BBC HD changed to BBC2 HD now no EPG data - XMLTV

[sub]

Brilliant, I presume you have what you need now. What's the status of the patch you posted, shall I give it a go?

Yes, as far as I know it's working. It could do with some optimization for Freesat users, so that it doesn't waste time scanning unneeded frequencies.

[imilne]

A closer look at the data seems to suggest that a specific episode of something will get a unique value for its 0x31 programme-id (that stays the same each time that episode is shown), but the 0x32 season-id changes based on the various different times of day it may be shown. For example, "SomeShow, Ep 1" might always get programme-id "ABC", but its season-id might be "F3" when it's on in the morning and "T5" when it's repeated again later in the day.

Concatenating the two IDs together therefore doesn't seem to work.

Sub, how do you actually apply the information you get from <unique-identifier>? Does it work together with the actual programme title? If so, perhaps it's enough to just use the program-id and forget about the season one. The programme-id might not be unique across all programmes on a given channel, but (you'd hope) it would be unique across all programmes with the same name.

I'll continue to test in the meantime...

Iain

[Croftie]

Yes, as far as I know it's working. It could do with some optimization for Freesat users, so that it doesn't waste time scanning unneeded frequencies.

You don't mess around do you mate. Good job!

[bgowland]

A closer look at the data seems to suggest that a specific episode of something will get a unique value for its 0x31 programme-id (that stays the same each time that episode is shown), but the 0x32 season-id changes based on the various different times of day it may be shown. For example, "SomeShow, Ep 1" might always get programme-id "ABC", but its season-id might be "F3" when it's on in the morning and "T5" when it's repeated again later in the day.

Iain, PM me to to remind me of your email address - I've got something which might be of interest.

Cheers,
Brian

[sub]

A closer look at the data seems to suggest that a specific episode of something will get a unique value for its 0x31 programme-id (that stays the same each time that episode is shown), but the 0x32 season-id changes based on the various different times of day it may be shown. For example, "SomeShow, Ep 1" might always get programme-id "ABC", but its season-id might be "F3" when it's on in the morning and "T5" when it's repeated again later in the day.

Concatenating the two IDs together therefore doesn't seem to work.

Sub, how do you actually apply the information you get from <unique-identifier>? Does it work together with the actual programme title? If so, perhaps it's enough to just use the program-id and forget about the season one. The programme-id might not be unique across all programmes on a given channel, but (you'd hope) it would be unique across all programmes with the same name.

Yes based on that, concatenating wouldn't work. A better option might be storing the showname + 0x31 CRID for the unique id.

It still does all of its locating of potential recordings using the other rules, like name, channel, timeslot etc. Currently the app only uses this info for filtering out duplicates.

[imilne]

A better option might be storing the showname + 0x31 CRID for the unique id.

Good point.

As a more general question...say a show was on at 9am and then again at 9pm - it would mark the 9am one for recording. But if the PC was off in the morning, and then turned on again before 9pm, would it realise it still has another chance to record what it had missed earlier?

Iain

[sub]

But if the PC was off in the morning, and then turned on again before 9pm, would it realise it still has another chance to record what it had missed earlier?

There isn't currently anything that'll attempt rescheduling a failed recording for a future airing, but I may end up adding this.

[jcjefferies]

"Concatenating the two IDs together therefore doesn't seem to work."

IMILNE- I have been using EPG Collector since last August to "Avoid Duplicate Recordings" on Freeview recordings. The problem was that it concatenates 0x32 and 0x31 to produce a Unique_ID in the format "xxxx.yyyy.0". On some channels the same episode can be repeated up to seven times per week all with the same 0x31 crid bit with different 0x32 crid. I do post processing on the XML file to change "xxxx" to "0" so NextPVR just loads the 0x31 data into the database. In my case "0.yyyy.0" gets loaded into the database.

Chris

[imilne]

IMILNE- I have been using EPG Collector since last August to "Avoid Duplicate Recordings" on Freeview recordings. The problem was that it concatenates 0x32 and 0x31 to produce a Unique_ID in the format "xxxx.yyyy.0". On some channels the same episode can be repeated up to seven times per week all with the same 0x31 crid bit with different 0x32 crid. I do post processing on the XML file to change "xxxx" to "0" so NextPVR just loads the 0x31 data into the database. In my case "0.yyyy.0" gets loaded into the database.

The info from Brian confirms what we thought (and what you've said) so it does need to be a unique string based on the 0x31 ID only.

I don't actually have a "real" freeview or freesat box, so I can't confirm how they work with the series link stuff when the same repeats use a different series ID, eg, if you set up a series link using the 9pm showing of something, the data we've seen suggests it would only record from that timeslot and wouldn't fill in any missed recordings from other repeats. I guess this stuff assumes 24/7 operation of a PVR though.

Sub's title/channel/timeslot (+avoid duplicates) seems a far stronger implementation of this functionality to me, especially as the PVRs will discard a series link 13 weeks after the last episode. That means you need to be on your toes when the next series comes around otherwise you'll miss it. With NPVR you wouldn't.

Currently I have my (DVBGuide)xmltv-parser adding in the unique-identifier codes, fixing some formatting issues with the descriptions, adding in audio and aspect ratio information (to the description), merging two files together (eg freeview and freesat for easier bulk mapping in NPVR) and removing comments to reduce overall file size.

Iain