EPG Update Help

[NumberFive]

Hi,

I've trying to debug some of my EPG update issues. Just wondering if I could get some advice.

My EPG update is scheduled for 4.20 AM. Looking at the logs it starts an update at 4.22 AM, and seems to finish circa 4.28 AM, spending a little bit over 1 minute per multiplex.

The thing is, I have 10 DVB-T/T2 multiplexes (Freeview (UK) and Saorview (Ireland)) that should be scanned, plus some Freesat, and some XMLTV. I appreciate it's not a very standard setup.

Does each multiplex only get scanned once, and allocated to one tuner (in my case, with three DVB-T tuners, 3 muxes are scanned in parallel)?

Regardless of the multiplex, I find that when I use "out of process" recording, the EPG can be left quite patchy. When I disable "out of process" recording, I don't have this problem. However, the "out of process" logs (attached) do seem to indicate a lot of EPG entries are being found.

I'll be upping the EPG scan time to 120 seconds tonight, see if that helps.

Are there other things I should look out for?

Thanks

[sub]

Does each multiplex only get scanned once, and allocated to one tuner (in my case, with three DVB-T tuners, 3 muxes are scanned in parallel)?

It does them one frequency at a time, so won't use multiple tuners in parallel.

Can you post logs showing a manual 'update epg' and an automated epg, from the same time of the day so I can compare? I'd suggest doing an 'empty epg' and restarting the recording service between each (to reset the logs). You'll need to change your update time to force it to do the automated update.

[NumberFive]

Hi sub,

Just wanted to post an update. I tried doing as you said at 1030 am today, and frustratingly the EPG update was successful in both modes! Will try and reproduce the problem and report back.

[Lao Pan]

Hi,

I've trying to debug some of my EPG update issues. Just wondering if I could get some advice.

My EPG update is scheduled for 4.20 AM. Looking at the logs it starts an update at 4.22 AM, and seems to finish circa 4.28 AM, spending a little bit over 1 minute per multiplex.

Are there other things I should look out for?

Are you sure that the computer is not going back to sleep - I think 6 mins was the default in windows 7, 2 mins in 8.1. You need to set the system unattended sleep timeout to a couple of minutes longer than the epg update takes - if the option isn't available in power options there is a reg file I have posted a few times on this forum to add the option - works from Vista and up.
NPVR doesn't seem to keep the computer awake for epg updates, just recordings.

[NumberFive]

Thanks Lao Pan, but I keep the machine on 24/7 at the moment. Will keep in mind when I start setting the machine to sleep.

[NumberFive]

Hi sub,

The Automatic EPG update failed last night, logs attached. I've included all the logs I've taken thus far, I hope my file naming makes sense.

[NumberFive]

The Automatic EPG update at 2 am was very patchy, missing shows all over the place. I did a manual update about 12 noon and the EPG is now full.

When I do an "in process" Automatic EPG update at 2 am (or 4 am as it is mostly set to) it isn't patchy.

Thinking out loud, it wouldn't be a permission problem with the ndigitalhost service?

[NumberFive]

Added some more logs.

One ZIP contains Automatic EPG update failure at 2 am (very patchy), and another ZIP contains Automatic EPG update success at 1040 am.

[Lao Pan]

Added some more logs.

One ZIP contains Automatic EPG update failure at 2 am (very patchy), and another ZIP contains Automatic EPG update success at 1040 am.

Several years ago I gradually moved the EPG update time later and later as I was having the same problems here on the Mendip Transmitter in the West of England.
It now updates at 05:15 hrs and usually gets a full epg - I never did find a reason, are the databases at the epg providers updated in the small hours?
It seemed to be worse during Holiday Periods - maybe the Guy who worked nights updating the epg was on Holiday and it was left for the day shift to do. Who knows!

[NumberFive]

Thanks Lao Pan, I'll try setting it to 5:15 am tonight and see if it helps. Of course the odd thing is that the "in process" EPG update does work at 2 am.

It wouldn't be something like if "in process" has gaps, it uses old entries from the database, but if "out of process" has gaps, it replaces the existing entry with "(no show details)"?

Oh, also just had a thought, the same issue occurs with Saorview (the Irish Freeview). So possibly nothing to do with the time, but I'll try it anyway.