Channel mapping problem with Schedules Direct (1 Viewer)

[Pierre Isabelle]

Hello all,

I am a newbie to Mediaportal. I installed TV-server 1.12.0.0. Then I was able to scan local ATSC channels on my Homerun device without any problems. I also installed the TVServer plugin and I can watch my tV channels on a local or remote Kodi.

Then I installed the Schedules Direct EPG client so as to get EPG data from SD account. Everything works fine except for one particular TV channel not getting any EPG data therough this process. I am talking about a very popular TV channel around here, namely the local (Ottawa) station (9,1 CBOFT-DT) of the French CBC network. This station does appear on my SD lineup as 9-1 CBOFTDT. It does not look as if the small difference is name is the problem, since there are such differences also with the stations that do get EPG data.

Any suggestion as to how to fix this problem?

Thanks,

Pierre

 

[mm1352000]

Hello Pierre

It does not look as if the small difference is name is the problem, since there are such differences also with the stations that do get EPG data.

I would not make such an assumption.

The SD plugin is very picky about how it links up the EPG data. The most reliable way to make it work is to rename your channels to exactly match the callsigns in your SD lineup. After that, force an import in the SD plugin, wait a few minutes (to give the plugin a chance to populate your EPG), and you should be in business.

Regards,
mm

 

[Pierre Isabelle]

Thanks for your response mm. I did as you say: I changed the name of the station to match exactly the name I see on my SD lineup. Unfortunately, it didn't work: after reloading my EPG data from SD, the "9-1 CBOFTDT" channel is still not showing any EPG data.

I should give you a bit more context. I am in the process of migrating from an old computer running Win 7 to a brand new one running Win 8. The MP TV server was running fine on the old machine and I did get data for all my channels including CBOFTDT.

I tried reproducing the exact same configuration on the new machine. The one on the old machine did have the slightly different name "9.1 CBOFT-DT`" and that was not preventing the correct match with SD.

It is quite some time ago that I installed the old machine, but i seem to remember that I tried xmltv before turning to the SD plugin. Is that plugin just a layer on top of xmltv. If so perhaps I should revert back to xmltv?

Thanks a lot,

Pierre

 

[mm1352000]

I did as you say: I changed the name of the station to match exactly the name I see on my SD lineup.

So to be clear, you:

1. Changed the channel name from "CBOFT-DT" (or whatever the scanned name is) to "CBOFTDT" (ie. the exact SD callsign, without the number).
   
2. In the SD plugin configuration you ticked "force guide update...".
3. In the "manual control" section you clicked "stop service"... then "start service".

...and after waiting a few minutes there was still no EPG?

If so, I'd be interested to see your TV Server log files.

 

[Pierre Isabelle]

Actually, what I did was slightly different: my fomer name in TV server was "9.1 CBOFT-DT" and I changed it for "9-1 CBOFTDT". Thus I didn't remove the number but just changed the period in it for a dash, as this is exactly what I see on my SD lineup. On the SD lineup page there is an option to change between "callsign grouping" and "category grouping" but it has no effect whatsoever. In both cases all entries on my channel list are of the form "N1-N2 Callsign1" like "9-1 CBOFTDT". Then in my TV-server list of channels the are all of the form "N1.N2 Callsign2" where Callsign2 is identical or nearly identical to Callsign1. So this raises the issues of why only CBOFT-DT is not being matched to its correspondent on the SD list. Also, it is not clear why I was not having the same problem in my older Win7-based installation.

I don't know whether or not this could provide a worthwhile clue but i remember now that whenever I scan the channels with TVserver, the name of CBOFT-DT comes out as something like "Unknown-33", while the other channels come out with a correct callsign.

Anyway, tonight I can try to rename the relevant channel just as CBOFTDT (without the 9-1) to see whether or not it will make any difference.

And while I am talking to an expert: I am also having another problem, unrelated SD, with my TV server. I am using it through an XBMC MP client. Everytyhing is working fine except that once in a while (only once in a while) when I press the stop button while watching a channel, the client will hang for maybe 30 seconds before giving me back the control. And then, if I try to restart the same channel, the system will hang again. However, if I select a different channel things get back to normal.

Perhaps we could see something about this problem too in the TV Server log files.Can you please remind me of where I can find those log files?

Thanks a lot,

Pierre

 

[RonD]

tv server log files are normally in the following folder

C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\log

 

[mm1352000]

Actually, what I did was slightly different: my fomer name in TV server was "9.1 CBOFT-DT" and I changed it for "9-1 CBOFTDT". Thus I didn't remove the number but just changed the period in it for a dash, as this is exactly what I see on my SD lineup.

That won't work. I did say you have to rename it to match the callsign [alone]. The number is not part of the callsign.

On the SD lineup page there is an option to change between "callsign grouping" and "category grouping" but it has no effect whatsoever.

I'm not surprised.

So this raises the issues of why only CBOFT-DT is not being matched to its correspondent on the SD list. Also, it is not clear why I was not having the same problem in my older Win7-based installation.

So far you have not provided sufficient information to enable me to answer either of these questions. Sorry.

And while I am talking to an expert: I am also having another problem, unrelated SD, with my TV server. I am using it through an XBMC MP client. Everytyhing is working fine except that once in a while (only once in a while) when I press the stop button while watching a channel, the client will hang for maybe 30 seconds before giving me back the control. And then, if I try to restart the same channel, the system will hang again. However, if I select a different channel things get back to normal.

I can't help you with XBMC or the XBMC TV plugin. You'll need to ask about this over at their forum.

 

[freddy99]

Actually, what I did was slightly different: my fomer name in TV server was "9.1 CBOFT-DT" and I changed it for "9-1 CBOFTDT". Thus I didn't remove the number but just changed the period in it for a dash, as this is exactly what I see on my SD lineup.

That won't work. I did say you have to rename it to match the callsign [alone]. The number is not part of the callsign.

On the SD lineup page there is an option to change between "callsign grouping" and "category grouping" but it has no effect whatsoever.

I'm not surprised.

So this raises the issues of why only CBOFT-DT is not being matched to its correspondent on the SD list. Also, it is not clear why I was not having the same problem in my older Win7-based installation.

So far you have not provided sufficient information to enable me to answer either of these questions. Sorry.

And while I am talking to an expert: I am also having another problem, unrelated SD, with my TV server. I am using it through an XBMC MP client. Everytyhing is working fine except that once in a while (only once in a while) when I press the stop button while watching a channel, the client will hang for maybe 30 seconds before giving me back the control. And then, if I try to restart the same channel, the system will hang again. However, if I select a different channel things get back to normal.

I can't help you with XBMC or the XBMC TV plugin. You'll need to ask about this over at their forum.

Pierre,

Did you finally solve the problem? I'm interested as I'm also struggling getting the EPG data for this channel with the ScheduleDirect plugin.

Thanks,

Fred

 

[Pierre Isabelle]

Hello Fred,

In recent weeks I switched to the NEXT-PVR backend in place of the MediaPortal one. This was because after buying a new computer running Windows 8 I experienced some problems with mediaportal, such as occasionnal lengthy delays (30-45 seconds) before completing a channel switch,


But if I remember correctly, I was able to fix the problem described above by making sure to use the _exact_ same call sign (without the 9.1 or 9-1 prefix) as the one appearing on the Schedules Direct lineup. I found that need a bit strange because with all other stations there was no need to be so exact.


Good luck with it.


Pierre