DVB/ATSC EPG not updating

[sweh]

So I'm a n00b at this software.  Indeed a n00b at OTA recording in general.  A Linux geek, but a n00b here :-)

I have a Hauppauge "WinTV DualHD" USB device, and I'm running on Debian 12.  It appears all the necessary drivers are present OOB because the controller shows up.

In NextPVR I can pick "adapter0/frontend0 (LG Electronics LGDT3306A VSB/QAM Frontend)" and tell it to scan, and it finds 86 channels; close enough to what my TV found with the antenna plugged into that.  Since it's a dual tuner I duplicated that to adapter1/...

And that's good; I can tune to channels and it works.  I can watch TV; yay!

So now the EPG problem.

I configured each channel via AutoMap "ATSC" "DVB/ATSC EPG" "Numbers and Identifiers".

Based on comments I saw on this forum I also adjusted the timeout to be 120 seconds, but I'm not sure that's important.

I then do an Update EPG.  And I can see it scanning.

The device adapter log shows activity
eg

Code:

2023-09-25 20:42:33:416 [DEBUG] ProcessRequest@1
2023-09-25 20:42:33:416 [DEBUG] ProcessRequest@2
2023-09-25 20:42:33:416 [DEBUG] ProcessRequest@done
2023-09-25 20:42:33:423 [DEBUG] Got table_id=c7
2023-09-25 20:42:33:423 [DEBUG] Got MGT
2023-09-25 20:42:33:423 [INFO] Removing all PIDs
2023-09-25 20:42:33:424 [DEBUG] Reading VCT
2023-09-25 20:42:33:681 [DEBUG]  - WCBS-HD (source_id=0x1)
2023-09-25 20:42:33:681 [DEBUG]  - STARTTV (source_id=0x2)
2023-09-25 20:42:33:681 [DEBUG]  - DABL    (source_id=0x3)
2023-09-25 20:42:33:681 [DEBUG]  - FAVE-TV (source_id=0x4)
2023-09-25 20:42:33:681 [DEBUG]  - CIRCLE  (source_id=0x5)
2023-09-25 20:42:33:682 [DEBUG] EIT-0: 0x1388
2023-09-25 20:42:33:682 [DEBUG] EIT-1: 0x1389
...
2023-09-25 20:42:33:705 [DEBUG] ETT-22: 0x141e
2023-09-25 20:42:33:705 [DEBUG] ETT-23: 0x141f
2023-09-25 20:42:38:423 [DEBUG] Received 133668 bytes from device so far
2023-09-25 20:42:43:480 [DEBUG] Received 150212 bytes from device so far
2023-09-25 20:42:48:538 [DEBUG] Received 252296 bytes from device so far
2023-09-25 20:42:48:716 [DEBUG] EPG collection thread exiting
2023-09-25 20:42:48:716 [DEBUG] @exit
2023-09-25 20:42:53:545 [DEBUG] Received 268840 bytes from device so far
2023-09-25 20:42:58:603 [DEBUG] Received 314900 bytes from device so far
...
2023-09-25 20:44:24:278 [DEBUG] Received 1057500 bytes from device so far
2023-09-25 20:44:29:336 [DEBUG] Received 1158456 bytes from device so far
2023-09-25 20:44:32:290 [INFO] received request
2023-09-25 20:44:32:290 [DEBUG] about to process request...
2023-09-25 20:44:32:290 [DEBUG] got 75 bytes
2023-09-25 20:44:32:290 [DEBUG] got request:

and this goes on for multiple channels.

I can see the channels being discovered

Code:

