Schedules Direct vs SiliconDust with DVR Service

[majorG]

Hello,
Appreciate any feedback ASAP so I can re-up my SD on 3/2/22 or try out SiliconDust HDHR DVR Service.
Looking for suggestions on reasons why I might consider switching from Schedules Direct to DVR Service. I've been a happy user of MCE since XP days and currently run a Win7 MCE exclusively to record our tv shows. Has great WAF and she doesn't care about the backend - just that it works and continuity of what she's been using. When MS guide ended, I transitioned to EPG and Schedules Direct - which has worked great so far. I've considered a lifetime Plex subscription, but that means something new for her to learn - so no go.

With 4 active HDHR devices [ 2 Duals, 1 Extend, & a Flex 4K/ATSC3] plus a Quattro refurb sitting in a box unused, I'm looking at options to expand on my current capabilities. I do see a lot of issues posted on the boards here regarding the HDHR DVR guide data and EPG123. For that $10 more over Schedules Direct, I'd be hoping to gain the ability to record higher definition [WMC7 doesn't have 4K/ATSC3 codecs that I'm aware of] to an attached hardrive or NAS in 4K [H265 or such] and perhaps utilize the additional flexibility with SiliconDust's DVR portion of their app for on-the-spot recording on alternative devices while still allow everything else to work the same for my wife on the WMC7 PC utilizing EPG123 with their SiliconDust DVR option. Also, as the DVR software is tied to a HDHR serial # will I be able to record up to the maximum number of shows at one time that I have tuners? In this case, I understand the DUALs will NOT work with the DVR portion of SiliconDust's app - reducing my tuners to 8 unless I bring the Quattro online. I don't see this as an issue though. We rarely hit more than 8 - except occasionally - when shows overlap and that would ONLY happen w/in MCE - where I have a cap of 12. The DVR app usage would be sporadic and likely only for the 2 ATSC3 channels on the Flex4K.

What I'm most concerned with is spending $35 on the subscription DVR service only to resubscribe to SD [$25] because of guide download issues, lack of additional functionality, or general unreliability/instability. I love the folks at SiliconDust, but wish they'd offer a 7 or 30 day trial or such to test out the software side of their hardware. And yes, I've had their software on my Xbox, LG TV, and a multitude of other devices. I don't mind it, but am certain my wife will not use it. So, this is really me asking if for the extra $10 annually will I gain enough offsetting benefits to justify the extra $10 or am I more likely to incur additionally headaches with setup, maintenance and bugs.

[Space]

I really don't know much about the SiliconDust DVR, but what I do know is that the only way (currently) to record a DRM protected cable channel (Copy-Once) on a PC is using WMC. There is no other PC solution that will let you do so.

So if part of your requirements is to be able to record a Copy-Once protected channel (usually premium cable channels, but can also be any other channel depending on the service provider) then your only PC-based option is WMC with Win7 or Win8.x (Win10 will not work).

As far as I know, the only devices (other than the service provider's rented DVR) that can record DRM protected cable channels are TiVo stand-alone devices and WMC on a PC, that's it.

[garyan2]

Depends on what you are willing to lose in WMC. Below is an example of the xmltv files downloaded from SiliconDust, and what is created by EPG123/Schedules Direct.

SiliconDust DVR:

Code: Select all

	<programme start="20220302020000 +0000" stop="20220302030000 +0000" channel="US34926.hdhomerun.com">
		<title>Superman &amp; Lois</title>
		<sub-title>Tried and True</sub-title>
		<desc lang="en">Lois tells Clark that she and Chrissy plan to do a deeper dive into the Inverse Society; Lana and Sarah try to comfort each other after the fallout at Sarah's quinceañera; Jordan notices something suspicious in Jonathan's book bag.</desc>
		<date>20220301</date>
		<category>Series</category>
		<category>Drama</category>
		<category>Action</category>
		<category>Adventure</category>
		<category>Fantasy</category>
		<language>en</language>
		<icon src="https://img.hdhomerun.com/titles/C18320269ENZ9U6.jpg" width="360" height="270"/>
		<series-id system="cseries">C18320269ENZ9U6</series-id>
		<episode-num system="dd_progid">EP03516014.0023</episode-num>
		<episode-num system="onscreen">S02E06</episode-num>
		<episode-num system="xmltv_ns">1.5.</episode-num>
		<new/>
		<video>
			<quality>HDTV</quality>
		</video>
	</programme>

