Introducing EPG123

An evolving, supported alternative to Rovi
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★ Download the latest EPG123 here: https://garyan2.github.io/ <> Setup guide here: https://garyan2.github.io/install.html
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Einstien

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#1581

Post by Einstien » Sat Dec 22, 2018 1:20 am

Long time greenbutton reader, now a new member.
Thanks for a great great product!!! I had been looking at it for about a year, and when my old WMC HTPC recently crashed and burned, I decided to build a whole new machine and roll up my sleeves and give EPG123 a go. Well, after trying it out myself, I installed it on my parents WMC HTPC and my sisters WMC HTPC. I made a well deserved donation.
I deviated a bit from the installation manual however on page 13, where it states adding OTA channels via WMC Tasks->settings, and instead used your channel guide tool. I added the channels and then matched them on the right hand 'guide data' pane to get the subscribed data. It was a lengthy process but with the Silicondust OTA tuner software and your guide tool I was able to match all virtual to physical scanned channels. I even enabled the channels that have no guide data using your guide tool, since I, like youself said, I want it all.
The "Tweak WMC" is a really cool feature. My parents needed larger fonts!
One question I have never found an answer to though, even in registry settings, and I thought maybe you could help. Is there a way to lengthen the mini guide timeout. It times out too soon. I've never found a way to change that.
You saved WMC! Thanks for breathing new life into WMC and making it fun again.
We use Roku to get the On Demand shows, and have noticed that star ratings are not on the cable provider's guide, you do not get star ratings from Roku, you do not get star ratings using ON Demand, you don't even get them when you go to the individual networks. Star ratings is an extrmelely attractive feature. I gave my family the nickle tour of your gallery before installing it for them, and showed them your posting 'Introduction to EPG' in the forum as I find it very interesting. It is a remarkable feat to bring together all the resources you used and bring them together into an easy WMC import process. I am very impressed. I actually now just bought some "backup tuners" for all of us, just in case ours fail, now that WMC is so good gain! Wow!!! (Sorry for being so long.)

cmal

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#1582

Post by cmal » Sun Apr 07, 2019 9:18 pm

@garyan2
I'm using epg123 now for 1-2 years and am very satisfied with it, thanks !

today I have a feature request :
many series are broadcast nowadays not sequential but typically old seasons are broadcast in parallel with the newest one; sometimes several channels are broadcasting the same series...

since epg123 can backup and restore recording schedules, I assume it could also "inject" new recordings; on the other hand it provides the series meta data (s00e00);
would it be possible to combine both capabilities to provide the option to look for and record "missing episodes" of a series?
like...
record: s02e05
record: < s03e10
record: > s05e00

that would be very handy; I'm checking the specs of "Typecast" at the moment; it seems to be very close; but it doubles the infrastructure of epg123 (e.g. second download of SchedulesDirect) and seems to require to enable the "regular wmc epg" which would contradict the epg123 policy...

Thanks again

adam1991

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#1583

Post by adam1991 » Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:38 am

All I can say is, pray for cataracts that rise to the level of getting rid of them. Then you'll get new lenses, and your entire world will change for the better.

Best $7K out of pocket I've ever spent.

DSperber

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#1584

Post by DSperber » Sat Apr 13, 2019 6:57 pm

garyan2 wrote: Mon Nov 27, 2017 1:25 am Just me adding some more features. This is a preview of what is going in the client tool to tweak WMC.

I got the code setup to be able to dynamically adjust the font sizes to fit in any number of rows. Right now I am using a slider bar to range from 7 to 20 rows, though I have gone up to more rows without problems.
Which brings up again the request I'd made about seeing if it were possible for you install the actual name of the "favorites" list (or "ALL") that was being displayed, somewhere on the available real estate that you have control over.

If you recall, you'd mentioned that this will happen automatically with standard WMC and MyChannelLogos and EPG123 WMC tweaks if I reduced the number of rows I was showing from 10 to 9 (or fewer, presumably). And that was good enough for me. Allowed me to use a slightly larger font anyway, which improved visibility, and also get my favorites list name appearing again. But you newest screenshots where you're trying to maximize available space for Guide data, looks like there's no room left for the favoirtes name, of ALL.

So if you could just insert it manually yourself, tucked in some corner or area where there is nothing else possible and even with a smaller font (than regular giant normally used by WMC), that would be spiffy.


P.S. - seems the issue with "no text in the various Windows which are part of the nightly EPG123 update process" problem has now disappeared. Is this due to something you've now finally done in 1.2.11 to deal with "scaled text", e.g. 125%? Or is this just due to something in Windows or nVidia drivers dealing with font scaling in Win7? We had this discussion a while back, as I had two monitors (one 2560x1440 at 125% and the other 1920x1200 at 125%) and was seeing no text from EPG123's windows. Well now the text is always present.

SoNic67

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#1585

Post by SoNic67 » Thu May 02, 2019 1:04 pm

My text is still absent.

