The
EPG wiki is in need of updating again, shortly after it was finished. While the wiki is still useful in getting general info about EPG setup, it would be good to have a more updated outline of options available for MC21. This thread is intended to give users some quick start instructions.
EPG is setup when you initially setup television tuners and is run periodically to update your EPG data.
When you run Television Setup wizard, you will reach a page where you need to choose an EPG option. Your choices are:
1. mc2xml.
This is now the default option in MC21. We have integrated mc2xml inside MC21 so it will allow users get EPG data as smoothly as possible. This option is available for users in the USA as well as many other countries. CountryBumkin created an excellent thread on
USA TV Setup. He described in this thread, among other things,
how to setup mc2xml. While his thread is titled "USA TV Setup", a lot of it is applicable for users in many other countries.
2. Over the air signal
This option is currently (MC22 or higher) available for ATSC and DVB users. It uses your ATSC or DVB tuner to pull EPG data from on-air signals. Please do not confuse the concept of OTA EPG with OTA TV signal itself (of which ATSC is an example). Just because you only watch over-the-air ATSC TV channels does not mean you have to use the OTA EPG method. You can use mc2xml or XMLTV method for EPG even if you watch OTA TV channels only.
The OTA EPG loading method for ATSC is not very reliable (but has become much better since MC22). The EPG data contained in the TV signals are not always complete, and you will get spotty results, especially if the TV signal strength/quality is not high. It is therefore recommended that you use other methods of EPG loading unless you have specific reasons to use OTA EPG. By using OTA scan, usually you can get EPG data for the next 12 hours for ATSC, but up to a week for DVB.
3. XMLTV.
This option is a generic option for getting EPG data using a third-party application and importing the data into MC. Examples of such third-party applications are zap2xml, EPGCollector, etc.
This option is useful for the following situations:
There are two ways to run a third-party EPG application.
- Inside MC.
To use this option, check the "Run an executable to retrieve XMLTV data" checkbox, and fill in the next three boxes. MC will execute the third-party application at a scheduled time, and wait for it to complete and then load the data from the result file.
- Outside of MC.
To use this option, uncheck the above checkbox, and fill in only the last box ("Load XMLTV results from this file:"). You will need to setup your third-party application to be run periodically to download EPG data into an xmltv file. For example you can run it using Windows Scheduler. MC will simply import the data in the result file.
Again, CountryBumkin provided some detailed discussion on
using XMLTV option.4. PercData.
MC can download EPG from PercData.com if you have an account with them. You can open an account at PercData, and pay for it, and then enter your user name and password in MC.
5. No Electronic Program Guide.
This option is provided so that you can skip EPG setup. While skipping EPG setup is generally not recommended, there are situations in which this makes sense. This is particularly true if you are setting up "Capture-only" channels. For example you can setup a video capture device to capture video from your camcorder. In this case EPG simply is irrelevant.
