Thoroughly confused by EPG and xmltv in general (1 Viewer)

[markrb]

I have been reading for days and it seems the more I read the more confused I become.
I have been using MP for years without TV and recently purchased a Hauppauge HVR-2250 card.
I am able to watch it just fine and now I am looking to add channel data.
From what I read I know I have to customize some files, but what and how I cannot find.
I am also confused by all the grabbers and the difference between the EPG and Xmltv.
Are they the same thing just called differently?
What do I need to get a program guide? How do I get the data in MP automatically?
I have read about mc2xml, but is that used with xmltv or instead of?
From what I can gather it seems I will need a program to get the data and another to import it into MP. Is this correct?
I have read the Wiki, but that has very limited info.
The thing that is killing me is that in all of the forum posts I have read I can only find bits and pieces of the information because the questions are already pass my knowledge level.
I am in the US with Comcast cable that has both digital and analog stations.

I am really lost here and hope I can get pointed in the right direction.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[markrb]

Ok we can scratch the difference between EPG and xmltv.
I also found the specific page in the wiki and have printed it to see if I can get further.
I am still a long way from understanding, but maybe now can try some things.
Is there anyone around that might be able to chat if I still can't get it?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[markrb]

So after hours of trying I am still not close to getting this right.
I am doing something wrong and I have no idea what.
If I use the auto map in the web epg plug-in the channel id's are all wrong.
I used mc2xml and I can download a xmltv.xml file, filled with correct data, but I cannot get it to import into the xml plug-in.
I keep getting an invalid or missing file error and I know I have the path setup correctly.
The only thing I can think of is that the channel mapping is wrong, but I have no idea how to fix it.
If I leave it filled with the incorrect data it doesn't work. If I clear all the data, except the channels it won't work.
What I was hoping and obviously wrong was that if I have the channel numbers listed I could import the xml data from mc2xml and then map the channels after so they match the correct data.
I must be missing something very basic, but I don't have any idea what.

Mark

 

[markrb]

Got it to import. I was missing a dtd file. I just made an empty one and then it imported.
Don't know if it works yet as it was the last thing I did before bed.
I probably got it wrong, but at least I know why it wasn't importing.
One more step figured out.
I am getting there slowly.

 

[typhoid]

Got it to import. I was missing a dtd file. I just made an empty one and then it imported.
Don't know if it works yet as it was the last thing I did before bed.
I probably got it wrong, but at least I know why it wasn't importing.
One more step figured out.
I am getting there slowly.

Do you have it working, yet? If not, I'll try to help. I'm also fairly new to TV with MediaPortal, but I do have my guide working with mc2xml here in the US.

 

[The Dave]

I am trying to switch from a Win 7 MCE/XBMC combo to MP. This damn EPG setup is kicking my butt too. I am about to give up on MP alltogether because the EPG setup seems WAY too complicated?! I am running a HDHOMERUN using over the air hd and can view channels but no data is passed to the guide. It's frustrating as hell. Besides the EPG (7th level of hell) MP looks like it has stepped a lot on the graphics department.

 

[jameson_uk]

I am trying to switch from a Win 7 MCE/XBMC combo to MP. This damn EPG setup is kicking my butt too. I am about to give up on MP alltogether because the EPG setup seems WAY too complicated?! I am running a HDHOMERUN using over the air hd and can view channels but no data is passed to the guide. It's frustrating as hell.

xmltv and OTA EPG are different things. xmltv is where you extract EPG info from somewhere into a file in a standard format and then MP can import that. I don't know how the HDHomeRun works so hopefully someone stateside can help you out there as to whether MP will pick up the guide info OTA.

It might also be worth researching something called mc2xml if you already have Media Center installed. AIUI this will extract the guide from Media Centre into xmltv format. If you already have that then all you need to is put the xmltv file somewhere MP can access it. Enable the xmltv plugin in tvsetup and tell it where the file is (you need to also have the xmltv.dtd file in this folder). Then restart the tvservice. Now go into plugin config again and match up your channels setup in MP with the channels in the xmltv file. Now every time the file changes in the location you setup MP will import it

Besides the EPG (7th level of hell) MP looks like it has stepped a lot on the graphics department.

Not entirely sure what this means but if you don't like the look of MP try some of the other skins. The basic skin is just that (basic) there are others with far more eye candy

 

[The Dave]

:sorry:
I'm saying that besides the troublesome EPG giving me grief, the eye candy in MP has stepped up a lot. It looks much better nowadays (hence me wanting to switch over).

