XMLTV and DVB EPG simultaneous? (1 Viewer)

[hassegubben]

I have XMLTV collecting guide data for 14 days. It is working perfectly! However, I have three channels that I cannot get guide data to into the XMLTV file. I am trying to grab DVB EPG guide data for the three channels from a DVB-c tuner but it is not working. What might be the problem?

The tuner is setup to Enable grab DVB EPG. In the TVserver manual contol I select refresh DVB EPG and a line in the list is confirming the grabbing of data. I have also selected the three channels to Collect data only for selected channels. And ticked the three channels. I still cannot see the guide data in Mediaportal from the DVB EPG.

Is there a plugin I need or is it just not possible to have guide data from DVB EPG and XMLTV simultaneously?



MediaPortal Version: MP 1.0.2
MediaPortal Skin: Blue3 wide
Windows Version: Win XP pro SP3
CPU Type: Intel Q9450 2,66GHz
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 500 GB IDE, Samsung T166 500GB SataII
Memory: Corsair XMS2 DHX 4GB
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 Ultimate
Video Card Driver: Catalyst 8.11
Sound Card: Realtek ALC889
Sound Card AC3: MB inbuilt optical out
Sound Card Driver: Realtek HD Audio v2.01
1. TV Card: Hauppauge PVRUSB2 MCE
1. TV Card Type: Analog
1. TV Card Driver: WinTV 4.6b
2. TV Card: Hauppauge HVR-2200
2. TV Card Type: Analog, dual tuner
2. TV Card Driver: WinTV 4.6b
3. TV Card: Hauppauge NOVA-T-500 HD
3. TV Card Type: DVB-T
3. TV Card Driver: WinTV 4.6b
4. TV Card: Terratec H7
4. TV Card Type: DVB-C
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: ATI avivo
MPEG2 Audio Codec: MPA
h.264 Video Codec: ATI avivo
Satelite/CableTV Provider: cable/COMHEM
HTPC Case: Antec P182B
Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P
Power Supply: Corsair HX620
Remote: Microsoft Remote Keyboard & Remote
TV: Panasonic 42PV60 plasma
TV - HTPC Connection: VGA

 

[Anjin]

I have done this succesfully

Note:
xmltv will delete all epg programs if delete old records is ticked.

hitting the refresh dvb epg will also delete all epg programs before commencing a rescan.

I found that you have to wait a while after xmltv updates before the DVB epg will commence a rescan cycle of all channels.
If you hit the refresh dvb epg button in tv server config it will delete the schedules loaded by xmltv.

You can moitor the progress of the dvb epg update in server log file epg.log

 

[hassegubben]

Great news! Thanks! So, to get it working automatically I
1. first set the DVB EPG to collect guides for selected channels at a certain time.
2. 5 min later(or more) collect XMLTV guides for the rest of the channels with "delete old records" deselected.

And it should work. If this is how it works, it should go into the documentation part of MP.

 

[Anjin]

I think the reverse of the order you have stated

The DVB EPG will collect data from the transport stream periodically, I don't think you can set a particular time. You can set a time for the xmltv plugin to download an updated xmltv file

I have a scheduled task to update the xmltv file every morning, this kicks off the xmltv server plug in, which deletes all programs in the database and updates those channels it has data for in the xmltv file.

Some time later the DVB EPG updates the remaining channels. If you hit DVB refresh in the tv server config after the xmltv update it will delete all progams, including those updated from xmltv. Then you will have to force an update of the xmltv plug in to complete the database

So to get the DVB data more quickly you can simply tune the tv to those channels, which will initiate a DVB EPG scan. (I don't use MP in the morning so no need for me to do this).

(this was the behavour of an earlier version of MP, it may be different in the latest release

 

[IanJ]

I think the reverse of the order you have stated

The DVB EPG will collect data from the transport stream periodically, I don't think you can set a particular time. You can set a time for the xmltv plugin to download an updated xmltv file

I have a scheduled task to update the xmltv file every morning, this kicks off the xmltv server plug in, which deletes all programs in the database and updates those channels it has data for in the xmltv file.

Some time later the DVB EPG updates the remaining channels. If you hit DVB refresh in the tv server config after the xmltv update it will delete all progams, including those updated from xmltv. Then you will have to force an update of the xmltv plug in to complete the database

So to get the DVB data more quickly you can simply tune the tv to those channels, which will initiate a DVB EPG scan. (I don't use MP in the morning so no need for me to do this).

