Topic: EPG Problems and Solutions (Read 16837 times)

Yaobing · « **on:** January 02, 2020, 10:48:17 am »

As you may have discovered, the default EPG solution "mc2xml" stopped working December 31, 2019. We have enjoyed free data for many years thanks to Microsoft. With Microsoft ending Windows 7 support, the EPG data has also ended, unfortunately.

Alternatives
Other than the Over-the-air solution, all alternatives require users to pay a subscription fee to the respective provider.

1. Over-the-Air

Over-the-air EPG loading still works for over-the-air channels. This should continue to work if it has worked for you previously. The availability and reliability depends on your TV stations. As far as I know, this should work for North America (United States, Canada, etc.) and South Korea, where the TV standard is ATSC. It should also work in DVB countries (Australia, European countries etc.).

2. Perc Data

We have built-in Perc Data support. Perc Data is a commercial product and you need to set up an account with them and pay an annual subscription fee. Please check with Perc Data for availability in countries other than the USA. You will choose your TV lineup on their website after you sign up for service. Please do not choose more lineups than you need in the interest of conserving network resources. For example, if you use both OTA channels and cable channels, you can sign up only the cable lineup because cable providers usually include over-the-air local channels. In MC you can map the same data to both the OTA channel and its cable counterpart.

Inside MC you choose Perc Data option during setup, and MC will prompt you to enter your account name and password with Perc Data. It will take a few seconds after you enter your credentials, so please be patient. MC will download the data and try its best to map the new XMLTV IDs to your channels. However, you should pay extra attention in this step because there may be many channels that MC will fail to match because different EPG data use different ways to present channel names (some use heavily abbreviated form, while some use fully spelled-out names, TNT vs. Turner Network TV for example).

3. Schedules Direct and EPG123

These will also require users to pay an annual subscription fee and setup an account with them. MC supports these sources via generic XMLTV support. You should set up your computer to download the data daily by following the instructions of these companies. You may for example set up a Windows scheduled task to do the downloading.

During MC Setup, choose the XMLTV method. Specify the location where the XMLTV data file will be found, and MC will load from the file daily. Again pay special attention at the XMLTV ID to channel mapping stage.

4. XMLTVListings
Please see below.

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** January 02, 2020, 11:08:42 am »

For questions about specific solutions, please use these threads:

Over the Air (OTA)

Perc Data

Schedules Direct or EPG123

JimH · « **Reply #2 on:** January 02, 2020, 11:13:33 am »

Here's an EPG thread at The Green Button:

https://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?f=96&t=12391&sid=2c91fd3f78241b70deb8775b919d7a21

And a link to EPG123, which uses the Schedules Direct data and has a support board at the Green Button forum.

http://epg123.garyan2.net/

MrGadget · « **Reply #3 on:** January 02, 2020, 01:51:17 pm »

The use of Schedules Direct with JRiver Media Center is a violation of their license agreement. It is only licensed for use with approved applications which requires that the application be free, open source, non-commercial.

If the over the air scan does not meet your needs, use Percdata instead. Practically speaking web site scraping is no longer a good alternative. Many sites now monitor for scraping and prohibit it.

JimH · « **Reply #4 on:** January 02, 2020, 02:45:58 pm »

We're not distributing it or selling it. I don't see the harm.

Yaobing · « **Reply #5 on:** January 03, 2020, 09:05:00 am »

Well, this morning I tried again and found Rovi data became available again, at least for OTA channels. I would still not count on it to last long though.

jachin99 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 03, 2020, 12:28:36 pm »

Quote from: MrGadget on January 02, 2020, 01:51:17 pm

The use of Schedules Direct with JRiver Media Center is a violation of their license agreement. It is only licensed for use with approved applications which requires that the application be free, open source, non-commercial.

If the over the air scan does not meet your needs, use Percdata instead. Practically speaking web site scraping is no longer a good alternative. Many sites now monitor for scraping and prohibit it.

Epg123 is actually on schedules directs website as an approved application.

S. Pupp · « **Reply #7 on:** January 04, 2020, 03:32:19 pm »

I have started using EPG data from www.XMLTVlistings.com.
Compared with PercData, it is less expensive ($19.99/year), and channel logos appear on the guide. However, a couple channels (most significantly GetTV) are missing, and data appears to be only for the next 7 days.
Season and episode information are missing, just as with PercData.

This was my method of setting it up. I'm sure certain steps could be eliminated or simplified.

