2 quick guide related questions...

[Graham]

The program runs through an entire scan of all the Frequencies which takes a considerable amount of needless time.

The EPG update process is global and updates the EPG for all channels. I don't know of any way to update the EPG for a single channel.

As I understand it ... The update EPG process identifies the various EPG sources specified in the Channel Details for each channel and then processess each of these sources.

For example, I have some channels set to obtain EPG from xml-1 and some channels set to obtain EPG data from xml-2 and some channels set to obtain EPG date from "over the air" with a setting of "DVB/ATSC EPG" ... http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?...ion.OTAEPG

The EPG update process reads each of the two xml files and updates the channels that are configured to obtain EPG from the files. The EPG update process then scans each frequency on a tuner to obtain the EPG data and updates the channels that are configured to obtain EPG from the "DVB/ATSC EPG".

For me ... the process to update the channels that get EPG from xml files takes a minute or two for about twenty channels and about two weeks of data. The process to update the channels that get EPG from "DVB/ATSC EPG" takes a minute or so for each frequency.

One way to speed up the EPG update process is to change the settings in the Channel Details for each channel. Do you need to obtain EPG data from over the air? My understanding is that there is very little EPG info broadcast over the air in the US.

config.xml contains a value to specify the duration of the scan on each channel when getting EPG over the air ... http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?...nced#toc44

This value could, presumabaly, be set to "1" to speed up the OTA scan but it it may be that no data would be found in a one second scan.

[vbtalent]

Thanks for the information Graham.

All of the EPG data that I am looking to retrieve is via Cable(QAM) and none OTA.

I have a single XML file that contains the information I'm looking to populate, which I had posted earlier.

I would assume that "mapping" the XML file to the correct channel, which I have done, would automate the process based on some field in the XML file and something in the Channel Details but that doesn't appear to be happening. I don't see the connection between the xml file and NextPVR as they don't seem to be synched...

The XML file has 2 sections that I can see, the channel (located at the top of the file):

<channel id="I134.28460209.microsoft.com">
<display-name>134 POPSD</display-name>
<display-name>134</display-name>
<display-name>POPSD</display-name>
<display-name>POP</display-name>
<display-name>Satellite</display-name>
</channel>

and then the listing information which appears to be based on the "channel":

<programme start="20150712220000 -0400" stop="20150713000000 -0400" channel="I134.28460209.microsoft.com">
<title lang="en">50/50</title>
<desc lang="en">After learning that he has malignant tumors along his spine, a young man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) vows to beat his illness.</desc>
<credits>
<director>Jonathan Levine</director>
<actor>Joseph Gordon-Levitt</actor>
<actor>Seth Rogen</actor>
<actor>Anna Kendrick</actor>
<actor>Bryce Dallas Howard</actor>
<actor>Philip Baker Hall</actor>
<actor>Anjelica Huston</actor>
<actor>Serge Houde</actor>
<actor>Andrew Airlie</actor>
</credits>
<date>2011</date>
<category lang="en">Comedy</category>
<category lang="en">Drama</category>
<category lang="en">Movie</category>
<category lang="en">Movies</category>
<length units="minutes">99</length>
<episode-num system="ms_progid">1.MV003516220000</episode-num>
<episode-num system="dd_progid">MV00351622.0000</episode-num>
<rating system="VCHIP">
<value>TV-PG</value>
</rating>
<rating system="MPAA">
<value>R</value>
</rating>
<rating system="advisory">
<value>Adult Situations</value>
</rating>
<rating system="advisory">
<value>Language</value>
</rating>
<star-rating>
<value>3/4</value>
</star-rating>
</programme>

Why doesn't the "Mapping" seem to be working even though it appears to be directly referenced in the dropdown..

Does it somehow use the channels #44 for the lookup of the EPG data...

VB,

[Graham]

Why doesn't the "Mapping" seem to be working even though it appears to be directly referenced in the dropdown..

This is the data from an xmltv file that I use

<channel id="UK_RT_104">
<display-name lang="en">BBC1 West</display-name>

and

<programme start="20150728060000 +0100" stop="20150728091500 +0100" channel="UK_RT_104">
<title lang="en">Breakfast</title>
<sub-title>
</sub-title>
<desc>__SD: Round-up of national and international news, plus the latest from the money markets __OR: Round-up of national and international news, plus the latest from the money markets.
</desc>
<category lang="en">News</category>
<video>
<aspect>16:9</aspect>
</video>
<subtitles type="teletext">
<language lang="en">English</language>
</subtitles>
</programme>

In Settings --> Chaneels --> Channel Details ... I set the "Mapping" to the display name. The internal structure of the xml file connects the "display-name" to the "channel id" and then the uses the value from "channel id" to connect a programme to a channel via the "channel" field in the programme entry.

The channel number (44 in your case) is irrelevant to all this and can be changed to any value (or not).

My suspicion is that the multiple values for display-name is causing a problem. What happens if you use an xml file with only a single value for display name ?

Plus ... my understanding is that you can import channels (instead of using the Add button) from the EPG xml file using Settings --> Channels and then the Import button (but I digress cos that's not directly relevant to this EPG import stuff).

[johnsonx42]

map your channel, then hit Update EPG. if you don't get data for your channel, post your npvr.log.

you can avoid having it scan all the other channels for epg data (of which there won't be any on QAM anyway) by setting the EPG source to "None" on all the others.

(edit: are you sure your .xml file contains current and future listings? the snippet you posted above is for a show that aired over 2 weeks ago)

[vbtalent]

Good catch on the data in the XML file, in fact there does not appear to be any recent data... do people actually use the info from mc2xml, seems to be very unreliable.

Is there another open source that is reliable for EPG data?

Thanks for the assistance guys.

VB<

[sub]

Good catch on the data in the XML file, in fact there does not appear to be any recent data... do people actually use the info from mc2xml, seems to be very unreliable.

From what I've read - mc2xml has generally been reliable, but it's definitely having problems at the moment, stemming from the data source changes Microsoft is currently doing.

Is there another open source that is reliable for EPG data?

Schedules Direct is definitely the best supported, and has been very reliable.

[mikeh49]

Couple of thoughts:

The data source for mc2xml was changed this week by Microsoft and there are lots of issues. It is not really open source; it accesses data that is provided (paid for) by Microsoft and intended for use with Windows Media Center. Use for other apps is questionable. See the various posts in this forum about guide issues.

Schedules Direct is completely reliable, directly supported by NPVR, and well worth the $25/year cost. But, if you are really only interested in one channel...

Definitely set the EPG source to None for the channels you aren't trying to get guide data for. In the US, there is no useable data there, and it will just take time while NPVR tries to get it.

[vbtalent]

Thanks for the suggestions and information.

I've taken your advice and have tried to mashup an .xml file and essentially modified the dates... I hope this works.