DVBS /S2 Over the Air EPG information

[Oddity]

Looking to add a DVBS/S2 card to my sage set up. Currently for DVBT using OTA EPG information which works great. Is it possible to get OTA satellite EPG data for the free to air channels ( ie freesat ) and if so how much information do you get ? ie is it just now and next or 8 days?

Can anyone recommend a PCIe card ( dual tuner ) ?

[jaminben]

For over the air epg you'll only get now and next and you'll only get that at the time of the epg scan or when you tune into a channel and even when you do tune into a channel you'll only get data for channels that share that same mux...... something like that anyway.

[Oddity]

Thanks you have confirmed what I thought was the case

[Nelbert]

You'll either need to use a OTA EPG grabber and XMLTV import the data (you can get them for both FreeSat and Sky EPGs) or use the internet based XMLTV grabbers.

While I realise the UK isn't the only place with the rediculous Now and Next only EPG situation, there are plenty of other broadcasters who give epgs OTA without any problem. We have no trouble with OTA epgs on DigiTV or Platforma HD/DV.

These days it's a pointless limitation in the UK given that most Linux Sat boxes have add-ins which will pull the Sky EPG anyway.

[Oddity]

I agree entirely, that this is such a legacy situation, it works perfectly on DVB-T so why they do not do it on DVB-S i have no idea.

Can you recommend a good and reliable OTA grabber that works with Sagetv? I would ideally like to have just one application that creates the XML files for Sagetv. I have seen several solutions that download data but they require so many components to complete the process.

[jaminben]

I've never seen an over the air grabber.... I think you'll find Nelbert is referring to a down-loadable grabber (I think).

I personally use Digiguide to get the xml file and StephaneM's xmltv importer, this has been working for me for over a year now without issue (hope I've not talked something up).

It may seem a bit daunting at first but its actually quite easy once you get into it. I also find the data that Digiguide supply is far better than OTA and that of the RadioTimes xml version. I did at one time try the MS version for MediaCenter but that seemed to have alot of missing data/channels (it was along time ago though).

[brewston]

Originally Posted by jaminben

I've never seen an over the air grabber.

There is one :

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51060

Not tried to myself though. I'm on Digiguide & Stephane's importer.

[jaminben]

Originally Posted by brewston

There is one :

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51060

Not tried to myself though. I'm on Digiguide & Stephane's importer.

Ah, that looks cool..... I especially like the part where Whitey combines the feeds to get better series info..... that should work better with my little side project.

[Nelbert]

Originally Posted by brewston

There is one :

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51060

Not tried to myself though. I'm on Digiguide & Stephane's importer.

That's the one I've been looking at. Not sure if the new version with fixes for the Freeview HD epg data decoding has been released yet. The freeview HD channel epg data was causing it to fall over as it was encoded, but that's been resolved now.

I was looking at it for pulling a custom channel list from the Sky EPG as it contains more info than the freeview/freesat EPG. The freesat epg pull is nice and speedy though. Currently in Sage I have my freeview/freesat channels merged so the Freeview OTA EPG works for both where the channels overlap. The only hole that bugs me is the BBC HD/One HD channels.

The source repository for dvbe4sage also has an OTA EPG grabber in it although I've not tried that one.

The part I've got stuck at is trying to find an XMLTV importer for Sage that'll pull the grabber files in. It seems the stock solution on the forums is to pay out more money for a windows only addon, which sucks quite frankly. Why Sage didn't allow importing from a local file in the main product I don't understand, or maybe it does and I just haven't found the right instructions.

[Whitey]

Originally Posted by brewston

There is one :

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51060

Not tried to myself though. I'm on Digiguide & Stephane's importer.

It's a great program and I'm amazed that there isn't more interest in it

Whitey

[Oddity]

Whitey, looks absolutely perfect and I'm surprised that there is not more interest in it.
I have a couple of questions about the configuration
1: You have to set a tuner to act at the source of the EPG Data. If I have a multi tuner configuration with DVB-T and DVB-S how do I know which tuner is which?
2: I take it that it creates the XML files in the XML data directory specified on the tuner configuration in Sage and are read in directly.

[MCE-Refugee]

Originally Posted by jaminben

I also find the data that Digiguide supply is far better than OTA and that of the RadioTimes xml version.

This is the reason that I have never bothered mucking about with getting OTA EPG working as the Digiguide EPG is so much better.

BTW It's exciting times for Digiguide with their business changes & for me personally the news that iPhone/iPad & Mac OS X versions of Digiguide are to be released is fantastic http://forums.digiguide.tv/topic.asp...pany+Statement

[Oddity]

Although the data is not a complete, I find that it is enough for my needs, the best part about it is that it is updated throughout the day and program changes such as overrunning sports programs can be captured ( as long as the program checks for updates ).

[Oddity]

How do I get the XML into Sage, if I select the XML option on the source I can only get the US / Canadian tv epg listings.

[jaminben]

You need to use something like StephaneM's xmltv importer...... you have to make a small donation to get the full version but its well worth it and its updated quite regulary. The support offered is also good and there's a nice setup guide to go with it.

[Nelbert]

Originally Posted by MCE-Refugee

This is the reason that I have never bothered mucking about with getting OTA EPG working as the Digiguide EPG is so much better.

BTW It's exciting times for Digiguide with their business changes & for me personally the news that iPhone/iPad & Mac OS X versions of Digiguide are to be released is fantastic http://forums.digiguide.tv/topic.asp...pany+Statement

How does DigiGuide compare to the Sky EPG given Sky is a DigiGuide user? Sky's is better than the FreeSat and Freeview guides, and seems to provide all I want/need looking at what my Sat receiver pulls in.

For my use I can also guarentee I'll get a signal from Astra or worst case aerial which is more than can be said for my Internet as I'm on the limits of cabling and random loss of internet is a way of life.

[Nelbert]

Originally Posted by jaminben

You need to use something like StephaneM's xmltv importer...... you have to make a small donation to get the full version but its well worth it and its updated quite regulary. The support offered is also good and there's a nice setup guide to go with it.

And for a linux server?

[jaminben]

Originally Posted by Nelbert

And for a linux server?

Use Windows

[mpogr]

Originally Posted by Whitey

It's a great program and I'm amazed that there isn't more interest in it

Whitey

Who said there is no interest in it? Just look at its forum on SourceForge, looks like plenty people are using it, including myself. I thought about finally incorporating EIT grabbing into DVBE4SAGE instead of good old EPGFROMDVB I wrote 4 years ago, but then I discovered that EIT is not used here in Oz by Foxtel and that EPGCollector supports the local standard pretty well, so I switched to it and happily using it since then.

[Whitey]

Originally Posted by mpogr

Who said there is no interest in it? Just look at its forum on SourceForge, looks like plenty people are using it, including myself. I thought about finally incorporating EIT grabbing into DVBE4SAGE instead of good old EPGFROMDVB I wrote 4 years ago, but then I discovered that EIT is not used here in Oz by Foxtel and that EPGCollector supports the local standard pretty well, so I switched to it and happily using it since then.

I was thinking that there's been little interest from the UK Sage users.

Does this mean you not going to add epgcollector functionality to DVBE4Sage? That would be ashame!

Whitey