/suspend of Windows without any side effects to MediaPortal anymore. Supports all states including Win8's Fast Boot. All workarounds for various configurations have been removed.
• For HDMI audio, playback is stopped when the receiver "disconnects" or "reconnects", preventing a crash of DirectShow where possible (depending on used filters/drivers).
• You can make full use of Windows' screen savers. Note: they do not start when using always on top in full screen. That is a limitation of Windows not MP. You cannot have two 'always on top' full screens at the same time. It is either always on top or not.
• Resizing of windows and switching between full screen and windowed mode is now blazing fast
• Resizing of windows is now aspect ratio safe and defined by the ratio of the skin you are using.
• Full support for switching displays on the fly without re-starting MediaPortal. Internally it always works with the resolution of the display you started MP.
• DPI Awareness. You can change Windows' font sizes without font sizes of skins being affected.
• Improved mouse handling. There may still be some glitches remaining where a possible combination has not been discovered or tested. That's why we need YOUR feedback in Area 51, with proper descriptions of reproducibility.
• Option to minimize MediaPortal to the tray from full screen instead of always popping up as background with a reduced frame rate.
• Faster startup by loading each window plugin in its own thread.
• Startup times of plugins are now logged, so you can find out what takes the most time on your system.
• New D3D device handling, transferring more load to the GPU during rendering. Possible with the font engine changes from tourettes.
• Enhanced dealing with various cultures over the world. We now even pass the infamous "Turkey Test" ( http://www.moserware.com/2008/02/does-your-code-pass-turkey-test.html)
• Starting playback and TV zapping should be faster (removed unnecessary D3D device resets)
• Enhanced compatibility with using IOS or Android based tablets as a secondary screen (limited by the used Air Display technology, though, back buffer and bandwidth for movie playback/streaming). In general it works now properly, though it depends on the solution you are using.

The combined fixes are available as binaries. That means that you only have to backup the files in our current installation which get replaced by the fix - so you can help us with testing very, very easily.

Last.FM Rework and Auto DJ mode

jameson_uk is currently reworking the last.fm support in MediaPortal and adding some very cool new features!

Scrobbling (last.fm account required, but no subscription)
 The scrobbling side has been rewritten from scratch

• Announce now playing track on last.fm website
• Scrobbling tracks when played
• Love / Ban functionality

Last.fm Radio (Last.fm account and subscription required)
Basic radio/playback functionality based on the new API but this does require a subscription and may not be available in all countries.

• Standard last.fm radio stations
• better integration with the rest of MP
• Downloading (and deleting) temporary thumbs for tracks being played if no local thumb exists

Auto DJ (no last.fm account needed)
Although a last.fm account is not required, having one is free, and scrobbling improves recommendations for everyone.
This feature will simply look for similar tracks in your music database (it only works if you have scanned tracks into the database)

• Will attempt to keep playing music forever
• Tracks must be scanned into the music database

Due to the scale of the rework, it is only available as a full installer. The current version also includes the Music Player Rework from hwahrmann.

This means that you can not easily go back to your current setup. So while testing is highly appreciated, and required to eventually get this rework included in an upcoming release, you have to take precautions (backup or install on another machine) to not damage your live installation.

WorldWeather Lite

With weather.com disabling free access to their weather information, we had to remove our weather plugin from MediaPortal which retrieved the information from that service. So since MediaPortal 1.2.0, we could not offer our users a weather feature as part of a MediaPortal release.

Micropolis, the creator of WorldWeather, is now working on WorldWeather Lite that will eventually become part of an upcoming MediaPortal release.

Installation is very easy, because Micropolis is proving the latest version as a MediaPortal Extension.

If you are interested to see a simple weather feature return to MediaPortal, then please have a look at the WorldWeather Lite development thread.

Picture Thumbnail Generation rework

One of the biggest usability flaws in MediaPortal that affected me personally too, was the extremely slow thumbnail generation for pictures. With the success of digital cameras and resolutions increasing from year to year, the speed at which MediaPortal generated thumbnails just became unbearable.

In a very short time Sebastiii managed to completely rework the way thumbnails for pictures are created. It is just ridiculously fast now!
However, the generation of the thumbnails is just one part of the solution. The thumbs are now also stored in a folder-tree, because storing many thousands of small thumbnails in just one folder, was an additional slowdown for thumbnail generation as well as when loading them to show them inside "Pictures" of MediaPortal. With this fix, the folder-tree storage is also used for video thumbnails, to gain a small speed up in that area too.

If you feel the need for more speed, head over to the thread in the Area 51 forum where you can find this fix available in binary form. So you only have to backup the files the fix will replace and you can always quickly and easily go back to your original setup.

Blu-ray Playback enhancements

Sebastiii is also working on enhancing the support for Blu-ray playback even further.

