UK EPG Licence Expiring

[Cheenis]

Right, so it looks like there are a couple of options here to get the EPG populated (EPG Collector and DVBGuide) I've got a couple of questions that I waqs hoping people could help with on the forum:
1) Are these options automated or does the user need to go in a run them, move files, etc. once per week?
2) Can anybody that has got it working put together a step by step guide for those of us that are a little less technically savvy please?

Really hacked off at how badly this has been handled by MS. I've returned from holiday to find 1 day of EPG left and no time to fix that. I've put in NextPVR to use with Kodi, and will continue to work on that (I have an issue with the EPG population there too, but am getting support from the writer of the software) so I have a backup, but since WMC has been bombproof for me I'm keen to have it back and running. I've spent hours on this since I've been back, so any shortcut guides on the solutions you guys have found will be very much appreciated.

[IT Troll]

I've just got EPG Collector up and running and working for me. Didn't have any luck with DVBGuide - couldn't get it to recognise the correct carrier frequency.

Did you check the frequency from Media Center and set DVBGuide to that? Is your tuner terrestrial or satellite?

I'd be interested to hear how you got EPG Collector working. It would see my channels OK but wouldn't download the guide data.

Right, so it looks like there are a couple of options here to get the EPG populated (EPG Collector and DVBGuide) I've got a couple of questions that I waqs hoping people could help with on the forum:
1) Are these options automated or does the user need to go in a run them, move files, etc. once per week?
2) Can anybody that has got it working put together a step by step guide for those of us that are a little less technically savvy please?

1) These can be automated through the use of batch (script) files and scheduled tasks.
2) Of the two DVBGuide is the easier to setup. It comes with example batch files for terrestrial, satellite and different version of Media Center. You just need to edit these to match your setup (most importantly channel frequency) and to incorporate the mxl file edit. Then you switch over the guide listing in Media Center. The post by jlmj2009 goes into more detail.

If you don't feel comfortable with this workaround then I would recommend that you stick with manual timed recordings for a few days. Hopefully Microsoft will get this fixed this week. If it looks like the fix isn't coming any time soon then I am sure the community will come up with a more user-friendly solution.

[EricTViking]

I've just got EPG Collector up and running and working for me. Didn't have any luck with DVBGuide - couldn't get it to recognise the correct carrier frequency.

Did you check the frequency from Media Center and set DVBGuide to that? Is your tuner terrestrial or satellite?

I'd be interested to hear how you got EPG Collector working. It would see my channels OK but wouldn't download the guide data.

With DVBGuide I checked the frequency in MCE and used it in the command line to DVBGuide, DVBGuide ran but came back with an error regarding the frequency and suggested I apply an offset. No idea where to find out about an offset so I gave EPG Collector a try.

BTW my setup is Windows 8.1 Pro MCE with a Hauppauge 4000 card using Freesat.

To setup EPG Collector...
1. Download the latest "EPG Collector V040200 Install.msi" here http://sourceforge.net/projects/epgcoll ... iles/V4.2/
2. Install EPG collector
3. Have a look at the first post in this forum - http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=77177.0 it was the guide I used to configure EPG Collector
4. As mentioned in the above forum, in EPG Collector Go to File -> Create Collection parameters...
5. From the list I chose UK - Freesat
6. In the Tuners list I chose my Freesat tuner (could probably leave this as "Any available tuner")
7. Select the "Output" tab, in the "Output Method" section at the top select "EPG Collector Reports the data to Windows Media Center".
8. From the File menu select "Save As" and save your collection settings.
9. Click the Globe icon on the toolbar to "Collect EPG". Or you can do this via the Run->Collect EPG menu.
10. I didn't change any other values, all were left as defaults.
11. EPG Collector will go off and interrogate the receiver to read the channel data.
12. When finished, no channels were imported into Media Center because they need to be mapped to the new EPG data.
13. Mapping the MCE channels is mentioned in the EPG Collector ReadMe.txt file (Section 5.2.2). Here's the bit you need:
....1. Navigate to the programme guide.
....2. Click on the channel name.
....3. Click 'Edit Channel'.
....4. Click 'Edit Listings'.
....5. Click 'Disable Inband' if necessary.
....6. Scan the list of EPG sources and click on the relevant entry.
....7. Click 'Save'
14. I didn't have the "inband" option in the steps mentioned above.
15. What you need to do is carry out step 13 for every channel, in the available listings you will see the channel name with "EPG Collector" after it i.e. BBC1 EPG Collector. Choose this as the channel listing source.
16. That's all.

