Big Screen EPG and WMC config HELP!

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Acrux

56 posts

Master Geek

#36946 4-Jul-2009 17:29

OK I have given up I have got Big Screen EPG install, got it downloading an epg.xml from haventech. I can see the channels and things in the channel config page. How do I now get this into Windows Media Center (Win7 7100) ? I have tried searching the forums but haven't found the answers I am needing.

So the system has two capture cards
Nova-T 500 set to tune the freeview channels
HVR-2200 set only to do AV input
Win7 (beta 7100)
Windows Media Center with Hauppage media center remote
Sky SD set top box

All channels are working perfectly channel changing, recording everything but the EPG which i think I am in the final mile of sorting if someone can give me a hint

I see on the BS channels page tick boxes for Gen (I assume it won't generate anything for a channel if this isn't ticked) so I think I should tick this for every channel? Then there is channel/Sub and Alt/channel/sub settings for each channel. I have played a bit and then done a few process and import attemps but nothing is happening.

In media center I go to edit in the guide for say channel 2, I have two channel two's one is Freeview DVB-T from a tuner and the second is from the AV input feed from a Sky box using IR blaster to change channels. If I go to edit listings on say the Sky input for TV2 it says no listings for this channel. If I scroll through 1-999 of 113 empty slots I finally get to a list of real channel names I assume put there by Big Screen?

I am confused and haven't seen any guides or documentation as to how this is supposed to be configured. I am also getting confused with some of the EPG data getting filled out by the Freeview EIT/ Now Next tables. I have seen an option to reset the Win media center database. Don't know if or why I should do this?

(yes I know I can do this all on the HVR-2200 just how it has panned out)

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636 posts

Ultimate Geek

#231460 6-Jul-2009 10:01

I would recommend enabling only the channels that you actually receive via your cards and do not enable a freeview channel and a sky channel unless they have different callsigns and names in Media Center.

Have a read through the haventech file and select only th channels/data you want. The Sky epg data for most channels actually imcludes genre and ratings which can help with colour coding the epg.

I would also recommend changing the callsign and channel name to the exact same format as listed in Media Center when you did the initial scan. So TV 3 + 1 should actually be TV3 Plus1 or TV2 is TV2 and not TV 2 or TV TWO, TVNZ SPORT EXTRA etc.

Disable all of the inband epg data and if BigScreenEPG settings don't list anything then you have to do it manually in Media Center.

If you get the callsigns and channel names mapped correctly everything else should be done automatically by Media Center and it should work flawlessly as well. Also Media Center can sometimes take a long time to refresh the EPG data. Reboots are often required to force a refresh.

Once you have BSE setup, just running it with admin rights should download, generate, and import the data.

cheers
db

Home Server: AMD Threadripper 1950X, 64GB, 56TB HDD, Define R6 Case, 10GbE, ESXi 6.7, UNRAID, NextPVR, Emby Server, Plex Server.
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Acrux

56 posts

Master Geek

#231579 6-Jul-2009 12:57

As I have been stuffing about and have things in a mess should I reset the Media Center database using the tool in BigScreen first?

A term I don't understand is Inband?

In media center I have got channel names that look like this;
1
1 TV One
2
2 TV2
3
3 TV3

I assume that the media center has got these names from freeview. I was thinking that I would rather keep any freeview duplicate channels on the freeview version rather than the sky box version. As I don't have any names in the sky channels in Media Center should I change those names to match the names in BigScreen rather than the other way around?

Also any channel numbers that don't exist in sky I was going to delete from Media Center, other than freeview channels. Actually most channels are on both now so really I an just actively choosing to delete the sky version if it exists on both platforms.Perhaps however leaving the channel numbering as it would have been in Sky so for example TVNZ6 on freeview is on ch6 but on ch16 on sky so I would delete ch16 sky and change ch6 freeview to be ch16? That way the numbering system never overlaps.

