Customise W7MC EPG

Getting the EPG right does take a lot of work, When you go the the setup for Media Center, there is the option to specify your country / region and TV provider. However, these listings were not 100% accurate for my Sky+ package, and load of channels were missing.

XMLTV is the format that W7MC manages its EPG database, so i needed a way to update & add to this dynamically.

First step, is to use Digiguide - http://www.digiguide.com/

This is not free software, but well worth the subscription fee. Thsi will pull the correct TV listing for my area as well ad artwork for TV shows & detailed metadata / show desctiption. This is a standalone application which shows full listings.

Next, we need a tool that will grab all the listings from digiguide & convert it into a format that can be merges into W7MC.

DG2XML is the tool you need.

DGXMLTV was written to translate the UK TV Guide data supplied by DigiGuide.com into an XMLTV format file, suitable for use with SageTV and the excellent XMLTV Import Tool by StéphaneM, which can be found here:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17566

DGXMLTV comes with a skin for digiguide, you need to enable this skin & set password.

open XMLTV GUI - Tools - Settings

C:\Program Files\XMLTV GUI\data.xml

Go to the Grabbers tab - tick & select UK_digi - then below you should have a settings button, this cought me out for ages & drove me mental because I could not find it!! lol

In the settings tab, specify the password you set on the DGXMLTV skin for Digigiude & leave http://localhost:2402/ as is.

back to DG2XML, copy DG2XML.exe to the root of C:

open a cmd, cd to the root of C: and run DG2XML.exe (do a scheduled task to automate this)

when this is finished, you will have a epgdata.xml file in c:

Ok, so now you have your TV listings in xml format running on a schedlued task weekly. Install Big Screen EPG for Windows - then during the configuration you wil lbe asked for your XMLTV source - point it at the location of epgdata.xml

You will now also have a option to schedule this task, again do it weekly after the xml is generated.

Within W7MC, you will probably notice that some of the channels have "no program data" - this can now be resolved by editing the channel & choose channel listings (which is what is generated by Big Screen EPG)

I had to manually map a lot of my channel numbers as well in the DVBlink configuration, this is now easier to do in the latest beta 2.03

DVBLink for HDPVR 2.0 Beta 2

The additional improvements are:

Added a “Stream Saver” feature to get rid of the infamous “No TV Signal” message. That is, if the HD PVR Streaming is lost, we feed a dummy stream that Media Center continues recording “unknowingly”. This way, if you have an “on-device-error-power-cycle” hook present, Media Center won’t abort your recording.

Added support for sub-channel numbers (ex: 700.1 or 700-1)

Much improved MCE Compatible IR support (fixed the frequency bug AND the port selection)

Improvements and bug fixes to line-up editor.

Added the ability to change the “set-top-box” number for your channels in your line-up.

Hardware fingerprint changed to use Ethernet MAC address.

Fixed the registration dialog for all platforms.

This version is for DVBLink for HDPVR experienced users that want to give a shot at the new features and for users experiencing issues with version 1.0.2.

Since this version now uses the Ethernet MAC address as the hardware fingerprint, you will need to request a new activation key. All future releases as well will move to this new hardware fingerprint method.

That means:

If you have a registration key for DVBLink for HDPVR, your registration key won’t be compatible with 2.0 Beta and 1.0, however you license will still be valid and you will be able to request a new registration key.

If you don’t have a registration key for DVBLink for HDPVR and you have installed the 30-days version, the trial counter will get reset with the 2.0 Beta 2 installation, for an additional 15 days.

If you buy a license using the 2.0 Beta 2, the registration key won’t be compatible with the 1.0.2 version, but it will be with the future 2.0 version. You however will be able to request a key for the 1.0.2 if you decide to use it instead of the 2.0.

DVBLogic is also working on an automated registration key generator that wont require human intervention. Keep tabs on it on DVBLogic website and forums.

Why use W7MC with Sky HD?

Ok, so the Sky HD boxes are a fairly good setup, and will suit most peoples needs.

But since I am paying a arm and a leg for my sky service, I would like to be able to keep the movies I record for starters and anything else I can claw back from sky.

