EPG update at Kodi (or Windows) startup

[niconpvr]

Hi,

I am running Kodi 18.2 and Nextpvr 4.2.4 on a single Windows 10 PC with a DVB-T tuner and a French TNT TV cable feed. This PC gets started and stopped several times a day but it doesn't run 24 hours a day.

Everything is working fine but currently the EPG information is almost never populated when I run Kodi (or the Nextpvr Windows client) because there only seems to be an option for programming it to update once a day at a given hour and if the PC isn't running at that hour, or it's not yet that time of day, then you're out of luck. If I run the Nextpvr Windows client, click on "update epg" in the Channels menu (which takes about 15 seconds to complete), then look at EPG from the Nextpvr client or Kodi, the EPG info is populated ok.

Is there a way to trigger an EPG update at Kodi startup? Ideally this update would start in the background, without blocking Kodi, and display a pop up message when it's complete and allow the EPG results to be visible when you go into the TV section after that (although I'm not sure the Kodi Nextpvr addon would be capable of seeing those changes unless you restart Kodi?).

If the above is not possible I guess the next best thing would be to find a way to trigger an EPG update via the Nextpvr service at Windows startup (and also with a single click at any time later on, or maybe every hour)...would that be possible?

Thanks and regards. Nicholas.

[mvallevand]

How many days of data are you getting in 15 seconds?

Martin

[niconpvr]

Hi,

It returns only a few hours worth of EPG data (I'd say about 4 hours max depending on the channel).

My statement about it taking 15 seconds to update was misleading because of the following:

In the Misc 2 menu, Advanced EPG setup, I have 8 different scanning frequencies (these correspond to groups of channels I think?) but because the EPG update was taking a long time when I was testing I only had the first frequency in the list checked on and the Seconds per Frequency set to 10.

If I put a check mark next to all 8 frequencies, and set the Seconds per frequency to, say, 70, the EPG update takes about 10 minutes, it still only returns a few hours worth of EPG data but this time for almost all the available channels instead of just the first few.

I'm not sure how you determine the appropriate value for the Seconds per frequency setting.

Regards, Nicholas.

[sub]

NextPVR defaults to doing it's EPG update very early in the morning to cause the least disruption possible, since often users get their guide data from a tuner (DVB EPG), and this can take several minutes, and would mean the tuner couldn't be used for live tv or recording during this time. If this was to happen when Kodi was starting, it'd mean the user would be unable to access tv during this time. For some DVB-S satellite tuners, this can take 20 minutes.

This PC gets started and stopped several times a day but it doesn't run 24 hours a day.

Most people use standby/hibernate when they shutdown this type of machine, so that NextPVR has the ability to wake the machines to record whenever it needs. This also means NextPVR can wake the machine to do that overnight update.

If the above is not possible I guess the next best thing would be to find a way to trigger an EPG update via the Nextpvr service at Windows startup (and also with a single click at any time later on, or maybe every hour)...would that be possible?

If you create a C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts\PostStartup.bat file, it'll be run when the NextPVR service is started. In there you could run "nextpvr.exe -updateepgonly" it'll do an epg update. Likewise, you can use the windows scheduler to run that command any time you want.

[sub]

If I put a check mark next to all 8 frequencies, and set the Seconds per frequency to, say, 70, the EPG update takes about 10 minutes, it still only returns a few hours worth of EPG data but this time for almost all the available channels instead of just the first few.

That must be all that is available in your broadcasts. Most countries are luckier and get a week or so of listings.

[BrettB]

Most people use standby/hibernate when they shutdown this type of machine, so that NextPVR has the ability to wake the machines to record whenever it needs. This also means NextPVR can wake the machine to do that overnight update.

However, if he's only using OTA guide data and that data only contains 4 hours maximum (as he stated), then it's like the OTA guide info in the US and basically worthless for a DVR system. Even it had the system do the overnight EPG update, it would only get data for the early morning hours.

According to http://www.schedulesdirect.org/regions SechedulesDirect supports France. So the user's best bet would most like be to subscribe to SD and be done with it. Then everything will "just work."

[sub]

However, if he's only using OTA guide data and that data only contains 4 hours maximum (as he stated), then it's like the OTA guide info in the US and basically worthless for a DVR system. Even it had the system do the overnight EPG update, it would only get data for the early morning hours.

Yes, that's true. I was really just explaining why it works the way it does.

According to http://www.schedulesdirect.org/regions SechedulesDirect supports France. So the user's best bet would most like be to subscribe to SD and be done with it. Then everything will "just work."

Yep, I'd investigate that or if there are any xmltv sources available. Being limited to 4 hours of guide data is next to useless.

[niconpvr]

Hi,

Thanks for all your answers. I've created a bat file which calls nextpvr with the -updateepgonly switch and I'm evaluating the results.

It would indeed be more useful to have, say, a week of EPG and be able to program recordings easily within that timeframe, so I will investigate the alternatives EPG solutions you have suggested. One advantage of that approach is also that I wouldn't need to update the EPG as often.

At the simplest level, however, like with a regular TV, I would just like to pull up a TV client on the PC and within that interface be able to see what's currently showing and maybe what's on next, so for that usage the 4 hours of EPG I currently have would seem sufficient. Achieving that 4 hour rolling schedule is not as straightforward as you would think, though. I'm not sure I understand at what point in time a given channel makes the next few hours of EPG available...some channels don't always seem to update as time moves forward. Maybe the EPG I have on my broadcast is just rubbish and I should forget about trying to make it work. What's weird is that when I still had a regular TV hooked up to the same cable broadcast I didn't seem to have any trouble with the EPG.

[mvallevand]

There is a good post here for xmltv https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threa...ml.137808/ but integration with Kodi is difficult in the power off scenario.

Martin

[sub]

At the simplest level, however, like with a regular TV, I would just like to pull up a TV client on the PC and within that interface be able to see what's currently showing and maybe what's on next, so for that usage the 4 hours of EPG I currently have would seem sufficient.

Yep, I totally get that - but 4 hours of listings is always going to be next to useless, since most people want to be able to browser the guide and schedule recordings etc, which is pointless when you've only got a few hours of listing. It's really not worth the effort in NextPVR to try to work around this with multiple updates throughout the day. You'd be better off investigating Schedules Direct or xmltv to get a better guide data.