Included in his "Add-on" are:

• Possibility to enable/disable native Blu-ray (when disabled, it will use the LAV Splitter and BDHandler to manage the selection list).
• Fix 'Resume on Title' mode (MediaPortal then treats the Blu-ray as a DVD player and tries to resume using DVD player code).
• When Blu-ray discs are remuxed, MediaPortal didn't prompt to show the menu and instead started to play the movie directly.
• Add possibility to set a Post-Processing filter / bdplayerAR (Ratio / Zoom etc).
• Add Audio channel amount to OSD Info (Context Audio menu like 5.1 / 2.0 etc).

The enhancement is available as a full installer and as binaries. That means that you only have to backup the files in your current installation which get replaced by the fix - so you can help us with testing very, very easily.

Replace PowerScheduler with PowerScheduler++

Save power does not only mean to reduce CO² emissions, but also saves money :D So to ensure that your HTPC(s) does not waste your money by being on while you are not even at home, PowerScheduler will put the system to sleep.

While PowerScheduler, which is part of MediaPortal, is working fairly well, it does have some quirks and shortcomings. michael_t, who is the creator of PowerScheduler++, is now working on replacing our current PowerScheduler with the ++ version.

If you want a better PowerScheduler to be part of an upcoming MediaPortal release then have a look at his thread in Area 51. Testing is very easy because it is also provided in form of binaries. So you only have to backup your current files the change is going to replace and you can easily revert back to your current setup.

As you can see we have quite a few nice changes in the works. With your help they will quickly find their way into an upcoming MediaPortal release.  
When?  As soon as we get enough test results, and document the changes, the new features or fixes will be included in the next release. So the ball is in your court!

In fact, the amount of changes is so large that we can't cover them here. So we only picked a few highlights of what is new in 1.3.0 compared to 1.2.0.

Highlights of this release

New Skins - Better than ever!

The most obvious change for the 1.3.0 release is the new Titan skin, designed for users with a 16:9 display and a native resolution of 1080p. This skin has been refined during the beta and release candidate phases to provide an amazing out-of-the-box experience with MediaPortal. More information can be found in the Titan News Item. Team Titan did not stop at producing a new skin for MediaPortal. In addition to the new skin selection option, the installer also offers you the choice to install 'Titan Extended'. This is a MediaPortal Extension which adds support for many community plugins, as well as a 'Titan Skin Updater' plugin. Titan Skin Updater enables us to easily provide you with updates to the Titan skin - including bug fixes and support for new plugins - over the coming weeks and months.

Titan is great, but for those who like the old default skins, these have also been enhanced. DefaultWide is designed for users with 16:9 display and a native resolution of 720p. Default is a non-widescreen skin for users with a 4:3 display and various native resolutions.

Enhancements to the skin engine and more skin features

The following significant skin engine enhancements have been made to improve the usability and extensibility of the MediaPortal user interface:

• Skin themes - Skin designers may offer themes for their skins. By convention, a skin theme should be selectable from the Settings -> General window where the skin selection is also made.  Skin themes provide the ability of the skin designer to offer such features as colour changes, font changes, layout changes or any combination of these or other special skin appearance or function related changes.
• New menubutton control - A new versatile button control for displaying a list of selectable items.
• Skin settings - Skin settings provide skins with user-definable (by the skin designer) property settings that can be leveraged for many purposes including making logical decisions about when or how controls are displayed and what the controls display. Skin settings add the capability to have significant design control over GUI customization.
• TV guide genre/custom colouring - Provides the ability to highlight programs in the TV guide using colours. Based on your feedback, 1.3.0 now allows you to configure genre names in TV-Server setup so they work for all clients too! You may still configure genre colors in TV Client setup differently for each client. You may even enable or disable the colored buttons or borders and the the display of the genre map in the new TV Settings within MediaPortal.

We have a lot to look forward to when skins start implementing these new features. In fact, some of these features are already being used in our new Default and Titan skins!

Native Blu-ray Support

MediaPortal can now play your unencrypted Blu-ray discs, including the menus, extras, etc! Development will continue because BD-J (Blu-ray Java) menus aren't supported (yet), but you can play the movie. So now you can enjoy the best video & audio quality right within MediaPortal, without the need of an external video player (like PowerDVD or TotalMedia Theatre) or a separate Blu-ray player. 

Attention -- Encrypted Blu-ray discs require a 3rd party "on-the-fly" decoder. The wiki (link below) holds more information. Besides the playback of encrypted Blu-ray discs there are a few other limitations at the moment about which you can read more in our Wiki.

Perfectly Smooth Video Playback with MediaPortal Audio Renderer

Nothing is more annoying than having your favorite actor (or actress) 'stuttering' on the screen because several frames are dropped or repeated to keep the video and audio in sync. Smooth video playback is one of the key requirements of all movie enthusiasts; but even if you have the right hardware, it is still a big challenge to achieve it. 

So, our developers set out to create a solution for MediaPortal. It is called the "MediaPortal Audio Renderer (MPAR)". With MPAR you are not only able to get perfectly smooth video playback but in addition you get also the chance to speed up your video stream on the fly e.g. from 23,976 fps to 25 fps which gives you no more dropped frames if your TV only supports a refreshrate of 50 Hz.

