New User questions

[VintageMale]

Hello,
I’m new to EPG123. I started using EPG123 yesterday and I have a few questions about it.

I built two HTPCs many years ago. Back then I was using a program called “Beyond TV” which was put out of business, so I had to start using WMC.

Currently I have two HTPCs configured exactly the same. They both use Windows 7 and WMC with Ceton Infinity 6 tuner cards and two 1TB HDDs in each system. I have Spectrum (previously TWC) standard TV cable (coax) and internet access through my own router and modem. Everything has worked fine for the past 5 years (since I moved to South Carolina). Now I’m having to subscribe to Schedules Direct because of the MS shutdown. Not a problem!

I have a subscription to Schedules Direct and have installed EPG123 on one of my HTPCs. I followed all the instructions I could find, and everything seems to be working. I installed EPG123 “Full Mode” on this first system. I intend to set the second HTPC to get it’s guide info from this first one. I believe I have to install only the EPG123 “client” on the second system and point it to the first system to get the guide.

OK, now I have some questions.

First question:
I get about 135 channels out of 300 from Spectrum. I only want about 20 HDTV channels to show on the on screen guide. I understand that ALL channels on Spectrum Cable service are digital now. However, I want to set up the new Guide to only show the same channels I’m use to.

Some channels are replicated three times in the “Lineup”. I disable all but the one I want. In the EPG123 Lineups, I only select “Charter Spectrum - Digital”for my town. I don’t know what “Charter Spectrum - Digital (Rebuild)” means, so I don’t use it. I noticed that when setting up the channels in EPG123 that I want displayed in my on screen guide, my choices get overridden. For example: my “HDTV FOX News” channel is 202, but when I check that box EPG123 also checks FOX news on channel 37. And if I uncheck the channel 37 box it also unchecks channel 202. All the HDTV (Digital) channels used to be only the upper channels (above channel 100). Now I believe all channels are “Digital”. Anyway, I only want the upper (HDTV) channels to show up in the guide. How do I do that? Right now I just disable the duplicate channels in the on screen guide.

Another concern is: When EPG123 is updating nightly, is it getting updates for the whole guide or just for the channels I have selected to show on the on-screen guide? I.e., Is EPG123 wasting bandwidth with stuff I don’t care about?

Second question:
Since I’m using EPG123 “Full Mode”, do I need to set a time in “Client Mode” to copy the nightly updated guide to WMC? I set the “Full Mode” to DL from Schedules Direct at 00:05. I then set in the “Client” to import the guide to WMC at 00: 30. I think that’s wrong, but I’m not sure I understand all I know about this.

Wow, that's a lot of typing just to ask a couple of questions, please excuse any typos.

[garyan2]

Hello,
I’m new to EPG123. I started using EPG123 yesterday and I have a few questions about it.

I built two HTPCs many years ago. Back then I was using a program called “Beyond TV” which was put out of business, so I had to start using WMC.

Currently I have two HTPCs configured exactly the same. They both use Windows 7 and WMC with Ceton Infinity 6 tuner cards and two 1TB HDDs in each system. I have Spectrum (previously TWC) standard TV cable (coax) and internet access through my own router and modem. Everything has worked fine for the past 5 years (since I moved to South Carolina). Now I’m having to subscribe to Schedules Direct because of the MS shutdown. Not a problem!

I have a subscription to Schedules Direct and have installed EPG123 on one of my HTPCs. I followed all the instructions I could find, and everything seems to be working. I installed EPG123 “Full Mode” on this first system. I intend to set the second HTPC to get it’s guide info from this first one. I believe I have to install only the EPG123 “client” on the second system and point it to the first system to get the guide.

OK, now I have some questions.

First question:
I get about 135 channels out of 300 from Spectrum. I only want about 20 HDTV channels to show on the on screen guide. I understand that ALL channels on Spectrum Cable service are digital now. However, I want to set up the new Guide to only show the same channels I’m use to.

