UK DVB EPG incomplete

[PhilW]

Hi there.

This may be a newbie question, but I am having problems getting my epg to fully populate.
I am using a Hauppauge Nova PCI DVB-T 90002 card, and have tried using configuring the dvb epg several times. Just when I think it is sorted, the next time it refreshes (7:00am) I get a patchy epg, with single services missing huge blocks of events.
I tried the Bleb and xmltv epgs but they do not appear to cover all channels (ie radio is not covered).

What is the best way to get comprehensive EPG data within the UK ?

Cheers

Phil

[funkybro_uk]

Hi there.

This may be a newbie question, but I am having problems getting my epg to fully populate.
I am using a Hauppauge Nova PCI DVB-T 90002 card, and have tried using configuring the dvb epg several times. Just when I think it is sorted, the next time it refreshes (7:00am) I get a patchy epg, with single services missing huge blocks of events.
I tried the Bleb and xmltv epgs but they do not appear to cover all channels (ie radio is not covered).

What is the best way to get comprehensive EPG data within the UK ?

Cheers

Phil

DVB EPG is fine. Just switch off the "load complete EPG" option, cant' remember the wording. It's a checkbox underneath where you enter tuner info.

funkybro

[Chris.Day]

This problem affects standalone DTT PVRs too. It's nearly impossible to get the data in one go without it having gaps.

[bgowland]

There is an option in config.xml...

<DvbEpgHarvestDuration>120</DvbEpgHarvestDuration>

This is the time (in seconds) that GB-PVR spends on each transmitter MUX reading whatever EPG data it can 'harvest'. You could try upping it to 150 or even 180 seconds. That might help.

NOTE - as ever, don't use Wordpad or anything fancy to edit the XML file. Plain old Notepad is safer.

Alternatively, to answer the following...

What is the best way to get comprehensive EPG data within the UK ?

I use Alan Birtles XMLTV RT (Radio Times) grabber. See http://www.birtles.org.uk Highly recommended.

Cheers,
Brian

[PhilW]

Thanks for the suggestions - I disabled the "load complete epg" option, and edited the config.xml as suggested to set the timeout to 180.

This morning the guide is still missing huge chunks of BBC2 and BBC1 ...

Any more ideas ?

Does gbpvr not try and fill in gaps in the background ?

Regards

PhilW

[hardrinseron]

Hi Philw,

I had the same problem when i moved to the latest release. Sub told me he totally reworked the epg update process to make it much quicker. The downside is that it seems to miss bits when it updates. I've fixed the problem by changing the harvest setting to 240 and disabling the complete epg reload option. I did try setting the harvest setting to double that but found it made little difference. Anyway, the first time it runs you will still see gaps but give it a couple of days and you'll find that the gaps will fill in. I now find i have to go forwards at least 5 days now before i find any gaps which works ok for me.
I hope this helps.
HardrinseRon

[johnnygal]

Phil,

I'm fairly new to gbpvr also and found the same problem with over the air program guide. It doesn't seem that reliable.

I swicthed to using XMLTV, grabbing the guides from a combination of radiotimes and bleb with Alan Birtles grabber (http://www.birtles.org.uk/xmltv/). Although the channel list from bleb doesn't show the radio channels, you can add them manually to bleb-channels.xml file in the gbpvr "root" directory. If you want to see the filenames you have to enter for each channel when adding them manually, have a look at http://www.bleb.org/tv/data/listings/0/

Since I changed to using XMLTV, the guide has been working great giving me 13 days of programs, instead of the (patchy) 7 days of DVB EPG.

(Also, using XMLTV seems to fix a bug in the Web Interface Program Guide when using DVB EPG - see thread http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=11742)

Good luck,
John

[PhilW]

I downloaded xmltvgui, but even after configuring it to fetch from radio times and bleb, it fails to find any data ! I must have missed a config option surely ?

I have posted this question on birtles page as well, but as there seems to be some expertise on this board as well ...

Its output is as follows :

10:47:47 - Starting pass 1 of grabber UK_RT
10:47:47 - Please note that all data downloaded with this grabber is copyright of the Radio Times website (http://www.radiotimes.com) and the use of the data is restricted to personal use only. Also be aware that this service may not remain free and in future may become a paid-for service
10:47:47 - Clearing cache
10:47:47 - Finished pass 1 of grabber UK_RT
10:47:47 - 0 programs found
10:47:47 - Starting pass 1 of grabber UK_Bleb
10:47:47 - Clearing cache
10:47:47 - Finished pass 1 of grabber UK_Bleb
10:47:47 - 0 programs found
10:47:47 - Starting pass 1 of processor UK_RT_ALT_RT
10:47:47 - Finished pass 1 of processor UK_RT_ALT_RT
10:47:47 - Starting pass 1 of processor UK_RT_Free_Limit
10:47:47 - Finished pass 1 of processor UK_RT_Free_Limit
10:47:47 - Combining Grabber Programs
10:47:47 - Finished Combining Grabber Programs
10:47:47 - Writing XML
10:47:47 - XML Written

[PhilW]

Doh !! Didn't see the channels button !

I'll get my coat ...

[funkybro_uk]

Phil,

I'm fairly new to gbpvr also and found the same problem with over the air program guide. It doesn't seem that reliable.

I swicthed to using XMLTV, grabbing the guides from a combination of radiotimes and bleb with Alan Birtles grabber (http://www.birtles.org.uk/xmltv/). Although the channel list from bleb doesn't show the radio channels, you can add them manually to bleb-channels.xml file in the gbpvr "root" directory. If you want to see the filenames you have to enter for each channel when adding them manually, have a look at http://www.bleb.org/tv/data/listings/0/

Since I changed to using XMLTV, the guide has been working great giving me 13 days of programs, instead of the (patchy) 7 days of DVB EPG.

(Also, using XMLTV seems to fix a bug in the Web Interface Program Guide when using DVB EPG - see thread http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=11742)

Good luck,
John

DVB EPG is the only option for me... when it works, it's great. I have used XMLTV in the past, and had problems connecting to the Radio Times server. XMLTV is also quite messy when mapping the listings to TV channels, this is all very easy using the DVB EPG. Also, any EPG that doesn't provide info for the DVB radio stations is no use to me.

If you're having problems populating the EPG initially, then disable Complete EPG Reload, and just scan again - more gaps will fill in every time.

funkybro