DVB Epg update in UK

[nemulate]

Hi Sub, wondered if for DVB EPG is optimised for UK? Reason I ask is that I have a DVR (Ferguson FVR1T) which uses the dvb info to update its epg and it populates fully in about 5 mins. Your dvb epg quite often has empty gaps in it and sometimes whole channels seem to be missed. I know someone is going to say use xmltv but I have issues with that. Are you looking to improve the dvb epg update at any point as it seems to work better on other hardware (and other software but wasn't going to mention the MP word!) Thing is, I, like most people here want to stay with GBPVR so would be keen if you had any ideas?

[melearp]

I am also a DVBT user in the UK. I find that things are much better if you uncheck the "complete reload" button in the capture sources tab in the config app. Then GBPVR fills in the holes rather than starting from scratch every time. My guess is that GBPVR time limits itself on the update epg for DVBT transmissions. Since these are under the control of the transmitter and not the receiver you can get holes - unlike the xmltv mechanism (which I don't use becasue it doesn't give me the radio channels).

I don't know how other PVRs do it, but yes my, Humax seems to be more successful. I guess that since it is DVBT dedicated, the design is more geared toward catching what arrives and checking what has arrived before stopping.

I schedule the epg update several times a day using task scheduler and this command
""C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\GBPVR.exe" -OnlyUpdateEPG"

[fuzzweed]

you can also extend the time GBPVR scans for EPG info. Open config.xml and change the value in dvbepgharvestduration. Setting to 100 does the job for me.

[nemulate]

Thanks for the tips, already have the complete epg reload button unticked but forgot about the time to check change so will give that a go. How do you schedule several downloads of epg in the same day as gbpvr only allows one in config?

[melearp]

Use the XP task scheduler and the command in my previous post.

(normally you find it under System Tools)

[fuzzweed]

I schedule the epg update several times a day using task scheduler and this command
""C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\GBPVR.exe" -OnlyUpdateEPG"

stick that line in windows task scheduler (in control panel)....

****edit**** doh, refresh first, then reply...

[frazer]

Hi,

I have posted on his a couple of times before, but for DVBT in the UK, myTheatre works very well for updating the epg. What I do is launch a batch file from a custom task button in GBPVR which opens myTheatre and changes to one station on each of the 6 transponders every 90 seconds, and then launches a utility you can download form the myTheatre website which converts the epg data to an xml file (called xmltv2mtepg), which GBPVR then uses for its TVGuide.

Takes about ten minutes to get pretty much a full update for the next 7 days (including radio); just a few gaps on a few channels in the second half of the week, which can be filled by running the process again if necessary- I have a second batch file option which stays on each transponder for 60 seconds, and this is usually enough to finish the job.

Frazer

[sub]

Using the DVB EPG here, I actually get very good results, and I would have expected to get similar results in that part of the world. Yes, there are some gaps but very few.

If someone is able to record a 90 second transport stream for one of the UK muxes and make the file available to me on a web server somewhere, I'll download it and check that all the transmitted listings are being extracted. If they're not, then I'll fix it.

[nemulate]

Thanks for the offer sub but since scheduling the updates it all seems much smoother for me!

[frazer]

Hello Sub,

Afraid I'm away from my machine with the DVB-T card in for another couple of weeks (last I heard it had stoped booting up anyway!), but I have to say I have found the same thing with German channels on the satellite as well; i.e. I seem to get the information more quickly using the myTheatre epg than I do with the GBPVR updates. I don't know how all your different softwares harvest the epg information, but I've found that DVBViewer is better at getting the extended programme details from the German stations than myTheatre is as well.

Have you considered at all adding a rolling now and next epg feature; this would at least provide the current programme info where there is a gap in the guide, and, further, many channels on the satellite in Europe only carry that much programme information anyway, so the scheduled DVB Epg updates aren't really any use for them.

Thanks for all your efforts,

Frazer