EPF Update process - Zap2it???? consuming resource

[DrGno]

I'm doing my first install of GB-PVR. I entered my config info, exited and then restarted config to update my EPG. The programme listing were retrieved and since then config.exe has been on a rampage. So far it has been running for 1 hour and has racked up 57 min of CPU time and 69M of memory and growing.

Am I impatient or is there a problem???

thanks

[sub]

I'm assuming you're using zap2it. The first EPG update pulls down 10 days worth of listings. Each subsequent brings down only a day or to so works much quicker than the initial update. This can also consume quite a bit of memory in this initial zap2it update.

It does depend on the speed of you network and CPU and the number of channels in your channel lineup. On my machine I can update the EPG with about 80 channels in a few minutes.

[DrGno]

Thanks for the quick reply. I am using Zap2it. The there are a lot of channels if it is using the digital listing for Comcast Cable. Otherwise there are about 80 useable analogue channels.

I have a 733Mhz PIII and my cable IP link delivers between 1-3Mbs.

I guess I just need to be patient.

thanks again.

[sub]

You can edit your channel lineup on the labs.zap2it.com site. If you disable any channels you dont recieve, then GB-PVR wont need to download them, and in-turn they'll be process much quicker.

[DrGno]

It just finished so all I needed was a little patience.

thanks for the excellent support.

[Steerpike]

I too had a similar experience. I installed the program, signed up for zap2it, did an 'update', and first simply thought the program had hung.  I later noticed the CPU was at 100%, and I assumed the install / config had gone ballistic.  However, I waited, and after about an hour, the thing completed.  

I have a pentium 4 1.6 GHz, 512 Megs RAM, Cable modem that runs typically at up to 4 MBPs.  

I will say that the status screen tells me that it is 'updating'.... but it may be worth adding stronger words about the length of time, and/or the fact that CPU utilization may go sky high! One does not typically see high utilization when downloading stuff from the web!  

But once downloaded, it's cool to be able to see all those listings!  

Is there any way to schedule a recording without having the guide info?  In my case, I'm using composite input, and I set the cable box manually (may get the usb remote changer, but not yet!.  So really, I just wanted to quickly say, 'record from the one and only source at 8am for 30 minutes tomorrow'! I could not find such functionality.

Also noticed, FYI, that zap2it has multiple 'logins' it would seem. I initially picked the wrong lineup and wanted to correct it. I went to 'http://www.zap2it.com' and clicked on 'tv listings'. I was asked to signin, but my just-created ID did not work. I just now saw the link above for 'labs.zap2it.com' and my sign-in there works. I kinda assumed that my signup would have worked 'across the board' on their site but obviously not.

It says, on their site, that my subscription will expire 2005/01/10 (is that European notation or US notation?!?!?). Will there be a charge after that?

[sub]

I does say it'll take a while, and for most people this initial update completes in a few minutes. It basically downloads a big XML file, then processes that file by reading all the channels and inserting them into the GB-PVR database, then reading all the programmes and inserting them into the GB-PVR database. The status message on the screen also changes a few times to let you know where its up to (downloading/processing/saving). It really just comes down to the number of channels in your line up, the speed of you network and the speed of your CPU.

Quote[/b] ]Is there any way to schedule a recording without having the guide info? In my case, I'm using composite input, and I set the cable box manually (may get the usb remote changer, but not yet!. So really, I just wanted to quickly say, 'record from the one and only source at 8am for 30 minutes tomorrow'! I could not find such functionality.

On the recordings screen you can use the "Manual Rec" button.

First, you'll need to setup an extra capture source configured for the composite input. Manually add a channel called something like "composite". This will show up as a channel in the manual recording screen.

[Steerpike]

Thanks for the tip!

I picked the wrong lineup first time through ... (I live on the outskirts of town, and my cable is provided by the adjacent town, but the differences are subtle ... anyway, I need to correct that.

So I logged onto labs.zap2it.com, and changed my lineup. Then I go into GB-PVR config, and edit my source. I click on 'Empty EPG', and click through the warnings. I exit the program for good measure. I re-enter the config module, but the "channels" display grid is still loaded, with the 'wrong' channel lineup. I was expecting the 'empty EPG' action to clear out the channel display, but it didn't.

Assuming that maybe I need to 'replace' the data, I click on 'update EPG' to see if that works ... about an hour later, update completes ... (345 channels!. Exit the program and re-enter, for good measure ... but when I go back into the
'Edit Recording Source' screen, the old, 'wrong' channels are still there. But if I scroll all the way to the bottom of the 300 or so entries, I do see some 'new' entries for the 'different' channels - for example, I see Channel Name '46 LIFEP', Source Channel '979'.

So how do I clear out the 'bad' entries ....? I realy want to wipe out that list and re-download from scratch.

I guess I could simply 'Remove' the entire source profile and recreate it ... and go through another 1 hour+ download of the EPG!

Thanks!

[sub]

Empty EPG just deletes the shows associated with the channels. It doesn't delete the channels themselves.

The easiest way to do what you describe, is delete the capture source and recreate it. Its also worth going into the zap2it site and editing your lineup to only include the channels you recieve or are interested in having listed. I'm sure there would be a lot of crap channels you never use. This greatly improves the download and processing time.

[Steerpike]

Due to having selected the wrong timezone (not accounting for daylight savings), and concluding that, even 5 days after correcting the timezone, the 'guide' does not seem to correct itself, I am once again doing an 'empty' and 'update' of the EPG.  

This time, I'm paying more attention.  I notice that the 'downloading' phase is very fast (should be, I have fast cable modem).  The time (and CPU) is consumed by the 'Processing Zap2it listings' phase.  Even after de-selecting some channels on the zap2it site in my profile, it's taking over an hour at 100% CPU to update.  This is on my 512 MB RAM, 1.6 GHz P4 system.  

This got me thinking .... I support an Oracle database product at work as part of my 'day job', and one of the classic complaints we get from time to time is that some queries take forever to complete.  I work with development to reproduce the problem, and usually they get the query to execute in a second or less .... sometimes by re-writing the query ("inner joins" instead of "outer joins" for example), or most often by simply creating an index.  Adding an index usually cuts a 'tens of minutes' query down to a sub-second query.

I mention this because I can't imagine the processing of the zap2it data should take over 1 hour on a decent machine.  At work, we have millions of records in the database and queries don't take this long ... so could it be that there is a missing index somewhere?  I believe you are using MS Access for this; I'm not an access programmer but I would assume indexes and other 'tuning aids' exist.  I'll take a look at the code if you can send me an extract, perhaps? We have one access expert at work who I could also hit up.  

I notice from searching posts that a lot of newbies struggle with the EPG download ... it's not 'typical' for a program to take over an hour to process anything (well, encoding MPEG2 with TMPG perhaps!, so the assumption is, something is 'hung'.  And until you get a good EPG download, the program does not behave well.