Manual channel inputs/editing (back end?)

[Mr Whippy]

I'd discontinued use of my NextPVR for 18 months as I moved house. I've just had a satellite dish installed so setting it all back up.

I use Astra 28.2E UK Freesat channels.

Plugged into the PC, not all working fine.

Some channels not working, others working ok.

It looks like some of the Freesat channels have been jigged around.

My nicely choreographed EPG/channels list is now all messed up.


Part of the problem, despite re-scanning, is that the new channels that replace old ones (like BBC HD is now regional, not UK wide) needs swapping in, but the old channels that are no longer functional are not removed.

Since I don't want non-functional channels, the only way to check seems to be to test each one to see if it works, or delete all my channels and start again?



It'd be really great to just use kingofsat.net or some similar resource to just grab the frequencies and input numbering (Freesat box numbering for example) and build my list manually.

I'd pretty much just finished this task before moving house, so to have to start over again now is a bit frustrating.



What have other users done in this regard?

The brute force seems to be to re-scan, save, then go check all channels, remove all those that don't work, and then re-number everything to fit where it should.


Many thanks

Dave

[sub]

I don't really have any easy answer for you. It's hard to know how much things would have changed in 18 months.

When you rescan a digital tuner NextPVR will update existing channels, if the sid+onid are the same. ie channel name changes etc, possible channel frequency changes etc. Any other channels that are not an known sid+onid will be added to the list as new channels.

If I actually lived in the UK, and had easy access to Freesat broadcasts, I probably would have implemented support for some of the non-standard stuff they do on freesat to provide regional channel bouquets/groups and channel numbers...

Best bet is to probably just delete the channels and rescan them in.

[Bobins]

I'm on Astra 28.2 too and have been having a lot of fun with all the recent changes.

To be honest, there's no easy solution. There's been so many changes in the last 18 months I'd say delete your existing channel scan and start afresh.

I've used the info at KingofSat to edit the normal 0282.ini file included with NPVR to remove the frequencies carrying channels I have no interest in. This reduces the scan output from over 850+ channels to about 400. A bit more manageable when deciding which channels to select.

EPG collection can also be a bit of a challenge as the 3 Satellites on 28.2 cover both Freesat and Sky Free-to-Air channels. Not all channel EPG data for both is included in the standard EPG scan.
This may be alleviated by using Schedules Direct for EPG data but that does require connecting your NPVR PC to the internet.

Ray

[Mr Whippy]

I'm not quite sure how much has changed in the 18 months, but I quickly realised that the missing BBC One HD 'blank channel' response from NextPVR was duplicated on various channels as I randomly tried them. Assuming this is the common issue (moved/altered channels) with why so many channels aren't working, it's clearly been quite a hectic time with swaps etc!

I'll just blank it all, re-scan, and then go from there. I think that's probably quickest.



It wouldn't be so bad wrt having a Freesat clone config at NextPVR scan/setup time, but on Astra 28.2 things like Channel 4 are still broadcast in HD, but Freesat only provide access to the SD version.
So there isn't a good case to just copying Freesat blindly, but having a quality list/setup made/maintained (easier said than done!)

I'll try dig into the files a bit and see if there is a nice way to automate this a bit more, or document it to make it a bit clearer for others aiming for the same thing. It'd be cool to have a basic setup bunch of files to just drop into NextPVR and it all work... but yes, some work for someone to have to maintain that.



I never got on with the transmitted EPG collection Bobins, I subscribed to Schedules Direct after months of fighting the EPG that the Astra 28.2 appears to transmit. I assume it's some hybrid system that Sky and Freesat have smashed together.



Needless to say once set up the NextPVR 'Freesat' clone is spot on and works really well.

As said I'll try document it a bit more and provide some base config stuff on the forum somewhere.



Kind regards

Dave

[jcjefferies]

Are you using the latest 28.2.ini as there have been a lot of changes in 2023! If not download the latest from KOS! As well as the BBC changes Channel 4 and Channel 5 have made changes recently.

