Using EPG123 in the UK

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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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paulcarrm9mx

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Using EPG123 in the UK

#1

Post by paulcarrm9mx » Sun Feb 09, 2020 8:44 pm

Hi first time user,
Can I use EPG123 in the UK if so is there an instruction pdf or vidro I can use to set it up.

Thank you Paul

unclebun

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#2

Post by unclebun » Sun Feb 09, 2020 9:37 pm

Yes and yes. Look above your post where it says "setup guide here"

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garyan2

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#3

Post by garyan2 » Sun Feb 09, 2020 10:00 pm

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

Mark2

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#4

Post by Mark2 » Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:24 pm

Hi there,
so, really pleased to see this here and hear that it will work in the UK. I have glanced over the guides above. It seems fairly easy to follow, sensible and well documented.

Just one question - are there any gotcha's I need to be aware of that are not in the install guide? I am in the UK. Will it all be as simple as the guide suggests?

Many thanks - Im looking forward to getting this sorted out.
Mark

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aquadextrous

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#5

Post by aquadextrous » Tue Feb 25, 2020 9:17 pm

Mark2 wrote: Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:24 pm Hi there,
so, really pleased to see this here and hear that it will work in the UK. I have glanced over the guides above. It seems fairly easy to follow, sensible and well documented.

Just one question - are there any gotcha's I need to be aware of that are not in the install guide? I am in the UK. Will it all be as simple as the guide suggests?

Many thanks - Im looking forward to getting this sorted out.
Mark
I run EPG123 in the UK and as long as you follow every step in the set-up guide then there should be no issues. I have Freeview and Freesat channels on my setup, and so find using a couple of lineups (UK Freeview and UK Extended) pretty much covers all the channels I use. One thing of note is that Schedules Direct don't offer rolling daily updates for the UK, the guide populates for day 7-14 on a Friday night usually - so you start Saturday with 14 days worth of guide and this reduces down to 7 and then it's refreshed again. It does seem to respond to schedule changes though, so it's still worth setting the update schedule to nightly or every couple of nights. The information SD provides - episode names & numbers, original air dates, new flags, programme images etc is excellent - well worth the bi-monthly or annual fee.

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#6

Post by Mark2 » Wed Feb 26, 2020 10:17 am

Thanks aquadextrous (great name), that is encouraging to read. I'll give it a go when I have a few hours spare and the mental whatwithal to make sure I don't overlook anything. I imagine the priority is going to escalate pretty quickly, there are only a few days of WMC provided data left now.

I had a look at the schedules direct website, that looks pretty straight forward too.

It is either this option, or replace my old TV card with a new one that will work on Linux, and then go through a more complex and involved set up to get it all working on Linux. Something I'd quite like to do, and maybe will be more of a long term goal with Windows going the way it is.

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Vistaar

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#7

Post by Vistaar » Wed Feb 26, 2020 5:49 pm

If I lived in the UK, where terrestrial broadcasts contain a week of free EPG data, then I would focus on getting EPG Collector to work with WMC, or simply use other DVR software.
Mark2 wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 10:17 am It is either this option, or replace my old TV card with a new one that will work on Linux, and then go through a more complex and involved set up to get it all working on Linux. Something I'd quite like to do, and maybe will be more of a long term goal with Windows going the way it is.
Your "either/or" seems to assume that WMC is the only DVR software that can be used on Windows. There are several options for Windows, whereas MythTV was formerly the only DVR for Linux AFAIK - but it so happens that NextPVR is on the brink of releasing a new cross-platform version 5 from public beta.

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aquadextrous

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#8

Post by aquadextrous » Wed Feb 26, 2020 6:50 pm

The free data is ok in general, but it's not that rich in terms of information provided, it is hit and miss with series information etc and doesnt have any of the nice stuff like series images etc. It's workable but not what can be achieved with WMC.

Yeah there are lots of DVR applications and programmes available, believe me i've tried most of them, but ive always come back to WMC, mainly for one single reason. I use my PC to record a LOT of television and no other DVR system comes close when it comes to series recordings and recording management. WMC is much more thorough eg - if a recording fails then it records that episode at the next opportunity no matter when that comes, if series are recorded then it can find new or repeat episodes at different times of day and if wanted on different channels. Other PVR software seems to use time slots rather than series name / episode information to set recordings intelligently. It just seems to work, yes WMC is sometimes hassle, yes £6 every 2 months isnt ideal for EPG, but it works and it works well (for my needs, YMMV)

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#9

Post by sub3 » Thu Feb 27, 2020 2:12 am

aquadextrous wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 6:50 pm The free data is ok in general, but it's not that rich in terms of information provided, it is hit and miss with series information etc and doesnt have any of the nice stuff like series images etc. It's workable but not what can be achieved with WMC.

Yeah there are lots of DVR applications and programmes available, believe me i've tried most of them, but ive always come back to WMC, mainly for one single reason. I use my PC to record a LOT of television and no other DVR system comes close when it comes to series recordings and recording management.
Honestly, it's just what you're used to. There is is other apps just as good.
WMC is much more thorough eg - if a recording fails then it records that episode at the next opportunity no matter when that comes
NextPVR does the same (assuming you're using a guide data source with show identifers)
if series are recorded then it can find new or repeat episodes at different times of day and if wanted on different channels. Other PVR software seems to use time slots rather than series name / episode information to set recordings intelligently.
NextPVR gives you lots of options on how recurring recordings work. It can find shows at any time, and on different channels if you like. It does it using the show names, and identifiers like season/episode numebrs. (you can make dumb manual-recurring recordings if you want though, which records a fixed channel at a fixed times - most people wouldn't do that though)

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Vistaar

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#10

Post by Vistaar » Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:34 am

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I don't think WMC was able to read the in-band EPG data for DVB-T2 HD channels, whereas NextPVR can. NextPVR also supports HEVC, but WMC never will.

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IT Troll

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#11

Post by IT Troll » Sat Feb 29, 2020 8:01 am

Vistaar wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:34 am Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I don't think WMC was able to read the in-band EPG data for DVB-T2 HD channels, whereas NextPVR can. NextPVR also supports HEVC, but WMC never will.
Correct. In-band EPG data for HD channels is encoded and WMC doesn’t have the decoding algorithm. If there is an identical SD channel you can just tell media center to use that EPG data for the HD channel. In-band EPG is only 7 days though. I did this a few years ago whilst there was a Microsoft EPG outage and before I switched to EPG123. Annual membership to Schedules Direct is $25, saving $11 annually over the bi-monthly membership.

There are still no plans to introduce HEVC DVB in the UK. I doubt there ever will given the the huge cost of change and wide availability of streaming services.

NextPVR is a solid PVR, but if you want your HTPC to be more than just a PVR then you have to use it as a backend to some other front end. That is when the recording and playback UX starts to suffer. It still works fine but is not quite as slick as WMC.
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

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