Step By Step

[bvn]

v1.3.11 first time install. I apologize for being so ignorant.
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EPG setup - Step 3 Click on the source you want to use the TV Guide for and click ‘Edit’
? what source ? the list is empty. How do I populate it?
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I have been running PVR servers since 2000 with the ATI PC-2-TV card. I now have three PVR's, two with HDTV Wonder's and I am completely baffled as to what the GBPVR expectations are.
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There is some reference to "C:/Windows/eHome/BladeRunnerPro/GuideData/xmltv.xml". I have an eHome directory with two files and no sub-directories. OS is XP-Pro / SP3.
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Some of the features of ATI's MMC 9.16 DTV application work some of the time. Which is why I am looking at GBPVR (as a replacement).
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The server hosts are headless (no keyboards, mice, nor monitors). They are operated remotely with such tools as VNC, WOL and a lot of Tcl/Tk scripts that I have written over the years.
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Unrelated to the above, I have yet to find documentation on the recording repository. I need to migrate and merge the collected recordings onto the house server (Samba) which has 2tB of video storage. The PVR servers are "thin" and are not designed to hold more than a weeks worth of recordings.

[soccerdad]

v1.3.11 first time install. I apologize for being so ignorant.
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EPG setup - Step 3 Click on the source you want to use the TV Guide for and click ‘Edit’
? what source ? the list is empty. How do I populate it?
.

First, welcome! Some of it is confusing but it really is not that hard.

The first thing you need is an epg source. Most here use Shedules Direct. There also are a few free ones if you search the boards. If you use schedules direct, select that on the pull down and enter you account information. Then hit update epg and it should connect, dl the epg and update the information for your tuner. If you use another free one, then you must set it up per the epg's instructions and you will get an xmltv file. Select xmltv in the epg choice box and find the path, then update the epg and you are done. Does that make sense.

If not, ask again and we can help. The other items are for others to answer.

[bvn]

To Frank Z. GBPVR would still be amazing if it was the work of 10 developers. I have been a compiler and I/O (main frames, assembler and C) developer for over 30 years. If given some hints, however sarcastic, as to how to go about setting up the EPG the first time, I would be more than happy to write it up.
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I will write it up anyhow because I need reliable and repeatable best practices for my own use. My expectations may be a bit off of where they should be, but my current sense of direction is ...
1) setting up the GBPVR recording service for the first time. Including EPG - Finding a program listing service, qualifying a program listing service, enumerating expectations, and verifying the service selection.
2) setting up the repository (video recordings) service for the first time.
3) setting up GBPVR management client (s),
4) setting up the rendering clients (perhaps VLC - Fedora & Windows, WInDVD - Windows).
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To my way of thinking these can all be on the same host, each one on a different host, or any combination there of.
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PS I am quite network centric. I have extended three TCP/IP protocols NJE, SDP (an extension of XDR based on the IBM/LU2 protocol of the same name) and CPUXA (home automation over IP). I have a basic understanding of XML and am not put off looking at it with Gedit (Gnome/Linux) or Notepad (Windows).
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I am not a writer of prose (my wife is). I am an engineer by training, experience, and personal bias. I write practices (hopefully best practices :-) Perhaps I can be of some use to you.

[Fatman_do]

For info on setting up schedules direct:
http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manua...ulesDirect

Schedules direct is a low cost pay listings service with a free trial.

Another option is:
http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utility/MC2XML

[bvn]

I looked at <http://www.schedulesdirect.org> and still have no idea what to expect from it. WHy would I want to use it, over say, The TitanTV web GUI or the Guide Plus (v1.0.0.45) Application..
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Meanwhile I've been snooping into my TitanTV connection. It seems that when I click on record, it creates a <program.tpvi> XML style file. This hooks (via an M$ file association) to ATITVPIReader.exe for rendering. I have found the tpvi file format document and it seems to match what was down loaded - I intercepted the download with Notepad.
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I have also found out that xmltv.xml is an XML format owned by a SourceForge group (which seems to like to write it's XML scrubbers in PERL). I am a Tcl/Tk & ANSI C bigot, but am beginning to learn Python.
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If the ATI DVR application worked with less manual intervention, I would be happy with it. The TitanTV GUI is sufficient (for me) for specifying what to record. I have no expectation of any automated selection process. I only have two ATSC tuners (ATI HDTV Wonder's ) so I frequently triage what I record. The process is instinctive, and not suitable for automation.

