EPG scheduling difficulties

[tgrud]

I'm new so if this is the wrong place for this let me know. I just set up my NPVR on Win 10 PC and most of it seems to be running fine except the scheduling for epg updates does not seem to be functioning. I set it to update at 2:00am each morning yet when I go to check the recording schedule there are no titles or descriptions in the guide. I have to do the update guide at the channels list myself. Maybe I missed something in my setup. Any help would be appreciated.
Also, and this may be related, some recordings wont allow me to do season pass setup. A few have but not all.

[sub]

What EPG source are you using?

The DVB/ATSC EPG is next to useless in the US, since they only transmit a few hours of listings...so if your EPG update is happening at 2am, you'd only have listings to like 8am or something, and after that it'd be empty again. Realistically, you'd need a better guide than the broadcast ATSC guide in the states. Most people in that part of the world use a Schedules Direct account for their listings. This gives them a few weeks of listings, artwork, season/episode numbers etc.

[elstaci]

A few months ago, TV GUIDE and ZAP2IT changed the way the schedules are downloaded by XMLTV format. It only shows the National programs and not the local Sub-Channels programming.

So, I use both DVB/ATSC channels for the local sub-channels and XMLTV for the National programming which excludes the Sub-Channels. SUB is correct. It only downloads about 6 hrs worth of programming per day and NPVR EPG Update can only be run once a day through Settings. So what I did, I created a TASK SCHEDULE to make NPVR to run the EPG Updater under "Settings - Channels" once every hour every day.

So far I haven't noticed any issues with my computer running Windows 10 by having the NPVR Task running every hour every day. Now I have a Full EPG schedule in NPVR and KODI.

Under the Task schedule you are creating under "ACTIONS" you need to input this data "C:\Program Files (x86)\NPVR\NextPVR.exe" -updateepgonly

the "-updateepgonly" is the switch that allows Windows to run the EPG Update in NPVR Settings - Channels. Also under TASK Schedule being created check mark the box the says "Run with Highest Privileges" . This will ensure that the NPVR will have all the permissions to run the task.

Now I have a full EPG schedule every day for local Sub-channels and around one week or more of National Programming in NPVR and KODI.

[sub]

So what I did, I created a TASK SCHEDULE to make NPVR to run the EPG Updater under "Settings - Channels" once every hour every day.

Keep in mind, updating the EPG ties up that tuner, and it can't be used for anything else, so depending on the order things happen, you could get a recording failure etc.

[elstaci]

Keep in mind, updating the EPG ties up that tuner, and it can't be used for anything else, so depending on the order things happen, you could get a recording failure etc.

I am a little confused but isn't the DBA data downloaded from the internet without using a Tuner into NPVR program? I always thought the Tuner was in use only when playing "LIVE TV" or recording a program. Sorry I am not very knowledgeable about how NPVR inner workings are.

I have been using Task Schedule now for more than two months and haven't had a recording failure, of course , I have a two tuner card installed which could be the reason why.

EPG Updating probably takes no more than a few minutes at best, wouldn't the recording start as soon as the Tuner, if being used, is free again?

The reason I ask that question is because if I should happen to restart my computer while NPVR is recording a program, as soon as Windows boots up it starts recording the program that it was recording before. So under recording I have the same program twice recorded. This happens whenever NPVR recording is interrupted not only by rebooting the computer.

[sub]

I am a little confused but isn't the DBA data downloaded from the internet without using a Tuner into NPVR program? I always thought the Tuner was in use only when playing "LIVE TV" or recording a program. Sorry I am not very knowledgeable about how NPVR inner workings are.

If you're channels are set to get their EPG from XMLTV or Schedules Direct, then it doesn't use a tuner - this info comes from a file or the internet.

When you've got a channel set to get to get it's EPG from 'DVB/ATSC EPG', this does use a tuner. It effectively tunes to that frequencies and extracts the TV listings from the broadcast.

I have been using Task Schedule now for more than two months and haven't had a recording failure, of course , I have a two tuner card installed which could be the reason why.

EPG Updating probably takes no more than a few minutes at best, wouldn't the recording start as soon as the Tuner, if being used, is free again?

Dual tuners will make it less likely you'll see problems. Basically, if the EPG update starts, then a recording tries to start soon after, that recording will fail to start the device, and look for another free tuner. If the recording had started first, and the EPG updated started, the EPG update will fail, and wont happen at that time.

The 'DVB/ATSC EPG' option is much more useful in other parts of the world, where you get a week or so of listings from the broadcast EPG. You can easily run it at 4pm, or some other time you're unlikely to be recording, and have listings for the rest of the week.

[elstaci]

Thanks for the clarification on the use of the Tuners.

I wish DVB/ATSC would be like the way it is in other nations. That way I can set up NPVR to update once a day instead of every hour and delete the Task schedule. but most of my recordings are 50% local Sub-channel programs that come on at various times during a 24 hour period. Thus the need to update every hour since Task Scheduler doesn't assign a longer period of time like every 6 hours. That would be ideal since it would be updating just 4 times a day instead of 24 times like now.

[BrettB]

Thanks for the clarification on the use of the Tuners.

I wish DVB/ATSC would be like the way it is in other nations. That way I can set up NPVR to update once a day instead of every hour and delete the Task schedule. but most of my recordings are 50% local Sub-channel programs that come on at various times during a 24 hour period. Thus the need to update every hour since Task Scheduler doesn't assign a longer period of time like every 6 hours. That would be ideal since it would be updating just 4 times a day instead of 24 times like now.

Just pay the $25/year and subscribe to Schedules Direct. It is well worth the money to get quality guide data and save you hassles!