EPG123 & Hauppauage Collossus Anyone? Tuner Not Available

An evolving, supported alternative to Rovi
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garyan2

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#21

Post by garyan2 » Sat Apr 02, 2016 3:58 am

Possibly on the Rovi ... to make sure, run "epgAutomatch.exe -match" This will make sure everything is epg123.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#22

Post by garyan2 » Sat Apr 02, 2016 4:29 am

It if is Rovi, then we will have to alter the setup with a Hauppaage Collossus to the following:

Capture tuner lineup provided by WMC TV Setup:
1) Perform a normal TV Setup with no special steps. When setup completes, close WMC.

2) Copy the latest backup lineup file from C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome\mcepg2-x\backup\lineup\. The filename will be in the form YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS. Rename your copied file lineup.mxf and place in your epg123 directory.

Clear out Rovi to use epg123:
3) Remove the ehome directory by following Step 0 - Clean Start from the guide on the website, or booting into safe mode to delete the directory.

4) Perform Step 1 - TV Setup from the guide on the website.

5) Import the backup lineup into WMC by executing "C:\Windows\ehome\loadmxf.exe -i lineup.mxf".

6) Perform Step 2 - Configure epg123 from the guide on the website. Ensure the automatch checkbox is checked.

7) Open WMC and verify the Guide is complete.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#23

Post by marvin-miller » Sat Apr 02, 2016 5:59 am

I haven't looked at it too closely but I will shortly and do the new steps - thank you!
In the meantime, I can confirm it's gone back to Rovi as the guide listings only stretch out 14 days. I'll post up more info shortly as soon as I do it.

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#24

Post by marvin-miller » Sat Apr 02, 2016 7:31 am

ok, I followed the new steps. I have no idea if my guide is Rovi or SD. It seems to have 14 days of listings, which to me, would indicate Rovi. I couldn't say. (update - it's SD)

But, for the underlying issue, isn't it as simple as the Rovi guide in Media Center wasn't turned off?

Last night we had a perfect install with the SD guide. At some point today all my future recordings disappeared and, as it turned out, the Rovi guide was back. So isn't it really an issue of the Rovi guide was not turned off during last night's install ?

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#25

Post by garyan2 » Fri May 27, 2016 5:18 am

Could someone with a CableCARD setup compress their lineup backup file so I can see how the mxf is populated with the 10000 channels? I'm trying to determine how to get the Colossus folks up and running without any issues or Rovi residue.

The file will be the latest file in 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome\mcepg2-X\backup\lineup'. Just compress the file and PM/email it to me.

Thank you!
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#26

Post by marvin-miller » Fri May 27, 2016 5:43 am

10,000 channels? 10,000 channels! I wish!

All I get is about 400 and of those only about 20 or 30 are of any use. I don't have Cable Card but I do have Colossus. Will certainly help if still needed given my meager offerings :oops:

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#27

Post by garyan2 » Fri May 27, 2016 5:52 am

The 10000 channels aren't real, but if I can create my own file for all you Colossus users, then the setup and usage will be much, much easier and safer. Probably get rid of all the duplicate channels even.
- Gary
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#28

Post by DOS4EVER » Fri May 27, 2016 6:01 am

What's your e-mail address? I can't PM anything over 256KB and the compressed file is over 1MB.

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#29

Post by marvin-miller » Fri May 27, 2016 6:03 am

Let me know if I can help - I'll do it.

One thing I'm seeing though, and I don't know if it's related to EPG123 or not. Scheduled recordings are getting pretty screwed up. This is what I'm seeing;

Assuming, I want to record the series Castle, I set it up and it properly schedules the recordings. If I later cancel the series, and then bring it back, a lot of times it acts as if the dB (?) is corrupted. For example;

One channel will broadcast the same episode 3 times per day. So Media Center correctly schedules;

2009-08-01 Castle - The quick and the dead

The problem is, it will also schedule the same epsiode for recording again later that day. So I look at the original broadcast date and they are the same. Same identical episode, I can't see any difference between them. I just saw it do this for 3 different episodes that were aired twice in the same day. It scheduled all of them to be recorded twice (6 in total when there should be only 3).

I can't seem to get a handle on it. I'm wondering if it's the Hauppauge Media Center add-in software? I really don't know. It's as if the scheduling part of the software is getting corrupted somehow.