It makes life a lot easier if you create a copy of 28.2.ini and rename it then delete all transponders that have nothing of interest to you. You can use KOS or this web site:-

https://www.satellite-calculations.com/D...Number.php

If you select your region it lists all your channels and the transponders used for your area. If you click on "Frequency" the list is sorted in order of transponder frequency! There are around 110 transponder as 28.2 and my 28.2-West.ini has 26 transponders  after deleting the one for other regions, and channels of no interest! However some transponders only have one channel of interest so you still have many unwanted channels to delete after a scan!!

Chris

[Mr Whippy]

That website is pretty handy, I think it's 41 ini file entries for the Region 10 UK Freesat.

Going through it all again. So many duplicates/rubbish to sort through. Re-ordering etc.

I'm going to try find the database where the scan data is stored. Being able to create the database explicitly from the data available to avoid the whole scan/setup process would be very handy.




I note that KingOfSat entries in the 28.2 ini file are already out of date as it's changed again in the last few months.

It's certainly a case that anyone setting up for UK Freesat in NextPVR probably needs to be doing it a different way because of the constant faffing around Freesat/Sky/Astra are doing on this satellite.

I wouldn't expect NextPVR to support anything in this regard, but it'd be good to try make the process more automated somehow?! Or guide users to use these external resources in some way?



Thanks

Dave

[Mr Whippy]

Does anyone here struggle with:

11052.75
11068.00

No channels are detected during scans. I was wondering if it was the .75 frequency, so tried 11052 and 11053, and even a decimal (which didn't work at all) entry.


I've created specific tuner files for these two frequences.

[SATTYPE]
1=0282
2=28.2E - UK Freesat Region 10 - 11052.75

[DVB]
0=1
1=11053,H,23000,34,S2,8PSK

and...

[SATTYPE]
1=0282
2=28.2E - UK Freesat Region 10 - 11068

[DVB]
0=1
1=11068,V,23000,34,S2,8PSK



I can't seem to get the ITV 2 and 4 HD channels... though they're marked as Sky Digital but not Freesat on Kingofsat... but https://www.satellite-calculations.com/D...php?272/11 has those SID and frequencies showing for the Freesat Region 11.

I might fire my old Freesat box up again to see if I can get these channels via Freesat or not.


Doing this channel setup via the GUI is a real headache. To lift the satellite-calculations.com website data right into the NextPVR would be pretty awesome.

I realised the NextPVR channels database is mixed in with the database for the entire NextPVR config, so haven't tinkered with it yet. I assume with appropriate SQL you could do some dumping of satellite-calculations.com data into the NextPVR database.

A job for another day.


I have a sneaky feeling that if I added the entries for the channels above, it'd tune into them ok... but for some reason the scan isn't spotting them!?

[jcjefferies]

My ITV channels on those transponder are working OK. ITV1 and ITV2 on 11052.75 and ITV4  11068

I made a recording on the three channels and was able to play back them all OK. Will be a different ITV1 than you but the other two will be the same.

These are the two entries from my 0282-West.ini.  The original 0282.ini was created on King of Sat March 2023
8=11052,H,23000,34,S2,8PSK
9=11068,V,23000,34,S2,8PSK

Only ITV1 is regionalised.

[Mr Whippy]

I realised I have my TV hooked up to Freesat with the built in tuner.

All work fine here to the TV in HD, checked the readouts and it's the 11052 frequency etc.

It's the same coax feed I swap across in the cellar which then runs to the office room, pretty sure the signal is solid as I get everything else.

Very odd.

I might try turn everything on/off again and make sure the tuner is idle and do a re-scan on 11052 and 11068 again then.


I'd quite like to get the HD versions of those channels as they have some quite good films on them from time to time, but for now happy with the SD versions on other frequencies.


Having it all up and running again was nice on the Apple TV last night, until I realised the ability to access subs/audio stream has now changed (can't even do it?) and stuck with the audio description on for Man of Steel haha... whoever writes those has a funny sense of humour
Also on iPhone, no way to turn the audio stream over now either. Grrrr.


Fortunately my use case is mainly recording, but surprised NextPVR iOS has been broken like this for live use.

[Bobins]

I can confirm those 2 frequencies are working fine for me too.