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[JimH]

I received this by e-mail and I said I'd post it here:

"I currently use a combination of Windows Media Centre and VLC. These are simple to use with little set up required to get up and going. If I recall correctly from your product it takes a little more setup time and is far more technical that the average Joe.
The other point I find with most media centres, they are very "American" in their add-on bits. I live in Australia and I find that the only  media player that can get TV EPG is media player. Ever other player does not give me an option to get the guide for my region or if it does it never works anyway.

"So from my point of view why should I use and pay for anything that a.) does not provide feature that available for free on other software and b.) I am IT technical but I do not want to spend volumes of time reading and downloading and configuring just to watch a movie or TV. Maybe pre-configured bundles for different users may be more saleable?"

[imugli]

There are a few of us here in Oz and while there is no OTA guide data available in MC, there are free scrapers that can download and import datas using XMLTV standards for free. Their legality is questionable, but they exist.

As for movies, videos etc, a couple of us in Oz have had issues with TV using EVR on RO STD but we seem to have these sorted. Codec issues would be a more general forum question though, so location shouldn't matter.

MC is as simple or as complex as you want to make it. I really don't think there's any more to a basic MC setup than there is to setting up any other media player. It may not be a step by step "Let's import your music, now let's import your movies, now let's scan for TV channels, now let's set up the guide" etc etc but nor does it take a degree.

If you jsut want to File > Open your media a la VLC, there's no real difference.   

I'd say respond by letting him know about the trial and to come here if any problems. The Aussies may be small in number, but we're on here frequently enough that he'll get a respnse pretty quickly...

[astromo]

Well for me (and speaking as an Ozzie and a Queenslander), my prime motivator for laying out the cash for J River was its music playback capability for an HTPC setup. I was impressed by the MC15 review on Computer Audiophile and used that site as a straight forward guide. I've applied the good advice there and been happy with the result.

If I was in the same situation as the bloke who emailed in and all I wanted was TV and video capability, I'd probably keep it simple stupid and stick with VLC and the Windows default offering for TV. If that's all you want, where's the motivation to change?

I would dearly love to dump Windows Media Centre (MCE) and I've asked before for a step-by-step dummies guide to set up for free EPG with J River so that I can schedule recordings. I don't see the sense in going down a paid path where I've already got MCE that will do an OK job (although in typical Microsoft fashion it has annoying rough edges). So, I see one small step for J River to nail it for the Australian scene.

I'd love to consolidate my home entertainment platform to one piece of software. How 'bout it?

[imugli]

Astromo,

Have you tried

http://epgstream.net/index.php/xmltv-download/

A couple of people here are using for free TV Guide data in Oz.

Then you set up MC to import the xml file daily...

[astromo]

Astromo,

Have you tried

http://epgstream.net/index.php/xmltv-download/

A couple of people here are using for free TV Guide data in Oz.

Then you set up MC to import the xml file daily...

Yep - and thanks for the reply - at the start of the year when I had a look at this, I saw this line on the xmltv website with anticipation:
XMLTV: Guide Pack which provides high-level guide configuration for non-technical Windows Media Center users.
thinking, "great a guide for a dummass, sounds like it's perfect for me".

Followed the link:
http://epgstream.net/index.php/xmltv-guide-pack/
and it went nowhere, so I'm short on guidance. Looks like the mob who run the website are on an extended sabbatical. The info on the site reads like IT help to me, where it's short on detail and generally assumes that you already know what's needed to make things work. I've run xmltvDownload and been able to fire up the configuration batch file. I can get a positive test connection and select the various channels I'd use but I'm left wondering where to next, to make it hang together with J River MC17.

For info, I have looked at these posts:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=67674.0
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=67992.0
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=60412
Lots of positives but detail is short in terms of a step by step approach. Sent some PMs but they went unanswered.

It would appear that you've opted for Ice-TV and you've put together some great advice for that option:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=52663.msg359088#msg359088
I'd just like something similar for an alternate option, say xmltvDownload or similar, that I'm sure would be put to use by others who come along in my position who are missing the obvious ...  

[imugli]

Followed the link:
http://epgstream.net/index.php/xmltv-guide-pack/
and it went nowhere, so I'm short on guidance. Looks like the mob the run the website are on extended sabbatical. The info on the site reads like IT help to me, where it's short on detail and generally assumes that you already know what's needed to make things work. I've run xmltvDownload and been able to fire up the configuration batch file. I can get a positive test connection and select the various channels I'd use but I'm left wondering where to next, to make it hang together with J River MC17.

