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Author Topic: Program guide with satellite TV  (Read 2230 times)

Scolex

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Program guide with satellite TV
« on: January 11, 2011, 12:19:46 am »

Is there a way to add the guide when you have Dish Network/DirecTv?
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Sean

Scolex

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Re: Program guide with satellite TV
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2011, 06:29:04 am »

I was able to manually edit the channel list to get the EPG to work the way I need but that isn't really a user friendly way to do it.
Granted I am not a programmer but I would think that it can't be too difficult to create an option box to tell the EPG wizard to ignore the channel scan data so it will import the complete PG based on the selection you make in mc2xml/xmltv/etc.

I even tried to create a macro to edit the xml file but the format for sd vs hd channels is different with the hd channels having an extra line with no formating differences.
Below is a snippet from the xml file of a sd vs hd channel format.

   <channel id="I3.28460085.microsoft.com">
      <display-name>3 WCIA</display-name>
      <display-name>3</display-name>
      <display-name>WCIA</display-name>
      <display-name>CBS Affiliate</display-name>
   </channel>
   <channel id="I3.41601810.microsoft.com">
      <display-name>3 WCIADT</display-name>
      <display-name>3</display-name>
      <display-name>WCIADT</display-name>
      <display-name>WCIADT (WCIA-DT)</display-name>
      <display-name>CBS Affiliate</display-name>
   </channel>
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Sean

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Re: Program guide with satellite TV
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2011, 07:04:22 am »

Did you try mc2xml?
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Scolex

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Re: Program guide with satellite TV
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2011, 08:37:58 am »

Yes that is what I am using but since the channel scan only finds 2 channels due to my signal coming from a dual tuner satellite receiver I don't have enough channels to associate the PG channels to if I don't go in and manually add the channels through the edit channel list in "TV Options". Manually entering all of the channel numbers, names and I*.*.microsoft.com data is a major PITA.

What are the chances of MC using a xml file for the channel list instead of whatever it is using now which I assume is a jmd file in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center xx\Library. I opened a couple of files that I would have thought would be the channel list in several text editors but when I tried to copy or paste anything in them I got an error saying "Cannot cut, copy, or drag and drop text containing null (code=0) characters".

I am really hoping that the TV functions of MC becomes more robust/modern as they are lacking IMHO when you consider that most people use a STB for their TV whether it be cable or sat'.
Don't get me wrong I still think MC is the best all in one media application available with the exception of it's TV features.
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Sean

JimH

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Re: Program guide with satellite TV
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2011, 09:00:52 am »

Maybe you'll find something useful here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/XMLTV
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Scolex

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Re: Program guide with satellite TV
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2011, 09:48:00 am »

I have already read virtually everything I can find pertaining to the mc2xml/xmltv projects and the issue is not on that end as they create an xml file with all of the location respective channel and guide data, the problem is with MC in the fact that it will only load the guide data for channels that have an association/signal.

I don't understand why you can't have it load ALL channel/program data from the xml file regardless of whether there is a signal for it or not. Why have MC determine what guide data should be loaded when the EPG software (mc2xml/xmltv/etc) has a location field so it retrieves the data you desire. As far as that goes could you just have the EPG as a somewhat stand alone utility and the TV process only queries it for information when recording so it can properly name the file. The EPG doesn't even have to be stored locally as there are several sites that have zip code based guide data.
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Sean

Yaobing

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Re: Program guide with satellite TV
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2011, 09:58:08 am »

The reason why we only save EPG data associated with known channels is so we can have MC tune to the channel associated with the programs.  How do you use the EPG data without channels?
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Yaobing Deng, JRiver Media Center

Scolex

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Re: Program guide with satellite TV
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2011, 11:21:24 am »

Yes... sort of it is not a straightforward process though.
In order to record something and have the correct file name I have to clear the EPG and then setup a manual recording so I can assign a name, my other choice is to just create the recording within the EPG based on time not channel and then rename the file after completion. A work around would be for the scheduler to have a name field that is populated by the EPG but editable.

I could be way off base here because I am not a programmer however I am no where near a computer novice and feel that I think logically.
Well anyway my thought is to have a SAT/STB configuration option to where the base channel/s are set and then the EPG data is assigned to a decimal of that base and instruct MC that all channels use the same output frequency and EPG data is for information and IR Blaster/UIRT purposes only.

For example;
Channels/freqs:
Base channel = 3
channel 1 from the SAT/STB = 3.0001
channel 9999 from the SAT/STB = 3.9999
EPG:
0001 = WJRMC (I1.12345678.microsoft.com)
9999 = WPLBY (I9999.87654321.microsoft.com)
IR Blaster/UIRT:
3.0001 = IR-sIgNaL0001
3.9999 = IR-SiGnAl9999

Forgot to mention that I have to schedule a channel change on my SAT receiver too.
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Sean

Scolex

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Re: Program guide with satellite TV
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2011, 11:35:52 am »

I assume you are using some sort of if/else statement in the EPG import process to stop unassigned channels from being imported. Is there a reason why the if/else statement can't be moved to the EPG click process instead or an if/else statement for formatting the EPG (available / unavailable).
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Sean
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