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#30

Post by garyan2 » Fri May 27, 2016 6:10 am

DOS4EVER wrote:What's your e-mail address? I can't PM anything over 256KB and the compressed file is over 1MB.
Just sent you a PM with my email address.

Thank you!
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#31

Post by DOS4EVER » Fri May 27, 2016 6:18 am

E-mail sent. Good luck.

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#32

Post by garyan2 » Fri May 27, 2016 6:22 am

marvin-miller wrote:Let me know if I can help - I'll do it.

One thing I'm seeing though, and I don't know if it's related to EPG123 or not. Scheduled recordings are getting pretty screwed up. This is what I'm seeing;

Assuming, I want to record the series Castle, I set it up and it properly schedules the recordings. If I later cancel the series, and then bring it back, a lot of times it acts as if the dB (?) is corrupted. For example;

One channel will broadcast the same episode 3 times per day. So Media Center correctly schedules;

2009-08-01 Castle - The quick and the dead

The problem is, it will also schedule the same epsiode for recording again later that day. So I look at the original broadcast date and they are the same. Same identical episode, I can't see any difference between them. I just saw it do this for 3 different episodes that were aired twice in the same day. It scheduled all of them to be recorded twice (6 in total when there should be only 3).

I can't seem to get a handle on it. I'm wondering if it's the Hauppauge Media Center add-in software? I really don't know. It's as if the scheduling part of the software is getting corrupted somehow.
I don't know how it could be the add-in software, but it could be the reindex is not working. After every guide update epg123 will kick off the reindex task which is supposed to not only index the guide for all the searches, but also refresh the recordings schedule.

Take a look in the trace.log file to make sure the return code for the reindex is 0 like below.

Code: Select all

[5/26/2016 2:06:50 AM] [ INFO] Starting ehPrivJob.exe /DoReindexSearchRoot to index guide data.
[5/26/2016 2:07:57 AM] [ INFO] Successfully completed the ReindexSearchRoot task. Exit code: 0
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#33

Post by marvin-miller » Fri May 27, 2016 7:57 am

Hi Gary;

Every instance in the trace log shows the same as what you posted :)

For certain, this is what I see. With a new Media Center install the recording schedule is OK (nothing in it). As I start adding in series recordings, all is well (initially). It does seem that either over time (which would be EPG updates) or my adding/removing series from the scheduled recordings list, things start getting corrupted. It does seem like I can introduce issues by adding series/deleting series.

I don't think it has anything to do with EPG123 because, as I recall, it was doing this probably 6 months before EPG came into existence. In fact, it may actually be that it started with the shift over to Rovi.....that seems to be about the time that it started going downhill. Believe it or not, I think Microsoft has borked Media Center maybe with one of their updates or .NET or something like that. It seems to me as if the database (or however it works) of upcoming recordings, their priorities and things like that are corrupted during Media Center usage.

I'm not on glue, it's for certain that there's an issue there. It's been there for probably 6 months now (?) and clean installs etc don't seem to fix it. I even re-installed my entire O/S a short time back (format/install) and same thing. A clean Media Center install with a clean schedule and all is well. Load it up with a bunch of series and the more you add-in or change, the more borked it seems to get. It could be possible that it gets even more borked when the guide updates because it's doing the same thing as when I add in or change scheduled recordings.

I assumed it was Hauppauge's add-in, because I know it introduces errors, but historically (over 5 years) those errors were minor functionality issues and they were consistent. They didn't effect the underlying operation of Media Center. I'm certain corruption is getting in scheduled recordings somewhere and I think it becomes cumulative. Ie, when the errors start, they get worse and worse as the dB becomes more corrupt. That's how it appears to me anyway.

You know what? The more I think about it, the more these issues seemed to happen when Microsoft changed it over to Rovi. I wonder if they made some changes to Media Center itself and introduced a bug.....

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#34

Post by fzy8gc » Tue Jun 07, 2016 1:20 am

I tried to move to epg123 on my primary WMC today with mixed results and had to go back to Rovi.

This system has both OTA turners and a Colossus card interfaced to a Dish Network 211k. When I save C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome\mcepg2-x\backup\lineup\YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS, am I getting both the OTA and Dish Network channels? After I loaded the lineup.mxf back into WMC, I have duplicate OTA channels. Does this make sense? Any suggestions?

