EPG OTA update unreliable

[Bobins]

I have a challenge with OTA EPG update being unreliable. (May be coincidence but seems to have got a lot worse since update to 3.3.8). It used to happen once every couple of weeks, now its happening every other day

Some days I get a full weeks EPG for all my mapped channels. Some days some of the channels have one or two listings and then nothing after that.

I have a selection of channels which are DVBT (FreeView) and some which are DVBS (Freesat) and some which are both.

If I look at the logs I might see 250 listings for say CBS Reality on one day then 20 the day afterwards (i.e. the listings are incomplete on the 2nd day).

On channels with both DVBT and DVBS I may see 120 listings for Channel 4 HD from DVBT but a different figure when it scans DVBS. If the first figure is 120 and the second one is say 6...I only see 6 listings on the listings page.

What's the logic that's applied to update the EPG when a channel exists in both DVBT and DVBS?

What would cause the channel listing from Freesat to be so erratic?

I don't think I have any signal strength / Quality issues on Freesat as recordings and the separate feed to the TV are all fine,

Log of typical EPG updates attached. (updates at 02:30)

[Lao Pan]

Couple of Things

I have found on DVB-T on the Mendip Transmitter - can't say for the rest, that EPG updates in the small hours are very unreliable possibly while the database is updated etc.
I now set my update for 05:15 which works most of the time. The coincidence with 3.3.8 release could be the clock change on the same weekend.

The other problem is the Unattended Sleep Timer in Windows is either 2 mins or 6 mins depending on which Win OS you have (NPVR keeps the computer awake for recordings but doesn't appear to do the same for EPG updates) My Tuning ini has 9 mux's so needs at least 12 mins to do an update - minute per mux plus wakeup and processing time,with Freesat on top you would probably need more.
If you don't have the System Unattended Wake Timeout setting under advanced power options in Windows there is a reg file I have posted previously that will add the setting - its also on the web.

[Bobins]

Thank you for your reply. The system is set to never sleep so I can't see the Sleep/Wake timer being associated with the problem. I have tried a later time and still have the same issue.

It does seem that either the full EPG data isn't always there or the system stops picking it up before it's all collected. I wonder if the 60 seconds is long enough?

Perhaps Sub could comment on this and my logic question above?

[Bobins]

Well before the update the problem happened occasionally.....since the update, it's almost every day. Something has changed with the update that's affecting the EPG update from FreeSat. If I manually update the EPG to try and correct, the results are inconsistent (i.e. if I scan say 3 times in the space of a few minutes, the number of listings found is different on each scan and the number of queued recordings changes due to the changes in EPG)

How can I determine why this is happening?

Is Sub around at the moment to comment?

[sub]

Is Sub around at the moment to comment?

I've been meaning to come back an look at this thread, and try adding some logging to work out what's happening etc, but I've been pretty snowed under with day-job stuff the last few days.

[Bobins]

Thanks Sub.

Working in IT (Infrastructure rather than application), I know all about what the day job pressure can be like and appreciate your commitment over the past years to this time consuming "Hobby" :-)

[johnsonx42]

I wonder if disabling "out of process digital recording" will cure this for Bobins as it has for others? I know there's still no explanation as to why doing this has any effect.

[Bobins]

I hadn't disabled it as Sub previously commented it was there for a good reason. What is impacted if I disable it?

[sub]

Definitely try disabling it to see if it helps.

Some people have needed it disabled to get a good EPG update. I'm not entirely sure why though.

[Bobins]

Well I disabled "out of process digital recording" and the first day's EPG data looked ok but today half of it was missing :-(

The better half tried 3 manual updates during the day and all have produced different amounts of EPG data. After each update the number of queued recurring recordings changes dependant on the completeness of the EPG.

This implies changing the setting hasn't helped unfortunately.