Using Schedules Direct in UK

[jamesdisco]

Is anyone using the new epg service with sky channels in the UK.
Ive signed up to schedules direct and had a play around with V9 the guide data looks far better than digiguide.

The computer i'm using sage V9 on doesn't have a satellite signal so i cant actually test properly.

My question is if i clear out the channel list schedules direct puts in and then drop in my own .frq(with all the sky channels) will it match up correctly and show the right epg data for the right channels.

[rickgillyon]

I'm using it with VM, but it doesn't work like that AFAIK. You get the lineup and hack your FRQ to match, or scan for your FRQ, delete your scanned lineup and add from SD, tweaking to make the lineup match the FRQ. I chose the latter approach.

Agreed it's definitely much better than previous EPG options though.

[jamesdisco]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

I'm using it with VM, but it doesn't work like that AFAIK. You get the lineup and hack your FRQ to match, or scan for your FRQ, delete your scanned lineup and add from SD, tweaking to make the lineup match the FRQ. I chose the latter approach.

Thats a shame ive got used to Deanm's DDAC creating the .frq's for me, its been a while since ive had to mess on copy and pasting. It was bad enough doing it with DVB-T, now i'm on satellite it will take forever.

[rickgillyon]

Not sure what you'd be copy/pasting, but it is a royal PITA on the first lineup. If you re-use that lineup for subsequent tuners, the FRQ file is copied automatically.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Not sure what you'd be copy/pasting, but it is a royal PITA on the first lineup. If you re-use that lineup for subsequent tuners, the FRQ file is copied automatically.

Can you provide me with an example of the custom FRQ file you're using and what lineup you're using it with? Sometimes Schedules Direct provides more information than SageTV can actually use and I'd like to see if any of that extra information could be used to help you out.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by jamesdisco

Is anyone using the new epg service with sky channels in the UK.
Ive signed up to schedules direct and had a play around with V9 the guide data looks far better than digiguide.

The computer i'm using sage V9 on doesn't have a satellite signal so i cant actually test properly.

My question is if i clear out the channel list schedules direct puts in and then drop in my own .frq(with all the sky channels) will it match up correctly and show the right epg data for the right channels.

Is the channel list provided by SD not correct in the Sky lineup? or is there not a sky lineup?

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Is the channel list provided by SD not correct in the Sky lineup? or is there not a sky lineup?

I obviously can't really answer this question, but Schedules Direct does often have additional data for DVB. I need to see how this usually works to see if maybe I can optionally automatically generate these files when guide data is pulled down. Perhaps the answer to why things look a little off in other countries lays in some middle-ground that can be determined using all available information.

[jamesdisco]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Is the channel list provided by SD not correct in the Sky lineup? or is there not a sky lineup?

It looks correct to me, i was unable to do a channel scan as the machine i was on didn't have a cable attached. So i dont know if sage matches up the channels from the .frq to the epg correctly. Initial epg setup has always been a pain in the UK so it would be great if that were to happen.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by jamesdisco

It looks correct to me, i was unable to do a channel scan as the machine i was on didn't have a cable attached. So i dont know if sage matches up the channels from the .frq to the epg correctly. Initial epg setup has always been a pain in the UK so it would be great if that were to happen.

Well, the 'goal' would be to not have to make a .frq file other than the default provided. The scan info returned to sage 'should' be enough for sage to match the scan results to the epg lineup.

[deanm]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

The scan info returned to sage 'should' be enough for sage to match the scan results to the epg lineup.

I really wish this was the case. Thou to be honest I have not tried this and can't see how this would work as the .frq channel names don't match the data from SD.

Deanm

[deanm]

Originally Posted by jamesdisco

Thats a shame ive got used to Deanm's DDAC creating the .frq's for me, its been a while since ive had to mess on copy and pasting. It was bad enough doing it with DVB-T, now i'm on satellite it will take forever.

As you know I did start creating DDACv2. This worked for DVB-T, DVB-C and DVB-S and worked very well. The reason I never released it was you had to manually maintain a CSV table that matched Channel Names and Channel numbers with the SID numbers for each of the DVB types.

The plus side to this was I could create a full channel scan in 2 mins and have everything renamed as I liked it and .frq files generated using EPG Collector to find the Channel SID numbers for each DVB type.

With a simple modification I was able to pull in the lineups from SD and remap my SD line up and create the matching .frq files.

I did have to use the Import/Export plugging (Cant remember proper name) to import the channel lines up. This was a bit of a hack but I had SD setup for over 250 channels within minutes for both DVB-T and DVB-C.

Unfortunately I don't use DVB-S anymore but I'm sure it would not take long to create the an SD file to import into SageTV.

If you send my your DDAC channel file I will see what I can do.

Deanm

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by deanm

I really wish this was the case. Thou to be honest I have not tried this and can't see how this would work as the .frq channel names don't match the data from SD.

Deanm

I would like to see a log of a scan, to analyze if it could be improved in the matching.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

Can you provide me with an example of the custom FRQ file you're using and what lineup you're using it with? Sometimes Schedules Direct provides more information than SageTV can actually use and I'd like to see if any of that extra information could be used to help you out.

Sorry, my reply above was almost entirely wrong. My VM lineup uses external tuning, so no FRQ at all. My Freeview lineup works as I described, have to either manually hack the Frq to match lineup or lineup to match FRQ. FRQ attached, lineup is GBR-0001228-DEFAULT.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Sorry, my reply above was almost entirely wrong. My VM lineup uses external tuning, so no FRQ at all. My Freeview lineup works as I described, have to either manually hack the Frq to match lineup or lineup to match FRQ. FRQ attached, lineup is GBR-0001228-DEFAULT.

Bummer. I don't see anything that could bring us better automation. It looks like we only have extra information about DVB-S. If someone has had issues with DVB-S and wants to share their lineup and FRQ file, I'll see what I can do with that.

[jamesdisco]

Here's the .frq i'm using at the moment produced by DDAC.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by jamesdisco

Here's the .frq i'm using at the moment produced by DDAC.

What lineup would you have used for this?

[jamesdisco]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

What lineup would you have used for this?

Sorry, it's DVB-S Sky
I have it setup so that SD is preferred over HD so the channel nos. will be different to schedules direct for channels that are available in both.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by jamesdisco

Sorry, it's DVB-S Sky
I have it setup so that SD is preferred over HD so the channel nos. will be different to schedules direct for channels that are available in both.

What does Sage return if you do a scan in sage without the custom FRQ file? If you restart sage (to get into a new log file) and then go strait to a full channel scan, it should include the scan results in the log (I think). If you don't mind posting that, it would be helpful for us Yanks to get the full picture of what can be done.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by jamesdisco

Sorry, it's DVB-S Sky
I have it setup so that SD is preferred over HD so the channel nos. will be different to schedules direct for channels that are available in both.

Thanks again. Unfortunately it's starting to look like the only time I have advanced information about the frequencies and such is when the lineup is called DVB-S. Your tuner is most certainly DVB-S, but the information provided by Schedules Direct calls it Satellite which means it's pretty much assuming that you're tuning an STB and recording the playback. I was really hoping to be able to add something helpful.

[jamesdisco]

Here's a channel scan from the UK its enormous with over 900 channels.
Ive no idea how to merge the scanned channels with the list from SD which has over 600 in the sky lineup. In the past i have always edited the frq with the correct channel nos. and then followed the instructions in this post.
Really hoping someone can find a way to make sage match up the scans with the SD list.