1. Sign up for an account at xmltvlistings.com (14 day trial is available)
Note the API number on your "Dashboard"

2. Download the standalone mc2xml.exe for Windows from http://mc2xml.awardspace.info
Put mc2xml.exe into a folder titled "EPG" in the user's Video folder

3. Create a blank notepad file titled "xmltv.xml" in the same directory as mc2xml.exe

4. Set up TV on JRiver
- From Tools>Options menu, click on Television in the left panel then select "Setup..." under "General"
- Select all optional operations (Clean up existing television channels, clean up existing television guide data, reset all television settings)
- Fill in the subsequent few pages with your preferred settings
- For "Method for loading Electronic Program Guide," choose "XMLTV"
- Click "Run an executable to retrieve XMLTV data", and browse for "mc2xml.exe" as the executable to run
- Set the arguments as "-V " followed by the API number from the www.xmltvlistings.com dashboard page
- For "Load XMLTV results from this file:" browse to the "xmltv.xml" file you created earlier
- Complete the setup.

Yaobing · « **Reply #8 on:** January 04, 2020, 04:47:34 pm »

Quote from: S. Pupp on January 04, 2020, 03:32:19 pm

I have started using EPG data from www.XMLTVlistings.com.

Thanks for the info.

jachin99 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 04, 2020, 07:32:07 pm »

Quote from: S. Pupp on January 04, 2020, 03:32:19 pm

I have started using EPG data from www.XMLTVlistings.com.
Compared with PercData, it is less expensive ($19.99/year), and channel logos appear on the guide. However, a couple channels (most significantly GetTV) are missing, and data appears to be only for the next 7 days.
Season and episode information are missing, just as with PercData.

This was my method of setting it up. I'm sure certain steps could be eliminated or simplified.

1. Sign up for an account at xmltvlistings.com (14 day trial is available)
Note the API number on your "Dashboard"

2. Download the standalone mc2xml.exe for Windows from http://mc2xml.awardspace.info
Put mc2xml.exe into a folder titled "EPG" in the user's Video folder

3. Create a blank notepad file titled "xmltv.xml" in the same directory as mc2xml.exe

4. Set up TV on JRiver
- From Tools>Options menu, click on Television in the left panel then select "Setup..." under "General"
- Select all optional operations (Clean up existing television channels, clean up existing television guide data, reset all television settings)
- Fill in the subsequent few pages with your preferred settings
- For "Method for loading Electronic Program Guide," choose "XMLTV"
- Click "Run an executable to retrieve XMLTV data", and browse for "mc2xml.exe" as the executable to run
- Set the arguments as "-V " followed by the API number from the www.xmltvlistings.com dashboard page
- For "Load XMLTV results from this file:" browse to the "xmltv.xml" file you created earlier
- Complete the setup.

It's good that your posting this for others to see. With that being said, schedules direct has always given me all of my channels, and also provides channel logos (configurable to be large or small via epg123) season and episode numbers, cover art, and up to 21 days of guide data to name a few. SD is 25 a year.

imeric · « **Reply #10 on:** January 07, 2020, 06:23:22 pm »

Quote from: jachin99 on January 04, 2020, 07:32:07 pm

It's good that your posting this for others to see. With that being said, schedules direct has always given me all of my channels, and also provides channel logos (configurable to be large or small via epg123) season and episode numbers, cover art, and up to 21 days of guide data to name a few. SD is 25 a year.

This is what I've been using as well with the external mc2xml in the link quoted with similar instructions and it works like a charm for ATSC OTA cards and a Satellite Dish with a capture card.

Here is a summary using a similar approach as S. Pupp above but for Schedules Direct

1. Sign up for a Schedules Direct (Schedules direct.org) account
2. Download the standalone mc2xml.exe for Windows from http://mc2xml.awardspace.info
Put mc2xml.exe into a folder of choice.
3. Run mc2xml locally Select Shedules Direct JSON in the options as per the pic below.
4. Follow JRiver setup instructions here:https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,109427.msg758570.html#msg758570

More info here: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,109427.msg759086.html#msg759086

I have two profiles to download automatically daily within MC for up to 21 days of data (-d 504)

It's been working great since MC21!

See more info here:
here: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,106470.msg740457.html#msg740457
And here: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,103622.msg759145.html#msg759145

ltarbox · « **Reply #11 on:** January 10, 2020, 02:16:44 pm »

Quote from: MrGadget on January 02, 2020, 01:51:17 pm

The use of Schedules Direct with JRiver Media Center is a violation of their license agreement. It is only licensed for use with approved applications which requires that the application be free, open source, non-commercial.