I found EPG Collector quite easy to use, though un-intuitive. It latched straight onto my receiver card and didn't need much setting up.

When I get 5 minutes I'm going to set it up as a scheduled task so that it collects the data every day.

To be honest I will probably continue to use EPG Collector after Microsoft fix their EPG servers because the MS EPG never did provide EPG data for all of my channels. It looks like with this setup you can have some channels provided by the Microsoft Servers, and others obtained over the air.

HTH

[IT Troll]

Thanks for the post, I am sure it will be of help to others.

That is pretty much what I did, but at step 11 I would get CRC errors. But I am using a Freeview HD Tuner (TBS 6285 Quad DVB-T2).

[Cheenis]

Magic, thanks for this, I'll give it a go when I get back home tonight. I'm happy putting in place work-arounds, just not got the in-depth knowledge regarding tv tuners, etc. and my scripting has ~15+ years of rust on it so I take a bit of time to get going

Like EricTViking I'm expecting to set this up as my standard even after the fix as I feel it's most likely never to expire and I also had gaps in the EPG for some channels. I don't use many channels anyway, just the domestic ones (BBC, ITV, C4, S4C) but where I get most pain is around my need for BBC2 Wales and S4C so I can catch all the Welsh Rugby; there are some great solutions for Kodi, but they don't pull down regional variations so my all important listings for 2W are lost; in general the also appear to be focused on IPTV rather than inbuilt cards. The bombproof recording through WMC is always going to be my number one choice as a result.

I'm using a TBS dual Freesat tuner card which handles HD

[prothed]

Like everyone else I was hoping the WMC guide would start working again in the UK, but not so far...
After reading the previous posts I downloaded both EPG Collector and DVB Guide last night for comparison and these are my initial results.
I'm using Win 7 WMC and FreeSat.

DVB Guide - Installed and ran after editing the supplied batch files to capture and export the FreeSat EPG. Collected EPG data ok - but the WMC import stage appears to fail. Initially I used the default '-ft' option to the loadmxf command and it fails with an error about 'version 1.1'. I thought I had spotted the issue and changed the loadmxf option to '-fM' for Win7 compatibility, and loadmxf then ran with no errors but no guide data shows up in WMC.
I haven't tried using the step of editing the MXF file described in an earlier post as I thought I'd try EPG Collector.

EPG collector - Installed and ran using the FreeSat defaults. This time the EPG collection and WMC import both seem to work, and after remapping the guide listing for a number of channels I do seem to be getting there...

So, for me, EPG Collector was the one that worked out of the box, but both authors deserve maximum credit for getting to grips with the complexities of this.

No credit to Microsoft for this mess. As WMC is an option for Windows 8 then they must support the EPG. Who knows.

[jelockwood]

I have had a go with EPG Collector and so far not had any success.

I am running Windows 7 Media Center and I have a SiliconDust HDHomeRun DVB-T2 network tuner. Note that this is the new DVB-T2 model. I can see a tuner LED light up when EPG Collector tries finding the EPG data but it always returns zero channels. I am in the UK on the Crystal Palace transmitter and I have tried all six frequencies EPG Collector offers for this transmitter.

Windows 7 itself does get EPG data via the DVB stream for a multiplex that is being viewed so if I leave it watching BBC1 for example it gets most of the BBC channels.

Has anyone had any success with a HDHomeRun?

[IT Troll]

It is early days, but so far the pattern emerging is that EPG Collector works for Freesat but not Freeview. Whilst DVBGuide works for Freeview (the results are still unclear for Freesat).

The documentation for DVBGuide is a little out of date for the latest beta. However you need the latest beta as this has best support for the Huffman encoding. DVBGuide has four output formats:

Supported guide data formats (option -f):
C = Compact XMLTV (with accompanying ChannelInfo.xml)
M = Media Center, schema version 1.1
T = Vista Media Center TV Pack 2008 and later (MXF format)
X = XMLTV (with accompanying ChannelInfo.xml)

So for Windows 7/8 you need to use -fT the -fM option is for the much older XP-era format.