EPG123/Schedules Direct:

Code: Select all

  <programme start="20220302020000 +0000" stop="20220302030000 +0000" channel="EPG123.34926.schedulesdirect.org">
    <title>Superman &amp; Lois</title>
    <sub-title>Tried and True</sub-title>
    <desc>Lois tells Clark that she and Chrissy plan to do a deeper dive into the Inverse Society; Lana and Sarah try to comfort each other after the fallout at Sarah's quinceañera; Jordan notices something suspicious in Jonathan's book bag.</desc>
    <credits>
      <director>Amy Jo Johnson</director>
      <actor role="Clark Kent/Superman">Tyler Hoechlin</actor>
      <actor role="Lois Lane">Elizabeth Tulloch</actor>
      <actor role="Jonathan">Jordan Elsass</actor>
      <actor role="Jordan">Alexander Garfin</actor>
      <actor role="Lana Lang">Emmanuelle Chriqui</actor>
      <actor role="Kyle Cushing">Erik Valdez</actor>
      <actor role="Sarah">Inde Navarrette</actor>
      <actor role="General Samuel Lane">Dylan Walsh</actor>
      <actor role="The Stranger">Wolé Parks</actor>
      <actor role="Morgan Edge">Adam Rayner</actor>
      <actor role="Chrissy Beppo">Sofia Hasmik</actor>
      <writer>Max Kronick</writer>
      <writer>Patrick Barton Leahy</writer>
      <producer>Greg Berlanti</producer>
      <producer>Sarah Schechter</producer>
      <producer>Geoff Johns</producer>
      <producer>Todd Helbing</producer>
      <producer>Lee Toland Krieger</producer>
      <producer>David Madden</producer>
      <guest>Ian Bohen</guest>
    </credits>
    <date>20220301</date>
    <category>Series</category>
    <category>Drama</category>
    <category>Action</category>
    <category>Adventure</category>
    <category>Fantasy</category>
    <language>en</language>
    <icon src="http://THEBLACKBOX:9009/image/28df40f6364336c843e64f2ade69c26510e3ce5cd2d3dab09fbb7b9c37e39ac6.jpg" width="240" height="360" />
    <icon src="http://THEBLACKBOX:9009/image/488a1151c4a2e23aa97121a541eaa6c2af7c8e927812fe4524348beaa4007a03.jpg" width="270" height="360" />
    <icon src="http://THEBLACKBOX:9009/image/3b2b24eba35b17f631ba5512f5040fea06b2be96fbe64f1fb9ac39f528940b42.jpg" width="360" height="270" />
    <icon src="http://THEBLACKBOX:9009/image/a3c44e7efaccfa39e78ebf6568ba8c0012f87a947e15d4946429280fb363c064.jpg" width="480" height="270" />
    <episode-num system="dd_progid">EP03516014.0023</episode-num>
    <episode-num system="xmltv_ns">1.5.0/1</episode-num>
    <video>
      <quality>HDTV</quality>
    </video>
    <audio>
      <stereo>dolby digital</stereo>
    </audio>
    <new />
    <subtitles type="teletext" />
    <rating system="advisory">
      <value>Adult Situations</value>
    </rating>
    <rating system="advisory">
      <value>Language</value>
    </rating>
    <rating system="advisory">
      <value>Violence</value>
    </rating>
    <rating system="USA Parental Rating">
      <value>TVPG</value>
    </rating>
    <rating system="VCHIP">
      <value>TV-PG</value>
    </rating>
  </programme>

Even though these are the xmltv files, they are a good view into what you will lose within WMC. No cast/crew, ratings, advisories, different options for artwork, I believe original air date as well. EPG123/HDHR2MXF will squeeze as much information out of the SiliconDust xmltv as it can, but this is what you are looking at. So if you move over to using SiliconDust with EPG123/HDHR2MXF, on the surface you won't see much of a change. In fact, your series requests should still work as well since both SD's use Gracenote as the upstream.