(this was the behavour of an earlier version of MP, it may be different in the latest release

I have setup WebEPG and for the past few days it's been working fine.
However, there are 5 channels I'm missing data for and tried setting up DVB EPG to fill in the blanks.
I selected those 5 channels in DVB EPG (and selected "store data only for selected channels") so as not to overwrite what WebEPG was grabbing.

It worked!, I noticed my EPG was now 100%, those last 5 channels finally had data.
However, after about 3hrs I noticed the 5 channels had lost their EPG data again so I'm back to trying to reason why.

I wish the MP guys would look at this whole EPG scenario and sort it out. There's too many options split across too many areas in the TV Server Config utility. It all needs centralized so you can see whats going on.
This is MP's achilles heal and will put off a LOT of prospective users unless it's sorted. 95% of my times over the past few weeks playing with MP has been trying to get the EPG working across all my channels and trying to understand whats going on.

Ian.

 

[hassegubben]

I wish there was a way to do this in a sequence:

1. schedule a dvb-c/t/s epg download of data (set a download time (=tune to a channel?) and select from which channels to collect data)
2. schedule an xmltv epg download
3. Merge guide data from the dvb epg and xmltv to the mediaportal guide

I agree that this is a critical function of Mediaportal. It should be possible to schedule the download of guide data and merge guide data from webepg, xmltv, dvbepg and other sources in a controlled way.

 

[arion_p]

In MP 1.0.2 it is only possible to use DVB EPG and xmltv import at the same time only if you do not select "delete programs before import" (or something like that - I don't currently have access to 1.0.2 installation) in xmltv plugin. But this has the drawback that if some EPG data changes in a more recent WebEPG grab, your guide will not be updated.

Since MP 1.1.0 however it is possible to delete only the newly imported guide data so there is no conflict between WebEPG and DVB EPG. Also since MP 1.1.0, WebEPG can grab directly to the database (no need to grab to xmltv format and then import to database). So you may want to check MP 1.1.1 which is the latest stable release of MP (and contains many stability improvements over 1.0.2).

 

[hassegubben]

My problem is:
I download EPG data each night with xmltv. But one channel needs to download dvb-c EPG data. Preferrably in the morning as well, so I know when the guide was updated. From your explanation I understand this is possible?

From a previous post I got the impression that dvb-c guide data is only downloaded if the channel is tuned? When does this happen? If I don´t tune to the channel from MP manually, will MP at regular intervals (how often?) tune to the channel in the background when I am not using MP?

 

[arion_p]

I download EPG data each night with xmltv.

Sorry, another user mentioned WebEPG and I didn't realize you are using plain xmltv. But still this is possible.

But one channel needs to download dvb-c EPG data. Preferrably in the morning as well, so I know when the guide was updated. From your explanation I understand this is possible?

It is possible in both 1.0.2 and 1.1.0, but it works better since 1.1.0. Let me explain:
In xmltv import plugin there is an option "Delete old programs before import". If this option is not selected only programs not already in the database will be imported. This may be an issue if the schedule changes for some reason. For example say yesterday you grabbed an xmltv file that says that House M.D. Season 7, Episode 5 plays tomorrow at 19:00. This file was imported yesterday and today you grab a new xmltv file that says tomorrow at 19:00 instead of House M.D., there is a football match. In this case if you import that file today, the above change will be ignored.
To avoid this, when you select the option "Delete old programs before import", xmltv import plugin in 1.0.2. will delete all programs in the database (including those grabbed through DVB-C) before each import.
v1.1.0 improves on that by only deleting the programs that would be overwritten by the new import (so DVB-C grabbed info is not deleted).
In 1.0.2 you need to keep this option unchecked and live with the consequences. In 1.1.0 you can check this option and enjoy the benefits of both worlds .

From a previous post I got the impression that dvb-c guide data is only downloaded if the channel is tuned? When does this happen? If I don´t tune to the channel from MP manually, will MP at regular intervals (how often?) tune to the channel in the background when I am not using MP?

With DVB-C, depending on the options you select, grabbing can occur at several times:

1. If you enable idle grabber, when the tv-card is idle, tvserver will tune to each transponder in sequence and grab EPG
2. if you enable timeshift grabber, tvserver will also grab EPG or the channel you are watching while you are watching.
3. If you enable powerscheduler and set a schedule to wake up to grab EPG, tvserver will wake up at configured times and tune to each transponder in sequence, grab EPG and then go back to sleep.

 

[hassegubben]

This was exactly the information I was looking for. Should be in the MP documentation! Thank you very much. This really helps me!