You do however need to edit (or remove) the first line in the MXF file in order to avoid the 'version 1.1' error

These are useful workarounds but they only get you a 7-day EPG. I would much rather have the 14-day Microsoft EPG.

[IT Troll]

Windows 7 itself does get EPG data via the DVB stream for a multiplex that is being viewed so if I leave it watching BBC1 for example it gets most of the BBC channels.

Has anyone had any success with a HDHomeRun?

Windows 7 and 8 will get OTA EPG data but only for Freeview SD. It cannot read the Huffman encoding used for the Freesat and Freeview HD EPGs. This method also means that you have to ensure you watch live TV in order to populate the EPG. The workarounds here aim to automate the population of the EPG for all channels.

Perhaps give DVBGuide a try, hopefully you will have more success with that.

[RobsterUK]

I have been watching this thread with interest, actually hoping for a nod towards MS fixing the EPG. But that could be some time off yet.

Thanks to those who have been testing the alternatives.
Once again the community keep WMC going after MS seem to have abandoned ship.

I have UK Freesat so I'm thinking of trying EPG collector.
The outlined procedure by EricTViking seems comprehensive enough to try out.

Question relating to that:
I use Guide Tool to where ever possible (as it has a smoother interface than the WMC channel line up)
Will the EPGCollector channel listings be available in Guide Tool? That will speed up re-assigning all of the channel listings.

[jelockwood]

It is early days, but so far the pattern emerging is that EPG Collector works for Freesat but not Freeview. Whilst DVBGuide works for Freeview (the results are still unclear for Freesat).

Thanks for the feedback I will give DVBGuide a go instead.

Are there any solutions for automating the editing/removal of the first line in the MXF file? So as to allow a completely automatic run?

[IT Troll]

Are there any solutions for automating the editing/removal of the first line in the MXF file? So as to allow a completely automatic run?

Yes, see post 54 and 57 for two different ways of automating this.

[DK70]

Hi,
I have just noticed that I have a selection of channels back on line with EPG for a number of days showing, BBC1, 2 ITV etc, the number of channels has increased in the last couple of hours, and they are a few days in advance so I hope that this is Microsoft renewing the licence and the remaining channels complete with HD will follow soon.

DK

[Cheenis]

DK is that this 7 day over the air for win 7 and 8 that IT Troll was talking about?

In the short term I'd happily leave my system running on a particular channel if it will automatically download the EPG for that multiplex. I'll look back through the thread to find out how to do this as mine so far just keeps prompting me to download a new one, tells me it was successful but does 2/5ths of F all.

[prothed]

RobsterUK - No, in my experimentation I didn't see the new EPG Collector entries in GuideTool.

More strangeness - when I have reassigned a new EPG Collector listing to an existing channel from within MCE, I go back to the guide and the channel has disappeared!
If I go to 'edit channels' then that channel is not just disabled, it has vanished from the channel list altogether. Aaggh.

Just checked and some of the Microsoft EPG sources are now showing an end date of 15 Sept...

[IT Troll]

DK is that this 7 day over the air for win 7 and 8 that IT Troll was talking about?

More than likely. You have to leave it playing live Freeview SD to pickup the OTA EPG carried within the stream.

Just checked and some of the Microsoft EPG sources are now showing an end date of 15 Sept...

But do you actually have any listings up to then?

One good thing has come of this shambles. We seem to have attracted some new members.

[dangel]

The findrepl batch file , used to delete the first line, file can be downloaded from here (Its overkill, but does the job!):

A simpler way to strip the first line, which just uses built-in commands is to use more. So findrepl can be replaced with:

more +1 mcguide.mxf > mcguide-new.mxf

No problems, pleased to be able to help a little back and figured it may give other MCE users a head start.

Thanks for the "more" tip, did see this method, but read that it was limited to @ 65535 characters or that it may corrupt the guide data if tabs were present, so didn't try it, but maybe Ill give it a go.

Yeah don't use more - I already collected an EPG big enough to break this and the result is that it just hangs and the file is incomplete. It's very easy to end up with file that's modified (i.e. parsed) as part of using tools to remove the first line (often some conversion of characters takes place) and may in other ways be a bit broken. I had a quick go with powershell and the file ended up twice the size of the original

If you treat the file as binary and avoid any text conversion it's easy to write a tool to strip the file correctly - I could do this fairly easily if there's a want (and I probably will now i'm starting to use this and my parents are complaining it's not working too!).