Enhanced out of the box experience and improvements to codec configuration

Some of you may experienced 'codec hell' or you maybe just don't know exactly which codecs need to be installed to play all kind of your video and audio files. There is no need to worry about all this anymore because with MediaPortal 1.3 we will give you the option to install the LAV Filters. LAV Filters allow you to play most audio and video formats 'out of the box'. No need to install codec packs or separate codecs and filters! Supported video acceleration types are DXVA, NVIDIA CUDA and Intel QuickSync, so you choose the best one for your HTPC hardware.

In addition to that it’s now possible to configure all codec and/or filter properties from within MediaPortal Configuration. Simply click on the screwdriver icon right next to the specific codec/filter to set your preferred options. To give you even more control, we've also added a few new Codec sections like VC-1 & DivX.

"Settings" inside MediaPortal

 Configuring MediaPortal is a lot easier in 1.3.0

Now you can configure almost all MediaPortal settings without leaving MediaPortal. Deda has dramatically enhanced the "Settings" section inside MediaPortal as you can see in our latest news: 'While you are waiting for 1.3.0 beta...'

Big rework of My Videos

Many new features and enhancements are included. Some highlights:

• Folders view screen
• Database view screen
• Movie info screen
• Actor info screen (new screen works only if movie info have IMDBid, otherwise old screen will be visible)
• Configuration + Scan
• Fanart support rework for database movies

Text file support in Videos

For scraping accuracy every video file can be accompanied by a simple text file which contains only the IMDbid number (e.g. tt1234567). If a scraper, such as IMDb, supports search by IMDb's ID number, MediaPortal will use the ID number for accurate scraping.

Windows 8 Support

Windows 8 is now officially supported by MediaPortal. Of course, supporting a new operating system is not trivial, and there might still   be issues that we don't know about. If you find a problem that seems to be specific to Windows 8, please open a bug report in the forum.

Full list of changes

You can review the complete change log for 1.3.0 by using the following links:

• • • Changelog: MediaPortal
    • Changelog: TV-Server
    • Changelog: Installer - DeployTool

Compiled List of Skin and Plugin related changes

Community Skinners and Developers should have a look at the following pages to find out about the changes which will effect their extensions.

Some of these changes are mandatory to become 1.3.0 compatible:

• changes which affect skins
• changes which affect plugins

Installation, Upgrade, Download and Feedback

Installation

When doing a clean installation of 1.3.0 final there is nothing special to worry about.

Upgrade

Notice:

There is a small known issue during upgrades. The option "Use Existing Skin" doesn't seem to work at the moment and Titan will always be choosen as the default skin after an upgrade. You can easily change to your prefered skin via MediaPortal configuration or even directly in MediaPortal -> Settings. We are working on a fix of this issue for you!

Upgrading from 1.2.x, or 1.3.0 Alpha/Beta/RC to 1.3.0 final

All MediaPortal 1.2.x and 1.3.0 Alpha/Beta/RC installations can be upgraded to 1.3.0 final, without losing your settings.

Plugins:

If you are running MediaPortal 1.2.x, then it is possible that some of your previously installed plugins will be shown as incompatible after the upgrade to 1.3.0 final! Whether or not a plugin is incompatible depends on the MediaPortal subsystems the plugin uses.

If you are running MediaPortal 1.3.0 Alpha, Beta or RC, then all your plugins are compatible with 1.3.0 final.

If a plugin provides skin files for MediaPortal's Default skin, then the author should also check the Skin related changes.

Skins:

Warning! Due to the new features and changes introduced, none of the 1.2.x nor 1.3.0 Alpha skins are compatible with 1.3.0 final!

Please contact the author of the skin you use for further information and updates.

Skins that work under 1.3.0 Beta also work under 1.3.0 final!

Upgrading Extensions:

The easiest way to upgrade your extensions is by launching the MediaPortal Extension Installer, and let it check for updated versions. However this only works for extensions that use our MPEI system. If the author of the extension releases it as a stand alone installer, you must contact them for an updated version.

Upgrading from 1.2.0 Alpha or earlier to 1.3.0 final

All MediaPortal installations starting with 1.1.0 RC1 can be upgraded to 1.3.0 final, without losing your settings.

If you are running MediaPortal 1.2.0 Alpha or earlier, then none of your extensions (plugins and skins) will work after the upgrade to 1.3.0 final! You must update your extensions after the upgrade! 

So, please make sure that 1.3.0 final compatible versions of your extensions are available before you start the upgrade!

General note about Upgrades

Manually stop TV-Service!

On some systems our installer is not able to update the TV-Server installation because its files are locked or the service can not be stopped.

For upgrades to 1.3.0 final we recommend that you manually stop the TV-Service and make sure, via Windows Task Manager (enable the "all users" option), that the TvService.exe process is really gone before starting to upgrade.