If the over the air scan does not meet your needs, use Percdata instead. Practically speaking web site scraping is no longer a good alternative. Many sites now monitor for scraping and prohibit it.

Looking at the FAQ for PERC regarding ReplayTV (see http://www.percdata.com/faq/replaytv), PERC, like EPG123 is just a front end for Schedules Direct. The specific quote from PERC is, "We are essentially a hosted WiRNS and Schedules Direct solution." It appears PERC gets its data from Schedules Direct using the WiRNS. If using EPG123 with Schedules Direct to get EPG info for feeding into JRiver violates Schedules Direct license agreement, so would using PERC.

I don't think either does. I'm still using open source software to get the EPG info from Schedules Direct, but then providing that info to JRiver for my own personal use. JRiver does not get any 'cut of the action', and I could just as easily use any other PVR solution with the data that I gather (i.e. my use of Schedules Direct data is not restricted to just JRiver).

But I am not a legal expert, so could be wrong.

imeric · « **Reply #12 on:** January 10, 2020, 02:38:36 pm »

Quote from: MrGadget on January 02, 2020, 01:51:17 pm

The use of Schedules Direct with JRiver Media Center is a violation of their license agreement. It is only licensed for use with approved applications which requires that the application be free, open source, non-commercial.

If the over the air scan does not meet your needs, use Percdata instead. Practically speaking web site scraping is no longer a good alternative. Many sites now monitor for scraping and prohibit it.

I'm no legal expert but technically, with the procedures mentioned above, we're not getting the data from Schedules Direct to JRiver but through mc2xml which is donationware (similar to epg123)...

midrag · « **Reply #13 on:** January 11, 2020, 02:37:33 pm »

Will epg data be available over sat>ip?

Yaobing · « **Reply #14 on:** January 11, 2020, 05:11:41 pm »

Sat>IP is just another way of getting DVB-S, DVB-C and DVB-T programs. So if you know an EPG provider providing data for DVB-S, the data is good for your Sat>IP DVB-S channels too. You just need to map XMLTV IDs to corresponding Sat>IP channels.

oldguy28 · « **Reply #15 on:** February 03, 2020, 12:53:09 pm »

Does JRiver intend to have a guide program installed through their normal setup. Either at a price or free.
We have two setups in our house. The currant solutions raises my cost $40 per month. Way too high.

Dai Guinness · « **Reply #16 on:** April 02, 2020, 09:35:27 am »

Greetings from one of JRiverMCs British users. I (like many others) lost my EPG when MS stopped supporting Windows 7. I've tried using the OTA service but nothing seems to work for me here in the UK despite trying all the methods suggested here. Can anyone else in the UK let me know what is working for them please.

TIA

Dave

Fangio · « **Reply #17 on:** April 02, 2020, 01:14:16 pm »

Quote from: Dai Guinness on April 02, 2020, 09:35:27 am

Greetings from one of JRiverMCs British users. I (like many others) lost my EPG when MS stopped supporting Windows 7. I've tried using the OTA service but nothing seems to work for me here in the UK despite trying all the methods suggested here. Can anyone else in the UK let me know what is working for them please.

TIA

Dave

Win 10 with internal TBS 6205 quad tuner. OTA guide currently working well for me on UK Freeview (terrestrial).

Dai Guinness · « **Reply #18 on:** April 03, 2020, 05:56:53 am »

Sorry, should've said Windows 10 1909 with HD Homerun Connect 2

Yaobing · « **Reply #19 on:** April 03, 2020, 09:22:57 am »

Are you running the latest MC26 build?

FlRon · « **Reply #20 on:** June 19, 2020, 10:31:48 am »

I am now using Perc and/or OTA as my EPG and I no longer get Season/Year and Episode info in my channel lineup. I also get Series and Episode name (Series Name --Episode Name) in the same Episode Name field and the Series field is blank. This makes it so JRiver just list as individual recordings rather than compiled under Series Name. I only use an antenna and always have. I get plenty of channels and up until I had to switch I always got all the data.
Do I have something programed wrong or is the norm? Just a note: Other than Audio; OTA TV recordings is the primary reason I use JRiver and this problem makes JRiver almost not worth using. And I am a 1st time Forum user so please excuse any errors.