[IT Troll]

Ah OK, my bad.

I tested with my MXF file and it worked fine. It contained listings for ~150 Freeview Channels and was ~10 MB in size.

But best to avoid using more to be safe then.

[Pixelz]

I've been looking for an alternative 14-day epg with both HD and SD listings for the UK.

I found XMLTV v0.5.67 which includes a TV grabber named 'tv_grab_uk_atlas' that can be used with a free API key to download 14 days of listings in XMLTV format. Atlas appears to have replaced the old BBC Radio Times listings grabber, and after some manual configuration it successfully downloaded an XMLTV file containing 14 days of listings for Freeview HD and SD channels.

First I requested an API key from http://atlas.metabroadcast.com/admin#/applications/hn4j
Then from the command line, I used
xmltv tv_grab_uk_atlas -configure # this prompts for your API key, plus your TV region
xmltv tv_grab_uk_atlas -days 14 -output guide.xml # this downloads the epg data in XMLTV format to guide.xml

Next I found XMLTV2MXF which can be used to convert this format to MXF for loading into Media Centre. This also needed manual configuration to specify the UK channels required for conversion to MXF. By default these were configured for New Zealand, so I had to edit the Channels.xml file. I could then run the XMLTV2MXF GUI to generate an apparently valid MXF from my guide.xml file with 14 days of guide data.

Now I have to decide if I should risk my Media Centre EPG database with a 'loadmxf' or hope for a fix from MS. The nice thing about this procedure (if it works) is that your 14 day downloaded listings can still be overridden by the broadcast (in-band) listings, when for example, a sports event overruns. So you don't miss the end of a subsequent programme which would have otherwise finished recording too early.

If I decide to go ahead with this, I'll post a more complete set of instructions.

[rdhir]

I got DVBGuide to work for me. I use Freesat on a TBS DVBS2 dual tuner. I run Windows 7 MCE.

I installed DVBGuide .96beta, by downloading and copying the contents to a directory I made in C:\Program Files (x86)

I amended the W7MCGuideUpdate.bat as follows and I am in the process of creating a task to run it every night

I am using gawk to strip the first line. This is part of cygwin. Download and install the 32bit or 64 bit version as appropriate and the you need to add it to the path which I did as Start->Computer-[RIGHTCLICK]> Properties->Advanced Tab->Environment Variables->System Variables->Path->Edit...

for 64 bit its C:\Cygwin64\bin if you used the default, the semicolon ; is used as a separator for PATH

Cygwin is available here

https://www.cygwin.com/

I chose it as I am generally familiar with the linux/unix command line tools so for me its easier.

Code: Select all

@echo off
rem
rem     Example batch file to update the Windows 7 Media Center Guide from Freesat EPG
rem
rem     Notes:
rem      - will normally need to be edited to specify tuning parameters etc.
rem      - can be set to run as a scheduled task for completely automated guide updating
rem      - must run as Administrator if using "-t" option to set system time
rem
DVBGuide -as -ft -c11427830 -ph -mQPSK -s27500000 -y3002 -z3003 -o mcguide_1.mxf
if %ERRORLEVEL% neq 0 goto End
gawk '{if (NR!=1) {print}}' mcguide_1.mxf >mcguide.mxf
if %ERRORLEVEL% neq 0 goto End
%windir%\ehome\loadmxf -v -i mcguide.mxf
:End
if exist mcguide_1.mxf del mcguide_1.mxf
if exist mcguide.mxf del mcguide.mxf

You can also run it manually in a CMD shell by just going to C:\Program Files(x86)\DVBGuide

Don't forget after that you'll need to go through the tedious process of edting guide listings. I also found that sometimes, it then renames the channel to match the listing, so I need to go through and rename the channels back. However I finally have guides for 4seven and ITVBe which is a positive thing.

Personally its a kick up the backside that I need to get away from Windows 7. The only thing for me is whether I can be bothered changing the OS from WIn7 to Linux, as I'd have to convert the recordings too.

When I succeed with the Task Scheduler, I'll try and post the details.

Cheers