Custom TV-Service properties

If you manually changed the properties of the TV-Service (like restart on error options), then you must redo these changes after the upgrade. The installer is not able to save and restore your custom service properties when it installs the new version of the TV-Service.

Feedback

Skin related

We are very curious what you think about our new skins in 1.3.0. Please share your thoughts in the forums created for feedback on Titan and the Default skins.

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. Incomplete reports will be removed to keep the forum clean.

Download

Finally - the download. We hope that you took the time to read this release news entirely because it includes vital information about the major changes.

  If you would like to support MediaPortal, we would be happy to receive a small donation!

The Team wishes you a lot of fun with this new release!

.::. Download - MediaPortal 1.3.0 FINAL .::.

:: Post a Comment ::

A lot has been done since the autumn release, so the path to Alpha 2 is nearly gone.

Please be aware that this is still an Alpha release, meaning that it isn't either feature complete nor bug free, and therefor is not meant to be used on a productive system. Make sure that you read the instructions at the end of this news regarding installation, upgrade and extension compatibility.

Summary of changes

Here is a list of major changes since the autumn release:

• The internal player handling of MediaPortal 2 got extended to control an unlimited number of players, which allows us nice things like Video Backgrounds
• Better input handling including support for key shortcuts (see Keyboard shortcuts)
• Copy and paste support for Text Controls / Virtual Keyboard
• Added UPnP compression support, which improves network performance
• Reworked the Fanart handling both on server (extensible provider structure) and client (faster loading)
• Multiple monitors are now supported correctly, MP2-Client can also run fullscreen on secondary screen
• Integrated news plugin, using news ticker in home screen
• Support for more power options. This will be used later for an advanced shutdown menu (WiP)
• Support for reading metadata from video MP4-tags
• Support for picture geo location (lookup country, state, city from GPS coordinates inside EXIF)
• Several tweaks done to further improve performance
• And last but not least:  The new skin for MediaPortal 2  - Titanium! 

Additionally there are new plugins available, ready to be used with the current Winter Release:

• Now it's possible to use MySQL instead of Microsoft SQLCE, resulting in much better performance and no size limit for database. The required plugin can be downloaded separately from: (MySQL database plugin)
• Online Videos MP2 has been updated for Winter Release (OnlineVideos MP2)
• (coming soon: Integrated TVE3.5 test build:  Test builds for Native MP2 TV)

Screenshots

To get a first impression of the new Titanium skin take a look at those screenshots:

Installation

Before installing MediaPortal 2, you need to make sure all requirements are installed.

Then simply run the .msi installer file. For screenshots refer to our installation wiki.

 Upgrade notes

If you have an earlier version of MP2 installed, you need to recreate your shares for pictures. Due to the new location lookup feature the database has been extended. Remove your existing share, then add a new one for the same location.

Feedback & Support

Discuss this release in the official thread MediaPortal 2 Alpha 1 Winter Release!

If you are looking for further information please check out MediaPortal 2 wiki first. We are heavily working to improve it.
If you don't find an answer there create a new thread in MediaPortal 2 forums.
If you found a bug, please check Mantis & bug report forums first. If it has not been reported already, create a new thread.

Download

    If you would like to support MediaPortal, we would be happy to receive a small donation!

The Team wishes you a lot of fun with this new release!

.::. Download - MediaPortal 2.0 Alpha 1 Winter Release .::.

 :: Post a Comment ::

A lot has changed since the release of MediaPortal 1.2.3. Too much to fit everything into one news. So we will focus on what has changed since the 1.3.0 Beta release. If you want to find out what was added in the 1.3.0 Alpha and 1.3.0 Beta version, then please have a look at their release news, or view all the changes in our wiki: What's New > 1.3.x

This Release Candidate is the last stop before the final version of 1.3.0. The focus since the release of 1.3.0 beta was on bug fixes and polishing. We want to thank everyone in the community for their help with finding the bugs!

Please be aware that even though this version is very close to the final product, it can still contain issues. This means that we advise against using it on production systems. Make sure that you read the instructions at the end of this news regarding installation, upgrade and extension compatibility.

Now let's get to the changes!

Highlights of this release:

• Titan: many fixes and adjustments
• Titan Extended: added support for more community plugins as well as bugfixes and tweaks
• MediaPortal Audio Renderer: fixed a issue with AC3 encoding that could cause a memory leak
• Themes: fixed a bug that could crash MediaPortal when changing themes several times
• Videos inside Pictures section: a lot of problems have been fixed that where present when users tried to play their holiday videos along with viewing their holiday pictures
• Thumbnailer: fixed a bug which caused the creation of a thumb to fail for files which have a semicolon in their name
• Volume Control: A bug was fixed which caused that you could not increase the volume on a fresh install on Windows 7
• TV-Server Database connection: fixed an issue in the upgrade procedure which could change the hostname in gentle.config to "localhost"

Full list of changes

You can review the complete change log for 1.3.0 Beta by using the following links:

• • • Changelog: MediaPortal
    • Changelog: TV-Server
    • Changelog: Installer - DeployTool

Compiled List of Skin and Plugin related changes

Community Skinners and Developers should have a look at the following pages to find out about the changes which will effect their extensions.