[sub]

GB-PVR is an application that supports getting the EPG from a variety of sources. The most widely used format world wide is xmltv. It also supports a couple of other EPG sources, namely the DVB EPG (listings broadcast with the channels in DVB countries) and the Schedules Direct service for easy access for North American users.

TitanTV and Guide Plus are not data services that provide EPG data to external applications like GB-PVR. Instead these are applications, which use their own supplied EPG for their own use. tvpi files etc created by TitanTV are of no use to GB-PVR.

[bvn]

I followed the MC2XML link and wound up at M$ (I have two kids that work there).
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A'ha. the expectations are:
1 - a 10' UI,
2 - present many days of potential recording material (14 days in the example).
3 - Never miss a desired program - whenever it shows. Sort of like TiVo.
4 - there is no end user apparent separation between the scheduling client (GUI) and the scheduling service.
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How about EPG for giving the recording meaningful file names?
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This matches a lot of what I have read. My interests are quite different because my PVR lives on my network and not in any single host. I have 3 PVR (headless) hosts, 1 repository host (headless), 2 scheduling hosts, and 5 playback hosts. Some of the hosts run Fedora, some XP, and others are dual boot (under GRUB). It is important to me that they play nice with each other.
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Hidden and assumed expectations plague many packages - Songbird and PulseAudio come to mind.

[bvn]

Thanks for the feedback. It seems that EPG has two separate meanings
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"EPG data service" seems to have some sort of specialized and complex meaning, who's full import I do not understand. One property seems to be - an extended temporal content measured in days and perhaps weeks.
"EPG ???" provides the name of what is playing "now" and is distributed by the broadcaster with the program content. It is a convenient source for a file name or data base handle.
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I am particularly sensitive to this distinction because the ATI MMC decoder does not recognize the latter form of EPG and names the recording from the channel name and time-of-day. Example: KCPQ-DT(09:00).mpg.
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Must drop off now. Need to set up the DVR's for tonight's recordings.

[sub]

It has one meaning to GB-PVR. The GB-PVR the EPG is a list of channels, and the programs associated with those channels (name, description, start time, stop time etc).

GB-PVR uses the EPG to tell it what channels are available, to form the basis of its scheduler, and to act as a source of data form screens like the TV Guide, Search Guide etc.

[zehd]

It has one meaning to GB-PVR. The GB-PVR the EPG is a list of channels, and the programs associated with those channels (name, description, start time, stop time etc).

GB-PVR uses the EPG to tell it what channels are available, to form the basis of its scheduler, and to act as a source of data form screens like the TV Guide, Search Guide etc.

To expand on sub's post...

An EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) is usually a graphical representation of a list of Programme events. As mentioned, each event has properties describing that event (Times, Name, Channel etc...)

That data needs to come from somewhere, and so we look for an EPG provider. GB-PVR has some 'built-in' support for certain providers, which can make GB-PVR's installation and operation much easier. (in other words you would be able to skip a couple of steps in setting up GB-PVR, so it seems simpler to install)

Alternatively, GB-PVR supports the importation of an XMLTV file which must first be 'obtained' (created, downloaded, converted, grabbed) and then imported into the GB-PVR database so that listings can be displayed.

To date, GB-PVR will only import an XML data file using a standardized schema. Therefore this xml file is known as an XMLTV file.

Other EPG data files, which do not conform to the XMLTV schema, cannot be used.