[split] USA EPG

[sub]

Yeah, I see only a few hours for most channels.  I thought maybe that was a NextPVR problem since some do populate out 2 full days and didn't understand why others didn't.

Yep, that's normal. That's what is available with the over-the-air guide in that part of the world. As the guys suggested, I'd just go with Schedules Direct. It's pretty cheap and works really well. (You'll save yourself hours of time over other solutions)

[bufulo]

I messed around with MediaPortal for a while and looked at a few others and NextPVR seems to be the only genuinely active product for Windows these days.  I'm setting up my first HTPC.  I like the simplicity (as in no extra crap to please everyone and their mother with no thought to the overall picture) I'm finding in NextPVR so far and just need to get the EPG working, probably with XMLTV

NextPVR is very actively being developed and supported. Most posts with questions/problems on here get a response within hours if not minutes!

And, seriously, if you want ease and simplicity, just use Schedules Direct. It is totally built-in to NextPVR so doesn't require any extra scripts, files, etc. and it works extremely well.

Yeah I see that (response time), thanks.  BTW, I'm from MN, went to UMD (computer/electrical engr.).  Anyway, don't mind, in fact prefer, not having a subscription for EPG but I'll likely give the SD free trial a test run.  From what I can gather, the XMLTV options seems to be withstanding the test of time.

[bufulo]

Yeah, I see only a few hours for most channels.  I thought maybe that was a NextPVR problem since some do populate out 2 full days and didn't understand why others didn't.

Yep, that's normal. That's what is available with the over-the-air guide in that part of the world. As the guys suggested, I'd just go with Schedules Direct. It's pretty cheap and works really well.  (You'll save yourself hours of time over other solutions)

Is there someplace the describes how NextPVR fills the EPG?  Things like do I need to start and stop the service whenever making changes (as I expect I'll be doing a lot as I learn, especially as I explore the XMLTV option)?  What if I have the info for a SD trial filled out in addition to XMLTV.  Basically just a quick overview of the process flow on how the EPG is populated.  Maybe there is a manual online somewhere that I've missed?

[mvallevand]

I did already refer you to the NextPVR wiki right?

Hopefully sub can move all this discussion to a new thread.

Martin

[bufulo]

This thread has me totally confused.  It started out discussing how to get EPG from TitanTV and that is where my interest is - getting ANY EPG for ATSC/OTA channels in the US.  The OTA EPG only gets 2 days for a few channels and never updates unless I manually go into the TV Guide.  Without a functioning EPG, I don't see the point of a PVR.  Isn't the idea to make life easier?  Where is the best place to read about the current state of EPG and NextPVR so that I have a chance of getting it to actually work?

Basically, this has nothing to do with the EPG tv listings in NextPVR.  It will not put tv listings into the NextPVR EPG.  

This thread started with dayvboy wondering if he could use the TitanTV website to schedule recordings instead of his NextPVR EPG.  He already has full and proper EPG(s) in NextPVR, but he likes the TitanTV layout and customizability better.

At first, I thought this was a way to schedule recordings from TitanTV without already having a full and proper EPG in NextPVR.  But it wasn't.  But now, through mvallevand magic, it can do that too.  It can only do manual-type recordings, but it's so much nicer than doing them through NextPVR since in NextPVR you have to schedule the time/date/channel/duration instead of just two button clicks using TitanTV.

From the start, I thought this utility program would be a much bigger benefit to people who don't have any EPG in NextPVR (and don't want to get Schedules Direct or similar) than it does for people who already have a full and proper EPG in NextPVR but like TitanTV's layout better.  
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I don't have a full and proper EPG in my NextPVR. I already look at TitanTV for tv listings anyway.  (Actually, I was using a different online TV guide but switched to TitanTV because of this.)  I have ATSC OTA and set manual recordings, (mainly non-streamable shows, certain sporting events, one-off shows, the Olympics, etc).  Even in that sense, NextPVR is great and makes life easier because having a glorified VCR is better than not having a VCR, and it records in HD, and can do other things too.  And now it can record shows with two easy button clicks on TitanTV. 

Also, daily or weekly TV shows tend to always air at the same time every time, so even if I record an entire TV season, one manual schedule and change it to record daily/weekly takes care it. 

If you want a full and proper ATSC EPG in NextPVR, you have to pay for Schedules Direct or similar, or try one of the scraper methods and hope the TV listings sites don't do something to break the method.  Or, in theory, one TV tuner could be dedicated to downloading 8 (or whatever you get locally) hours of EPG and do it 3x every day, to have at least a constant 8 hours of EPG. Downloading the EPG can conflict with recordings scheduled at the same time, so it would need its own dedicated tuner to avoid potential conflicts.

If I can get the EPG populated via XMLTV, it seems to me that scheduling recordings would be easiest by far in NextPVR.  I have a quad tuner card but using OTA EPG seems futile.  I want at least a week.  It can't be that difficult to pull the data from one of the many websites offering the data for free.  I know there are lots of messy solutions for other products out there but the idea is simple in principle so someone has to have made a reasonably generic tool using regular expressions or whatever to just gather the needed data.  The problem I've seen so far is that nobody has taken the time to actually construct and document such a tool, but I'm only just getting started in this stuff.

[bufulo]

I did already refer you to the NextPVR wiki right?

Hopefully sub can move all this discussion to a new thread.

Martin

Yeah, thanks, sorry.  Please do move my portion (derailment) if that's easy enough to do!

[mvallevand]

I am in the process of making a wiki page on this which we can use every time someone asks about the poor OTA EPG here in North America. It won't explain how to use the alternate sources but it will help users spend time on it.

Martin

[mvallevand]

So @bufulo here is a link to help you start with all the options for the EPG https://github.com/sub3/NextPVR/wiki/EPG.NorthAmerica NextPVR is a great PVR and can do what you want but it really is TANSTAAFL "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch"

Good luck

Martin

[Brucek2839]

I have used zap2xml and is great but like it has been noted it does take some bit of knowledge and time consuming. I would also just go with SD. WAY MUCH EASIER

[bufulo]

Thanks. I got the EPG going no problem with Zap2It the day after my original post.