Some of these changes are mandatory to become 1.3.0 compatible:

• changes which affect skins
• changes which affect plugins

Installation, Upgrade, Download and Feedback

Installation

When doing a clean installation of 1.3.0 RC there is nothing special to worry about.

Upgrade

Upgrading from 1.2.x, or 1.3.0 Alpha/Beta to 1.3.0 RC

All MediaPortal 1.2.x and 1.3.0 Alpha/Beta installations can be upgraded to 1.3.0 RC, without losing your settings.

Plugins:

If you are running MediaPortal 1.2.x, then it is possible that some of your already installed plugins will be shown as incompatible after the upgrade to 1.3.0 RC! Whether or not a plugin is incompatible depends on the MediaPortal subsystems the plugin uses.

If you are running MediaPortal 1.3.0 Alpha or Beta, then all your plugins are compatible with 1.3.0 RC.

If a plugin provides skin files for MediaPortal's Default skin, then the author should also check the Skin related changes.

Skins:

Warning! Due to the new features and changes introduced, none of the 1.2.x nor 1.3.0 Alpha skins are compatible with 1.3.0 RC!

Please contact the author of the skin you use for further information and updates.

Skins that work under 1.3.0 Beta also work under 1.3.0 RC!

Upgrading Extensions:

The easiest way to upgrade your extensions is by launching the MediaPortal Extension Installer, and let it check for updated versions. However this only works for extensions that use our MPEI system. If the author of the extension releases it as a stand alone installer, you must contact them for an updated version.

Upgrading from 1.2.0 Alpha or earlier to 1.3.0 RC

All MediaPortal installations starting with 1.1.0 RC1 can be upgraded to 1.3.0 RC, without losing your settings.

If you are running MediaPortal 1.2.0 Alpha or earlier, then none of your extensions (plugins and skins) will work after the upgrade to 1.3.0 RC! You must update your extensions after the upgrade! 

So, please make sure that 1.3.0 RC compatible versions of your extensions are available before you start the upgrade!

General note about Upgrades

Manually stop TV-Service!

On some systems our installer is not able to update the TV-Server installation because its files are locked or the service can not be stopped.

For upgrades to 1.3.0 RC we recommend you manually stop the TV-Service, and make sure, via Windows Task Manager (enable the "all users" option), that the TvService.exe process is really gone before starting to upgrade.

Custom TV-Service properties

If you manually changed the properties of the TV-Service (like restart on error options), then you must redo these changes after the upgrade. The installer is not able to save and restore your custom service properties when it installs the new version of the TV-Service.

Feedback

Skin related

We are very curious what you think about our new skins in 1.3.0. Please share your thoughts in the forums created for feedback on Titan and the Default skins.

Bugs

If you think you found a bug then please post a detailed report in our 1.3.0 Beta/RC Bug Reports Forum.

Make sure your report includes all the required information. Incomplete reports will be removed to keep the forum clean.

Download

Finally - the download. We hope that you took the time to read this release news entirely because it includes vital information about the major changes.

  If you would like to support MediaPortal, we would be happy to receive a small donation!

The Team wishes you a lot of fun with this new release!

.::. Download - MediaPortal 1.3.0 RC .::.

:: Post a Comment ::

Answers - short version: B-A-B-A-B-B-B-A

What? Don't remember the questions? OK - here comes the long version:

Q1: Who is MediaPortal's "founding father"? (A) infinite.loop (B) Frodo (C) Spragleknas
Q2: What used to be infinite.loop's nick? (A) infinity loop (B) i-loop (C) loopy
Q3: Who is the author of MPTagThat? (A) Frodo (B) hwahrmann (C) jameson_uk
Q4: What skin was the first to use full HD resolution? (A) SpinSafe (B) Black and White (C) Maya
Q5: Who is the genius behind the MediaPortal web site and forum? (A) Dadeo (B) high (C) Low
Q6: What is the name of the character in the pic on the right? (A) frodo (B) MePo (C) mPortal
Q7: Who was the creator of the Moving Pictures plugin? (A) ZeFlash (B) fforde (C) inker
Q8: Who created the Monochrome/Indigo and ReVision/Replicant skins? (A) Psycho Reptile (B) Harley (C) mofux

Before I give up the winner, here comes some elaborations and fun-facts:

Q1: Other members did indeed have an essential role in the creation of MediaPortal. Infinite.loop has indeed been - and still is - a great contributor!

Q4: SpinSafe was a quite revolutionary skin created by mirk. Here is a nostalgic thread to read up on. Below is a screenshot of the home screen.