S. Pupp · « **Reply #21 on:** June 19, 2020, 02:40:24 pm »

Quote from: FlRon on June 19, 2020, 10:31:48 am

I am now using Perc and/or OTA as my EPG and I no longer get Season/Year and Episode info in my channel lineup. I also get Series and Episode name (Series Name --Episode Name) in the same Episode Name field and the Series field is blank. This makes it so JRiver just list as individual recordings rather than compiled under Series Name. I only use an antenna and always have. I get plenty of channels and up until I had to switch I always got all the data.
Do I have something programed wrong or is the norm? Just a note: Other than Audio; OTA TV recordings is the primary reason I use JRiver and this problem makes JRiver almost not worth using. And I am a 1st time Forum user so please excuse any errors.

I would advise changing from Perc to Schedules Direct with EPG123. A link and instructions are available earlier in this thread. I’d point you straight to them, but can only view a line of text at a time on my phone at present.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #22 on:** June 19, 2020, 04:50:48 pm »

Quote from: S. Pupp on June 19, 2020, 02:40:24 pm

I would advise changing from Perc to Schedules Direct with EPG123.

Or harass Percdata to get their data up to standard and supply Series/Season/Episode data, just like Schedules Direct does. The data comes from the same organisation, and you are paying for it. Plus it has been that way for a long time. They should have updated it by now.

Bascially, this isn't a MC issue, it is an EPG source data issue. The same for OTA if it isn't providing all the required data, like mine. Find better sources.

tzr916 · « **Reply #23 on:** October 07, 2020, 04:57:47 pm »

Every morning I run mc2xml.exe outside of MC using a Windows Task, then just have MC import the xml file a few minutes later. Today I noticed my xmltv.xml had not updated since 9/29 ?

Tried running mc2xml.exe inside command window and nothing happened, cursor just returned to directory prompt (no login, no download, nothing). And when double clicking the exe, there's just a quick command window flashing open, then closing quickly (no login, no download, nothing). Deleted mc2xml.dat, no change on either method. Just to be sure, tried it on another PC, same thing!

Been using mc2xml.exe v1.6 since at least 2016... Turns out a new version was released April 2020. Downloaded version 1.7.2, plugged it into my system, and that made it work instantly.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200426003902/http://mc2xml.awardspace.info/

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/anyone-else-having-issues-with-mc2xml-not-a-mediaportal-issue.140138/

imeric · « **Reply #24 on:** October 07, 2020, 05:55:57 pm »

Yep.! Same here. Trying to exclude it from Defender, running as admin nothing worked. Downloaded 1.72 and it resolved my issue. Only difference with previous post is I run it as a scheduled task within MC which works great.

MrGrymReaper · « **Reply #25 on:** May 28, 2021, 05:13:41 pm »

Quote from: imeric on January 10, 2020, 02:38:36 pm

I'm no legal expert but technically, with the procedures mentioned above, we're not getting the data from Schedules Direct to JRiver but through mc2xml which is donationware (similar to epg123)...

Doesn't matter, as according to Schedules Direct their contract with Gracenote is only for personal, non-commercial and hobbyist use. Even if you aren't using commercial, and non-hobbyist software for grabbing the data. The fact that you are using it in commercial software is a violation of Schedules Direct's contract with Gracenote. Which is also a violation of their contract with you when you signed up and paid the fee(s).

Quote

It is come to our attention that many Emby users are still using the Schedules Direct data service.

Schedules Direct is licensed by Gracenote to provide data to only non-commercial (hobbyist) applications. Two years ago, Emby decided to go commercial with the release of Emby Premier, so using our data with Emby is a violation of our terms. Emby sent a notification to its users, and we didn't realize that some people continued to use data from us.

On June 1, 2021 we will block the Emby application from the SD-JSON service.

The predecessor to Schedules Direct (zap2it labs) was shut down partially due to abuse by commercial products. We don't want the same thing to happen to us. Hobbyist applications have no where else to go. Please respect the restrictions placed upon us by the copyright holder.

FYI, using data obtained by us in an unapproved application via XMLTV or other formats still violates those terms.

Quote

ATTENTION: These products have been known to recommend Schedules Direct as a data source but are not permitted to use SD.
Digiguide
Emby
Interact-TV/Telly
JRiver Media Center
Plex
Vbox

Source pages from https://www.schedulesdirect.org/

If they get shutdown by Gracenote (or copyright holders) for this other people following the terms of the contract, personal, hobbyist, non-commercial users have absolutely NOWHERE else to go for high quality detailed feeds. It will be your fault.

MrGrymReaper · « **Reply #26 on:** May 28, 2021, 05:35:46 pm »

Quote from: S. Pupp on June 19, 2020, 02:40:24 pm

I would advise changing from Perc to Schedules Direct with EPG123. A link and instructions are available earlier in this thread. I’d point you straight to them, but can only view a line of text at a time on my phone at present.

