[dys152]

Hi there,

I have a XTi-3340 (2 x DVB-S and 2 x DVB-T tuners). There have been various threads on this subject, however was wondering how people are doing this now successfully?

I currently have a subscription to Schedules Direct and am using the XMLTV grabber tv_grab_sd_json to download nightly schedules. Am doing this as Freesat (at least used to) only provide "now and next" via the over the air EPG. Now this works for me, but for example there are 4 x Channel 4's and I can only match one EPG per channel so I have 3 blank Channel 4's in the EPG!

Am I doing something wrong or are other people just living with this. Am currently using Kodi and the Vbox plugin, however wondered if the SimpleIPTV plugin is more reliable?

PS. love the product, just needs a few things ironing out (or I do!).

Cheers,

Jon

[MikeB2013]

I don't have the 3340, but I do have the XTi-3442 (2 X DVB-T/T2 tuners).

Are you running the latest software on the Vbox (according to Vboxcomm web site it is 2.53)

Have you tried deselecting the extra Channel 4's (the only difference is Regional adverts) on the VBox, that should stop them showing up (Streaming>Manage Channels).

Mike

[dys152]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my questions.

With regards to the version, I am on the latest one, 2.53.

I think part of my problem is that for example with C4, I have Freesat *and* Freeview which it doesn't realise are the same thing as the IDs are different. I will try deselecting some but am recording the Olympics Live BBC HD coverage at the moment for the other half so it will have to wait till tomorrow AM!!! It's not really the fact that they show up thats the problem (in fact I have already deselecte a lot of channels as there is so much rubbish out there!), it's more the fact that you can only associate a XMLTV Channel from the Guide to one Channel in the Channel List on the Vbox. I will give deselecting a go though and report back.

Cheers,

Jon

[MikeB2013]

Hi Jon,

I have a later version of the Vbox software provided to me by Vbox support (BTW they are very good at responding, I had a problem, used support contact form on the website and a few minutes later had a email with detailed instructions).

The version I have is XTI_VJ.2.54.- don't know if this would work with your Vbox and the Kodi Vbox addon. I did quickly try with Kodi 17 (built from source on Linux) with pvr.Vbox addon but had major buffering issues which prevented LiveTV from being usable.


I can associate the same xmltv channel to more than one channel. I had to use manual mode. I also use SchedulesDirect. I only did this a test as my Vbox is mainly being used with mythtv (so mythtv handles all the guide stuff). One thing I did find is that memory capacity on the VBox limits how many days of guide data can be used.



Mike

[dys152]

Hi there, thanks for the info Mike and sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I raised a call with Vbox as you suggested and they were extermely responsive and helpful (initially replied within 5 miunutes of my email offering the beta version 2.54 to test!!!). Further to this i am now runing version 2.55 which fixed an issue around playback of recordings in Kodi and the Vbox plugin. I can now succesfully associate XMLTV channels in the guide to multiple channels in the Channel List on the Vbox.

I need to do some work to trim down my XMLTV channel list as I was importing everything for 7 days and the maximum supported size is 15MB so this was part of my problem.

Thanks again,

Jon

[wordman]

I've found VBox support really helpful as well. My only issue at the moment, is that whenever I try to import my guide data from an external source (TVGuide), Kodi quits during the import of the data. Browser access has no problem with the data. The xml file is 7.5Mb, and features 62 channels. VBox support think that this is small enough to import without issue. Has anyone else experienced this? Should I reduce even further down from 7 days?

Cheers for any suggestions!
Simon


UPDATE: Seem to have solved this by putting the xml file on the web and connecting to an external URL. Perhaps the time it took for my NAS to serve the file was too long for Kodi to wait when scanning.

[dys152]

Hi there,

Sounds like you have sorted it :-) out of interest are you importing the guide into the Vbox and then letting Kodi get the EPG from it via the plugin or are you importing a separate EPG into Kodi via the external XML option in the Vbox plugin? I have just been doing everything centrally via the Vbox but interested to know of other ways that may work better?

Cheers

Jon

[wordman]

Hi Jon,

I'm doing the former, setting a URL in the VBox interface, and syncing the file, then letting Kodi get the EPG via the plugin. Apparently you only need to do that once, and updated xml files will load in when Kodi starts.

I still have some channels with blank listings though. Not sure why, since the process works perfectly on most.

Cheers,
Simon

[dys152]

Hi there, sorry for the delay in replying! You are doing the same as me then, I was seeing the same with automatic matching of channels, was able to sort sort out the vast majority via manual matching. My Vbox has DVB-T and DVB-S receivers so I see the same channel multiple times. However with the new 2.55 software I can now match the same XMLTV channel to multiple EPG channels so am now good.

I am seeing one days XMLTV guide at about 15MB though but that contains all channels so just need to sort getting just the channels I need so I can go to 7 days.

Cheers

Jon

[wordman]

Thanks for the info. I was using the external setting and pulling in data from tvguide.co.uk, however I found that nearly all of the HD channels and +1 channels were blank. I'm now back to using the live EPG with channel pairing, and that seems to work as long as I keep it at 3 days or less.

[wordman]

Well, it looks like this didn't really work at all, and i'm finding that all BBC channels are now blank in the guide.

Can anyone recommend a source for reliable listings for UK freeview that work as external XMLTV with the VBox?

I've tried:

1. The live signal. Got the 'string not supported' errors on a majority of channels.

2. Live signal with channel pairing. Seemed to work on first sync, but now leaves all BBC channels blank.

3. External XMLTV via tvguide.co.uk, which didn't seem to be able to provide listings for any HD or +1 channels despite delivering all the others. Tried all manner of offset type stuff here too with no positive results.

Would appreciate any advice from anyone who has a rock solid solution, paid or not, that they can set and forget. I should mention that i'm using the VBox add-on for Kodi running on an Nvidia Shield.

Thanks,
Simon

[merlin21]

Hi Simon

Clearly there seems to be many ways to get the the VBox to work, some having more success than others.

I can only give you my solution, which works for me and is working without constant maintenance.

First my situation

I live in the UK and I have a XTI 3332, (software ver 2.53). Freeview is not available where I live. My dish is directed at the Astra satellite at 28.2E

I am using option 3 (External XMLTV). I get the xml file from Schedules Direct ( 12 months membership £19.95, and well worth it).

I find that the best way to get the info from SD is to use mc2xml (http://mc2xml.hosterbox.net/) their web site has all the help you need.

I have setup a cron task on my IMac to obtain a new 7 day EPG every day at 01:00 and set the VBox to update the program guide from the new XMLTV file every day at 02:00.

How you set up mc2xml is very important, read the section “How do I use the Schedules Direct JSON service” as well as “General information” on their web site.

My xmltv file from SD is for 7 days with 31 Freesat channels, HD and +1 channels.

Hope this is clear, did it in a rush.

Ian

[wordman]

Thanks so much, Ian. I'll try this!

best,
Simon

[merlin21]

Hi Simon

I am aware that I have left out a lot of detail in my post, not wishing to offend by stating the obvious.

Let me know how you get on and if you need more detail.

Ian

[wordman]

Will do, thanks! Is mc2xml one of the approved apps?