DVB/S Over The Air EPG Update Speed & Issues

[JesusOnEez]

I'm using 3.1.1 with the latest patch along with Windows 8.1 and XBMC 12.3 (and also the beta 1 of Gotham).

A problem I've never been able to fix is that with my measly scan of FreeSat channels (74 after bulk mapping and tidying), hitting the Update EPG takes hours and invariably crashes NextPVR. It will have propagated the EPG until the crash, but 90% of the time never completes it. The only way I can get back to watching live TV is to restart the recording service and this allows me to watch it via XBMC again, sometimes with a very limited if not empty EPG.

Any ideas on what I can do? This has had me stumped since Christmas.

I realise I could try the XML route, but really just want to use the over the air EPG...

[sub]

Approximately how many different frequencies are those 74 channels on?

If you can reproduce the problem them post the logs, I'll take a look.

[JesusOnEez]

I'll post the logs tonight when I get home but when you start talking about frequencies I'm kinda muuuuuuuh....

What it does as it's scanning the channels is count down from 60, then the SID changes, then it counts down from 60 again, changes the SID and so on and so on until it crashes.

I'll post the logs later tonight. Thanks for having a look.

[Lao Pan]

AFAIK The only Freesat frequency that broadcasts the full epg, only has Filmon on it at present - you would need to have this channel enabled in NPVR for the built in epg update to work correctly. Otherwise you will only get the now/next epg.

Another option would be to use DVBGuide 0.95 (Don't use 0.96) from update epg.bat, to download the over the air epg from that frequency as an XMLTV file and use that - it is also pretty quick.

[JesusOnEez]

Thanks for that. I'll post the logs up for sub to have a look at regarding the crash issue, but if FilmOn.TV is the only carrier of the full EPG that might explain a lot (and yes, I do end up with just now/next in the EPG...at least what it grabbed before crashing). I removed FilmOn.TV from my channel list as I didn't know what it was. I'll put it back and see how it goes.

You've obviously guessed from my location that I'm using 28.2 FreeSat, something I probably should have mentioned in the first post!

Still, I'll add FilmOn.TV back into my channel list, run a rescan, and post the logs up for sub to have a look at if the crash and/or lengthy scan happens again.

If there's still no joy from that I'll have to look at the XML route...

...loving the Big Trouble in Little China avatar by the way! Top film.

[jcjefferies]

A possible longer term problem which is the subject of theories of doom and gloom is that the transponder which broadcasts the Freesat EPG is on a Eutelsat 28A which is in the process of shutting down and moving elsewhere after Eutelsat lost the rights to frequencies to Astra. Unfortunately the Astra transponder frequencies are not the same as the Eutelsat frequencies so the Freesat "Home" cannot just be moved straight over to an Astra transponder. Unless Freesat boxes already have suitable backup frequencies programed in it may be necessary to update them to look for a different frequency. DVBGuide would stop working but it may be a case of changing the EPG home frequency in an ini file. Freesat say that the problem is in hand but we will have to wait and see what happens later in the year!

Chris

[Lao Pan]

DVBGuide would stop working but it may be a case of changing the EPG home frequency in an ini file.

Chris

Once the new home frequency became active you would just change it in the bat file command line

AFAIK The only Freesat frequency that broadcasts the full epg, only has Filmon on it at present

OOps Looking at the other thread looks as though it is LBP that uses the home transponder

...loving the Big Trouble in Little China avatar by the way! Top film.

Yep - David Lo Pan - over 2000 years old, I now know why he was so p***ed

Lao Pan is Mandarin for he who is in charge (Manager)

[JesusOnEez]

Once the new home frequency became active you would just change it in the bat file command line

What does that actually mean? Reading all this makes it sound like it's impossible to get the full FreeSat EPG data from 28.2...is this the case? If I add FilmOn as a channel, will it simply give me the FilmOn EPG or the EPG for everything on FreeSat.

Am newbie.

[imilne]

Ignoring future problems, if you use DVBGuide now, you can pull back the entire ota guide in just 30 seconds, irrespective of what channels npvr has tuned in.

Iain

[sub]

At some stage I should probably add some special logic to determine if the user is using FreeSat, and force it to only scan that single frequency, rather than doing the generic DVB thing of making it through each frequency.