 

[typhoid]

I'm still fairly new to MP, but I've managed to get it working here in the US with about 2 weeks of reliable program guide for my over-the-air stations.

Here's my understanding of how it all works. Hopefully someone who *really* knows can correct any errors. Note that this applies to broadcast HD that I receive with an antenna. I don't have cable, so I don't know how much, if any, of this applies to that.

The "OTA" guide doesn't appear to do us much good here in the US. As far as I can tell, US broadcasters are not sending out much, if any, guide data along with the broadcast signal. I was able to get a couple of days from a few of my local stations, but that was it.

Instead, we have to use the xmltv method, which involves the following:
- You use an external program (not included with MP) to retrieve guide data from either SchedulesDirect or the guide service that Microsoft (M$) hosts for their Media Center package. The retrieved guide data arrives at your computer as an xml file. You may see references to other guide sources, like titantv, but here in the US the only stable, reliable sources that I found are SchedulesDirect and M$.
- You create a batch file to execute the guide retriever and configure a "scheduled task" in Windows to run it once a day. The xml file needs to have a specific name for MP, which is *not* what mc2xml names the file (of course!). I just had the batch file rename the file after executing mc2xml.
- You turn on the xmltv plugin in the MP TV Server configuration by checking the checkmark on the plugins page.
- You configure the xmltv plugin to specify the folder where the guide retriever (mc2xml) is dropping the xml file.
- You configure the xmtv plugin to map TV channels from the guide to channels on your TV capture card. For me, this was the hardest thing to figure out.
- Unless I've forgotten something, that's all that needs to be done.

I decided to use mc2xml as the external "guide retriever". It can retrieve guide data from either SchedulesDirect or the M$ service, but there is a "gotcha" regarding the M$ service: The free version of mc2xml can only pull guide data from the old M$ service, which doesn't have much US broadcast HD guide data. If you donate to mc2xml, the author will send you an enhanced version that can pull data from the "new" M$ service, which *does* include US broadcast HD guide data.

ShedulesDirect is a "for fee" service, but the price is fairly reasonable from what I saw. I chose to go with the donation version of mc2xml and the "new" M$ service because a one-time donation was less than the monthly subscription fee to SchedulesDirect.

Hopefully this will help point you in the right direction. If you need more detail, I can post a more "step-by-step" guide.

Yes, it is a pain to set up, but I've been running rock-solid with an HDHomeRun and an AverTV HD Duet (4 tuners, yeah!) for several months. The guide typically contains around 2 weeks of data and has been very accurate.

Oh, and credit where credit is due - thanks to the MP team for making a really flexible and reliable alternative to M$ Media Center and thanks to all of the experts who posted enough hints and tips for me to finally figure out how to get it all set up and working.

xmltv and OTA EPG are different things. xmltv is where you extract EPG info from somewhere into a file in a standard format and then MP can import that. I don't know how the HDHomeRun works so hopefully someone stateside can help you out there as to whether MP will pick up the guide info OTA.

From what I've been able to learn, US broadcasters aren't required to include much OTA EPG. I was only able to get a couple of days worth from my local stations.

The HDHomeRun works just like internal tuners as far as MP is concerned.

It might also be worth researching something called mc2xml if you already have Media Center installed. AIUI this will extract the guide from Media Centre into xmltv format. If you already have that then all you need to is put the xmltv file somewhere MP can access it. Enable the xmltv plugin in tvsetup and tell it where the file is (you need to also have the xmltv.dtd file in this folder). Then restart the tvservice. Now go into plugin config again and match up your channels setup in MP with the channels in the xmltv file. Now every time the file changes in the location you setup MP will import it

From what I can tell, mc2xml impersonates Windows Media Center and connects to the same guide source. As such, Media Center isn't required for mc2xml to work. I've successfully used mc2xml on Windows XP, which doesn't have Media Center.

There is a catch though, in that there are 2 different Media Center guide sources. The "old" source doesn't include much US OTA digital HD guide data. The "new" source does. The free version of mc2xml will only connect to the "old" source. The "donate" version of mc2xml will connect to either guide source.

 

[bighick]

Omg step by step please, I used media portal for about a year, then i got some TV tuners and could never get EPG to work. I use windows 7 media center and will pay that fee for the mxl2epg or whatever if needed........