New Modification to MediaPortal: Make TVServer act like a Sky Box.

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › New Modification to MediaPortal: Make TVServer act like a Sky Box.

Benoire

2799 posts

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#124641 15-Jul-2013 09:27

Morning all,

DJBlu, one of the awesome devs on the mediaportal team has developed a series of modifications to the TVEngine that allows it to act like a set top box.

First things first. This mod WILL NOT allow you to watch Sky NZ without a valid sub card, this program on its own cannot do that. Also this is for DVB-S SKY NZ (including FTA HD channels) not MHEG-5 data (yet).

I've been having trouble getting a simple solution to replace my crappy mysky box that will get the HD channel data (not just now/next), the channel numbers, channel groups AND to keep them updated as and when Sky move things around (currently had to manually move channels, rescan and renumber). Thanks to DJBlu's awesome work he has amended his Sky UK plugin to work in New Zealand.

As of right now, you can get all the Sky NZ channels 7 day program guide, you can get Sky channel numbers, you can automatically have them in the right channel groups AND if you wish you can have them updated so that if sky move things around they get shifted automatically.

Without further ado, here is the link:

http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/custom-data-grabber-including-sky-uk-channel-epg-grabber.96767/

Follow the instructions carefully as his mods require certain actions to be completed on install to make it work.

As of this morning my TVServer is now the same as a sky box (barring the call home functionality for Box Office booking or interactive) and more impressively is that it can Series Link using the correct data from the satellite stream...

You'll also need to run his modified client to get the series link option but the client is fully compatible with other plugins. This is now built on 1.4 so is current.

IF you're interested in using this please check it out. Remember devs such as him and MM1352000 do this in their spare time so please be gentle with the questions. If you use it and think it is for you please 'like' the thread... The more people that like his work, the more opportunity that this approach might be included in future MP updates automatically.

If you have any questions, I can attempt to answer them here first.

Cheers,

Chris

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

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#862187 19-Jul-2013 15:20

Nice post.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

Benoire

2799 posts

Uber Geek

#862214 19-Jul-2013 15:47

Thanks :-) It's the ability of devs and contributers to mod MP that makes it such a joy to use. MP has the potential to rival standard Set top boxes if approaches such as this where made a bit more main stream and if I can help promote that I will.

For reference, he is also working on full MHEG-5 grabbing which would be of massive benefit to MP users in NZ and the UK. I would imagine it would be another plugin in a similar vein to the Sky ones.

mcraenz

1140 posts

Uber Geek

#862323 19-Jul-2013 18:37

Is the just an epg grabber? The current epg collector can already do this. Is the main advantage of this that it integrate directly with TVServer?

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Benoire

2799 posts

Uber Geek

#862342 19-Jul-2013 19:07

Hi McCraenz,

It's primarly a grabber yes, but it is integrated with TVserver directly, can find all the channel numbers, can automatically delete or add channels as Sky change them and it autocreates and groups the channels in to the correct groups (i.e. Entertainment, movies etc).

Without this TVServer requires manual work to do to stuff as its not automated.

This can also do series link like a skybox as it reads all the same codes for programs.

Simply put, EPGcollector can do the EPG / Channel numbers but everything else is manual... This mod allows you to have it all automated.

CYaBro

4590 posts

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#862444 20-Jul-2013 00:46

Will it work with argus tv?

I can see some benefits of the automated channel move / delete etc but really how often does that happen?
You can do a series link type recording in MP without anything special so what makes the series link with this plugin different?

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Benoire

2799 posts

Uber Geek

#862445 20-Jul-2013 01:05

It actually uses the same data that the sky box uses so it will only record the program once, even if it repeats of the few days... It's simply press and go rather than lots of rules.

Yeah it will work with Argus, although I don't think the channel moves will work and I'm not sure about the LCNs either as Argus seems to have an issue with importing them from recorder/tvserver in to scheduler.

mcraenz

1140 posts

Uber Geek

#862742 20-Jul-2013 20:43

Benoire: Hi McCraenz,

It's primarly a grabber yes, but it is integrated with TVserver directly, can find all the channel numbers, can automatically delete or add channels as Sky change them and it autocreates and groups the channels in to the correct groups (i.e. Entertainment, movies etc).

Without this TVServer requires manual work to do to stuff as its not automated.

This can also do series link like a skybox as it reads all the same codes for programs.

Simply put, EPGcollector can do the EPG / Channel numbers but everything else is manual... This mod allows you to have it all automated.

Awesome. Thanks for the explanation. I'll have to give it a go.

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CYaBro

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#870636 2-Aug-2013 12:38

Another quick question, will this automatically add, and then remove, the extra channels for things like Commonwealth Games or Olympics that Sky turn on during these events?

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Benoire

2799 posts

Uber Geek

#870656 2-Aug-2013 13:09

Hi CYaBro,

Yes it does. As it updates the program guide, depending on frequency of check, it will also scan for changed channels/groups. If it finds them either missing or added it will delete / add as required. So, when Sky Sport 4 - 10 where added, it would have found them automatically, got the program guide and sorted them in to the right group with the correct channel number. Once removed, it would then do the reverse.

Mine checks every hour for EPG updates which includes channels, but you could make it a smaller or larger time frame.

At the moment DJBlu is investigation a duplication of channels in the TV Server (only manifests itself as extra channels , not repeated in the guide). It is to do with channels being added to the database that then gets corrupted... Easiest way for the moment is to disable channel add/removing if it causes problems once scanned for the channels.