Q5: According to high, alternative A, Dadeo, is not too far off, although we consider high to be the correct answer

Q6: Created by GrassyNoel - used by several other applications as well. Was also used in GrassyNoel's MePo skins 

 
Q7: Inker and ZeFlash were essential for the development of MP TV-series, which kinda led to MovingPictures. Although fforde is the creator of MovingPictures, many other plugin devs should be honoured as well.

Q8: ReVision / Replicant was inspired mofux's nonafo skin idea, and HDTVee from Meedio. These skins later evolved to the legendary Monochrome and Indigo skins. The linked skins are all worth a visit. Here is a little taste from the one of the first Indigo-releases.

Thanks for reading!

Oh, right... I promised to announce the winner... 

Congratulations goes to Samuel Chinellato!

A little something-something will be heading your way :).

Welcome to MediaPortal's first skinning contest for WebMediaPortal.*

Lyfesaver74 (jQui) is challenging all MP users to dust off their old HTML/CSS skills and put them to the test for a chance to win a Google Nexus 7, customized MP gear and more. Even if you don't win, every completed** skin that gets submitted will earn a FREE Basic MediaPortal T-Shirt**.

Prize List:

1st Place - New Nexus 7 (Tablet PC/Android 4.1)

2nd Place - MP GearBox (Customized MP T-Shirt, MP Cap, MP 16GB USB3 Thumbdrive, MP Keychain & more)***

3rd Place - Customized MP Hoodie/Sweatshirt***

All skins submitted meeting the "completed" status will also receive a free basic MP T-Shirt.

Project Details:

WebMP is a popular client for MP-Extended allowing users to browse, watch and download saved media plus record, schedule and watch live TV from almost any browser on any device. While the bulk of WebMP is your standard HTML/CSS, because MP-Extended is an ASP.NET/MVC project, skinners can utilize inline C# syntax (Razor) as well. Pair that with MP-Extended's ability to utilize custom DLLs to give the skinner total control.

The great news is that you don't need to know C# or ASP.NET/MVC to create an awesome skin, as Oxan has already included almost everything the skinner would need.

That's it. it's just that simple. HTML/CSS or go a completely new direction with custom C# code. it's all up to you!

To enter the contest, read the contest details or ask a few questions, follow this link to the contest forum thread.

*While MediaPortal is hosting the contest, all rules, prize choices and prize distribution is all under Lyfesaver74's control.

**See contest details in the forum link above.

***Prizes are subject to change (most notably, the graphics). All prizes will be "new" and it will be up to the winner to handle any returns/exchanges.

Did you hear? The world ended December 21, 2012! It's a whole new world, and a whole new year to look forward to! While we eagerly anticipate the changes to come, there is still time to reflect on the major developments we achieved in 2012.

It wasn't the easiest year for Team MediaPortal. We felt the absence of our stalwart MediaPortal Development Managers, arion_p and chemelli, as well as several other developers (like Migue, SilentException and dukus), due to 'real life' events. However, true to our faith in 'open source', we welcomed many new team members in 2012. Our lead developers, Deda (Videos), Jameson_UK (Music), and mm1352000 (TV) stepped right up to 'fill the gap'. HomeY became our new Test Group Manager, and elliottmc took on the herculean task of Release Manager - aka slave driver!

In the midst of all the development we switched to GitHub while barely missing a step.  Git really helped us 'git along' by developing in branches. As a result, many features, reworks and major fixes were tested by the community in Area 51. This reduced the number of bugs in the beta and RC releases, and involved our community earlier in the development process. A huge thanks to all who helped - your testing and feedback has been invaluable and really appreciated!

So we kick-off 2013 with fresh energy, inspiration and many exciting ideas for the coming year! Before we begin, let's take a moment to look back on the accomplishments of the past year - 2012 was another big year for MediaPortal!  

Below you will find polls listing some of the major developments, at least the ones we can remember at this point!  You may vote for the developments you consider most significant, or even add your own suggestions. Hopefully you will all have recovered from your New Year's festivities first.

Ask yourself how much you contributed to these developments? Then decide what you can contribute to the development of MediaPortal in 2013, or make a small donation.

Thanks to all who contributed in 2012 - let's make 2013 a whole new MediaPortal world!

Click the tabs to vote on ALL major developments! Please add only NEW developments or features in 2012.

{tab=MP 1.3.0}

MediaPortal 1

In addition to the release of MediaPortal 1.2.2 and 1.2.3, the Team managed the alpha and beta releases of 1.3.0 - one of the most significant releases of MediaPortal ever! If you haven't tested it, or any of the features in development in Area 51, you have a lot to look forward to!

For details on all the developments, see the Highlights in the News: 

• MediaPortal 1.3.0 Alpha Released
• MediaPortal 1.3.0 Beta Released

{jvotesystem poll=|3|}

{tab=MP 2 Alpha}

MediaPortal 2.0 Alpha

In 2012, MediaPortal 2 gained momentum, with more team members shifting focus to its development, which resulted in the first pubic release of MediaPortal 2 Alpha! 

