epg not available after merging channels

[fluffykeith]

I merged and renumbered the channels.

Before the change I could play a channel and it would populate the epg (OTA) so when exiting watching tv I could see the refreshed listing and empty guide became a full guide.

Previously sub had told me that when merging, select the entry in the merge list with the tuner that you want to get the epg from, so I manually merged each group of channels carefully selecting the DVB-T rather than DVB-S, so that DVB-T is first in the list which apprently is where the epg data will come from. so for example, if I look at the merge list I now have "DVB-T, DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-S" for BBC ONE. (I can see the merged list if I select channels to merge).

But now if I watch BBC ONE and then go to the guide the epg is not updated for the channel.

How can I control or even know where the OTA epg data is coming from, ie, which tuner, I have 2 DVB-T and 2 DVB-S. I tried changing the order in the devices list but this made no difference.

[Reddwarf]

When you watch a channel live, you can right-click and select "Set EPG source". I'v never used it since I use xmltv but maybe that can help you.

[fluffykeith]

Hi,

Unfortunately the EPG source selection does not specify which tuner, it only has DVB/ATSC EPG so I can't specify which one.

I'm sure this must be a common problem; having a mix of DVB-T and DVB-S and wanting the EPG from the -T as -S is not as good.

cheers
Keith

[Reddwarf]

Have you tested DVBGuide for grabbing the epg to an xmltv file?

[fluffykeith]

Good idea - I had to google to findout what that was.

It also set me thinking a bit more about how it works.
According to the DVBGuide page there are 4 epg frequencies per mux - so when I tune to a mux it should grab that data. It seems to for some mux but not for the one carrying itv and channel4.
Interesting it seems to be a particular mux. so... where does npvr get this from? I happen to have not selected my transmitter when scanning but selected all region frequencies - could this be a factor?

I'm using xmltv at the moment - so it's not to big a deal but would be good to fix.

[Graham]

According to the DVBGuide page there are 4 epg frequencies per mux.

I have read the .pdf in DVBGuide zip and ir seems to confirm my previous understanding. A mux and a frequency are (more or less) the same thing. There may be multiple channels per mux. There is only one EPG stream per mux. In the UK the all EPG data is broadcast in every mux so every mux has the same data but elsewhere EPG data may vary from mux to mux ... it may be that the EPG data in a mux is only for the channels in that mux. NextPVR scans every mux to retrieve EPG data. On my setup, it takes about one minute per mux for a total of about six minutes.

I am not sure what happens if the original scan for channels was an All Frequencies scan. Does the EPG update also look for EPG data in all frequencies? That would take the best part of an hour!

And finally, I use xmltvgui to get EPG for the "best" channels (BBC and wotnot) and DVB for the rest (shopping and wotnot). This works well.

[fluffykeith]

Thanks for the info graham.
if it takes 6 mins for all mux then I could just be being impatient although I do see the epg for other channels.
The epg for the channel I'm watching should arrive as it's on the mux in watching. Difficult to tell what data I get at what time after a while as it accumulates.

What is it using to scan the other mux? If I'm watching one it can't do the others unless it using my other tuners.

Do you get OTA epg for the HD channels - I am having to use xmltv for those too.

I deleted all the shopping channels.

It's lucky there is more than one way to do things like the epg!

cheers

Keith

[Graham]

What is it using to scan the other mux? If I'm watching one it can't do the others unless it using my other tuners.

Do you get OTA epg for the HD channels - I am having to use xmltv for those too.

The stuff wot I wrote applies when pressing the Update EPG button in Settings or running a schedluled EPG update. I dunno what happens if you do an update while watching Live TV (I had forgotten it was possible and it ain't something that I have tried). I get the EPG for the HD channels using xmltvgui.

Full disclosure ... I have a batch file that runs xmltvgui, then runs an excellent widget from here that manipulates the xmltv xml file and then runs NextPVR.exe -updateEPG. This is programmed to a button on the remote so I can press the button and then watch progress and be sure that all is well.

[jcjefferies]

In the UK the full DVB-T EPG is transmitted on every MUX but the data for the channels on that mux are transmitted at a much faster rate. Last year I had problems with missing EPG data so I started using EPG Collector which saves the broadcast EPG to an XML file which is then imported into Next PVR. It collects the EPG data in a different way to NextPVR mainly from the first mux. If you give EPG Collector a try you can at least view the file to see what data is available.

DVB Guide has already been mentioned and this can download the Freesat EPG into an xml file which can also be imported into NextPVR. When I had a DVB-S card as well as DVB-T I merged both sets of channels but I don't know what would happen if you selected the DVB as the source for EPG. The DVB-S tuner wont be much use as a DVB EPG source as there will be only Now & Next available which is why an XML source is an advantage.

[fluffykeith]

The DVB-S tuner wont be much use as a DVB EPG source as there will be only Now & Next available which is why an XML source is an advantage.

Yep - I'm just discovering that. Last night I deleted yet more shopping channels and did an update from the settings. It still took 1 hour and all I got was now and next except for those merged with DVB-T most pickup the DVB-T except the odd ones. I know they are being transmitted as I got them before merging.
So I'm following the general method you guys are doing and thats to use xmltv for sat channels and a few -T ones (probably most in the end!) that OTA no longer gets.

Do you do any xml processing so avoid duplicate series recordings?