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alahen

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 2:31 am

Regular contributor Joined: 23 Jun 2008 Posts: 88 Location: Scotland

I noticed a couple of weeks ago that some channels were missing EPG info at certain times of the day, even though my other (non-toppy) freeview box had all the programmes in the epg at those times.

The first one I noticed was BBC Alba which only had epg info between 1800 and 1900. I then noticed that the 'home' channel only had 1000 to 1100.

After mucking about with TopManager, I discovered the [restrict] settings in EPG2MEI.ini and Extend.ini. These appeared to be restricting these channels. I noticed (I think) on the forums that Channel Organiser reads the restrictions from a Freeview.dat file? Does this mean my Freeview.dat file is wrong? I have subsequently reinstalled MyStuff and deliberately not used Channel Organiser again, although I still seem to have my unwanted channels deleted.

Without fully understanding how this works, I manually edited my EP2MEI.ini and Extend.ini files and removed everything under the [restrict] tag. I'm not sure if that was recommended - can anyone advise me on this?

I now seem to have full EPG for BBC Alba, but I can still only see programmes from 1000 to 1100 on 'home'. (I'm assuming this channel does actually broadcast more than one hour a day?)

If I have to manually edit the [restrict] info in these ini files, are they meant to be the same in each file, and how would I know what times should be set for each channel? If, on the other hand, this info should be set automatically by the Freeview.dat file, why is it wrong?

As you can see, I'm pretty confused by all this...please help!

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Geoff Bacon

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:54 am

Frequent contributor Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 2323 Location: Bristol ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Windows XP, USB

The times in Freeview.dat are, at best, only valid at the time that EMJB creates the file. Should the broadcasters change their output times, the file that has been downloaded on your toppy, possibly several months earlier, will not be correct for any channels that only broadcast for a short period each day.

BTW, EMJB has asked for a volunteer to keep this file current but no one has stepped up!

Re the home channel, this currently only broadcasts between 1000 and 1100 on Freeview (see [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_(TV_channel)]Wiki[/url]).

Removing all the time restrictions should cause no real problems apart from the fact that the toppy may take more time trying to process EPG data.

Please note that you can continue to use ChannelOrganiser, just set the options so that it doesn't edit EPG2MEI.ini or Extend.ini.

[edit]Also, it is not surprising that reinstalling MyStuff did not affect your channel lineup; you would have to do a channel scan to do that (native, FastScanGUI or ChannelOrganiser[/edit]

Geoff

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gomezz

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:09 am

Frequent contributor Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Posts: 3797 Location: Buckingham

Geoff Bacon wrote:

Removing all the time restrictions should cause no real problems apart from the fact that the toppy may take more time trying to process EPG data.

And allowing you to set timers for a channel when it is actually off-air?

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andyfras

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 11:28 am

Frequent contributor Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 2791 Location: Fleet, Hampshire (Hannington)

Geoff Bacon wrote:

The times in Freeview.dat are, at best, only valid at the time that EMJB creates the file.

Is there a newer version than the one dated 3/2/11 which is included with CO B1.2?

Quote:

BTW, EMJB has asked for a volunteer to keep this file current but no one has stepped up!

I might volunteer if I knew where to find the timings.

I have just updated my most recent version to include the channel name changes since March.

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Geoff Bacon

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:34 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 2323 Location: Bristol ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Windows XP, USB

To be honest, I can't see what advantage there is in having restrictions specified in the EPG2MEI.ini file. The only scenario I can see is that, without this info, EPG2MEI has to wait around for EPG information that won't ever appear; presumably, it times out after some period and writes the changed EPG data.

I can see how Extend could use the information to help it determine whether or not to stop an overrunning recording (but does it use it?)

Geoff

juwlz

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 1:54 pm

MyStuff Team Joined: 12 Aug 2005 Posts: 9635 Location: Wokingham, Berkshire (Hannington transmitter)

Geoff Bacon wrote:

To be honest, I can't see what advantage there is in having restrictions specified in the EPG2MEI.ini file

One very obvious one is (was?) that Virgin used to transmit Freeview EPG info for programmes that it only ever actually transmitted on the cable channel, and not via Freeview. So you could set timers for things that were apparently in the EPG but never transmitted, leading to apparently corrupt recordings.

And yes, Extend does use the info - presumably that which is in Extend.ini. One of the solutions to "stuff on channel five extends by 2 hours because of the stupid 2 minute news programme" problem is to edit Extend.ini and change the info about Channel 5.

Julie

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Geoff Bacon

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 2:15 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 2323 Location: Bristol ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Windows XP, USB

@juwlz

I must admit that I had only considered what happened if no EPG was being transmitted for a channel; I didn't think anyone would be so daft as to broadcast EPG data for something they weren't going to transmit!

I was wondering if one could create a tap that would automatically detect the broadcast hours from the EPG data but, while this could work for most channels, it would fall down if a broadcaster took the Virgin approach (and possibly if it received faulty EPG data).

What would be nice is a toppy file of restrictions that would be consulted by both EPG2MEI and Extend. One could then replace this single file to avoid faffing around with the .ini files. I expect this will never happen (and anyway, the .ini approach does allow users to customise the files to suit their individual requirements). I could add possibly add something into TopManager but that won't help those who can't run Windows executables.

Geoff

alahen

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:47 pm

Regular contributor Joined: 23 Jun 2008 Posts: 88 Location: Scotland

Many thanks for all the replies.

If I understand things correctly, it is okay for me to leave out all the restrictions from the two ini files and I don't need to worry about updating my Freeview.dat file for the time being?

EMJB

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:36 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 3261 Location: Maldon Essex

You have shamed me into updating the Freeview .dat file, which is in the zip and available separately from here.

The change log includes the source of station time information I have used.

EMJB

alahen

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 4:00 pm

Regular contributor Joined: 23 Jun 2008 Posts: 88 Location: Scotland

Just wondering...

If I download the new Freeview.dat file, should I then be looking to put back my original [restrict] settings in my ini files?

Is there somewhere I can download the extend.ini and EPG2MEI.ini files again or should I just run the MyStuff installer again?

juwlz

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 11:23 am

MyStuff Team Joined: 12 Aug 2005 Posts: 9635 Location: Wokingham, Berkshire (Hannington transmitter)

alahen wrote:

Is there somewhere I can download the extend.ini and EPG2MEI.ini files again or should I just run the MyStuff installer again?

The "simplest" (but sledgehammer) way would be to delete or rename your modified copy (if you don't, then the installer won't replace it) and rerun the MyStuff installer. Or you can get the ini files from source, i.e. http://www.toppy.org.uk/~r2-d2/epg2mei.zip on R2-D2's website.

Julie

Valiant

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:33 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 254 Location: UK

I adjust the Freeview.dat file from info on http://www.unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk/dtt/dtt.cgi and then run EMJB's Channel Organiser (scan set to no).

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