I'd actually suggest moving the SiliconDust to give you the ability to record 4K and still use WMC which can still use your Duals. WMC guide data will still be good, just not as rich with information.

[garyan2]

Just another slight, probably inconsequential difference between SiliconDust and Schedules Direct concerning artwork. It appears that Schedules Direct does a much better job on resizing the source images.

SiliconDust (25KB)

C18320269ENZ9U6.jpg (24.33 KiB) Viewed 4193 times

Schedules Direct (27KB)

3b2b24eba35b17f631ba5512f5040fea06b2be96fbe64f1fb9ac39f528940b42.jpg (26.93 KiB) Viewed 4193 times

[majorG]

Thank you for your feedback and the fantastic EPG123 program. Having used WMC with XP, I then added a single HDHR Dual and 8 ft attic antenna purchased around 2004 upon moving into this home; I was a cable cutter before it was fashionable. When WMC EPG went away, I grew concerned about what maintaining the ease of WMC for my wife. Plex was something new she'd have to learn; for me it compromised quality by relying on MKVs rather than ISOs. EPG123 was a no-brainer; some minor backend changes and updates by me and no change for her; plus, the guide is actually better quality than the WMC EPG. There have been several bumps since converting with SD. I've had several shows the last 6-8 months stop early in recording: 2, 12, 30 minutes; to be fair, I'm not great with log files - finding or interpreting them.

She of course loathes technology that causes her to miss episodes of a show - especially sequential ones. As a result, she added Netflix access on top of our Amazon Prime. Overall, it's worked well. Not sure why shows end: MCE Standby configuration issue, hardware getting old, HDHR issue, antenna orientation issue, or perhaps EPG123 configuration issue for the 4 HDHR with 10 tuners. My response was to go nuclear: replacing the 8' attic antenna - which she bumped a few degrees out of kilter almost every time she went into the attic to swap out holiday decorations - with a new securely located compact antenna, replacing all HDHR power supplies with POE adapters connected to POE pass thru switch with remote shut down capabilities, upgrading to take advantage of ATSC3 in Houston with Flex 4K HDHR, and relocating all HDHR hardware to a separate closet wall rack away from main rack/router/WIFI APs. I'll probably go back to WMC7 to see if I need or can reconfigure MCE and make certain I've setup all HDHRs correctly in EPG123. It's had difficulty recognizing all and which HDHR devices were connected under WMC7 in the past; this occurred after one of my HDHRs went South. Meanwhile, the ATSC3 with HDHR app works great on Xbox1S thru 4K projector and LG is working on an app fix for my LG TV - unable to work with the Duals on same network currently - leaving the WMC7 as the big missing piece to fix/update/stabilize. I rarely use the devices on my Android phone or tablet, but they do work and I just bought a new laptop which upgrade to W11 and will see how it does with ATSC3 in the months ahead.

Thank you again. Is it fair to say that I can backup my current configuration of EPG123 with the SD setup and simply restore it if I need to bail on Silicondust's DVR guide I just signed up for?

[garyan2]

If you want to back something up, it will be the epg123.cfg file in c:\programdata\garyan2\epg123.

Steps to transition to using HDHR2MXF:
1. Run the epg123setup installation file (you will need 1.7.1.2 or newer) and remove the Server files component, add the HDHR2MXF component.
2. Open the client, delete your current scheduled task.
3. The textbox in the task pane should automatically change to hdhr2mxf.exe. If not, just click the text box and select the executable.
4. Create a new task by clicking the [Create] button.
5. Close the client, right-click the notification tray icon and select 'Update Guide Now'.
6. After the icon turns back to green, open the client again.
7. On the right side, select the HDHR2MXF lineup, then click the Match by: [# Number] button on the left side.
8. On the right side, select the old EPG123 lineup and the click the red 'X' to the right of the lineup pulldown.

You will then be using SiliconDust for guide provider.

Note: the epg123.cfg file is not deleted and will remain the programdata folder. If you decide to move back over the Schedules Direct, your lineup and channel selection settings will still be there.