Latest Guides and Aus in General

[user29]

Hi!

So I have been messing about with Sage and SageMC - and nearly ready to take the plunge!

I have mainly been using the media function (movies and music) but I have a tuner arriving next week (hopefully this will work). I have set up sagemc to use winamp and zplayer (my two external players of choice)....

So my next steps will be...

Install Tuner
Find and run a guide
Test record
Install analog tuner
Get foxtel working
Set up clients (90 per cent pc as oppose to the box)
Get a ir/rf/remote solution

So I am ok with the tuner install - but a bit lost on getting the FTA (and then the foxtel one) guide..

Any hints / tips!!!!

My first post!

[maninblack_30]

Originally Posted by user29

Hi!

So I have been messing about with Sage and SageMC - and nearly ready to take the plunge!

I have mainly been using the media function (movies and music) but I have a tuner arriving next week (hopefully this will work). I have set up sagemc to use winamp and zplayer (my two external players of choice)....

So my next steps will be...

Install Tuner
Find and run a guide
Test record
Install analog tuner
Get foxtel working
Set up clients (90 per cent pc as oppose to the box)
Get a ir/rf/remote solution

So I am ok with the tuner install - but a bit lost on getting the FTA (and then the foxtel one) guide..

Any hints / tips!!!!

My first post!

Well,
I have spent the last year and a half with Sage in Australia, and have tried several EPG's here, and have ended up paying for the Icetv guide.
The others all worked well, but weren't reliable with their data, and some just stopped updating sometimes for days. Icetv seems to be the only way to go at the moment unless you like being kept on your toes, and I think they do the foxtel data too.
As far as Sage goes, once you have it up and running properly, you really don't have to touch it at all, I have 4 tuners (2 Dvico dual digital 4's) and 1 HD extender and 3 MVP's. we gave away our Topfield PVRT5000 about 6 months ago and haven't regreted it one bit.
Hopefully Australian guide data will be available free sometime soon and we can do away with Icetv's guide.
I can't reccomend the HD extender enough, it's FANTASTIC.
The MVP's are great for the bedroom/kitchen/etc.

Fraser

[hoadie]

I've been using SageTV for 4 years and over that time tried 4 or more EPGs before going with Ice TV as it's reliable and consistent.

[cychou]

I am currently using the xmltvdownload from EpgStream as my guide grabber. As for data source I am using OZTivo - you need to register first.

They are probably not as good as IceTV, but they are free and get the job done!

Alternatively, you can just use the EPG that came with the DVB-T signal. All stations do give a week's epg data now. With this, you are only getting the program title and time.

Vince

[rv73]

IceTV user here too. Tried lotsa other free ones over the last few years. But at $3 a week Ice is well worth it.
LMgestion's xmltv sagetv importer to get the data into sage is what I am doing currently.
Works well, once you have set up your channels & remapped the logical and physical numbers etc.

[ozfiles]

Been using epgstream also without any trouble.
The only problem with ice, is they don't supply a paytv guide otherwise, I'm sure a lot more people would use them.
I actually have the fta hd channels setup to use the over the air epg and the standard channels use the epgstream guide data.
So that way, if the channels have a late programming change or the epgstream data fails, I have a backup.

[DigitalMedia]

cychou- can you advise on details involved in setting this up with SageTV. I am new to Sage and not sure how this works

[cychou]

Originally Posted by DigitalMedia

cychou- can you advise on details involved in setting this up with SageTV. I am new to Sage and not sure how this works

1. Register at OzTivo, so you can get the access to their EPG data (with the Registered user name and password used in step 2).

2. Download xmltvDownload from EpgStream. There are also instructions for setting it up. At the end of this, you should be able to retrieve a xml file containing all the channels and programming data in your area.

3. Configure Sage to use the xml file you just created. I use the plugin from Demideus . I did modified it myself to make it compatible with Java 1.5 and above. I think the original is only Java 1.4 and not sure if anyone else posted a newer version. Make sure you configure the plugin to run XmltvDownload and utliilize the xml file generated in Step 2.

4. Add the video source (tuner card) in Sage and specify the Xmltv source configured in step 3.


Send me a private message (so I do not miss it) if you get stuck at some point. I can post the files I used here for your reference (in step 3 and 4) if needed.

[DigitalMedia]

cychou-

thanks for you help. i have managed to generate the xml file required but cannot get sagetv to recognise it.

i modified the sage.properties file as dimedius suggests but when i add my tuner card and select us/canada/xml for the epg it hangs and nothing happens.

any suggestions?

many thanks again.

[cychou]

Originally Posted by DigitalMedia

cychou-

thanks for you help. i have managed to generate the xml file required but cannot get sagetv to recognise it.

i modified the sage.properties file as dimedius suggests but when i add my tuner card and select us/canada/xml for the epg it hangs and nothing happens.

any suggestions?

many thanks again.

You should have xmltv.txt and xmltv.err files in your Sage directory, and they should tell you what went on and wrong.

If you cannot find those two files, then the xmltv plug-in is not properly loaded. Check you Sage debug log file (enable it if necessary).

[mickp]

If you're still having trouble getting epg data imported check out Stephane's excellent xmltv importer. It's donationware for the full product but well worth a few euro imho.

Mick.

[wilsonj]

another vote for Stephane's importer. I used the BTV one for years, and the Sage one is equally as good, if not better.