egrep 'Reading|source_id' device-adapter0.log
2023-09-25 20:02:04:254 [DEBUG] Reading VCT
2023-09-25 20:02:04:280 [DEBUG]  - WCBS-HD (source_id=0x1)
2023-09-25 20:02:04:280 [DEBUG]  - STARTTV (source_id=0x2)
2023-09-25 20:02:04:280 [DEBUG]  - DABL    (source_id=0x3)
2023-09-25 20:02:04:280 [DEBUG]  - FAVE-TV (source_id=0x4)
2023-09-25 20:02:04:280 [DEBUG]  - CIRCLE  (source_id=0x5)
2023-09-25 20:04:04:404 [DEBUG] Reading VCT
2023-09-25 20:04:04:721 [DEBUG]  - WNBC    (source_id=0x1)
2023-09-25 20:04:04:721 [DEBUG]  - COZI-TV (source_id=0x2)
2023-09-25 20:04:04:721 [DEBUG]  - NBCLX  (source_id=0x5)
2023-09-25 20:04:04:721 [DEBUG]  - WNJU-HD (source_id=0x3)
2023-09-25 20:04:04:721 [DEBUG]  - TeleX  (source_id=0x4)
2023-09-25 20:06:04:467 [DEBUG] Reading VCT
2023-09-25 20:06:04:685 [DEBUG]  - WNYW    (source_id=0x3)
...

We can see each channel is 2 minutes after the other.

But at the end of the scan I get the dreaded

Code:

EPG Update complete. [0 inserted, 0 updated, 0 skipped]

and nothing shows up in the guide :-(

My TV picked up the EPG just fine, so I'm pretty sure this is being broadcast.  But I must be doing something wrong for nextPVR to pick it up.

[sub]

On Linux it only supports the DVB OTA guide, not the ATSC OTA guide. Basically OTA in that part of the world is rubbish, so I never committed the time to finish implementing it.

Your options are pretty much either using Schedules Direct, or one of the XMLTV sources.

[sweh]

Oh :-( Well, that would explain the "0"s!

Thanks

[sub]

I had it mostly going, but most channels in the US only give you like 6 hours of listings, which is next to useless, and I never got around to coming back and spending the day or so more time required to finish it.

Ultimately if I had finished the ATSC OTA it was still going to be useless, and still need you to switch over to Schedules Direct or XMLTV to get a useful amount of TV listings.

[sweh]

Hmm. I plugged the antenna into a smart TV and it gave me 2 weeks of schedules. But I don't know if the TV was picking this up OTA or using some external source to get the data (that's the problem with smart TVs; you can't tell what they're doing under the covers!).

Hmm, my super cheap TV (monitor, really) doesn't do an EPG at all.

Ooh, my 10 year old Samsung (non-smart) seems to provide around 12 hours of schedule. So I guess that's the OTA limit around here.

[sub]

I'm guessing it is 12 hours, like you're seeing on your Samsung.

From memory they're only required to transmit 6 hours of listings for OTA in the US, and that is typically all you'll get for most channels.

[sweh]

So this _seems_ to work...

Code:

$ cat /var/opt/nextpvr/scripts/UpdateEPG.sh
#!/bin/sh

BASE=/tmp/epg
mkdir -p $BASE
cd $BASE || exit

/usr/local/bin/zap2xml.pl -Y '' -Z myzipcode -a -S 1 -o /tmp/xmltv.xml -d 10

And I add /tmp/xmltv.xml as an EPG entry.

Not every channel gets data (e.g. "2.5 CIRCLE") but that one doesn't show up on my smart TV either, so I guess it just doesn't have an EPG!

[sub]

You'd probably need to look in that xmltv.xml to see if Circle is there and has listings.

[ChemSciGuy]

I had it mostly going, but most channels in the US only give you like 6 hours of listings, which is next to useless, and I never got around to coming back and spending the day or so more time required to finish it.

Ultimately if I had finished the ATSC OTA it was still going to be useless, and still need you to switch over to Schedules Direct or XMLTV to get a useful amount of TV listings.

I had the same problem as the OP using a LibreElec/HauppaugeTuner/NextPVR setup so I think I got my answer and can stop trying to update the OTA EPG.
I'm not sure I understand why you thought it was useless.  I started with the Kaffeine player and to me having the 6 hours of guide was sufficient to see if you wanted to setup a manual recording or a reoccurring recording.
Anyway, if you change your mind I think it would be a great upgrade.  I'm sure it would help noobs like me jumping into the deep end of cable cutting.

[mvallevand]

Best to start with the wiki, there is a whole page on the North American guide. For me over half my stations don't have any OTA data and a few only have limited now next. For LE I did write a NextPVR specific update to zap2xml that get much better data for PVR.

Martin