[t2ffn]

So I have received my Vbox XTi-3340 which is the UK spec, dual DVB-S/2, T/2 tuner. I only have the dual DVB-S feed attached, (No DVB-T feed in that room) and have added the freesat channels. I have found that there are enormous gaps in the EPG data and it only really picks up what's on now for some channels.

I've forced it to refresh but it pulls about the same data. I know that the EPG data via DVB-S works as I have a Panasonic plasma with an S2 tuner built in that pulls a full 7 day EPG from the same feed.

I need to work out how to change the source of the EPG data so when using it via XBMC it is actually usable. If there is no EPG data for a channel you cannot select it via Simple IPTV so cannot watch it.

I will be waiting for v15 of Kodi so I can use the dedicated PVR plug in from Vbox, but I will be looking to get a better quality XMLTV feed. I will do a full set up and review when I feel I have it working well, but for now I'm not as impressed as I'd hoped with an off the shelf system. I have also found that it can't stream more than two channels at once, even with dual feeds it seems to lock both and not allow you to select other channels on the same mux. This could be a real pain as my dual S2 TBS card basically allowed as many as I wanted simultaneously as long as they were on the same Mux or what not.

Lastly I really hope they improve the GUI of their own Vbox app, as its old fashioned and clumsy at best, especially compared to the slick look of Kodi skins.

[negge]

The reason for the lack of EPG data is probably because Freesat uses a non-standard scheme to provide the EPG data (I believe it's called OpenTV). You should probably contact VBox Communications and tell them about the issue, they have been very quick to respond to feature requests/bug fixes so far.

The Kodi addon supports using an external XMLTV file for the EPG data so even if VBox aren't able to fix the issue in time you'll still be able to get proper EPG data. At the moment the addon matches XMLTV channels to VBox channels based on the display name only (exact match) but I was thinking of adding support for a basic XML file which can be used to create custom mappings.

Regarding multiple simultaneous strams, have you unchecked the "only allow single stream" checkbox from the UPnP page in the web interface (I can't remember the exact name nor location)? Honestly I don't know why there even is such an option...

If by "GUI of their own VBox" app you refer to the live TV web interface I'm sure it'll improve since it's still quite new.

[t2ffn]

Thanks Negge,

I'll contact Vbox about the freest EPG.

I've been looking for a complete UK XMLTV source for the upcoming PVR add-on. Something like Sky UK or Radio Times would probably be the most complete, but as I only view subscription free TV it should be quite accessible to get the XMLTV. Is the DVB-T EPG more reliable? The 3340 has both inputs, I'd just need to feed a DVB-T source to that room, but only if its 100%, otherwise I'd prefer to use an online one if thats a more complete option.

On the simultaneous streams, I mean using 3 devices at once. I've unticked that option in UPnP but I don't think that was the reason as it says limit per UPnP client. As I am using 3 devices this shouldn't be a limiter I think. I can stream two channels at once using two devices, but when trying on a third it just shows a spinning wheel symbol and nothing loads. Looking inside the Vbox app it shows the two channels being streamed in the status but doesn't show the 3rd attempt. I'm wondering if I set it up wrong. When I first scanned the channels list I used the setting that states: "Tuner 2 uses the same satellite transponder settings as Tuner 1".

On the next setup Scanning screen it only scans a single list of channels using this setting, I guess a single list shared across both DVB-S tuners. Should I set each tuner independently so the channel list is doubled? I tried this initially and after it found two lists of scan results it failed to save and move the next step multiple times, and it takes 24mins to do a full scan. The only way it would move on was to use the above "Tuner 2 uses the same satellite transponder settings as Tuner 1" setting.

Yeah, I meant their GUI for the web interface or their own Vbox iOS / Android app.

Really looking forward to Kodi v15 so I can try the PVR app. Having seen some comments about the Beta 1 having issues with MySQL library I'll resist breaking my setup until a stable release.

[MikeB2013]

XMLTV data in the UK.

Currently the best source is from http://atlas.metabroadcast.com/#home using Atlas (replacement for RadioTimes), you get up to 14 days of data per channel. I have been using Atlas since September 2013 for both Freesat (DVB-S/S2) and Freeview (DVB-T/T2). Atlas also covers Sky channels.

It is free for non-commercial use, although you need to register to get the free API key.

The XMTLV software to make use of Atlas is at http://sourceforge.net/projects/xmltv/files/

Windows and Linux versions are available.

Mike

[t2ffn]

Thanks Mike, not sure how I'd make use of it though, as I use a QNAP for media storage and OpenElec boxes for XBMC. I may be misunderstanding the last part, but I don't have an always on windows or linux machine to run a piece of software to keep the XMLTV up to date. Isn't it just a case of entering a web link into the Addon so it scrapes the data from there, matching your channel list?

[MikeB2013]

@t2ffn

As I understand the Addon, it reads data from an XMLTV file, provided by the user. This XMLTV file contains the data which has been created by running XMLTV software which has been configured for the channels you want.

You don't need an always on windows or linux machine for the XMLTV software to generate the XMLTV file, generally once every day or so is enough.

I run mythtv with XMLTV data from Atlas, the data is updated once per day. I also have a mythtv test system which uses Over the Air EPG data from Freesat and Freeview, no problems with the Freesat or Freeview EPG data -it is good and for 7 days.

Mike