[solved] Stopped capturing live tv (1 Viewer)

[irw]

No, I was not offered a choice of TV server.
My position is on high ground and the aerial installer said the signal was good with my signal booster. Having had to write this, it has given me a thought about the signal booster ...

success at solution and total embarrassment at causing forum hassle. The mains driven power booster is hidden away out of sight, out of mind but the power plug may have been knocked and was not engaged properly, so booster failed, so no signal. I cannot understand why, when I tried a different old TV, I saw a TV picture. Maybe the TBS cards need a very strong signal.

Thanks for your talk of weak reception from Rowridge as that triggered the thought of a signal booster.

Big apologies to @ge2301 for wasting their time.

Live TV works. Latest struggle is with making EPG function, but that's another story.

 

[CyberSimian]

Latest struggle is with making EPG function

With MP in the UK, you can use either the broadcast EPG (which is free), or use an EPG that you download from the internet daily (and which may not be free).

I use the broadcast EPG, and once you have the settings adjusted for your requirements, it is trouble free. The downside of the broadcast EPG is that it gives only summary details of programmes, and does not contain series or episode numbers in a way that MP can use.

Probably the best internet EPG is "Schedules Direct". But this is not free (about £25-£30 per year), and requires a bit of fiddling in order to get it to work. (For the UK, Schedules Direct provides only the JSON form of the EPG, which MP cannot use directly; you need to employ a JSON to XML converter, and then import the XML into MP.)

The broadcast EPG is quite flexible, but this also makes it easy to end up with a less-than-optimal setup. The Wiki is worth reading, specifically this page.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[irw]

Thanks for this. I followed the wiki and used WebEPG.
I have checked switched on the TV and find that after leaving it several hours, the EPG has now propagated through and seems full except all today up to midnight says No Programme Data. Because I saw this each time I tried to do EPG, it probably had worked previously but only for days in the future. Strange.
One final matter I tried and failed to find in the Wiki, is to sort the channels listed in the EPG. I managed it before this reinstallation but cannot see where the method is described.

 

[CyberSimian]

find that after leaving it several hours, the EPG has now propagated through and seems full except all today up to midnight says No Programme Data.

The capture of the broadcast EPG does not run all of the time -- it occurs only at the times dictated by the settings on the "DVB EPG" panel in "TV Server Config". Your settings may have resulted in the EPG grab not occurring for several hours. However, you can force the EPG to be updated by using the "Refresh DVB EPG" button in the "Manual Control" section. But you must:

• Enable the idle grabber.
• Not use any of the tuners for anything else

The EPG grab should be complete in not more than 15 minutes, with the database update being complete in a further 15 minutes (so around 30 minutes in all for a full EPG).

Using the broadcast EPG, I have never encountered a situation where the current day did not update. But perhaps it was WebEPG that failed to provide the EPG for the current day? I have never used an internet EPG with MP, so I don't know how reliable they are.

One final matter I tried and failed to find in the Wiki, is to sort the channels listed in the EPG.

We are back on the "TV Channels" panel in "TV Server Config". The first tab lists all of the channels that were found during the scan, and it is here that you choose which channels to include or exclude from the EPG. You can arrange your channels into groups, and you have an "All channels" group by default. These groups are shown on the successive tabs.

To sort each group, click the tab and then using the buttons near the bottom of the screen, click the sort type that you want. You can use different sort types for different channel groups. I use:

• Sort by channel number increasing for the "All channels" group.
• Sort by channel name increasing for my "Film" and "News" groups.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[irw]

Thanks. I found the settings on DVB EPG and on the WebEPG page I used GrabNow then Saved. It did take a long'ish time and all is OK.

Thanks so much for reminding me where to find the sort function. I failed to notice the tabs at the top and as I said, I had tried to find the method in the wiki.

Everything is back to normal, so once again, many thanks for your help.