New Zealand Freeview|HD EPG data from MHEG5

[psycik]

Seems some industrial types over at Geekzone may have been writing something to extract EPG data from MHEG5 (DVB-T).

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?for...icid=59324

Might pay to keep an eye out if you've been affected by the xmltvnz take down and epg.pvr.geek.nz take downs.

[Deev8]

For anyone interested the application is on Sourceforge http://epgcollector.sourceforge.net/
It looks like a few people have successfully tested the application using DVB-S and DVB-T from various transmitters.

[psycik]

Does the DVB-T data have more or less information that the Freeview website and/or satellite? Or is it the same date pretty much?

[Deev8]

Does the DVB-T data have more or less information that the Freeview website and/or satellite? Or is it the same date pretty much?

It appears to be the same data, and although I've only run one test so far the application seems to work very well.

[Fredo]

Q the EPG i have been using from install of GB has all but stopped working
no reliable any way Djkxml.exe
should I be looking at this EPG or is there a good one I can simply download and install?
all before my wife does me harm :-)

[tieke]

What do you use as a receiver? I've been using broadcast epg data for a while, as you never have to worry about a website going down - you only get 7 days at a time though.

If you use a dvb-s card, then sub's DvbToXMLTV should suit you, or the abovementioned dvb-t program is obviously the way to go if you are using a dvb-t card. I have set up DvbToXMLTV to run once a day via task scheduler (in the middle of the night to avoid possible conflicts with recording programs, although not sure if this is necessary) and point the epg source to the created file. I presume you would just do the same with the sourceforge commandline util. (I think you may be able to just tick the "use dvb epg" in the config if you are solely using dvb-s, but I have been using mixed sources, so DvbToXMLTV has been the way to go).

cheers,

tieke

[time_lord]

Seems some industrial types over at Geekzone may have been writing something to extract EPG data from MHEG5 (DVB-T).

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?for...icid=59324

Might pay to keep an eye out if you've been affected by the xmltvnz take down and epg.pvr.geek.nz take downs.

Hi psycik, have you had much luck with this? I've given this a go but it does not seem to get a lock on my tuner.
I'm using an HVR2200 and direct line-of-site to Kaukau... GBPVR is running fine :-)

Code:

Tuner info: Node type 0
Tuner info: Node type 1
Tuner info: Descriptor 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 71985f4c-1ca1-11d3-9
cc8-00c04f7971e0 0
Tuner info: Descriptor 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 2dac6e05-edbe-4b9c-b
387-1b6fad7d6495 1
Tuner info: Node type 0
Tuner info: Node type 1
Tuner info: Descriptor 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 71985f4c-1ca1-11d3-9
cc8-00c04f7971e0 0
Tuner info: Descriptor 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 2dac6e05-edbe-4b9c-b
387-1b6fad7d6495 1

Found tuner 1: Hauppauge WinTV-7164 BDA DVBT Tuner (Terrestrial)
Found tuner 2: Hauppauge WinTV-7164 BDA DVBT Tuner (Terrestrial)

Processing command line parameter: /ini=Freeview MHEG.ini
Processing ini parameter: Output:Freeview MHEG.xml
Processing ini parameter: Tuner:1
Processing ini parameter: Timeouts:10,300
Processing ini parameter: Frequency:12456000,8,Y
Processing ini parameter: Frequency:12483000,8,Y
Failed to open MHEG Parser Format.ini - assuming default MHEG parser format
Processing frequency 12456000 to locate stations
BDA DVB-T tuning space does not exist - creating one
BDA Frequency: 12456000
BDA Bandwidth: 8
BDA Adding Network Provider - Trying Windows Generic Provider...
BDA Trying Network Specific Provider...
BDA Network Specific Provider added - Setting TuningSpace...
BDA TuningSpace set
BDA Adding MPEG2 Demux
BDA Added MPEG2 Demux
BDA Adding BDA Board Filters
BDA Adding tuner filter
BDA Added tuner filter
BDA Scanning receiver components for captureFilter filter
BDA Tuner and captureFilter filter model for board filters
BDA Adding TIF Filter
BDA Added TIF Filter
BDA Adding Sections And Tables Filter
BDA Added Sections And Tables Filter
BDA Connecting MPEG2 demux to TIF filter
BDA Connected MPEG2 demux to TIF filter
BDA Connecting MPEG2 demux to Sections and Tables filter
BDA Connected MPEG2 demux to Sections and Tables filter
BDA Tuning to: 12456000:-1:-1:-1
BDA Graph playing
Signal not locked and signal quality not > 0
Signal not locked and signal quality not > 0
Signal not locked and signal quality not > 0
Signal not locked and signal quality not > 0
Signal not locked and signal quality not > 0
Signal not locked and signal quality not > 0
Signal not locked and signal quality not > 0
Signal not locked and signal quality not > 0
Signal not locked and signal quality not > 0
Signal not locked and signal quality not > 0
Failed to acquire signal
BDA Graph stopped
Retrying frequency
.....etc....

Any ideas?

[psycik]

You'd have to post at geekzone sorry, the author is there. I've never tried it myself. Quite happy with dvbtoxml from dvb-s and I suppliment it listings from freeview site directly.

[time_lord]

Oh - sorry, thought you had tried it :S
I'm also using dvb-t not -s, and wanted to try this new program :-)

[mobiusnz]

Just to add to this - I today noticed djkxml stuck in a loop trying to update itself and crashing and quickly found they've essentially been shutdown by sky so did some quick searching and found the geekzone forum about the mheg5 epg tool. With a few minutes playing (getting the right config file - the default one was what worked - the one named as mheg5 dvb-t was setup for Satellite!!! - and setting the right freq's for your region) its all up and running - LOVE it - I'm getting ratings for programs (eg AO / G etc) which I wasn't before and no bad characters in the descriptions and presumably reliability of source and accuracy!

Looks really promising - Hopefully once they have the engine solid they'll write an installer with region drop downs etc to make it more friendly for the non-techie!

Now I just have to find a reliable way to get a sky epg again - Mainly just to record rugby through rca inputs and some disney channel for the kids. I assume the main reason Sky are on the rampage might be due to people using DVB-S cards and jaycar card readers etc to bypass the decoders but those people are getting the EPG via the DVB-T broadcast anyway! I'm happily paying for Sky Dig but want to record the odd show to watch later and they are screwing me!!! If it wasn't for Super 14 I'd ditch it now, thats the only thing I pay for it for!

Common Ice-TV - Launch in NZ and get a ruling in the Courts that EPG info is not copywritable!!! They won in Oz so they should win here too!

I'd happily pay similar money to what I used to for the TV Guide to get a good, feature rich, reliable EPG here in NZ!