Freesat EPG in UK anyone? (3 Viewers)

[JJDoherty]

Sorry for the delay on this but work and worldwide pandemics, ye know yerself!

Anyway, the channel I am using to get the Freesat EPG is "Freesat Info" available in radio channels of the TV Setup config...

Sorry about this, but just an FYI, I checked forward again on my Freesat EPG and it is empty from this coming Friday (20/03/2020) onward, so same issue as others have reported!

Just out of curiosity then, what is at issue here, Freesat EPG data was being broadcast as a radio channel and within MP TV Server setup this channel could be configured (selected) and used to populate the EPG in MP.

So now that the "Freesat Info" channel seems to have gone, how is the Freesat EPG being broadcast? I'm guessing that the EPG is still being broadcast in the same format as before but now in a different location, maybe like how Freeview/Saorview EPG's are broadcast? Anyone know?

I haven't tried to play around with this as yet but I do know that my fallback position will be the EPG collector/XML TV solution. I'd rather go with an MP solution, if only because XML TV doesn't fire the UpdatedEPGDataEvent (this event may be called something else), which means the EPG Cleaner plugin doesn't start...

 

[technoweary]

No luck with EPGcollector on 64bit Win7 OS.
The EPGcollector log tells me evrything is fine and the TVguige file is re-written like clockwork every time it runs. Looks like the mappings is the XMLTV is the problem as it always shows a white "already mapped" status but nothing shows in the guide
However I have an old 32bit Win7 OS MediaPortal machine and EPGcollector works perfectly on DVB-S and DVB-T. In fact better than the built in grabber on UK Freeview
So for me anyway there is no EPG on DVB-S with 64bit OS, (unless the Freesatinfo channel appears again), so I am going to move my drives onto the 32bit machine over the weekend and sort it out that way

 

[BrianShu]

And I thought this was going to be simple!!!

In answer to the question 'whereis Freeesat Info?' Please look at the result from ProgFinder (2.39) showing the channels on the 'Freesat Info' transponder. Unfortunately it doesn't give any other information such as PMT etc. Perhaps someone with different software/hardware could find out!

I've just tried running MP on my old Vista (32-bit) machine with the same result - no EPG. Unfortunately, for technical reasons, I cannot revert to the old machine as my main MP one.

My guess is that 'they' have altered something to do with the channel that means MP is ignoring it. Maybe setting it as a data channel?

Will keep looking for an answer.

 

[technoweary]

And I thought this was going to be simple!!!

As you are running 32bit I'm thinking your best bet Brian is to go for EPGcollector and use the XMLTV
I could not get it running on 64bit Win7 but on my 32bit Win7 machine it works perfectly
The other advantage is that if you are going for FreeSAT then you will get all the HD channel programming via the Sky EPG
Hope this helps
TW

 

[Jasmeet_181]

I've looked through some old threads, specifically this one. You can manually add data channels.

• Open TV-Server Configuration
• Click on TV Channels or Radio Channels (I'll assume Radio for the rest of the instructions)
• At the bottom under Channels click on Add
• In the Edit Channel window, name the channel FreesatHome
• Click on Add
• Choose DVB-S
• Add the following in the Add / Edit DVB-S Tuningdetail window

DiSEQc: None (you'll know if you need it)​

Frequency: 11425000​

Symbol Rate: 27500​

Polarisation: Horizontal​

Modulation: QPSK​

Inner FEC Rate: 2/3​

Pilot: Not Set​

Roll Off: Not Set​

Network ID: 59​

Transport ID: 2315​

Service ID: 10500​

PMT PID: 3000​

Provider: Freesat​

Tick Free To Air​

• Click on Ok and Ok again in the Edit Channel window
• Go to Radio Mapping and map the channel to your satellite tuner(s)
• Go to Radio EPG Grabber and make sure FreesatHome is ticked
• In Manual Control click on Refresh DVB EPG and click Ok on the pop-up window

It should now be working as before. Remember to turn off EPG Collector schedules or limit the mapped channels it to non-Freesat channels (Channel 4 HD) if moving back.

Looks like the mappings is the XMLTV is the problem as it always shows a white "already mapped" status

That's how is should look if you've already saved your mappings before, you can you the drop downs under guide channel to change them if you think they're wrong. Have you checked the TVGuide file to see if the data is there or tried importing the 32-bit PC's TVGuide on your 64-bit PC (the file size should also be similar).

EPG Collector has a help forum, where the developer (Steve Bickell) is active. You could post your logs there so he can look into the issue.

Unfortunately it doesn't give any other information such as PMT etc.

DigitalBitRate lists them, the MP logs also list them after a scan.

Just out of curiosity then, what is at issue here, Freesat EPG data was being broadcast as a radio channel and within MP TV Server setup this channel could be configured (selected) and used to populate the EPG in MP.

So now that the "Freesat Info" channel seems to have gone, how is the Freesat EPG being broadcast? I'm guessing that the EPG is still being broadcast in the same format as before but now in a different location, maybe like how Freeview/Saorview EPG's are broadcast? Anyone know?

I'm not an expert but:
For MP to add TV channels or radio stations during a scan, there must be at least an audio pid (radio). None of the Freesat services on their home transponder have one now.

MP looks for pid 3002 and 3003 for the Freesat EPG, most of the services on Freesat's home transponder have these pids which point pack to FreesatHome's. Technoweary tried grabbing from TRP 1, which is the only TV channel on the transponder, and reported that there is no EPG available through it in post 9, the pids aren't there according to DBR either.

From what I've read Freesat Info ch 999 was a MHEG help/information channel that had some background music. In December it was replaced with a scaled back service giving the website address. FreesatInformation has Data (DSM-CC) pids, that may be the replacement service. Gen 3 boxes were supposed to launch around then but have been repeatedly delayed (and accidentally sold by Amazon ).

DJBlu's custom data grabber was killed when Sky removed the music used in the menus for non-PVR SD STBs which didn't support the small TV window of newer boxes, I thought this was the same situation.

 

[technoweary]

I've looked through some old threads,

Thanks for that, I think your post sums up the situation
Also thanks for the tip about trying the 32bit grab on my 64bit system. I will definately try this
Thanks for your help
TW

 

[Ronski]

This explains why we lost our guide today. I leave playing about until tomorrow morning now. Does @Jasmeet_181 suggestion work?

PS. I'm running with WHS2011, and a couple W10 64bit boxes that we actually watch TV on

 

[kenwonders]

Just updated mine, a huge thanks for the brilliant post @Jasmeet_181

Does @Jasmeet_181 suggestion work?

Yes

 

[technoweary]

EPGcollector is the way to go for Freesat, (or Freeview for that matter in my opinion), although I'm not sure about it working on 64bit OS. Definately on 32bit OS.
When you are setting up EPGcollector and installing I found that you need to browse to all the program locations again, dont just accept the default path, and use the Sky EPG source
Set up XMLTV in MP TV Servers and make sure you copy a xmltv.dtd file in the same folder that EPGcollector puts the tvguide.xml file. I got the latest xmltv.dtd from the Github project
You then check the mappings in the XMLTV plugin and you can adjust any mismatched channels. On my system it matched perfectly all the channels I had chosen for my "favourites" EPG. You may need to edit a bit for the less well known channels I guess
Hope this helps
TW

 

[Ronski]

I've done what @Jasmeet_181 posted and have some EPG back but some channels are still missing, how long should it take to get a complete guide?