Jump to content

Roku / Media Browser Server / Live TV


1971camaroguy

Recommended Posts

1971camaroguy

Just had a few questions, I pretty well have my HTPC / Media Browser Sever set up. Now I am at the point of getting my live TV issues fine tuned.

 

I'm currently using:

 

 - Roku in all four of my rooms with the Media Browser Channel

 

- Dedicated HTPC with these specs:

 

Asus AMD motherboard

AMD FX-4300 Vishera Quad-Core 3.8GHz processor

16 GB DDR3 Ram

120 Kingston 120gb SSD for the main OS

Windows 7 64 Bit OS

9 TB of storage space between 3 drives

 

- I'm also using a  HD Homerun tuner device with a antennacraft HD1800 Antenna pulling in about 35 or so HD local channels.

 

Here's my issue:

 

I have media center live TV set up correctly, it will locate the tuner and channels and I can record. So I know that part is working. I installed ServerWMC on the machine and have it set to automatically start when the computer starts. Since I don't ever mess with the HTPC machine it stays left that way.

 

I also installed the serverwmc plugin within media browser server and it recognizes the everything ok from the media browser server settings.

 

I can start the media browser channel from the roku and it will show live tv in the menu. But it's hit and miss....it's running sometimes and sometimes it's not working. 

 

I can remote into my HTPC box and if it's not working I noticed that serverwmc isn't running for some reason. I try to re-start it and it won't come back up. It's like it maybe crashes and won't restart. Usually uninstalling and re-installing the program fixes it for a little bit until it does it again.

 

I also noticed that it has a severe lag when picking a channel through live TV using serverwmc.....it takes 15 seconds or longer for the channel to come up after selecting it. I assume this is something to do with the program and maybe being buggy.

 

I wanted to ask, if someone is having no issues with it and it's working great for them I may look into this a little deeper. I just don't want to waste a lot of time and may just use my xbox for my live TV usage even though I would rather do everything through the Roku and media browser plug in.

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

for the next server release the channel startup time will be reduced by 1/3, which is a nice improvement. but it will still never be as fast as within wmc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1971camaroguy

Yeah I that will be nice. I was thinking my wife and I hardly watch TV as it's showing anyways. I may just start remoting into my HTPC and set my programs and have the recordings go into a folder on the same hard drive my series programs are stored. And when they are done I will just move them into my TV folder.

 

Few extra steps and if my wife wants to watch live TV as it's going on she can just switch the actual TV from HDMI to Antenna and watch it from the TV.

 

Kind of a catch 22...windows media center was nice to use because I had the extender through four Xbox 360's and could do live TV and watch recorded TV and movies. But Xbox 360 extender doesn't show mkv files very well. Movie and shows looked really bad.

 

Roku on the other hand shows movies and shows VERY well through the media browser channel and perfect HD quality.....but I can't get the live TV issues sorted out lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

farside847

Mcebuddy can automate those steps for you.

 

My live TV takes 15 seconds to load and start. After 3 seconds it buffers. Then it will play perfectly for hours.

 

Every so often it will stop after a few hours but the devs are looking into that.

 

My server never crashes. You might want to post your server logs. These guys are super helpful in troubleshooting :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

would the HDTV tuner have an effect? using the HDhomerun instead?

 

Not when it comes to transcoding, no.  MBS will still transcode the file to a file the Roku can decode.  HDHomerun will speed it up a bit if you use ServerWMC as ServerWMC will grab the feed directly from the HDHomerun (assuming you use an HDHomerun that has DLNA capability like the Prime) but the server will still need to transcode the file so your Roku can play it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paultt66

Thank you for your efforts. I am having a few issues. I hope you can point me in the right direction.
1) Live TV on browser ( Chrome) works but choppy.
2) no Live TV on Roku, I see the guide and what is on, I get to the retrieving screen then it times out.

I am using a Samsung laptop running win7 ( Live TV on WMC works fine)
The Hauappauge USB tuner.

I have read that a robust PC is best, wondering if this is my issue.

thank you

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1971camaroguy

I wanted to make note that I rolled back to the older install of serverwmc and haven't had any issues since. I turned off automatic updates on windows 7 for now since I think an update could have messed with it as well.

 

But I am all good now and thanks for the help

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...