Odd issues with Freesat EPG - MP2 (1 Viewer)

[CyberSimian]

The button in there is called "Refresh DVB EPG". I only have about 30 channels I'm using, so hopefully it won't take too long to complete.

The time taken to grab the EPG is related to the number of channels that are being broadcast, not to the number of channels that you have elected to receive.

The data is in the form of a carousel, with the data from the different channels interleaved, and with data for the programmes in the near future repeated many times in the data stream. So TV Server has to receive the entire carousel once, in order to be sure that it has received all of the EPG.

can I leave MP2 running when I go into the TV configuration, or should it be closed before making any changes?

You can continue to use MP while "TV Server Config" is open or grabbing the EPG, but if you chose "grab while idle", watching TV would prevent TV Server grabbing the EPG. This is because all tuners must be idle (this is an implementation restriction of TV Server).

EPG collection has finished. It shows BBC2 correctly now, but only now/next on all channels, not the 7-14 days of EPG I had before.

The EPG for DVB-T/T2 is for 7 days only, and I think that DVB-S/S2 is the same. If you definitely want a 14-day EPG, you will need to use an internet EPG.

"Schedules Direct" provide a UK EPG, and it is reputed to be of high quality (although I have not used it personally). It is also a 14-day EPG, but sadly it is updated only once per week (so the data that can be downloaded gradually reduces from 14 days to 7 days, and then suddenly jumps back to 14 days). The catch is that it is not free -- it costs around £20 per year, I think.

I have (2) ticked for EPG grabbing, and I've reduced the timeout on it to 2 minutes for testing purposes.

I think that this is too short a timeout. TV Server will stop grabbing the EPG after the timeout that you specify, even if TV Server has not grabbed the full EPG. Because the EPG is transmitted as a carousel, the timeout needs to be long enough to encompass the entire carousel.

I used Vista WMC for 5 years, and I have now been using MP for 5 years. Be aware that MP does not provide true series recording in the manner of Win7 WMC . What MP provides is various flavours of repeated recording. This is a limitation of TV Server, and is not dependent on the choice of EPG.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[Jon Sawers]

Thank you once again for all the information in this thread. I did some research today at work and found this thread on the same subject: Freesat EPG

It looks like the key bit I was missing was this:

Look in DVB EPG-->Radio EPG Grabber

Ensure you do not have "Store data for selected channel only" selected.

Then select either "Freesat Info" or "Radio Caroline" and your epg will populate

Once I took that checkbox off and used the Manual Control as CyberSimian had suggested, the guide populated in about 10 minutes. I've set the idle to 20 minutes. I had assumed that the idle was how long MP2 needed to be idle before, before it started to look for EPG data, not the time that the EPG data could be running before it turned off.

I am more than happy with 7 days of EPG, that is what I had in WMC anyhow using either Microsoft's service or DVBGuide. I also never managed to get series link to work in WMC, so I am fine with manually scheduling series recordings each week.


Thank you to everyone for their input, and apologies for the late reply, it has been a very busy day.

 

[Malcolm Clarke]

The best solution I have found is to install EPGCollector and configure for FreeSat. This will capture all available channel information off-air. However the programme includes features to generate the information for time-shifted channels, which isn't always transmitted. EPGCollector will generate an XMLTV file, which you can then import to your media programme. It is easy to set up a timed collection early morning when not watching and a timed read of the XMLTV file sometime later.

This will capture 7 days of all channels including radio, which many of the internet sites do not provide.

 

[Jon Sawers]

Sorry to come back to this thread, but after working fine for 3 months, the EPG has suddenly cleared out and isn't working. Looking at the server log, it looks like it isn't finding any channel details to download from the Freesat channel - has anyone else had this issue or know what has changed please?

Initiating the Manual Control "Refresh DVB EPG" isn't doing anything like it did before... Machine is shut down regularly, and I've tried a restart but to no improvement.

 

[CyberSimian]

the EPG has suddenly cleared out and isn't working.

See this thread.

Long story short:

• Something has changed in the way that the FreeSat EPG is broadcast.
• MP can no longer receive the FreeSat EPG.
• MP is not going to be fixed.
• You will have to use "EPG Collector".

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[Jon Sawers]

Thanks for the prompt update CyberSimian, glad it isn't me!

I was looking back at the other posts and saw the comment about SchedulesDirect, so I may look there instead. I have programmes already scheduled up to the end of Wednesday evening, so some time to get this sorted out.

 

[CyberSimian]

I was looking back at the other posts and saw the comment about SchedulesDirect, so I may look there instead.

"Schedules Direct" is reputed to provide a high-quality EPG for the UK, but I have no personal experience of it. Also, it is not free (about £25 per year, I think).

"EPG Collector" is free (or perhaps donation-ware).

In both cases, the output is an XML file. You then have to use the "XmlTv" plugin to import the XML file into MP. I have never used "XmlTv", so you will have to use whatever information is available (e.g. the Wiki, or other threads) to understand how to use it.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[Jon Sawers]

I have no issues with doing things to get it working, just need the understanding on how to do it. Currently following this post in the hope that it will work as an alternative.

Downside of using Freesat I guess, but when you have a dish and no aerial, that is how it has to be.

 

[Jon Sawers]

Ok, got EPG Collector working, and it gives the episode numbers in the text which the previous method didn't, so that is good.