Schedules Direct US/Canadian/Mexico EPG Plugin (Updated August 2010) (2 Viewers)

[x4mer]

Go to the TV channels section on the TV server config util. Click each group tab you want to sort, & then click the channel number heading on the column, to sort by channel number. Next time a client loads the guide, the channels should be in the newly sorted order.

 

[The Duke]

Editing the EPG Database

Hello and thanks for the plugin!!

I have it set up and working with MP 1.02 with a couple of exceptions. Some channels simply refuse to be mapped correctly despite what I do... very frustrating! Has anyone found a way to edit the "EPG mapping database" manually to force a mapping?

Also, is it possible to map 2 MP channels to a single SD channel? The plugin seems to only map 1 for 1. My problem is I want to add the analog channels back to my setup (they were scanned previously but to get the mapping as good as it is now, I had to delete them). I think the confusion is caused by the fact that some of the Analog channels have the same callsign and channel # as their Digital counterparts. Once one of them gets mapped, the other one is either mapped incorrectly to something else or just left unmapped... despite the fact that I have both line-ups @ SD which have the duplicates. Anyone know how I can get my Analogs to map correctly?

Any input would be appreciated!!

Thanks again
Hank

Update:
After re-scanning the Analogs and re-adding the Analog lineup at SD, the channels all seem to map (according to the TV.log) but for the duplicate channels, only the Digitals have program data.

 

[x4mer]

The digitals should have unique call letters, as they will be WKBWDT for eg, while the analogue would just be WKBW. You can change that after the mappings have been established.

I put some instructions up in post 397 of this thread. If you're willing to start over for your channel mappings, give it a try.

 

[The Duke]

Thanks for the response. The main problem I am running into is that my cable provider includes the standard definition channels in their digital package. So what I have is:

Analog tuner - WNBC

QAM tuner - WNBC, WNBCDT, WNBCDT2, WNBCDT4

They seem to map ok according to the log:

2009-11-17 09:00:34.446354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Processing lineup Cablevision of Woodbury [id=NY58806:X type=CableDigital postcode=11553]
2009-11-17 09:00:34.591354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Channel WNBC was found as WNBC in EPG mapping database
2009-11-17 09:00:34.593354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Updated channel WNBC [id=1176 xmlid=11705.4.schedulesdirect.org]
2009-11-17 09:00:35.257354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Channel WNBCDT (WNBC-DT) was found as WNBCDT in EPG mapping database
2009-11-17 09:00:35.259354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Updated channel WNBCDT [id=1190 xmlid=20459.704.schedulesdirect.org]
2009-11-17 09:00:35.668354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Channel WNBCDT2 (WNBC-DT2) was found as WNBCDT2 in EPG mapping database
2009-11-17 09:00:35.671354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Updated channel WNBCDT2 [id=1188 xmlid=44936.109.schedulesdirect.org]
2009-11-17 09:00:35.681354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Channel WNBCDT4 (WNBC-DT4) was found as WNBCDT4 in EPG mapping database
2009-11-17 09:00:35.687354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Updated channel WNBCDT4 [id=1189 xmlid=49877.110.schedulesdirect.org]
...

2009-11-17 09:00:35.949354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Processing lineup Cablevision of Woodbury [id=NY58806:R type=Cable postcode=11553]
2009-11-17 09:00:36.302354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Channel WNBC was found as WNBC in EPG mapping database
2009-11-17 09:00:36.310354 [SchedulesDirect EPG Client]: Updated channel WNBC [id=1176 xmlid=11705.4.schedulesdirect.org]


Of course, I have no way of knowing if that second lineup just re-found the digital WNBC or processed the analog one. Since I have no guide data on any of the analogs which are duplicated, I will assume the former. From playing around with this plugin for about 18 hours so far I am concluding that it cant map the same guide data to more than one channel. If I am wrong about this, please let me know! I really wouldn't care about the analogs at all except that my screwy cable company encrypts the digital versions of some of the channels available on analog. Another way someone might want duplicates is if they have a STB AND the cable fed to a tuner card. A STB group would have a WNBC and the TUNER group could also have a WNBC but how would you map the same guide data to the two seperate channels?

Since I don't think this is possible, I am going to try to move away from 'analog' and 'digital' groups and come up with groupings to eliminate the duplicate analogs, while still keeping the unique analogs.

Thanks again for the response and, like I said, if you know of a way to map the same guide data to two (or more) channels... please let me know!

Hank

EDIT - I see by looking at an export of my channel information that the 'id=1176' is my MP channel id and it is getting mapped to SD 11705.4 ok, makes sense. Also since the second mapping is also for 1176, it is indeed re-mapping the digital channel rather than the analog id 1422 Seems strange that the plugin would parse the info from SD and try to match it to the MP channels rather than the other way around. Looks like I am going to have to learn C# to recode this thing.

 

[x4mer]

Until you get around to learning C#, you can do a manual work around.

Open the SQL database, & edit the table named 'channel'. In there you'll find a column named 'external-id', which contains the SD identifier for each channel. You'll probably find that this column is empty for your analogue channels. Copy the SD id for the corresponding digital channel, to each of the analogue ones, & you should be good to go.

If you're using MySQL, the query browser will give you the access to make the changes. If you're using MSSQL, you'll have to install the freely available management suite.

I've never tried setting up a dual mapping, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. YMMV.

 

[The Duke]

Dude!! YOU RULE!! That is exactly the info I was looking for! Downloaded & installed Server Management Studio Express, opened the channel table and the externalId's were empty. populated them from the duplicate channels' info, & closed the database. Restarted TV Service and whammo, guide was full! Thanks, it was way easier than learning C#

 

[TheGlassjaw]

Hey, I tried searching but havent been able to find the answer... I have the plugin set up and it correctly grabs the EPG data when I select the force guide update on tv service restart option. However, if I don't use MediaPortal for a few days it wont update new data. So if i leave pc off for 4-5 days and then restart it, the guide data wont update. Is there a setting I missed that does this?

 

[DigitalFusio]

Re: Schedules Direct US/Canadian/Mexico EPG Plugin (Updated October 2009)

I had my MP up and running for nearly a year before a system crash. I am trying to get everything going again, starting from scratch.

I downloaded MP 1.0.2 and installed. I downloaded the schedules direct plug in, and enabled it in the TVServer config. This is where I am extremely confused. I dont know how to get my channels into MP. When I click on the TV Channels menu item in the TVServer config, there are no channels listed, and I cannot recall how I got them listed last year. I saw a few posts in the in this thread mention Auto-Tune, but I do not see that option anywhere, and am wondering if that even applies since I am using a cable STB?

 

[Andrew H]

So you're using MP to record your CABLE's Set Top Box S-video output? Meaning you're IR-blasting the box to change channels, and that you have all of this configured into your Server setup? Hmmmm.....

Normally (as I recall) the flow is after loading the SD plug-in for the 1.0.2 version (realize the latest posted are for the 1.1 beta) and configuring it with your login info, you go to the IP address at the TOP of the tree and pick your tuner card... from there you perform the auto-tune or scan your channels. Then you have to be sure they all appear in the TV-Channels section as associated with that tuner (so they'll show up in the main MP application under MyTV. That's a start although you may be using MP as a cable PVR.

 

[DigitalFusio]

Re: Schedules Direct US/Canadian/Mexico EPG Plugin (Updated October 2009)

well, I realized it didnt grab the channel line up from SD... I forced an update, and all is well. Now I just cant get IR blasting to work, but I guess that is a question for another thread.