Introducing EPG123

[glorp]

Okay thanks. I just mounted an image of my production machine from the good old days before Rovi and the db which had been running for years was 1.5GB

My other main WMC still has the MS/Rovi EPG. Would be same channel configuration and the typical 10-13 days data when MS actually can get their EPG updates to work. Been running that WMC for gosh ... years. Current .db size on it: 453,404 KB.

[garyan2]

This question sort of got glossed over..

I notice that the WiKi says this:

NOTE: Others have rebooted into safe mode and deleted the contents of the c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome folder. Not the folder itself just the contents. This leaves WMC extensions and extenders in place.

If I read this correctly, will this leave extensions such as Emby, MCL and Valve as well as extender pairing untouched?
What about things like Favorites in WMC, Tuner Salad and channel numbering revisions in Guide Tool?

Thanks in advance if anyone knows the answer.

I can't speak to all, but Emby and MCL are still there with no problems. Don't know about Valve and haven't checked extenders ... can check later if critical to you. Favorites are probably a sure bet to be gone. Tuner Salad should be okay, but never used it. I believe it is a dll hack, so as long as you don't uninstall WMC, the hack will still be there.

And I don't know what you are talking about in Guide Tool...channel numbering revisions?

[Sammy2]

I can't speak to all, but Emby and MCL are still there with no problems. Don't know about Valve and haven't checked extenders ... can check later if critical to you. Favorites are probably a sure bet to be gone. Tuner Salad should be okay, but never used it. I believe it is a dll hack, so as long as you don't uninstall WMC, the hack will still be there.

And I don't know what you are talking about in Guide Tool...channel numbering revisions?

Re-pairing extenders really isn't an issue but that brings to mind the Echo Settings program and Valve, they're in extras so probably not an issue. They aren't too hard to load and set up either so..

I can re-do favorites. No Biggie there.

I thought step 0 was to uninstall WMC. So the safe mode clearance of the data files is all that is really needed so the dll hack for tuner salad will still be there..

[STC]

Current .db size on it: 453,404 KB.

Then gc must be doing something. I changed tuners a number of times since install early 2010, perhaps that had something to do with it.

[glorp]

I thought step 0 was to uninstall WMC. So the safe mode clearance of the data files is all that is really needed so the dll hack for tuner salad will still be there..

I believe garyan2's EPG123 web site is the most up-to-date for instructions/steps.
http://epg123.garyan2.net/

[Sammy2]

The instructions say:

Download Newtonsoft’s Json .NET library and place in the same folder (just the .dll file inside the downloaded zip file)

Is this the Newtonsoft.Json.dll file located in Downloads\Json80r2.zip\Bin\Net45?

IOW, no need to do the installation, just grab the dll and put it the same folder as EPG123?

[garyan2]

The instructions say:

Download Newtonsoft’s Json .NET library and place in the same folder (just the .dll file inside the downloaded zip file)

Is this the Newtonsoft.Json.dll file located in Downloads\Json80r2.zip\Bin\Net45?

IOW, no need to do the installation, just grab the dll and put it the same folder as EPG123?

That is correct. Just drop the dll file in the epg123 directory.

[RonBo]

I attempted to install Epg123 onto my media center computer (a Vista Machine) and it failed at almost every step.

running from the command prompt...
net stop ehrecvr - ran as expected
net stop ehsched - couldn't stop because a process was using it even though nothing was running after a fresh start.
rd c:\programdata\microsoft\ehome /s /q -couldn't stop because a process was using it. I tried stopping all related processes in the task manager but it still wouldn't stop this process.

Next step Start WMC - OK
Select live TV setup and setup TV Signal - OK
Perform setup normally except do not agree to terms of guide service - OK
sometime after that, Media Center stopped working and said it would restart. after restart WMC can't find my tuners and suggests restarting computer.

Repeat process endlessly with same results.

I'm very frustrated with this whole house PVR project. My Channel Master system is a great PVR for one TV but doesn't allow a whole house system. Too Bad. I would have thought that by now a whole house PVR would be a reality but I guess not.

[STC]

I don't think Vista WMC is supported unfortunately. Gary can confirm.

[garyan2]

Never used Vista myself, but my understanding is that no, epg123 can not support Vista. Win7+ only. Vista uses a sxf? file instead of mxf and don't even know the comparable tool to loadmxf.exe. In hindsight, I should paste a big warning banner on the website to note this. Sorry.

One weakness in the instructions for net stop ... is that mcupdate could have a hold on the directory as well. This is especially true after a system restart.

[webminster]

Still can't figure out why the Search/title and other Search/* screens don't reflect the number of days loaded... so no one else sees this?

[garyan2]

Still can't figure out why the Search/title and other Search/* screens don't reflect the number of days loaded... so no one else sees this?

Sorry ... yes, I was able to duplicate it. Don't know of a way epg123 can refresh that information. I wanted to do some other checks to see if it is just that aspect or if truly all the new data is not yet searchable.

[glorp]

Still can't figure out why the Search/title and other Search/* screens don't reflect the number of days loaded... so no one else sees this?

Sorry ... yes, I was able to duplicate it. Don't know of a way epg123 can refresh that information. I wanted to do some other checks to see if it is just that aspect or if truly all the new data is not yet searchable.

Doesn't WMC expose an entire interface that plugin apps can use to signal various activities back to it?

[garyan2]

Still can't figure out why the Search/title and other Search/* screens don't reflect the number of days loaded... so no one else sees this?

Sorry ... yes, I was able to duplicate it. Don't know of a way epg123 can refresh that information. I wanted to do some other checks to see if it is just that aspect or if truly all the new data is not yet searchable.

Doesn't WMC expose an entire interface that plugin apps can use to signal various activities back to it?

If there is, I'll probably find it when I start working on the automatic lineup matching that I'm still planning to incorporate.

[glorp]

Windows Media Center SDK.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb189103.aspx
http://www.brad-smith.info/blog/archives/273 which says pure background apps can use it.

I imagine mcupdate uses it. Whether that particular function with the EPG is documented who knows? MS probably couldn't imagine someone else needing to notify that new guide data are available when they created it.

[hansolo89]

trying this out, can't even login to sd account, server offline for maintenance?

[rkulagow]

I'm looking into it now.

[rkulagow]

I believe that all service is restored at this time. Had to kick a database.

[garyan2]

Not so sure. I'm getting a lot of empty returns for "schedules/md5" requests.

EDIT: Those schedules that are populated have a last updated timestamp within the last couple hours. Looks like the database is still rebuilding.

[hansolo89]

i tried setting this up for Los Angeles OTA, only about 10% of the channels have guide data, not even the major networks, anyone have this working in LA area