That's against the Terms of Schedules Direct's contract with Gracenote, and also their contract with the subscribing user. See my post in this thread today about this.

A pity as PercData doesn't provide a service for the rest of the world, or Europe. Currently just provide data feeds for Canada and United States.

JimH · « **Reply #27 on:** May 28, 2021, 05:36:13 pm »

I think the data copyright probably belongs to the station and the owners of the content themselves. Gracenote is only putting it in a different format.

In any case, this arrangement is a couple years old and nobody has died yet.

MrGrymReaper · « **Reply #28 on:** May 28, 2021, 05:59:07 pm »

Quote from: JimH on May 28, 2021, 05:36:13 pm

I think the data copyright probably belongs to the station and the owners of the content themselves. Gracenote is only putting it in a different format.

In any case, this arrangement is a couple years old and nobody has died yet.

That may be so, but Schedules Direct made that news post about the issue during 14th January 2021. So even if the agreement is a couple of years old. We don't want to be poking the bear, and lion about this by having users use Schedules Direct for EPG xmltv data.

As I said cause a shutdown of Schedules Direct like what happened to zap2it labs would absolutely kill the possibility, of authorised apps to get the said required quality vital data.

The data copyright as said probably belongs to the station and the owners of the content themselves. Gracenote is not just putting it in a different form, their likely also paying the royalties on behalf of its customers. Also feeding information from its own meta-data as well, cause the rating (what people think of a program), may be coming from people who send it updated meta-data from its matching services, station and content owners.

Perc Data only covers US/Canada! I contacted them to try and convince them to cover Europe and/or United Kingdom. However they weren't interested, though if enough people were to contact them interested in regularly subscribing to their service if they covered their country; that may change in a hurry. It may help to get them the funds necessary to obtain Gracenote's JSON based EPG data and the necessary delivery on Perc Data side.

I'm a GB customer of JRiver, however the UK Freeview EPG (OTA) isn't very good unless software grabbing it, enhances and re-organises it using metadata from other services.

JimH · « **Reply #29 on:** May 28, 2021, 06:27:23 pm »

In the U.S. the schedule embedded in the channels has been getting better. What's the situation there?

MrGrymReaper · « **Reply #30 on:** May 28, 2021, 06:32:40 pm »

Quote from: JimH on May 28, 2021, 06:27:23 pm

In the U.S. the schedule embedded in the channels has been getting better. What's the situation there?

They give the show title (and sometimes subtitle) or movie title, a basic short description not many characters. Often mixed with other meta data in the same field (if added). No mention often of any star ratings, and age suitability rating in the description. Let alone genre if the short description over runs by a bit too much. They certainly don't give the season episode number of the show, and if they do its at the cost of another piece of meta-data

Plus the quality and/or amount of meta-data can frequently change, thus leading to me needing during the past before JRiver, when on open source to subscribe to an xmltv epg provider. As their data was extremely substantially better, detailed, stable and in time was really up to date.

I verified this by speaking with another family member who has their own receiver, and they told me it is the same as it was several years ago. Before I became a customer of JRiver.

JimH · « **Reply #31 on:** May 28, 2021, 06:43:26 pm »

You might start a new thread on EPG in the UK.

MrGrymReaper · « **Reply #32 on:** May 28, 2021, 06:49:30 pm »

Quote from: JimH on May 28, 2021, 06:43:26 pm

You might start a new thread on EPG in the UK.

Where should I place it as if it were to be part of a campaign for Perc Data to add Europe and/or UK then it would need to be in this section. However if it were to be a Feature Request for the meta data of UK Freeview OTA epg to be enhanced through library meta-data services (e.g. TV Mosaic), being queried when filling out the EPG; it would need to be in the version 28 media centre section.

What place would you think best?

MrGrymReaper · « **Reply #33 on:** May 28, 2021, 07:00:35 pm »

Also for Europe outside of the United States/Canada may be consider working with epgDATA (https://www.epgdata.com/), as business customer. To get their channel spread options up so it has more channels, especially the United Kingdom. Or work with Gracenote directly like Plex does.

Another alternative for outside of United States/Canada may be working with and/or partnering with EPGdata.tv (https://www.epgdata.tv/) who can provide, program guide services.

