UK Sky EPG via dvb-s

[doc]

Is it possible somehow.....

to have a dvb-s card in your pc and extract the epg data directly from sky, and then create an xmltv file to import into sage?

I have 2 sky stb's and if there is a way, I could carry on using them the same way that I do, just provide the epg from a different source. I have a spare connection on the LMB. I don't want to go the whole hog and replace my sky boxes, I was just wondering if there was an 'easyish' way to get at the sky epgdata.

I've read forum after forum about it and have overloaded my brain! (not hard I know)

[Lucas]

Nothing is impossible but.....

Sky uses a separate frequency to stream the one week epg info to digiboxes in a proprietary manner.

The standard dvb-s stream only has now and next epg info which is useless for scheduling recordings although there are tools that allow you to read this short term info and turn it into xmltv.

I think radio times data is still the best source....

[doc]

oh well, it was just a thought. I missed 2 episodes of Heroes as radio times said it was on when it wasn't, so I thought I'd have a quick look around for other posibilities.

It would be nice if sky made their epg available for download, though that won't ever happen in our lifetime

[Mark SS]

As Lucas said, anything is possible, you just need a proper mad coder to take a look at the job!

I got as far as finding some c/assembly code that would decode the stream but haven't time, inclination (or ability!) to investigate further.

[svalmorri]

There is an MD-API plugin working with myTheatre called EPG4cplus that connects to the media highway feed of your satellite provider, downloads the entire (weekly) EPG and creates a guide.xml file compatible with xmltv. This file can than be easily imported using scripts or importers (e.g. StephaneM's).

I dont know if it works with UK Sky, it does for Italian Sky and French D+ but you might want to give it a try. In the past it had some incompatibilities with the newest SS2 drivers but I see a new version out.

Just google "EPG4cplus" to find it.

Cheers

[zzmystique]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

There is an MD-API plugin working with myTheatre called EPG4cplus that connects to the media highway feed of your satellite provider, downloads the entire (weekly) EPG and creates a guide.xml file compatible with xmltv. This file can than be easily imported using scripts or importers (e.g. StephaneM's).

I dont know if it works with UK Sky, it does for Italian Sky and French D+ but you might want to give it a try. In the past it had some incompatibilities with the newest SS2 drivers but I see a new version out.

Just google "EPG4cplus" to find it.

Cheers

This sounds just what I'm looking for - I've downloaded EPG4cplus - can't find a 'How to' on configuring or using it - could you point me in the right direction?
Thanks

[svalmorri]

EPG4Cplus is an mdapi plugin therefore it needs to be unpacked into the plugins folder of your mdapi compliant application.

If using mytheatre just unzip it into the Plugins folder, restart the application, right click on the MT screen, select Plug-Ins and see if it appears in the list. You also need the MD API wrapper in the same folder in order to run MDAPI plugins (search for mdapiwrapper, I think v1.28 is the latest).

I have never been able to make it work because of my newer drivers loaded in ... so my help stops here :-)

Good Luck!

[zzmystique]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

EPG4Cplus is an mdapi plugin therefore it needs to be unpacked into the plugins folder of your mdapi compliant application.

If using mytheatre just unzip it into the Plugins folder, restart the application, right click on the MT screen, select Plug-Ins and see if it appears in the list. You also need the MD API wrapper in the same folder in order to run MDAPI plugins (search for mdapiwrapper, I think v1.28 is the latest).

I have never been able to make it work because of my newer drivers loaded in ... so my help stops here :-)

Good Luck!

Thanks - will give it a try!

[doc]

Originally Posted by zzmystique

Thanks - will give it a try!

Let me know if you get it working, I got the dvb-s2 card today.

I can't do any testing for a week as I'm off to Salcombe tomorrow, and you know what that means! and more

[Mark SS]

EPG4CPlus won't work Sky UK. The Sky guide isn't in MHW format.

[jaminben]

Is their any other way to get an epg for the FTA channels. I'm currently using radiotimes xmltv data but it doesnt have the more obscure channels like xleauge tv.

Hopefully when/if freesat launches next year we'll get a better epg and more channels including some HD goodness.