OTA EPG in U.S. (1 Viewer)

[BigB42078]

I can't get the U.S Over The Air epg to work with my Geniatech HDTV thriller PCI X8350A in Xp. I know it's possible because the software "Total Media" that came with it does it. I have gone into the Tv Server Configuration and and checked all the channels under TV EPG grabber, filter for english, and store only for selected. What am I missing? Also does anyone know if there is a free way to get webepg? it seems like they have all been discontinued, except for Schedules Direct which has a yearly fee. What does MCE use for it's epg?

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

I thought TotalMedia got there epg the same way as MCE via the internet.

Have never heard of any successful way of getting epg for the U.S besides ScedulesDirect, if there was I'd make it very prominent.

 

[BigB42078]

Apparently it use to use both

But the Web setup which is based off the Titan Tv Web page is broken, it just shows an error page.

The Ota setup works well it shows 12 hours worth of data per channel (see attachments).

So is it possible for MP to get the data over the air?

 

[moab]

Good question.
I have been wrestling with the EPG for USA for a few years with MP.
Looking at the OTA 12 hour TV listings in your screen shots they are of limited use. A 12 hours EPG is a very small time window. More problematic is the brief program description e.g. "Movie" is not very descriptive.

The best solution I have come across was the Schedules Direct plugin ($20 per year). This worked great for me with OTA ATSC channels. However I added Comcast cable and have some channels that don't work. I am in the process of troubleshooting it. It could be my duplicate analogue and digital channels confusing the Schedules Direct plug-in.

Prior to schedules direct I created a grabber for the built in WebEPG module in MP. These work great in the grabber test tool. However I had problems with the next step of integrating the grabber file with MP configuration. I need to troubleshoot this also.

I am almost to the point of writing my own grabber program as I cannot find any detailed documentation on the WebEPG tool. What it does is a trivial text parsing function on the html for web sites. My biggest gripe is that I cannot get a hold of the source code or manuals for either WebEPG or Schedules Direct plugin (yes I have followed the instructions in the wiki). Sadly I don't get much response from the developers who I know are busy. I would be happy to create a detailed manual by looking at the source code. Although I find it abhorent having to re-invent the wheel.

I think if the USA grabber worked it would be a huge boost for the project as it is a bit of a show stopper for most USA people. I need to make a concerted effort to implement my working grabber.

 

[tranp]

free ATSC EPG working

I just wanted to say that I was able to get a free EPG solution working with my ATSC cards:

1. download mc2xml and save it to some directory (e.g. c:\epg)
2. open a command prompt and manually run mc2xml. e.g. "mc2xml -c us -g 77089 -o c:\epg\tvguide.xml" The -o option tells it to save to that specific filename. This example will set up mc2xml to pull guide info for Houston channels. It will prompt you for your provider (cable, satellite, OTA, etc). For OTA, just pick TER (Antenna).
3. set up a scheduled task to automatically run "mc2xml -o c:\epg\tvguide.xml" every day.
4. download and copy xmltv.dtd to the same directory as the tvguide.xml (c:\epg, in this example).
5. in the TV Server Configuration, enable the xmltv plugin, then tell it to look in c:\epg for the tvguide.xml file. Click Import to load the guide data, then go to the Mappings tab, click Load/Refresh, and map your tuner channels to the guide channels. Click Save when you're done.
6. Now you can watch TV and see a two-week EPG.

Hope this helps somebody else out. The only thing missing is guide data for the sub-stations (e.g. channel 2 is NBC, but there is also 2.2 and 2.3, which are not listed in the EPG).

 

[poppabk]

I am using schedules direct with the plug-in and haven't had a problem with it for comcast analog and clear QAM. The $20 is well spent in my opinion, although it was disappointing that the free options disappeared. Prior to SD I used CTTV (or something like that), which had a fee (lower than SD) but which ultimately got sold to some company which took the guides down. Prior to that I was using scrapers but they grew annoying as websites would change and you would lose your guide for a while and would have to search for a new working scraper. Prior to that I was using the yahooxml plug-in which got shut down after a month or so. Prior to that I think I used the zap2it plug-in for a couple of weeks when I first started before they closed that down.
All things considered, SD works, and it seems like they aren't going anywhere, so I am willing to pay the fee to avoid all the hassles that I have gone through in the past.

 

[bvn]