JimH · « **Reply #34 on:** May 28, 2021, 07:17:19 pm »

Quote from: MrGrymReaper on May 28, 2021, 06:49:30 pm

Where should I place it as if it were to be part of a campaign for Perc Data to add Europe and/or UK then it would need to be in this section. However if it were to be a Feature Request for the meta data of UK Freeview OTA epg to be enhanced through library meta-data services (e.g. TV Mosaic), being queried when filling out the EPG; it would need to be in the version 28 media centre section.

What place would you think best?

This board, but if you made it a general thread on EPG in GB, you might find out what other people are doing.

MrGrymReaper · « **Reply #35 on:** May 28, 2021, 07:40:42 pm »

Quote from: JimH on May 28, 2021, 07:17:19 pm

This board, but if you made it a general thread on EPG in GB, you might find out what other people are doing.

I made a separate thread in the Television section, as its to do with television. If this is the best place, could I please request you pin it? Though if you know of a better place, please move it, then can you please pin it?

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,129590.0.html

Jack73 · « **Reply #36 on:** July 02, 2021, 06:42:15 pm »

Hey guys, I'm pretty new at all this EPG stuff and TV through JRiver.

Is there any way to DVR Locast through JRiver MC?

There is a program called Locast2Plex, but of course, it's for Plex. Any equivalent for MC?

Yaobing · « **Reply #37 on:** July 03, 2021, 03:23:07 pm »

Quote from: Jack73 on July 02, 2021, 06:42:15 pm

Hey guys, I'm pretty new at all this EPG stuff and TV through JRiver.

Is there any way to DVR Locast through JRiver MC?

There is a program called Locast2Plex, but of course, it's for Plex. Any equivalent for MC?

The short answer is no, we currently do not support it. However we are working on IPTV. If Locast follows IPTV protocols, then it might be possible.

Jack73 · « **Reply #38 on:** July 03, 2021, 08:34:29 pm »

Cool! Thanks!

jgreen · « **Reply #39 on:** November 21, 2021, 04:22:02 pm »

Regarding OTA EPG, can the function be restricted to ONLY the favorite channels, or the "unhidden" ones? Currently the OTA EPG beavers away endlessly on the 65 out of 70 channels I have no interest in, and gives me only the next 24 hours of that. Instead, I want the next two weeks of info on the 5 channels I'm actually interested in.

Secondly, if I have EPG refresh set to 2 hours, is it actually refreshing old data, instead of looking for new data further out? I know what's on right now, I want to know what's on 2 weeks from now.

Apart from that, TV looks really good, Yao. I watch with interest the development of IPTV functionality.

Yaobing · « **Reply #40 on:** November 22, 2021, 09:15:46 am »

Quote from: jgreen on November 21, 2021, 04:22:02 pm

Regarding OTA EPG, can the function be restricted to ONLY the favorite channels, or the "unhidden" ones? Currently the OTA EPG beavers away endlessly on the 65 out of 70 channels I have no interest in, and gives me only the next 24 hours of that. Instead, I want the next two weeks of info on the 5 channels I'm actually interested in.

MC already skips hidden channels. We don't have the option to scan only favorite channels. However, you can further restrict the channel set to smaller set by using the option "In over-the-air EPG scan, save programs for channels with empty XMLTV IDs only". With this option on, you can add fake XMLTV IDs for channels that you don't care, but don't want to hide either (for occasional viewing for example). An example of fake XMLTV ID: "MyChannel5_FAKE_XMLTVID".

MC sends a set of channels, excluding hidden channels, and excluding channels with non-empty XMLTV IDs if that option is used, to the TV engine for it to scan.

That said, however, if some hidden channels are sub-channels of a station, and you have at least one channel of that station that you do want to scan, then we can not avoid some duplication effort because data for channels that are on the same transport stream will come, and we have no way of avoiding that (even if we do not want to save them, they come anyway).

Quote

Secondly, if I have EPG refresh set to 2 hours, is it actually refreshing old data, instead of looking for new data further out? I know what's on right now, I want to know what's on 2 weeks from now.

I don't think OTA EPG will ever give you two weeks of data, not for ATSC channels anyway. It is just 12 hours to 24 hours. We have no control over it. The TV stations decide how far ahead they want to stream their data. With limited bandwidth for each channel, I don't think they can give you more data. DVB channels (outside of USA) might have more data, but I am not sure.

No sure why you don't get new data if you scan every two hours. Maybe TV stations do not update so frequently??

Quote

Apart from that, TV looks really good, Yao. I watch with interest the development of IPTV functionality.

IPTV is functioning now. Have you tried it? What other functionality should we try to add?

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Author Topic: EPG Problems and Solutions (Read 16837 times)