TV Channels No Labels - EPG Woes (1 Viewer)

[idtjes3]

Hello,

I've installed Media Portal and have everything configured they way I like except for an EPG ( which is proving to be the most frustrating part of this project). I'm so confused now that I really dont know where to begin, but Ill try. When I use the TV Server Configuration program I click on my analog tuner ( i have a Hauppauge 1800) and scan for channels. When its complete I have channels 2-99 found. Al the channels work when I preview them but when I go to the TV Channels Tab, the channels have no channel data in them i.e. they are numbered instead of saying like comedy central or ABC etc. Also, the provider, details, and details (second one) columns are blank. Could this be why every xmltv program I have tried has failed? so far Ive tried xmltv.

I set up an account at Zap2It but when it asks for my password ( using command prompt) it says error 403. Ive also tried using WebEPG, but when I click on import from tv server, it errors ( Is there detailed instructions somewhere ( please don't lead me to the wiki media portal ones, they are no help) that gives a step by step on how to create an xmltv file? sorry if this has been answered a million times but i feel like im missing one important step, but its hidden like the holy grail.

 

[pbb]

There seems to be something wrong with the storing of the detected tv channels. I think that is also the reason why all of the different EPG options fail from that point, because there simply is not channel data.

I have no idea for what reason the storing of channels fails. Did you do an upgrade of MediaPortal, or is this a fresh install?

On my analogue Theater 550, I get information in the Name and first Details columns, Details mentioning the broadcast frequency. The Provider column just says "-" everywhere, and Types says "Analog". Note that second and following Details columns will always be empty if you checked "Don't merge channels" on the channel scanning screen (which I would strongly advice with analog cards).

 

[idtjes3]

Hi and thanks for your reply. Yes , this was a fresh install of MediaPortal / Tv Server. Its the newest release from the website. i get info under name but all it is is a Channel number ( ie 2). The rest of the columns are just as you stated.I am in north america so I know our settings are probably different but have you gotten an epg to work?

 

[pbb]

Yeah, WebEPG is working for me. Can you specify what error you get when you import channels into WebEPG?

 

[idtjes3]

where is the error log file? Its says to check it, but im not sure where it is. Also, no My TV doesnt work at all. TV Server detects analog channels. Medai portal is set to use my computer as server but when I got MYTV. its just a blank screen. Also i checked turn on tv under the configuration file, but the tv doesnt turn on automatically.

 

[idtjes3]

Ok, I THINK everything is starting to work. i wiped everything clean and installed media portal again. I scanned for my analog channels then opened up WebEPG and it import and BAM! it loaded channels. The channels were wrong so I had to manually go in and change the names next to the correct channel.

I noticed something. Next to a channel name, for instance, it says COMEDY@central.net . I know this is comedy central but does the "@central" tell it to download the times for the central time zone? Also how do i set up my local channels? I was able to go onto comcast (my cable provider) website and view listings. Is there a way to set up a grabber to pull listing directly from that website? I was looking at the page source code but it looks complicated. Is anyone else using comcast and have a grabber template I could customize for my specific area? Thanks for everyones help so far.


PS on a side note, does anyone know whats going to happen to our tv cards once all channels (in north america) switch to digital broadcast? Will the cards still work or will all channels be encrypted? Just a thought.

 

[pbb]

The "comedy@central.net" you mentioned, is that in the "Channel ID" column? If so, that is the internal unique identifier used for the channel, you can safely ignore that.

As I live in Europe, I have no experience with channels broadcasting in different time zones, but at least the "central.net" does not have anything to do with central time zone.

I saw a thread about EPG data in the US here: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/newcomers-forum-240/tv-guide-update-34362/. Does the Comcast website require you to log in before you can see the tv guide? If not, and the guide is made in HTML, then I guess it should be possible to write a grabber for it. But then I don't understand why there is none already, since I believe Comcast is a very popular provider...

About the digital switch I have no idea, I don't know how far your current broadcast standard is compatible with the coming digital standard. Here in Europe they work with hardware restricted access (CAMs and smartcards) to the digital channels, so that is clearly totally different from the analog system. Maybe you can connect an analog card to a digital receiver, I don't know...

 

[idtjes3]

Ok, so I ran WebEPG overnight but it didn't make the TVGuide.xml file. I've tried running a search for it but nothing comes up. Wheres the default location for the file? The comcast site doesnt require a login but it does require that you enter your zip code, which I don't know how that would effect creating a grabber.

 

[pbb]

I've updated the WebEPG page in the wiki. As you can read under manual downloading, the TVGuide.xml file should be created in an "xmltv" folder underneath the MediaPortal application data folder. ("C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Team MediaPortal\xmltv" on default Windows XP, check the System Folders page in the wiki. Note that this folder may be hidden.)

Are you able to find the xmltv folder?