There were another few tick boxes I was unsure about in BigScreen

under advanced it asks;
Include Channel numbers in output
Include Subchannel Numbers in output

Also on the channels screen
do I need to tick any of the gen tick boxes for each channel?
do i need to change the Channel/Sub numbers away from the defaults of -1, -1?

browned

636 posts

Ultimate Geek

#231623 6-Jul-2009 13:49

Acrux: As I have been stuffing about and have things in a mess should I reset the Media Center database using the tool in BigScreen first?
A term I don't understand is Inband?
In media center I have got channel names that look like this;
1
1 TV One
2
2 TV2
3
3 TV3
I assume that the media center has got these names from freeview. I was thinking that I would rather keep any freeview duplicate channels on the freeview version rather than the sky box version. As I don't have any names in the sky channels in Media Center should I change those names to match the names in BigScreen rather than the other way around?
Also any channel numbers that don't exist in sky I was going to delete from Media Center, other than freeview channels. Actually most channels are on both now so really I an just actively choosing to delete the sky version if it exists on both platforms.Perhaps however leaving the channel numbering as it would have been in Sky so for example TVNZ6 on freeview is on ch6 but on ch16 on sky so I would delete ch16 sky and change ch6 freeview to be ch16? That way the numbering system never overlaps.
There were another few tick boxes I was unsure about in BigScreen
under advanced it asks;
Include Channel numbers in output
Include Subchannel Numbers in output
Also on the channels screen
do I need to tick any of the gen tick boxes for each channel?
do i need to change the Channel/Sub numbers away from the defaults of -1, -1?

A reset might be useful. Best option for this though is to create a system restore point of C: drive. Then under the task scheduler find the Medai Center reset as this functions better than BSE reset in Windows 7 x64 if that's what you are using.

When you go to edit the Channel EPG data in Media Center under each channel there is a Disable Inband (or Enable Inband) this is the now and next and ......... (dots) program data pulled from Freeview EIT stream. It noramly fills with dots or just looks nasty when it is enabled. It also added extra names to you list of choices in the EPG picker in Media Center. ie you will have TV One two of three times as these are listed as well. Disable them and they will go away.

Remove the extra channels you don't need or want.

Change the channel names to match Media Center. Leave Include channel numbers and Subchannel Numbers at the default (probably ticked).

I have not changed anything else from the default setup. But Niall (the BSE developer) recommends setting the channel numbers to what Media Center uses. Here is the list of the default numbers Freeview and Media Center will be using. http://www.freeviewnz.tv/whats_on_freeview/channels

Cheers
db

Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#231652 6-Jul-2009 14:24

I am sure when I signed up there was a link to the documentation? Was not able to find it again with a quick look but there was a full readme that is is a good idea to work though the first time. It is quite a lot to take in but saves a lot of pain in the long run.

Anyone else got the link to it?

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Acrux

56 posts

Master Geek

#231666 6-Jul-2009 14:44

When I signed up there was no link to doco's and I haven't been able to find any. Hence my fumbling about in the dark and asking, to those you have read it, silly questions :-)

I had about ten minutes before work and tried this.
Ticking Gen on the channels I want in BS
Leaving the channel names in BS alone
Not ticking any inport channel numbers in BS

In Media Center I did this
Renamed TV2 to TV 2 and TV3 to TV 3
Deleted the Sky versions of TV 1, 2, 3

Ran the import in BS

Now for the first time I have seen (on those three channels) a EPG in Media center that continues for a few days and has pictures (thumbnails) of some of the programs on the Freeview channels TV 1, 2, 3

Didn't have time to do any more channels so don't know if I have it sussed for sure.

Acrux

56 posts

Master Geek

#231668 6-Jul-2009 14:59

Thanks db, the freeview channel numbers of course conflict with sky channel numbers. So if the channel exists on both services I was going to try to disable the sky version to use the higher quality freeview version. This works fine for the first few channels but i will have to figure out what to do with say UKTV on 6 on Sky and TVNZ 6 also on 6. I am hoping to move it to 16 same as sky then delete the sky version?