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garyan2

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#1586

Post by garyan2 » Thu May 02, 2019 2:13 pm

DSperber wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2019 6:57 pm
SoNic67 wrote: Thu May 02, 2019 1:04 pm My text is still absent.
P.S. - seems the issue with "no text in the various Windows which are part of the nightly EPG123 update process" problem has now disappeared. Is this due to something you've now finally done in 1.2.11 to deal with "scaled text", e.g. 125%? Or is this just due to something in Windows or nVidia drivers dealing with font scaling in Win7? We had this discussion a while back, as I had two monitors (one 2560x1440 at 125% and the other 1920x1200 at 125%) and was seeing no text from EPG123's windows. Well now the text is always present.
SoNic67 wrote: Thu May 02, 2019 1:04 pm My text is still absent.
This issue is unique to your setups and I don't know what the root cause is. I did not change any code for the "missing text" because I wasn't able to reproduce it. I was initially concerned it was due to me upgrading to Visual Studio 2017 around that time, but the fact the the text came back reduces that concern. The title bar text font and height is controlled by the host OS theme settings, as far as I know.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

cmal

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#1587

Post by cmal » Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:00 pm

cmal wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 9:18 pm ...provide the option to look for and record "missing episodes" of a series?
like...
record: s02e05
record: < s03e10
record: > s05e00
...
I have hacked together a batch which is (hopefully reliably) doing this; it is a little bit clumsy (working with a lot of temporal files)... anyhow, I'm testing it right now (running on Win10x64_LTSC1809, MCE 8.8.3, epg123_v1.2.12)...

cmal

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#1588

Post by cmal » Mon Sep 23, 2019 7:35 pm

...ok after several weeks/month testing I think it is working (for me 8-) ), if anybody is interested, I post here the code:

- extract the txt, rename as "_Serie.bat" and copy into a Directory created within epg123 Directory (parallel to .../output; e.g. .../recreq); I have epg123 installed outside /program files... so; I'm not sure whether it will work "inside" (not tested)...

- you can Change certain Default Settings:
+ directory for temporal files; default is "dr=", which means the files stay in the dir of the batch; I have directed them to my RAM-drive: "dr=x:\"
+ correction for UTC (0/1); normally not needed, so the default is "0";
+ create log-file; default is "1";
+ should Mediacenter (which is opened during the process) be closed at the end?; default is "1" (yes)

- the "_Serie.bat" has to be run as admin; I have set it up as a scheduled Task once a week (with 14 days of time line, this should be enough);

- basically this code performs a reverse Engineering on the "epg123.mxf" (it does not change it); on my small low power HTPC-machine the parsing takes ~1h;

- during the first run (do it manually; right-click as admin) the Batch will create an "_rec.ini" and stop; do not create the file any other way; read line 1+2 if the ini; don't delete them;

- you should now edit lines 3 and following (add lines as needed) with the series you want

- during the next run also a vbs file will be created which is needed

- there will be also for every series a "*_done.txt" created which contains the already recorded episodes; do not delete them

What this code does is to create a “*.c2r” file ("click to record")for each episode and inject it into Mediacenter; since that means mediacenter incorporates the info on its own, the risk to destroy the database is minimized (but maybe not zero!); I tried to do it via recordings backup but obviously this fails because a critical ID of the channels in the .mxf is changing every day… kills the database…
Attachments
_Serie.zip
(3.64 KiB) Downloaded 49 times

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davidhp

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#1589

Post by davidhp » Fri Oct 04, 2019 10:50 pm

Question Gary, I have signed up for Schedules Direct, I looked at your webpage and when I tried to download link the first hyperlink for EPG123 Download, the window that popped up defaulted to opening with Kindle, I know that is wrong, so what should I open the download with, Windows Media Center?

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garyan2

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#1590

Post by garyan2 » Fri Oct 04, 2019 11:02 pm

davidhp wrote: Fri Oct 04, 2019 10:50 pm Question Gary, I have signed up for Schedules Direct, I looked at your webpage and when I tried to download link the first hyperlink for EPG123 Download, the window that popped up defaulted to opening with Kindle, I know that is wrong, so what should I open the download with, Windows Media Center?
Well, that's weird. Are you trying to download on the Kindle? The hyperlink is to a .zip file so maybe that is your default. Here is the direct link to the setup file. http://epg123.garyan2.net/downloads/epg ... 2.18.0.zip

EDIT: Not sure if I answered your question. If you downloaded the zip file, then you should be able to open it with File Explorer.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

bbf

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#1591

Post by bbf » Sat Oct 05, 2019 2:02 am

garyan2 wrote: Fri Oct 04, 2019 11:02 pm
davidhp wrote: Fri Oct 04, 2019 10:50 pm Question Gary, I have signed up for Schedules Direct, I looked at your webpage and when I tried to download link the first hyperlink for EPG123 Download, the window that popped up defaulted to opening with Kindle, I know that is wrong, so what should I open the download with, Windows Media Center?
Well, that's weird. Are you trying to download on the Kindle? The hyperlink is to a .zip file so maybe that is your default. Here is the direct link to the setup file. http://epg123.garyan2.net/downloads/epg ... 2.18.0.zip

EDIT: Not sure if I answered your question. If you downloaded the zip file, then you should be able to open it with File Explorer.
I just downloaded version 1.2.18.0 using the link on your website, so it works for me.

