INTERACT FORUM
Windows => Television => Topic started by: Daveyravey on May 13, 2015, 07:16:58 am
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Yaobing
Not sure if you were aware but in the UK all guide information is sent over the air so in the case of a UK JRiver user you could pull the guide data for freesat from:-
Freesat broadcasts from the same fleet of satellites (Astra 28.2°E and Eutelsat 28A) as Sky. Channels are broadcast using DVB-S.
The Freesat electronic programme guide is broadcast from the Eutelsat 28A satellite situated at 28.5° east.
If i pulled the data could you update the code to add this feature?
regards
Dave
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I have plans to add over-the-air EPG scanning for DVB world.
What you described seems to be a different thing. A dedicated satellite channel for EPG?
If i pulled the data could you update the code to add this feature?
I do not understand what you mean by this. I am definitely willing to find a good way of pulling EPG data for UK as well as other DVB countries.
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Maybe you could get it into XMLTV.
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/XMLTV
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What you described seems to be a different thing. A dedicated satellite channel for EPG?
Freesat broadcasts its entire EPG on a dedicated transponder (11428H - see http://en.kingofsat.net/sat-eurobird1.php (http://en.kingofsat.net/sat-eurobird1.php)) but I believe it's encrypted - using Huffman algorithm apparently, but some non-Freesat DVRs have been able to decode it, including MythTV. Whether or not that's a legitimate thing to do is open to discussion!
Now & Next info is broadcast on each channel and I also believe there is some sort of "trickle feed" EPG on each channel too so that receivers that have lost contact with Eutelsat can still obtain a full EPG eventually, but I'm not sure exactly how that works. I think Sky and Freeview (DVB-T) have a similar thing. But the trick using this method is knowing exactly which channels are Freesat - getting it directly from the EPG transponder obviously will give you the Freesat channels. I've used MC's built-in EPG grabbers for Sky/Freesat (I don't know where they come from?) but they're not "mapped" (is that a problem? I'm still able to use MC's EPG and set recordings etc without them being mapped) and they tend to provide all UK channels, not just the Freesat/FTA ones.
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PS Just a quick explanation of satellite TV in the UK...
There are basically just two services - Sky, which is Pay TV, and Freesat which is FTA.
However, some channels on Sky are FTA (in particular, all the main PSBs) and you don't actually need a Sky subscription and card to view them if you have a Sky receiver. Note that broadcasters have to pay Sky for an entry onto their EPG and for encryption, although Sky operate a system whereby there are incentives to go encrypted, i.e. to stop channels going FTA and to make them a Sky exclusive.
Many, but not all, FTA broadcasters also pay for entry onto Freesat's EPG.
So in that sense, Sky and Freesat are not actually channel providers but EPG providers. There is only one version of each channel that is broadcast, it's just that the FTA channels are available on both EPGs.
The FTA channels that have not paid for entry onto Freesat's EPG are tuneable on a Freesat receiver by going into "non-Freesat" mode, so that it behaves like any other FTA receiver.
You could therefore get a Freesat EPG by simply using an EPG intended for Sky, and filtering out the channels that are not FTA.
It goes without saying that if a channel doesn't pay for entry into an EPG, it is basically invisible unless you know how to tune in it manually. It is a big advantage of Sky and Freesat receivers that they automatically maintain channel lists and tune them in, by tuning to the "home" transponder and reading the channel list from there. IF the Freesat EPG could be read then I guess you could also get MC to tune in and maintain the channels automatically.
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I have plan to add over-the-air EPG scanning for DVB world.
That is good to hear. :)
In the mean time, EPG Collector (http://sourceforge.net/projects/epgcollector/) supports DVB-S EPG data collection from Freesat, producing an XMLTV output file for importing into MC.
Search this forum for hints and discussion.
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maybe a combination of epg collector and using (11428H - see http://en.kingofsat.net/sat-eurobird1.php) to get the Freesat channel numbers because at the moment its a laborious task having to add channel numbers to all found programmes.
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I have plans to add over-the-air EPG scanning for DVB world.
Great News!! Soon? ;D
Willing to help with OTA EPG data from Spain.
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maybe a combination of epg collector and using (11428H - see http://en.kingofsat.net/sat-eurobird1.php) to get the Freesat channel numbers because at the moment its a laborious task having to add channel numbers to all found programmes.
Just an addition, it looks like the Freesat Home has today moved from Eutelsat to Astra 2E, onto a UK-focussed beam. Kingofsat hasn't updated yet. Not sure if there are any implications as to frequency, polarity etc. See last few posts at http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1941710&page=3 (http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1941710&page=3)