I am using Win7 32bit btw was just seeing if this all worked at all before trying the bold move to 64 bit :-)_

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek

#231677 6-Jul-2009 15:21

The documentation came with v0.3 but not sure if it was included with 0.4. 0.4 just grabbed the setup from 0.3 anyway so didnt need to redo it. I can post this doc up later if people need it?

Acrux

56 posts

Master Geek

#231700 6-Jul-2009 16:30

Thanks Asmodeus, I checked again in both the zip file and the directory that software installed into and there are no docs, just a what's changed in this version readme. So yes please to posting the origional docs.

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek

#231835 6-Jul-2009 23:13

Sure, here it is.

http://www.datafilehost.com/download-ee11c5e1.html

Acrux

56 posts

Master Geek

#232030 7-Jul-2009 13:44

Sorry Asmodeus I have downlaoded the zip you posted but it seems to be some sort of frontpage framework or something but I think something is missing as there is nothing I can open. I can see all the images etc in the directories but that's it.

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek

#232078 7-Jul-2009 15:00

Hmmm OK, well try this then:

http://www.datafilehost.com/download-1f738eb1.html

Thats the entire v0.3 download

Open the xps file in IE8 (or with xps viewer)

Acrux

56 posts

Master Geek

#232091 7-Jul-2009 15:45

That will be it I don't have IE8 on the machine I was viewing on. Will try again when i get home. Thanks :-)

Acrux

56 posts

Master Geek

#232846 8-Jul-2009 23:54

Right the update. Finally all working great! Things I was doing wrong were.

In Media Center I hadn't disabled inband on all the freeview channels. Finally did this via BSE actually. Second was that I thought that after importing the EPG that the channels would auto assign they don't. I removed all duplicate channel number and used the freeview version where I could. I have removed a heap of unused channels in Media Center by disabling the channels.

When I went into the Edid Channl/ Edit Listing (in media center) for all the sky channels there was no listing then a whole pile 999 blank channels. The imported data ends up after these alphanumerically so I didn't see them. Hint if your looking for a channel in the Edit Listings just hit the first letter of the name and it will jump the first 1000 or so and go to the right place or close enough to find it!!!

I assigned correct sky channel numbers in BSE, this didn't seem to make any difference in Media Center apart from the freeview channels that already had matching channel names.

Now only a few minor issues.

The Haventech EPG seems to have TV1 listings in the Sky Movies Greats. I looked in the xml file and it seems to be coming in that way so I assume it will correct itself when they realise? The channel code is X040B if you search for programs with this code you get One NEWS for example!

So I basically had it working. The help file posted by Amodeus helped me solve the riddles (which read fine in IE8 BTW) so thanks for your time.

Oh yeah how do you deal with say TVNZ 6 it has a DVB-T freeview feed on CH6 but UKTV sky is on Ch6 as well, Sky however also carries TVNZ 6 on CH16. I want to use the higher quality freeview version but don't want to have two CH6's, is this possible?

I also have disabled the freeview CH6 (and all the doubled up freeview numbers) in the listing on Media Center. Now it's gone I can't see it to un-disable it (if that's a word) :-/

TV1, 2, 3 are OK and on the freeview version as both providers had the same numbers so deleting the Sky version is not an issue.

Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#232865 9-Jul-2009 08:20

Acrux:
Oh yeah how do you deal with say TVNZ 6 it has a DVB-T freeview feed on CH6 but UKTV sky is on Ch6 as well, Sky however also carries TVNZ 6 on CH16. I want to use the higher quality freeview version but don't want to have two CH6's, is this possible?

You can merge the channels. When you go into listings and select a channel MC asks you if you want to just use the epg data or if you want to merge the channels. If you merge then the sources for both will go under one channel. You then go into sources and you can change the priority or if you don't want to use a source you can just deselect it under sources.

Acrux

56 posts

Master Geek

#232965 9-Jul-2009 11:54

Thanks Nety I will try that. Need to sort something silly I did first.

I read somewhere that you can edit a file to enable or disable channels in MC now that I have disabled most of the freeview channels so as not to have duplicate channels I can't see them to merge them. Catch 22 sort of :-)

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