Some channels are replicated three times in the “Lineup”. I disable all but the one I want. In the EPG123 Lineups, I only select “Charter Spectrum - Digital”for my town. I don’t know what “Charter Spectrum - Digital (Rebuild)” means, so I don’t use it. I noticed that when setting up the channels in EPG123 that I want displayed in my on screen guide, my choices get overridden. For example: my “HDTV FOX News” channel is 202, but when I check that box EPG123 also checks FOX news on channel 37. And if I uncheck the channel 37 box it also unchecks channel 202. All the HDTV (Digital) channels used to be only the upper channels (above channel 100). Now I believe all channels are “Digital”. Anyway, I only want the upper (HDTV) channels to show up in the guide. How do I do that? Right now I just disable the duplicate channels in the on screen guide.

Another concern is: When EPG123 is updating nightly, is it getting updates for the whole guide or just for the channels I have selected to show on the on-screen guide? I.e., Is EPG123 wasting bandwidth with stuff I don’t care about?

Second question:
Since I’m using EPG123 “Full Mode”, do I need to set a time in “Client Mode” to copy the nightly updated guide to WMC? I set the “Full Mode” to DL from Schedules Direct at 00:05. I then set in the “Client” to import the guide to WMC at 00: 30. I think that’s wrong, but I’m not sure I understand all I know about this.

Wow, that's a lot of typing just to ask a couple of questions, please excuse any typos.

Actually all good questions.

The behavior you see in the configuration tool requires a different way of thinking. The channel numbers are there solely for our purpose because that is how we think when we talk TV stations. For guide listings, we are actually selecting what stations to download and not the channels. So when you select channel 202 "HDTV FOX News", you are actually selecting "HDTV FOX News" which happens to be present on channels 202 and 37. So what you are doing is correct in that you will just disable the extra channels you do not want to see in the WMC guide.

When EPG123 updates, it will only download the stations (not channels) that you selected in the configuration GUI. There is nothing in the guide that you did not select to be there. That is one reason why EPG123 is going to be easier on your WMC database than what MS/Rovi gave us.

The scheduled task you create is for the server and the client. It is one task with 2 actions... first the server to create the MXF file, and then the client to import the MXF file. If you create the task with Client mode selected, then it will only be the client that runs. If you create the task in the configuration GUI without the 'Automatically import...' option enabled, then it will only be the server that runs. Big takeaway is there can be only 1 task, you can't have 2 separate tasks for the client and the server.

[VintageMale]

Thanks Gary
I hope I understand. Like I said; I'm using EPG123 server in "Full Mode" to do both functions on this first system. Should I delete the DL timer in the "Client" setup or since I'm useing server "Full Mode" the program never accepted the timer in "Client Setup? Is it possible to configure two seperate tasks on the same system if using "Full Mode" server?

If I understand what you're telling me (the program guide only gets the (let's call it) "broadcaster's" (such as "Fox Broadcasting Company's") program guide irregardless of the cable company's (Spectrum's) channel assignments?

I guess I'm being anal, as I don't want to scroll through 40-60 lines of the "onscreen" guide when all I really watch is maybe up to 20 channels. (I actually only watch maybe 6, occasionally maybe 4 more, and I know I only record 12 shows a week over 3 different broadcasters.

O well, I guess I'll live with it. I survived Microsoft all these years.

O yes...thanks for a great piece of butt saving software in EPG123.

[garyan2]

There is no task for the server or for the client, there is just a task for EPG123. You can configure that task as a "Server Only" task, a "Client Only" task, or a "Full Mode" task. If you take a look at the task below, you will see it is a singular task but has 2 actions... first being the server part and second being the client part. So it is configured in a "Full Mode" task. Take away the first action and will be a "Client Only" task.

For you guide view, you can still get what you want. Even though you are downloading HDTV FOX News which is on channels 37 and 202, you can disable/hide channel 37 from view and only see channel 202 in the guide. You can enable/disable channels in the client GUI to make it easier... the checkbox on the left side is the enable/hide toggle.