Also, Rovi does not include Dish Network channel 118, A&E so it still comes up missing. Any suggestions for this?

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#35

Post by garyan2 » Tue Jun 07, 2016 5:46 pm

fzy8gc wrote:I tried to move to epg123 on my primary WMC today with mixed results and had to go back to Rovi.

This system has both OTA turners and a Colossus card interfaced to a Dish Network 211k. When I save C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome\mcepg2-x\backup\lineup\YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS, am I getting both the OTA and Dish Network channels? After I loaded the lineup.mxf back into WMC, I have duplicate OTA channels. Does this make sense? Any suggestions?

Also, Rovi does not include Dish Network channel 118, A&E so it still comes up missing. Any suggestions for this?
I'm working on getting all this resolved for you Colossus users. The plan is to set you up with 10000 channels just like the CableCARD folk without having to do the lineup restore. Workload for me has been pretty heavy lately and finding the time and/or energy to get this done is hard to come by. I know what to do, just need to find a way to execute.

From what I have learned so far, for Colossus users I would currently recommend not going through the lineup restore and just setup WMC normally. EPG123 will push Rovi out of the way for the Guide information (though channel 118 will still be missing).

Hopefully soon, I will have the fix in place and release v0.9.9. :P
- Gary
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#36

Post by garyan2 » Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:21 am

Okay, long story short ... I believe I have a Colossus solution, but I need someone to test it out. I've got a little work to productionize it, but I don't have any actual cable or satellite STBs to verify it works.

To test it out will require a clean start (deleted ehome directory) as well as a dirty install (Rovi present). We need to make sure it works in both situations. The end results will be the user will have 9999 channels for the software tuner and epg123 can take care of everything else. This ability will also solve the duplicate channels and missing channels that have been seen with Colossus setups.

Any takers?
- Gary
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#37

Post by jtcreate » Mon Jun 20, 2016 9:38 am

I have three systems all running dual colossus cards each without issues using EPG123. Of course, i'm on directv. ,I'm kind of curious about these issues other users are having.

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#38

Post by jtcreate » Mon Jun 20, 2016 10:01 am

marvin-miller wrote:Hi folks!

I followed with interest EPG123 as I was running into the same Microsoft/Rovi issues that everyone is facing so today I thought I would give it a try.

Windows 7 / Clean MCE install w/Hauppauge Colossus.

If I use Arcsoft I can see the video & audio from the Colossus. This tells me hardware is OK :mrgreen:
I have the guide data from Schedules Direct in Media Center - this tells me the EPG123 steps were done OK.

When I click on any listing in the guide I get this;

Tuner Not Available

The tuner is currently in use by another application or is not working. Close all other applications, restart Windows Media Center, and then try again.

As mentioned, the Tuner does work. I'm curious is anyone has got the EPG123 changeover to work with the Hauppauge Colossus or if this is some other issue?

Marvin, are you using colossus generation 1 or 2? Are you using the PVR McE plugin from hauppauge or the dvblink software? There is a hickup that sometimes pops up when first deploying the EPG123. im trying to see if your problem is the same as the one i encountered. If it is, the fix should be easy.

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#39

Post by fzy8gc » Mon Jun 20, 2016 2:13 pm

garyan2 wrote:To test it out will require a clean start (deleted ehome directory) as well as a dirty install (Rovi present). We need to make sure it works in both situations. The end results will be the user will have 9999 channels for the software tuner and epg123 can take care of everything else. This ability will also solve the duplicate channels and missing channels that have been seen with Colossus setups.

Any takers?
Gary,

I'll take this on for us. Since I am already up and running with ROVI, I'll do the dirty build first. It may be a few days before I can work this in.

Assumptions:
1. I use the v0.9.9 build.
2. I now follow the regular build procedure.

Jim

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#40

Post by KenL » Mon Jun 20, 2016 10:02 pm

garyan2 wrote:...To test it out will require a clean start (deleted ehome directory) as well as a dirty install (Rovi present). We need to make sure it works in both situations. The end results will be the user will have 9999 channels for the software tuner and epg123 can take care of everything else. This ability will also solve the duplicate channels and missing channels that have been seen with Colossus setups.

Any takers?
I can test a clean start.

BTW will this coexist with ATSC tuners?

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