Ok, am writing this as I do it, so here goes 

Download the zip file from http://epgstream.net/index.php/xmltv-download/ and extract it.

Run the configure file.

Back on the download page, click on the "Australia" link to open the details for oztivo.

Enter the "Channel URL" from the download page into the "Service" tab in the config program, then click "Advanced".

Enter the relevant details from the download page into the fields.

In the "channels" tab, select the channels and save.

(So you're up to here now)...

In the XMLTV tab, change the location of the XMLTV file to a desired one (Documents, perhaps).

Save those changes and use the red x to exit (the Close button throws an error).

Now run the xmltvDownload application. You should see it downloading data for all the channels you selected.

It will save this data to the file you told it to in the XMLTV section of the config app (you can check the file is populated by opening it in IE).


NOW in MC Standard View...

Drives & Devices > Television > TV Options > Load Program Guide.

Select the XMLTV option.

You don't need to run a file, so just enter the location of the file created by xmltvDownload.

You'll then need to pair the channel in MC with the channel on your guide (only once and this is just because the guide uses different IDs).

It should then import the guide data.


*One thing worth noting...

You can't set the xmltvDownload program to run once a day from the program itself unless you donate / register, but you can set it up in Task Scheduler in windows to run each time you start your htpc or at a particular time each day if it's always on...

Hope this helps :-) As you say, I don't use this myself but it seems OK and it looks like it works :-)

[astromo]

NOW in MC Standard View...

Drives & Devices > Television > TV Options > Load Program Guide.

Select the XMLTV option.

You don't need to run a file, so just enter the location of the file created by xmltvDownload.

You'll then need to pair the channel in MC with the channel on your guide (only once and this is just because the guide uses different IDs).

It should then import the guide data.

From memory, I think the step of pairing the channel IDs may have tripped me up last time.

Thanks so much for the blow by blow detail. These things are always obvious once they're laid out in logical sequence.

You're a gun for providing the boost. All I need now is some time alone with the HTPC, once I can pry my partner away from it, to implement the plan. All going well, Windows MC will be a thing of the past. It's very irritating at the moment, for no apparent reason its decided to stop picking up channel 7.

I've got the KaiserBaas / HDHomeRun dual channel network tuner and within its config interface, 7 is blaring away with a solid signal. To make matters worse, I can get a fully functioning set up when I use my laptop. It's this kind of non-function that motivates me to change. It gets amplified when a few short web searches reveals that this kind of software behaviour has been demonstrated for years for users all over the world. I can only conclude that MS simply don't respond to users adequately because the threads in their own forums often go unanswered or a user trys the fix and comes back later with, "it didn't work". All I'm after is software that works reliably and with J River MC that's what I've got so far. Really appreciate the community support from fellow users.

If you don't see a post back, then that means I'm relaxing with my feet up watching telly with a cuppa or a beer with a small grin of satisfaction on my face.

Cheers   

[astromo]

Finally got things pretty well much all sorted.

A bit of learning curve stuff to cuddle up with J River in a new form. I have a modification to the procedure put up by imugli and that is from the point at:

NOW in MC Standard View...

Add this step:
Drives & Devices > Television > TV Options > Scan for Channels

For Australia, free to air channels are on digital format the additional steps are:
Scan for Digital Channels > DVB-T (Note the relevant tuner is selected at device & pick the Lucky Country in the relevant box)

then it's back to imugli's steps ...

Drives & Devices > Television > TV Options > Load Program Guide.

Select the XMLTV option ...

On the plus side, my partner is happy with the change to get away from Windows standard offering. One plus we both like is that J River allows for recording overlap between consecutive shows on the same channel. Windows MCE just chops off the recording based on time, so sometimes you have to watch the end of one programme so that its main recording makes sense. Nice feature.

So, getting back to the opening thread (apologies for the hijack), I'd happily recommend J River MC. I think the key thing will be whether the people I come across, want to dish out some dough for software and have realised that the simple, free options either fall short in the performance stakes or they don't offer enough sufficiently user friendly features. If you're like me, where I was looking to build a Windows based PC to consolidate my music collection and have a playback system to work at a HiFi standard - then, JR MC is hard to go past. I'm very happy with the investment.

It's worked for me and I can see it trucking along into the future...  sweet ..  

[imugli]

Add this step:
Drives & Devices > Television > TV Options > Scan for Channels

For Australia, free to air channels are on digital format the additional steps are:
Scan for Digital Channels > DVB-T (Note the relevant tuner is selected at device & pick the lucky Country in the relevant box)

Oops... I suppose I didn't need to do those because I already had 

Glad to hear you got it working.