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[Dantos]

Hi All

MC25, Win10, HDHomerun tuner.

I haven't thought about TV EPGs for a few years. That's a long time in MC upgrade terms!

In Australia things used to be quite complicated if you wanted an EPG but since MC provided OTA EPG support for Oz, I abandoned these more complicated methods.

It works ok but is obviously deficient in terms of what info you get, typically lacks season and episode tags, is difficult to search, doesn't highlight movies etc etc

Ice have a "deal" going for $2.99 a month for XMLTV subscribers. Their full subscription of $7.99 gets you full "smart recording" (whatever that is) but this doesnt work with XMLTV so I guess, thus the discount. Their website says its compatible with JRiver  for "series recording" but elsewhere it says "it does not support IceTV Interactive (remote scheduling and series recording)".

Are there Ice users that can clue me in? Is it worth it for you?

As ICE alternatives, are there any current guides for supplementing OTA EPG (mc2xml?, epgstream, collector or whatever)

TIA
David

[RoderickGI]

Big topic. Nothing has improved in EPG for Australia, except IceTV.

I use EPG Collector and gather the EIT EPG feed. It is rubbish. It used to be okay, when MHEG5 metadata was available. But broadcasters stopped sending that, because FreeView moved to an internet based EPG, which you need a FreeView device to collect as far as I know.

I don't record as much TV as I used to, or what as much live. But I am considering yet again getting the IceTV XMLTV subscription, even if only for recording movies from SBS!

Search the forum for "IceTV". You will find lots of good information, though not much recent. Jmone uses and recommends IceTV, and a few other use it.

The "remote scheduling and series recording" all works based on having an API into the application you are using, which JRiver does not have, which is why it doesn't work. It might be nice to have the full feature set, to assist in discovery of new content worth viewing, but I can live with the MC functionality. Series recording is supported in MC. Remote Scheduling (via a remote app such as JRemote or Gizmo) isn't supported. IceTV also do recommendations and a few other things.

But you will get a good quality EPG from IceTV.


I recommend you give IceTV a try. If you don't like it, stop using it.

[Dantos]

I use EPG Collector and gather the EIT EPG feed. It is rubbish. It used to be okay, when MHEG5 metadata was available. But broadcasters stopped sending that, because FreeView moved to an internet based EPG, which you need a FreeView device to collect as far as I know.

Thanks Roderick, good to know. It saves me the trouble of going down that path (EPG Collector)[/quote]

I don't record as much TV as I used to, or what as much live. But I am considering yet again getting the IceTV XMLTV subscription, even if only for recording movies from SBS!

It would be nice to quickly scan through what movies are playing across the channels in the upcoming few days and record selected ones.

Search the forum for "IceTV". You will find lots of good information, though not much recent. Jmone uses and recommends IceTV, and a few other use it.

Again, good to know and helps me not spend endless hours for a 'better alternative' which may not exist

The "remote scheduling and series recording" all works based on having an API into the application you are using, which JRiver does not have, which is why it doesn't work. It might be nice to have the full feature set, to assist in discovery of new content worth viewing, but I can live with the MC functionality. Series recording is supported in MC. Remote Scheduling (via a remote app such as JRemote or Gizmo) isn't supported. IceTV also do recommendations and a few other things.

I too can do without the remote recording via a website or app. I actually prefer to do it off the TV screen (so long as that is possible and made easy to do using the on screen epg). What confused me on the ICE website was conflicting statements about series recordings with regards to MC compatability. I'm guessing it is possible using their epg and MC software (not their software). The other thought was that series recordings might be possible using their software but not at the discounted XMLTV subscription rate. If an API is needed then I suppose you are reliant on MC for series recordings.

It would also be nice to be able to record a series without repeats (MC needs specific identifiers for this, preferably season/episodes tags or at least a description of the content). If the IceTV epg has the necessary info then problem solved.

But you will get a good quality EPG from IceTV.I recommend you give IceTV a try. If you don't like it, stop using it.

That was the plan but I just thought it was worth asking here in case a much better alternative was out there.

Thanks again.

[RoderickGI]

It would be nice to quickly scan through what movies are playing across the channels in the upcoming few days and record selected ones.

The EIT data using EPG Collector with metadata enhancement and MC capabilities (all do a bit of the process) does result in pretty good movie identification. But for TV Series, even the EPG Collector metadata enhancement can't always pull Season and Episode data, because the EIT data is just so bad. Take a read of this post and the thread it is part of to learn about building an "Upcoming Movies" View: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,121179.msg837748.html#msg837748

The "Series Recording" feature of IceTV relies on their own custom Program ID, which they assign, and is part of their value added functionality. As you surmised, you can do Series recording in MC using the IceTV EPG data just fine. It can also record Series without Repeats, a couple of different ways; using the "rerun" field which is calculated based on Repeat and Previously Shown metadata, and using the MC fields such as [Program ID], or [Name], [Series], [Description] etc. to identify if a program has been recorded before.

It is possible that the EPG Collector metadata enhancement could add some value to the IceTV EPG, because it can take an XMLTV file as input and look up TheTVDB to add missing data. But I haven't looked at the IceTV EPG data for some time, so I don't know if that would be required, or if it would be good enough already. EDIT: I just looked at some old samples, and I don't think the EPG Collector metadata enhancement would be required. Yaobing at JRiver has done a great job incorporating IceTV metadata and making best use of it.


I'm sure you have found this thread, but if not, it is worth a read: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,109995.0.html

Note that IceTV doesn't support minor channels, so you may still need to use OTA data for those. Major channels are included.



I think it is about time I started using IceTV again. You may have prompted me to do so... I shall see.

[Dantos]

Okay and thanks for all the good advice...I will explore.

Good luck with IceTV and keen to hear of your impressions and what path you finally choose.

I will also give IceTV a go. The price is insignificant (in the scheme of things)...it all comes down to utility and value added.

Cheers
David