[VintageMale]

Thanks again,

It's funny you should describe the interactions there. I was just re-configuring and I noticed the relationships exactly as you point out. The more I "play with" the software the more I discover. I guess since I got old, my mind runs slower now, lol.

I tried that in the WMC Guide and when I disabled channel 37 it also disabled channel 202. No Fox News was showing.
But per your response I will try that again to make sure I'm not missing something.

[garyan2]

It's important to distinguish between the server and the client. The server (EPG123) checkmarks beside the station determines what stations are downloaded. The client (EPG123 Client) checkmarks beside the channel determines what channels are visible in your guide.

It sound like you disabled the download which would make all the channels that station was on disappear from the guide.

[VintageMale]

OK, with my understanding. Since I only check mark the specific channels I want EPG Server to download the guides for, that's all that will show up in the "Client" too. So I shouldn't have to edit the "Client" listing. And since I am using "Full Mode", the guides will automatically be pushed to WMC. Correct?

I have noticed that "Schedules Direct" changed some of my programming. For example; on my (Spectrum +29483) channels I used to get the guide for a channel named "GRIT" (it showed old western movies I used to watch as a pre-teen in the 1950s). Now that I'm using SD that channel has changed to something called "Circle" with totally different programming. Ugh! Of course that may be Spectrum changing it's line-up. I don't believe changing the "Guide" would change what's broadcast on the channel. But I'm not that technical with TV stuff.

Another glitch(?) I've noticed is that on the WMC screen the "Status Logo" is always yellow with an exclamation mark. What does that mean? Does the logo only show up if there's a problem or it it always show one of the three possibilities on the WMC screen. BTW, what are the three logo possibilities?

Sorry but I have to agree with user “nanat“. We really need a more comprehensive “User Guide”. There’s not enough information in the install instructions, etc..

Thanks in advance

[joelkirzner]

I guess I'm being anal, as I don't want to scroll through 40-60 lines of the "onscreen" guide when all I really watch is maybe up to 20 channels. (I actually only watch maybe 6, occasionally maybe 4 more, and I know I only record 12 shows a week over 3 different broadcasters.

To keep things simple without messing with EPG123's settings, why don't you just edit the channel list in WMC menu settings?

In WMC:
Settings-->TV-->Guide-->Edit Channels. Then just uncheck the channels you don't want to show up in your guide.
Pro Tip: Choose the "Uncheck All" first, then check the channels you actually want to show up in the Guide, since it will be a faster process.

This is what I've always done since I don't want to see non-HD channels, spanish language channels, or channels I don't have a subscription for.

[garyan2]

I don't know about your area, but mine moved Grit to a different transmitter (OTA) a couple months ago, and in its place a new station "Circle" came live a couple days ago. So being a broadcast channel, the call sign stayed the same, but the content changed from Grit to Circle.

The status logo is yellow because you have a warning. Open the client and click [View Log] to find any [WARNG] entries to find out why.

*** I'll get my technical writing team right on it. ***

I certainly agree that something is needed to describe the status logo, how to view the trace.log and how to read it.

[VintageMale]

"*** I'll get my technical writing team right on it. ***"
Hahaha I don't care who you are, that's funny!

But maybe you could get some assistance from the users on here. If I knew enough I'd volunteer to help write a "User's Manual".

Another question (seems like I'm full of 'em): Don't I have to "Share" the directory on the "Server" system for the "Client to get the WMC file.

[garyan2]

Correct. The clients need to have access to the file wherever that may be. Sharing the folder on the server is the primary method.

[VintageMale]

I checked my log (no clear log option) and I had two "WARNG"s, seemingly of no consequence. I'm not sure of the first one..

[1/3/2020 12:08:55 AM] [WARNG] The imported MXF file contained a WARNING in its status field.

[1/3/2020 2:07:12 PM] [WARNG] Your Schedules Direct account expires in 03 days 18 hours 57 minutes.

[garyan2]

There you go. You are getting a warning because your membership expires in less than 14 days. If your membership extended beyond 14 days, then the logo would be green.

[VintageMale]

Yea, I tried to sign up but SD told me to wait and continue testing. So I am.