Sky HD boxes use 2 tuners, but only one f these will ever be in use at ay time while used in conjunction with the HDPVR, so I tend to use the other tuner for recording HD movies to the internal sky had drive and then rip them to a format of my choice when I have time The other tuner is dedicated to the media center.

So what else can i do with the media center / sky hd?

Well, first of all you can add media extenders to your setup. For example, you can have your dedicated HTPC doing all the work & hooked up to your main screen. then in another room you can have a xbox 360 streaming the TV signal from the sky box as well as share all recorded tv. potentially you could have a media extender in each room of your house all streaming live or recorded content in HD, without the extra cost of "sky multi room" ect....

I find it especially useful to record loads of tv shows for the kids and to have the ability for them to watch whatever they want in each room - anything for a moments peace!

DVBLink for HDPVR Stability - "No TV Signal"

Think it’s important to cover the stability issue with the HD PVR. Please note that all stability issues I have encountered were with the HD PVR and not the DVBlink software.

Since the HD PVR 1.5.6 driver is not officially supported for Windows 7, this may be part of the issue, however I not (touch wood) have a nearly perfectly reliable setup.

In a nutshell, the driver for the PVR is extremely sensitive to traffic on the USB Bus os it physically connect to.

Before i sorted this out , with help from the DVBlink forums, my hd pvr was locking up / crashing about 5 to 6 times a day causing loads of missed recordings and untold stress!!! ;-)

So after several rebuilds, I finally pulled out my HTPC & did some re-arranging on the physical USB connections.

I connected the hd pvr directly to the motherboard (bypassing the usb hub on the back of the chassis) -I’ll go into my spec later.

with my gigabyte motherboard I have a female usb lead that connects direct to the 8 pins on the motherboard, i think used a gold tipped usb cable to connect the hd pvr.

Since then , my setup has stabilized - it’s not 100% perfect, but close enough for me. See pic at top of post for USB configuration. and this link to optimise your setup:

http://1geek1tool.com/?s=usb+controller

forum post covering this topic:

http://dvblogic.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5174

With the DVblink software it will detect when the PVR has hung, ad with a custom hook script you can get it to power cycle if you have the hardware that will do this!

I sue one of these:

IP Power 9258S Web Power switch + Power Reboot by Ping

http://www.digidave.co.uk/jshop/product.php?xProd=293

to be honest I dont seem to use this as much anymore since my setup has stablilsed.

so when the HD PVR hangs, the DVBlink triggers a hook script. This script sends a ping to the IP power box with power cycles the HD PVR and aferrt a few seconds, the picture returns and all goes back to normal - ans this works very well in fairness.

Infra Red Setup

Depending on where your equipment is positioned in your room, you may / may not need any IR extenders, since many will just be sitting on their couch, looking a their TV and all the amps / receivers are also around the TV in front of you.

Well, I wanted to keep my equipment as out of sight as possible, since I live in a detached bungalow, I also had the option of running extensive cabling if needed, and it sure was!

As you can see above,my TV is mounted nicely on the wall with no equipemt in sight.

So to control everything, this is where the IR extenders com into the setup. You can sit in front of the TV, then with your Harmony remote send the IR signals in the direction of the TV, that we are all used to doing, the IR reciever (hidden at bottom of TV pointed inwards to wall) then picks up the IR light signals, and repeats them over cat 5 to over 10 meters away to my equipment. in the rear left corner.

This is the device I used for the setup:

http://www.hot-link.com/pages/products.cgi?mrchcatid=1&mrchid=11

Hot Link XL controls gear up to 200 feet away with all the features of Hot Link Pro.

A complete single box solution, Hot Link ProXL(TM) Remote Control Booster Systems comes complete with Power Supply, Main Amplifier Box and Remote Emitter/Power Entry box, 6 Emitters and Receiver Eye. The Receiver Eyes of all Hot Link(TM) models can be extended to 25 feet using RG6 adapted to RCA connections

Features include:

• Super-Compatible IR Eye works with virtually all Plasma and LCD TVs, satellite and cable receivers and other AV gear and can be mounted anywhere
• Eye cable is 6 feet long
• Emitters and Confirmation LED cables are 7 feet long
• Cat-5 Jumper in box is 6 inches and can be changed to 200 feet.