For more info on the subsequent developments, see the news:

• Summer Release Of MP2 Alpha 
• MediaPortal 2 - Alpha 1 Autumn release

{jvotesystem poll=|4|}

{tab=Forum}

New Forum Software

The switch to Xenforo Forum software at the beginning of 2012 offered us all many new features - notifications, tagging, group conversations, improved searching, structure and system specs; likes, followers, forms, fans, feeds and a whole new look with our HomePage menus included for fast access to everything MediaPortal.

{jvotesystem poll=|5|}

{tab=Website}

New Home Page/Website

Did you notice we have a whole new website? Okay, it does look a lot the same, but the switch to Joomla 2.5 required almost a complete overhaul! As many of you know high manages to maintain all our online systems and upgrades pretty much by himself!  Does he ever sleep? Doubtful!

How many new features did you notice? Keep your eyes peeled for more little goodies our web wizard magically makes appear!

{jvotesystem poll=|7|}

Thanks for voting - we love our community!

Are you a film buff?  Do you have a movie catalog? Did you know you can use it in MediaPortal to watch, browse and search your movies in a myriad of ways on your big screen TV, all while lying back and using a remote?

The My Films plugin combines the superb media center features of MediaPortal with the powerful features of movie catalog software, such as advanced searching, updating by field, sorting by any field, grouping and viewing your movies however you wish.

[widgetkit id=42]

Eight different movie catalog apps are supported out of the box: 

• Ant Movie Catalog (4.1 new!)
• EAX Movie Catalog 
• Ember Media Manager (EMM) (new!)
• Personal Video Database
• DVD Profiler 
• Extreme Movie Manager (XMM)
• My Movies
• Movie Collector

(see Supported Catalogs for specific setup and details). 

No need to re-scan your data, you can start using your existing movie catalog in MediaPortal within minutes, and continue to use it with My Films.

My Films 6 adds support for NFO files, so any movie catalog app, or even other media center plugin, that supports NFO files can also be be used with My Films.

If you don't already have a movie catalog, as of version 6.0 you can create one using My Films (in AMC/XML format), which you can use with Ant Movie Catalog software, and take advantage of the many advanced features My Films offers for updating your database.

If you are new to MediaPortal - see the MediaPortal Setup guide in the My Films wiki to learn how to set up MediaPortal for use with My Films and your movie catalog.

Download via the MediaPortal Extension Installer (MPEI) or My Films in the Extensions section of the MediaPortal website.

My Films 6 supports MediaPortal 1.2.x as well as 1.3.0 alpha/beta

^{Once you've used your movie catalog with My Films, you'll never want to use anything but MediaPortal!}

What's New in v 6.0

If you have used My Films before and would like to know what is new for version 6. see What's New > Version 6.0 in the wiki.

[widgetkit id=47]

What's unique about My Films? 

My Films extends the capabilities of MediaPortal in many ways.  In addition to the ability to use your existing movie catalog, My Films offers the following unique features:

Easy Setup

For first time setup, My Films unique Setup Wizard makes it a snap! Simply choose your catalog type and country/location, point to your catalog and movies folder(s), and the Setup Wizard will automatically preset most options for you based on the movie catalog app you use.

Of course you can customize all settings to your hearts content. Detailed tool tips are provided to help you.

If you change your mind, most Settings can be changed within My Films, you rarely need to use the configuration again!

Advanced and Batch/Global Updates

Update your data by field or selected fields - even perform batch or global updates by field or a group of fields on all or a group of records. This means you can update one or more fields from one source, and other field(s) from another source(s). You can preserve any manual edits you make to your data while updating other fields from online sources.

For Ant Movie Catalog (AMC) users, updates occur in 'real-time' - any updates you make either in AMC or in My Films appear instantly in both applications since they use the same XML database.

Network Support

Although there are ways to use a centralized database in MediaPortal, Network Support is built into My Films, including options to wake up the storage device on request (WOL). You may store fanart, covers and other artwork wherever you wish, even separately from your database. All paths including UNC paths, can be configured within My Films setup to meet your personal preferences and needs.

Moreover, you can choose to centralize and even auto-sync configuration settings to each client.

Performance

My Films has been designed for large catalogs and tested using catalogs of over 10,000 films. It performs significantly faster than other plugins on larger catalogs, especially when data and artwork are stored on a central server or NAS.

Hi-res covers are supported and display by default, with advanced processing to ensure maximum performance.

Media Types and Organization

My Films supports almost any Media Type with many features for 'offline' media. You may Organize and store your films and artwork almost any way you wish - either in a separate folder for each movie, a single folder for all movies, multiple folders organized by genre, year or whatever!

Multiple Databases

My Films also supports Multiple Databases - use as many as you wish - for different types of videos such as documentaries, home videos - or even to keep your kids videos separate if you prefer.

You can switch databases easily within My Films or choose to display a menu of all your databases on startup. 