Hi, newbie to media portal here. I've been using PVR's since 2000 (ATI's PC-2-TV adapter and WinDVD 2000 HTPC for playback) - so, I have expectations. I am trying to prepare my network for the end of NTSC OTA transmissions. ATI's MMC 9.13 .. 16 have been miserable. I loved MMC v9.06 and may go back to it. Meanwhile I am wondering if MediaPortal might provide a better alternative. My configuration:
- 3 ATI MMC DVR's (headless, no keyboards, mice, nor monitors) that create MPEG-2 TV recordings. Two of them have ATI HDTV PCI adapters.
- 1 house file server (Samba and also headless). Provides the A/V repository. At the moment it has 1,862 MPEG-2 files (from DVR's each at least 1 hour long), 1,720 MP3's, and 4,601 JPEGs.
- 2 control hosts (Fedora only - they control what is to be recorded - daily setup). My office host has dual 24" monitors, each a separate X11 client. I can see the displays (with VNC) of all 3 DVR's and my house server simultaneously. The DVR's have WOL.
- 5 playback hosts - some XP some Fedora, and some dual boot. The DVR's and HTPC machines are "thin" and rely on the A/V repository for storage.
---
Can MediaPortal operate in this environment? I am specifically looking for DVR server packages. I notice you use an RDBMS to track things. What interface? ODBC? Does MediaPortal use an RDBMS for recording storage? In real time? If so, I will have to redesign my network - bandwidth and latency problems. Perhaps a managed switch with VLAN or a dedicated subnet. Does Media Portal require an EPG data service to request recordings and provide RDBMS retrieval handles (Keys)? This is a deal killer for me.
---
I am a retired EE and this is one of my hobby's. The system is managed by Tcl/Tk scripts that have the advantage of running on Windows or Linux without modification.

 

[tranp]

Can MediaPortal operate in this environment? I am specifically looking for DVR server packages. I notice you use an RDBMS to track things. What interface? ODBC? Does MediaPortal use an RDBMS for recording storage? In real time? If so, I will have to redesign my network - bandwidth and latency problems. Perhaps a managed switch with VLAN or a dedicated subnet. Does Media Portal require an EPG data service to request recordings and provide RDBMS retrieval handles (Keys)? This is a deal killer for me.

Welcome to the forum! You probably should have created a new thread for this... MediaPortal is new to me, too, but I'd say it would work for you. Just install the TV Server components on your DVRs. You have to get guide data somewhere, but you can get it for free.

The DB is used to keep track of the shows, but they are all stored locally and streamed to the clients as needed. Each client (i.e. Media Portal front-end) will be able to see the shows on all of the TV Servers and schedule recordings.

 

[solas989]

I am using the supplied WebEPG to get OTA Channel EPG data (via internet). The delivered xml grabber works great and is free and I get 14 days worth every morning. I use if for both OTA and Cable. All the data is accurate as far as I can tell.

The only thing I had to do was build a new xml grabber file (i think that is what it is called) for my zip code and provider (using imdb.com), while time consuming, it was a snap. Then I noticed the scheduler in MP (not tv config) caused errors for my setup and did not run webepg.exe. So I built a .bat/.cmd file to schedule every morning via task scheduler. xmlTV recognizes the new file every morning and auto imports it.

I did not look into getting EPG data from OTA in my area because 1) Not accurate 2) When correct not descriptive enough and 3) Did not go out far enough into the future (via other programs and tv's).

So long story short, I use WebEPG to get my EPG data from internet using imdb (set to my zip code and provider - either TWC or OTA).

Solas

 

[moab]

I am using the supplied WebEPG to get OTA Channel EPG data (via internet). The delivered xml grabber works great and is free and I get 14 days worth every morning. I use if for both OTA and Cable. All the data is accurate as far as I can tell.

The only thing I had to do was build a new xml grabber file (i think that is what it is called) for my zip code and provider (using imdb.com), while time consuming, it was a snap. Then I noticed the scheduler in MP (not tv config) caused errors for my setup and did not run webepg.exe. So I built a .bat/.cmd file to schedule every morning via task scheduler. xmlTV recognizes the new file every morning and auto imports it.

I did not look into getting EPG data from OTA in my area because 1) Not accurate 2) When correct not descriptive enough and 3) Did not go out far enough into the future (via other programs and tv's).

So long story short, I use WebEPG to get my EPG data from internet using imdb (set to my zip code and provider - either TWC or OTA).

Solas

Thanks for sharing your experience.
I will go back to my WebEPG grabber, which I got working but could not integrate into MP.
The BAT file work around sounds good. I think I might give it try again to get off the Schedules Direct.
I much prefer to have total control over my EPG even if it requires a little work and re-doing something that someone has already done. Surely someone has written one for Comcast already!

I just wanted to say that I was able to get a free EPG solution working with my ATSC cards:

1. download mc2xml and save it to some directory (e.g. c:\epg)
2. open a command prompt and manually run mc2xml. e.g. "mc2xml -c us -g 77089 -o c:\epg\tvguide.xml" The -o option tells it to save to that specific filename. This example will set up mc2xml to pull guide info for Houston channels. It will prompt you for your provider (cable, satellite, OTA, etc). For OTA, just pick TER (Antenna).
3. set up a scheduled task to automatically run "mc2xml -o c:\epg\tvguide.xml" every day.
4. download and copy xmltv.dtd to the same directory as the tvguide.xml (c:\epg, in this example).
5. in the TV Server Configuration, enable the xmltv plugin, then tell it to look in c:\epg for the tvguide.xml file. Click Import to load the guide data, then go to the Mappings tab, click Load/Refresh, and map your tuner channels to the guide channels. Click Save when you're done.
6. Now you can watch TV and see a two-week EPG.

Hope this helps somebody else out. The only thing missing is guide data for the sub-stations (e.g. channel 2 is NBC, but there is also 2.2 and 2.3, which are not listed in the EPG).

Thanks for this. It is exactly what I have been looking for. I will give it a try.
I actually get Comcast and will see if it can be adapted to work for that.