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[Mark Robertson]

Hi there

I'm a UK user. I've tried various methods for getting EPG data, but none have been particularly good. The new DVB OTA feature is very welcome and does provide accurate data. However, Media Center doesn't seem to sort that data into categories for ease of finding the movies/programmes I might like to watch. Schedules Direct (via mc2mxl) provides more detail, and some categories, but many obvious categories seem to be missing. There isn't even a "Movies" category in the guide. The keyword data does seem to be there in the original data - I can see it in the info for the programme - but Media Center doesn't seem to want to sort the programmes into all the possible genres and sub-genres. Back in the days of Windows Media Center, it was possible to filter by, for instance, "Movies", which was then broken down into further categories (Sci-Fi, Comedy, Drama. etc.). It made it very easy to find things to record. Is there any way to achieve this now?

[RoderickGI]

Quickly:

The data you have to work with depends on the source. OTA EIT data is usually the worst, with the least amount of information. Schedules Direct is better. You may find that in the UK OTA MHEG5 data collected using EPG Collector is better data. EPG Collector can also enhance the data by collecting metadata from TheTVDB before supplying it to MC, which is what I do in Australia. There are UK users of EPG Collector who seem to make it work for them just fine.

With my data I have [Media sub Type] = "Movie" and [Genre] = Comedy, Action, Music, Drama, Other, Horror, Romance, Documentary, etc. With a custom view of the EPG data I can sort and find any combination, in Standard View. I could probably create a suitable view for Theatre View as well. In addition I have more information in the [Keywords] tags, which tends to be a bit better. For example all the "Other" type movies actually have a Genre in the Keywords, such as Movie:Crime, Movie:Fantasy, etc. Some of the Action movies get re-categorised into "Adventure" as well. A few of the movies even have a Keyword of HDTV, which is handy.

So if your source has the data, and that is entirely out of JRiver's control, then yes, you could view upcoming programs by the categories you want. But it will need a custom view of the EPG Data I believe.

[Mark Robertson]

Thanks for this. I've tried using EPG Collector but struggled somewhat with its interface and eventually gave up trying to get it to do what I wanted. Or indeed work at all. I may give it another go.

Currently, Schedules Direct seems okay. I can at least search by keyword, even if MC doesn't automatically use those keywords to sort the data.

[RoderickGI]

EPG Collector can be a bit hard to get into and understand. But it does do a good job, and I believe that the MHEG5 data in the UK is high quality, so maybe worth another try.

I can at least search by keyword, even if MC doesn't automatically use those keywords to sort the data.

If you have the time, read up about creating Custom Views, both in Standard View and in Theatre View. You should be able to build a view that shows just movies, sorted as you wanted. If you get started and then stuck, there are usually people around here happy to help with views.

[Mark Robertson]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll take a look at "custom views" and see how I get on...

[Mark Robertson]

Hah! Now I'm getting it! And this is, frankly, excellent! I really had never quite understood quite how infinitely customisable JRiver MC is! Briilliant! Thank you for nudging me to look into this.

My only question now is, now that I've got Theatre View looking just the way I want it, how do I save that view so that, if for any reason I need to reinstall JRiver, or indeed install it on another computer, I can replicate the settings? Can I save the view to a file somehow?

[CountryBumkin]

Just make backup. File>Library>Back Up Library.
MC also makes an automatic backup every so often. The location where it is saved is set at Tools>Options>File Locations>Program Files.

[RoderickGI]

Yep, plus when you restore such a backup, it is a good idea to restore the settings as well, during the restore process. That is the default anyway.

You can also save and load Standard View views to/from external files, using the menu "View > Load / Save View", but that isn't a perfect process. A search of the forum for "Save view" will find discussion. There is no equivalent in Theatre View, but those views are in the library anyway.

Good to hear you are exploring the power of MC customisation!