Select the options you prefer for each database, grabbing data from the internet for some and not others while retaining all the advantages of a database such as searching, views, filters, etc.

Store your databases anywhere you wish, even different locations for different databases, including on a central server or NAS (Network-attached storage), available to all clients in your network.

Multiple Configurations (profiles)

Create Multiple Configurations (e.g. user profiles) for the same database with different settings for different types of films or for different users.

Filter your movies per config and password protect them (e.g. to restrict access for your kids). No need to protect your films one by one and risk missing one! No one else will ever see your private or restricted films, not even random fanart or covers.

Multiple Users

Create Multiple Users for each config or database - even add or remove users within the My Films GUI.

You may define different users for client PCs on your network, yet use a central/common database. My Films keeps track of watched status, date watched, user ratings (and thus favorites) per user, and even indicates if the current user is synced to Trakt or not.

Fanart Options

Fanart Options in My Films allow you to download as many fanart images as you wish, or not!  You can limit them by number, or even resolution, during import. You can add more or new images by updating within My Films.

Best of all, you can create your own fanart images from within My Films via snapshots from a running film or by creating screenshots on demand, including mosaic versions.

My Films displays all your fanart in Details views plus offers a special 'full fanart' view. You can even browse your films in Fanart view!

Of course, My Films also allows you to disable fanart, select random fanart or not, and which views display fanart. You can even add custom fanart for different views if you want.

Cover Options

Choose and display the cover you prefer! You can grab data from one source and covers from another:

• • use the new Cover Manager in v 6.0 to grab covers from your preferred site and select the cover you wish to display 
  • update only the cover in My Films GUI from the site you prefer
  • select a grabber script that already has it built-in
  • modify your preferred grabber to grab covers from another site easily using My Films Grabber Interface

Hi-res covers are supported and display by default, with advanced processing to ensure maximum performance.

Views and Views Menu 

Select a different layout, sort and options for each view and even change and save them within My Films. View your films by any field  'on the fly'  - no need to create a separate view unless you wish. If you decide to 'keep' the view, 'View' Options allow you to save it and add it to the Views Menu - all within the My Films GUI.

Want to customize the  Views Menu? Go ahead - add, remove, disable or reorder the Views listed on the menu - all within My Films  In My Films Setup, you can also select the images that display - either those provided with My Films or your own custom images - for both the Views Menu as well as specific views.

Have you ever wondered which is the most used Category (e.g. Genre), Country, Actor, Director, Studio, Media Type, etc. in your database?  It's easy to see in My Films Views, just sort the view by count.

Additional options are available for Actors/Persons views, including 'reverse names', IMDb lookups and image/info updates.

Advanced Search

Use My Films Advanced Search features to find related films by person, or any field for that matter!  Six different search methods allow you to search any way you wish, including the new 'search persons by role' in version 6.  With the expanded Search History you rarely need to type a word!

Web Access for more info

Through integration with the Browse The Web/Webbrowser plugin (separate download), My Films allows you quick access to IMDb web pages to view all the details and images online for both movies and persons: filmographies, trailers and more.

Local Trailers

Not only can you lookup and play Trailers from within My Films (via integration with the OnlineVideos plugin), but you can also search for related trailers you download and store 'locally', 'register'  them in your database, and play one or all trailers for a movie within My Films. 

The trailer status indicator shows you which films have local trailers, or you may use the Global Trailers Filter to display only films with trailers.

Custom Display

Customize your Display by choosing the fields/data you wish to display: five on Main screen, six more on Details screen.  Change them whenever you like from within the My Films GUI - no need to exit MediaPortal and run setup.

Create separate configs for each user and let them customize the display however they prefer!

Grabber Scripts/Options

If you use Ant Movie Catalog, or create a XML catalog with My Films, you can select your preferred Grabber Scripts/Options. My Films offers 38 different grabbers. You can choose 'global' options, such as # actors, roles or not, plus grab only alternate titles and certifications by country.

If you want even more control, My Films provides a unique easy-to-use Grabber Interface to customize specific grabbers to your needs - even mapping fields. 

As of v 6.0 you can Update Grabber scripts (and get new grabbers added to My Films) via the Import tab in Setup. You no longer need to wait for a new version of My Films to be released.

Try it!

Why are you still reading?  By now you could have set up My Films and be enjoying browsing and searching your movie collection almost as much as you enjoy watching your movies!  

My Films includes a Sample Movies database you can use to explore the features, so what are you waiting for?

Please post comments about this article in the Facebook comments box below.
For further information on these, and many more features: My Films wiki documentation.
For support, questions, and further infomation: My Films 6 Forum

As a result, morpheus_xx has created a development thread, that has now also become a guide, or step by step tutorial, to skinning MediaPortal 2! The thread is public, but "read only" to keep it clean and thus easy to follow the progress. Comments are more than welcome in the separate Comments thread.

Here is a little teaser of the work done so far:

Development thread (read only)

Comments and questions go here