[NPVR 2.3.6] Incomplete automatic EPG update

[jpsa]

...after turning off "out-of-process digital recording" yesterday, the TV Guide seems OK today. I'll keep an eye on it for the next few days.

Just a quick update -- I've now had 3 consecutive days without apparently losing any TV Guide entries, so it looks as if turning off "out-of-process digital recording" has cured/worked-round the problem for me. Though, I haven't been making any recordings (and neither had I been doing so when the problem was still happening) -- presumably this switch has some side-effect on the EPG updating mechanism?

[jcjefferies]

I have had no EPG update errors since I turned off "out-of-process recordings" 5 days ago. The problem seemed to start with the arrival on ndigitalhost butI dont think the problem is connected with "copying" channels to other tuners.

However yesterday I was about to post a problem about a "Database is Locked" error during EPG update when I realised the significance of the data in the logs. The error occurred during deleting old EPG data for a channel I had accidentally deleted the previous week. As it is not a channel I regularly watch or record I only added it to one tuner and didn’t bother to copy to the rest. I don’t think the error caused any problems but it has now disappeared since I copied the EPG to all tuners.

[peterh]

Just a quick update -- I've now had 3 consecutive days without apparently losing any TV Guide entries, so it looks as if turning off "out-of-process digital recording" has cured/worked-round the problem for me. Though, I haven't been making any recordings (and neither had I been doing so when the problem was still happening) -- presumably this switch has some side-effect on the EPG updating mechanism?

Maybe coincidence.... I've had 3 days with no loss - Sutton Coldfield - (without any of the suggested changes) but today it is incomplete again.

[Lao Pan]

I reckon that the UK program guide is often incomplete on a Monday morning - even a 5am update doesn't usually get full results.

[jcjefferies]

If its the EPG data for the 8th day that is missing then that is not important. My EPG had 7520 entries after the Monday 2am update but I run a –updateepgonly update at 6am and when I checked later in the day there were 7936 entries. Today there are about 150 more entries at 10am than there were at 2am but some days I have seen less entries mid morning.

In the UK the 8 day EPG is broadcast on all the MUX but the data for the channels residing on the particular MUX seem to be at about 4 times the rate. Today for example the BBC ONE channel has 250 EPG entries on its home MUX but between 70 and 80 on the other MUX.

[bassic]

My epg seems much better without the out-of-process option selected.

[NumberFive]

I would tentatively say that since I disabled out-of-process recording that the EPG update is now operating correctly.

I will report again in a few days.

[NumberFive]

A few days in now and it seems that the EPG update works so long as out-of-process recording is disabled.

[jpsa]

Another update...

I disabled "out-of-process recording" on 15th March, and had no EPG problems up to 24th. I updated to 2.4.3 on 24th (leaving the option disabled), and still had no problems on 25th or 26th. I re-enabled "out-of-process recording" last night (26th), and the EPG was very incomplete again this morning.

It seems as if 2.4.3 hasn't cured the underlying issue (I guess that's expected -- there was nothing in the change log which looked relevant), and that disabling "out-of-process recording" does work round the problem.

[r76]

Another 2.4.3 user here with the EPG only properly updating when done manually (UK FreeView, just using the broadcast EPG, no XMLTV etc.). I've tried various times including one today when I was around to watch - and the EPG basically emptied itself. Doing a manual update (from the "System" plugin, the only plugin installed) refills all the empty channels. I skipped 2.3.6 so can't confirm the problem was there, but it did work in whichever previous versions I used and only appeared since I updated.

One thing I don't get from this thread is what the downside of disabling the out-of-process recording option is. The only info I could find said to leave it enabled, so there must be a reason for that.

EDIT: forgot to add, often an exit and restart of NPVR seems to be required to actually repopulate the TV Guide after updating the EPG - but that may be a separate issue.