• also got a Emitter Expansion Kit X6 so I codl add more than 6 devices...

Sky HD Changing channels in W7MC

Ok, there is several ways to do this. I already have a existing extensive IR setup & blasters, so keeping the IR blasting to a minimum is preferable for me.

I already have 1 IR bud over the IR sensor on my Sky HD box, I'll go into my IR setup later,

so I could use another IR bud to control the sky box, and I did try initially!

So with DVBlink, you have several options when it comes to blasting / channel changing.

The more popular method is to use the MCE blaster, that you would already have if you are using W7MC -

http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/uploads/Main/MS-MCE_Remote_2005_w_Beanbag.jpg

in fairness, its a good remote, feels good when using W7MC

Ok, also back to DVBlink, most users chose the MCE blaster option and use one of the IR buds places over the IR sensor on the Sky box, this does work, but definitely not 100% accurate.

This can be especially annoying if you end up missing scheduled recordings due to the channel not changing properly.

Don't get me wrong, the MCE blasters do work well in some setups, but since I already have a IR bud on my sky Thompson box, I was looking for alternative solution.

here it is:

http://www.dusky-control.com/usb.shtml

This controller allows you to control one Sky or Sky+ box from a PC via USB.

it also has a handy command lien interface app as well:

http://www.dusky-control.com/software.shtml

this sky-control.exe was extremely handy when interfacing with the DVBlink software.

to set it up:

make sure you are using dvb 2.0 beta 1

then for ir blaster config, in dvb, select hooks.

copy sky-control.exe -> hooks folder specified in channel-change script

copy channel-change script -> hooks folder specified in channel-change script

edit channel-change script

change:

call "..\HaupBlast.exe --sky --channel" %SHORT_CHANNEL_NUMBER%

to:

"sky-control.exe" --sky+ --channel %SHORT_CHANNEL_NUMBER%

so the sky-control.exe listens to channel changes coming from W7MC, then is then triggered in the hook script and send the channel change to the dusky box -> sky box via the RF connector (as if it was a sky-eye)

This works perfectly for changing channels, not had 1 incorrect channel change yet!

ok, but now for some bad news! Unfortunately sky have this PIN protection on movie channels before watershed hours, and is not completely consistent, so if you go to a movie channel, that requires a pin, then the screen in media center will stay blank, and you will get the dreaded "No TV Signal" !!!!

ok, so there might be a workaround for this, still in the works.

I am thinking if I enable the PIN protection on ALL movie channels, then script the PIN entry on just the movie channels, here is my example scripts (still needs work....)

DVBLink for HDPVR - thr answer to all our HD prayers?

well here it is:

http://dvblogic.com/hdpvr.php

DVBlink, a really nice piece of kit. This is a software application that will work alongside your HDPVR.

what this does is install virtual satellite tuners (4 of them) on your PC. W7MCV thinks these are physical tuners and works as it should with any other physical satellite adapter, pretty impressive stuff.

So your Sky HD is connected to the HD PVR -> USB to PC ->The DVBlink tuner grabs the signal -> pipes it into W7MC retaining Full quality & 5.1 sound

Now, I would recommend reading up on the DVBlink products, there was a little learning curve for me, but the setup & install is fairly simple to be honest, ahem, once its done right!

System requirements:

Windows Vista with TV Pack or Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit)

Hauppauge HD PVR

Supported clients:

Windows Vista with TV Pack or Windows 7 Media Center

Windows Media Center Extenders

Hardware and software UPNP clients (Sony PlayStation 3, Power DVD 9, Nero ShowTime 4 and others)

Features:

High-Definition H.264 Video with AC3 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound

Set-top box control from Media Center using HD-PVR's integrated IR Blaster, any MCE-compatible IR blaster or the firestb application

Set-top box remote control key learning (requires a MCE-Compatible IR Receiver)

Multiple tuner support

Guide a la Carte: per channel selection of EPG information source – xmltv listings or native Media Center Guide

UPNP Server to stream live TV to UPNP-enabled clients

Easy-to-use Windows Media Center channel synchronization wizard

Ok, so let install this and get it up & running!