What didn't seem to work on your download page for me were:
a) Link to archive page. Hover over changes to a hand, but clicking on it does nothing.
b) "Donate" button. Hover over changes to a hand, but clicking on it does nothing. However, clicking on the PayPal logo goes to the right place.

Also, Gary, Thanks for all your work on epg123.

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garyan2

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#1592

Post by garyan2 » Sat Oct 05, 2019 2:07 am

bbf wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2019 2:02 amWhat didn't seem to work on your download page for me were:
a) Link to archive page. Hover over changes to a hand, but clicking on it does nothing.
b) "Donate" button. Hover over changes to a hand, but clicking on it does nothing. However, clicking on the PayPal logo goes to the right place.

Also, Gary, Thanks for all your work on epg123.
Thanks. I haven't created the archive page yet, so it is not active. I'll have to check on the Donate button... it was giving me some troubles, but I thought I took care of it.

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

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davidhp

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#1593

Post by davidhp » Sat Oct 05, 2019 5:38 am

Ok, I just don't know what I am doing wrong, not real good with computer software. What should I use to open the zip file, my computer keeps trying to open it with Kindle or Internet Explorer. None of the other options it gives me look right either. So how do I download the EPG 123 program and get it to open with the correct software. I am ready to move over, but I think I had this problem last year when I tried and gave up. I need some help on downloading and opening EPG 123 please. Not real computer literate when it comes to this sort of thing.

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garyan2

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#1594

Post by garyan2 » Sat Oct 05, 2019 5:47 am

davidhp wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2019 5:38 am Ok, I just don't know what I am doing wrong, not real good with computer software. What should I use to open the zip file, my computer keeps trying to open it with Kindle. None of the options it gives me look right. So how do I download the EPG 123 program and get it to open with the correct software. I am ready to move over, but I think I had this problem last year when I tried and gave up.
Right-click the file (epg123Setup_v1.2.18.0.zip) and select 'Open with...' In either the 'Recommended Programs' section, or the expanded 'Other Programs' section, you should find 'Windows Explorer'. Select that and click [OK]. You should then be able to see the contents of the zip file which is the installation file... double-click that.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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davidhp

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#1595

Post by davidhp » Sat Oct 05, 2019 5:50 am

garyan2 wrote: Fri Oct 04, 2019 11:02 pm
davidhp wrote: Fri Oct 04, 2019 10:50 pm Question Gary, I have signed up for Schedules Direct, I looked at your webpage and when I tried to download link the first hyperlink for EPG123 Download, the window that popped up defaulted to opening with Kindle, I know that is wrong, so what should I open the download with, Windows Media Center?
Well, that's weird. Are you trying to download on the Kindle? The hyperlink is to a .zip file so maybe that is your default. Here is the direct link to the setup file. http://epg123.garyan2.net/downloads/epg ... 2.18.0.zip

EDIT: Not sure if I answered your question. If you downloaded the zip file, then you should be able to open it with File Explorer.

Ok I got it to down load and open with Windows Explorer

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davidhp

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#1596

Post by davidhp » Sat Oct 05, 2019 5:52 am

Thanks Gary, I just figured it out. I didn't realize Windows explorer was an option, thought it was a title. GOt it now and feel kind of dumb. I think I can use the guide and figure it out the rest of the way. Thanks for your help and your efforts in making this.

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garyan2

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#1597

Post by garyan2 » Sat Oct 05, 2019 5:56 am

If you have any problems, let me know. I'll be burning the midnight oil working on the website and a small update to the installer.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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garyan2

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#1598

Post by garyan2 » Sat Oct 05, 2019 6:05 am

davidhp wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2019 5:52 am Thanks Gary, I just figured it out. I didn't realize Windows explorer was an option, thought it was a title. GOt it now and feel kind of dumb. I think I can use the guide and figure it out the rest of the way. Thanks for your help and your efforts in making this.
I just exposed some pages on the site for the installation. Located in the INSTALL group are sub-pages. When you get to Step 3, Part 1, pay attention to the recommended settings I have identified and you shouldn't have any problem.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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davidhp

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#1599

Post by davidhp » Sat Oct 05, 2019 7:41 am

Ok Gary got it up and running thanks.

sgbroimp

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#1600

Post by sgbroimp » Tue Oct 15, 2019 9:00 pm

Looks several updates have come in the last month or so which is good as they want to get it perfect. But given that does it make some sense to wait until closer to year end to convert over to it? Also what is the "portable" version for? hand held devices?

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