How do i handle the EPG for 2XDVB-T & 2XDVB-S2? (1 Viewer)

[elsmandino]

Hi there,

I am currently using Miroslav's version of Mediaportal 1.3.0 alpha and do the following after a full scan (I have 2x DVB-T tuners and 1 x DBV-S2 tuners).

1. I Use the drop down box in "TV Cominations" to select the DVB-T channels and combine them with any identical channels on the DBV-S2 tuner. If there is more than one channel (for example Sky News), I only combine with the first in the list. If the only option is that of a scrambled channel, I also combine.

2. I then go to all channels and check which channels are red and green.

3. I then go to "TV Mapping " and select the DVB-S2 tuner. I then double click all of the channels involved in step 2 to make sure that they can never be recorded from - i.e. only the EPG is used.

4. I then go back into All channels, click on deselect scrambled channels from showing in the EPG.

5. I then deselect all channels that I am never going to watch.

Now this is all pretty well (except for the fact that any channels on Freeview only do not have any EPG).

One thing that has been bugging me is whether I am not making full use of Freesat's multiplexes and I am going to try and best explain it without confusing people.

Here goes -

I am currently based in the South, near London, so I do a Scan for the Crystal Palace receiver and this returns just one ITV channel (ITV London). What I am currently doing is combing only the London channel from Freesat and then deselecting all the other ITV regions from All Channels, so they do not appear in the EPG. Is there any benefit of combing all the regions together with my Freeview ITV because they span a number of multiplexes.

For example, at the moment, I have only a single Freesat Card. If my other Freeview cards are busy and I am recording ITV London on the Freesat card, I can also record ITV2 and ITV4 as they are on the same multiplexes.

But what if I had a recording to start on ITVHD, which is on a different multiplex.?

There is another multiplex that has both an ITV and an ITV HD (10832.00 H 49) and would allow me to record both.

Ultimately, by combing all available channels, am I essentially giving the TV Server more flexibility to avoid clashes?

The obvious downside of this would be losing any region specific channels - London news for example.

Sorry if this is overly complex - let me know if the above does not make any sense.

Alex

 

[DragonQ]

I've never tried combining two channels from a single platform before, but I guess it should work. You might have priority issues though, e.g. you make "ITV" include DVB-S2 ITV HD, DVB-S2 ITV, and DVB-T2 ITV. In this case, if DVB-S2 is busy recording ITV4 and can't tune to ITV HD, but can tune to ITV due to it being on the same multiplex, then it'll choose ITV (even though your DVB-T2 card might be free for watching ITV HD).

Regarding your EPG grabbing, grabbing for each channel individually is a pain in the arse. Just grab from radio channel "Freesat Info" to get a 7 day EPG for all Freesat channels, then add the few Freeview channels that aren't on Freesat (e.g. Dave). Or you could grab Sky's EPG (not sure if this still works without decryption though).

Personally I use WebEPG, which has its own advantages and disadvantages.

 

[elsmandino]

Hello Dragon.

I did try Webepg when I started using Mediaportal but never really got on with it - not all channels were covered and the live feed from the channels itself meant that updates to the EPG were quickly amended if, for example, there was a last minute change to a program.

What would you say the pros and cons of using Webepg instead?

Is there anyway I could keep series link if I swapped Mirsolav's Sky EPG grabber for web listings?

 

[DragonQ]

Hello Dragon.

I did try Webepg when I started using Mediaportal but never really got on with it - not all channels were covered and the live feed from the channels itself meant that updates to the EPG were quickly amended if, for example, there was a last minute change to a program.

What would you say the pros and cons of using Webepg instead?

Is there anyway I could keep series link if I swapped Mirsolav's Sky EPG grabber for web listings?

The main two advantages IMO are a 10-day EPG and very detailed programme info (including series & episode numbers). The main disadvantages are that it takes a long time (90 minutes for ~200 channels), which means you miss last-minute EPG changes as you say, and the fact that a few channels are missing (but really not many, I think it's fewer than 10 for me and I never watch those channels anyway). You also don't get genre information for the new genre guide in MP 1.3.0. I doubt WebEPG will work with series link - series link only becomes available when using the Custom Data Grabber plugin anyway.

I will be moving to the Sky EPG soon, if I can get it to work. Last time I tried it didn't.

By the way, you should get last-minute changes when grabbing from Freesat Info too (provided you set it to grab often enough).