The readme for install is ok, just be sure to follow the steps exactly & reboot when prompted.

Current version is HDPVR 2.0 Beta 1 at time of writing.

ok, so I got my 4 tuners setup in media centre, then fire up the Source Configuration

This will walk you thru the setup of your TV provider & obtain EPG listings.

Please note I am based in Cork, Ireland so the listings for Sky + were not 100% accurate but were good enough to get up & running, I will go into depth on how to fix this later - not a free option unfortunately.

Ok, so this software was fairly easy to setup, I now have all my channels listed (kind of!) in the EPG, the Sky HD signal is viewable thru W7MC - nice!

uh oh - how do I change channels? read next post......

Rip Sky HD to NAS

Ok, so I have been meaning to get this started for quite a while, so here we go!

I am originally a XMBP user on the trusty xbox1, and when XBMC came out I was totally blown away and loved it ever since. So time passes and the world of HD streaming arrives, bt8 the poor little xbox1 gets left behind due to processing power (it is possible to get .mkv into xbox1, that’s another blog....!)

Anyhoo, the good old boy in XBMC release a multi-platform version of XBMC, finally we can harness the power of PC's for XBMC - love it!

Now, I still use XBMC and always will, but of recent I have had the urge to get an all in one platform for all my needs:

- Sky HD in 1080p (upscaled)

- 5.1 with all the audio codecs

- ability to stream HD video stored on NAS

- access to all music & pics ect....

no, XBMC does nearly all of this perfect, EXCEPT for the live TV part. So this blog will split between XBMC and W7MC. For now we will concentrate on getting W7MC up & running with all the bells & whistles - its excellent setup.

Since I have a Sky HD+ Subscription. I always wanted to rip the HD movies with 5.1 sound to my own storage as I hates paying Sky all that case, well there is a way - praise the lord. This was my original goal, but then morphed into creating the best Home theatre PC setup possible - IMO.

So hwo does one rip Sky HD+ content & keep full quality? with one of these bad boys:

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products/data_hdpvr.html

Hauppauge HD PVR

I have a Thompson Sky HD box, so it had hdmi & component out - both outputs send video simultaneously , handy, so I can use the HDMI piped to my LCD and then use the component to connect to the HD PVR - handy out.

So managed to pull one of these off eBay 2nd hand, perfect condition.

My Initial impressions were VERY good, I am extremely impressed with the quality that HD PVR can rip at. the max nit rate goes up to 13.5mbps keeping full 5.1

It comes packed with Total Media Extreme, which is a little shite looking, but does the job if your ripping from Sky HD+

I didn’t bother with the scheduling application or any IR stuff with the HD PVR as my experience with these & other Hauppauge software is not great, very flaky - not to say they don’t work though, I just have no need for them.

Ok, the drivers are also bit flaky, 1.5.6 is the latest but it does the job, I'll go into depth on my PC setup later, this is EXTERMELY important for a stable HD PVR setup.

Ok, so now I am recording movies on Sky HD+ and ripping them to my HD when I have spare time, each movie is around 10 to 13 gigs and the choice of codecs are .m2ts / .ts / .achvd (?) - I’m sticking with .m2ts as it’s the same file ect as Blu-ray rips and will play nice with my other media streamers including PS3

So, now that I got that fully up & running, it dawned on me, surely there is a way to pipe Sky HD into media centre & retain full HD quality?

I have an old Hauppauge PVR350, which I had hooked up to W7MC just for fun, but quickly fell in love with the EPG & navigation in W7MC - it really is very impressive. however I was only piping a scar analogue connection into it so this was a little disappointing as I am using a 52" 1080p !

see top for a pic of recordings I did on the old PVR350 (4:3 format....)

So how do we get Sky HD into Media Center?

read next post........