[ViX_Misc] EPG Refresh, iEPG and VPS

[alexwilmac]

I was really sceptical about this claimed workaround because I knew I must've already tried almost everything. And, as a matter of fact, it doesn't work.
As before, it seems to accept the VPS setting but, if you enter the timer immediately after having created it, it is set to NO, as before.
And, anyway, it'd be a very limited workaround as 99% of the non-Autotimer created timers come from EPG, not from a totally new setting from scratch.

 

[Joe_90]

Yes , I found that the the manual timer setting just doesn't stick. Only timers generated by AutoTimer seem to work. Furthermore, I can't get the plugin to work at all on Irish terrestrial TV (Saorview), only on satellite. I think the VPS plugin is possibly looking for the presence of the PDC_descriptor field (0x69) in the EIT and it won't activate if it doesn't find it. One of the devs here is tweaking the code to see if he can get manual EPG timers to work. To be honest, I think the plugin has limited scope without a lot of work. Ordinary AutoTimer works most of the time for most users.

 

[ronand]

I did a test yesterday on vix 5.3 using epg data downloaded with crosspeg and it seems to work very well with autotimers on 28e. Recordings started and stopped on event change as expected. I wouldn't be expecting much of saorview though - they haven't grasped the concept of surround sound or full HD yet. If manual epg timers can be got working then I would imagine it to be quite useful.

 

[Joe_90]

Yes , I found that the the manual timer setting just doesn't stick. Only timers generated by AutoTimer seem to work. Furthermore, I can't get the plugin to work at all on Irish terrestrial TV (Saorview), only on satellite. I think the VPS plugin is possibly looking for the presence of the PDC_descriptor field (0x69) in the EIT and it won't activate if it doesn't find it. One of the devs here is tweaking the code to see if he can get manual EPG timers to work. To be honest, I think the plugin has limited scope without a lot of work. Ordinary AutoTimer works most of the time for most users.

Actually - scratch that. That PDC descriptor field is not present in the satellite EIT stream, so it must be something else that it is looking for. Maybe I'll have a look in the code to see if I can see what it's trying to find. It works fine, though, on autotimers on satellite, providing the broadcaster is sending the now/next changes accurately. Channel 5 seems to trigger the running status change based on a clock timer (the EPG scheduled time) rather than the actual transmission. BBC/ITV/C4 are all ok.

 

[ccs]

Freeview seems to work ok (only) using autotimers ....

 

[ccs]

Here's a complete bbc1 recording, padding had it originally timed from 12:55 until 13:35. The end of the recording missed about 1 second.

(Debug logs only show the same details as timer/info.)

 

[birdman]

Info screen works for me.

That looks as though the Simple_1080 skin has produced that?

I use ViXBMC_Confluence_1080, and with that it uses the compiled-in skin. And with that the final lines don't show.

Can you post your updated version please.

I will once I make a few more changes. The "correction" I mentioned will make no difference at the moment (possibly never, but...).

 

[Joe_90]

I've looked at the code and the plugin is definitely looking for the PDC (Programme Delivery Control) descriptor (0x69 or 105 decimal) in the EIT. I don't see any PDC when I analyse the EIT on 28.2. If I look at the plugin's vps.xml file in /etc/enigma2 it contains the entry "has_pdc=0" in each line, however it seems to work ok on autotimers on satellite and now apparently on Freeview.


@ccs - I get the same on satellite. My original padding is ignored (as expected) and the recording starts and stops on the broadcast programme boundaries.

 

[birdman]

Gordon, my mistake. I was diffing against the Dev branch.

You mean the dev branch.

Hmm...so there's a dev branch, and I'm fixing master. Does that make sense?

Much of the "messy" change to Modifications.py in dev goes away once you handle all incoming args "properly".

 

[ronand]

I suppose that the plugin is targeted at German channels and they probably use that descriptor in their EIT. Its probably a needless compatibility check on manual timers but then again some some of check would be advisable. I had noticed it when setting up manual timers that this check was failing and it would proceed in "safe mode".

 

[Joe_90]

@birdman - any testing would be done on a dev build I presume? I'm testing here on dev and the plugin seems to be working ok on autotimers. One-off timers set from the EPG are not working properly. The VPS setting on a manual timer doesn't seem to stick after saving.

 

[Joe_90]

@ronand - it's my day for apologies, apparently! I did another test on Saorview, setting an autotimer and enabling VPS on an event that was about 30 minutes ahead. Worked fine - VPS modified the start time (ignoring my padding) and started the recording as the event in the EIT changed. It terminated the recording when the event changed again at the end. So it's working for me on autotimers on sat and terrestrial. Overall, I'd question how useful it is over an autotimer unless you are using a broadcaster who is accurately modifying the now/next events to align with the actual programme start. BBC/ITV/C4 certainly automate the now/next changeover with the actual programme start, but other broadcasters don't - like C5 for example, or Saorview which just uses the scheduled event time to send now/next change.

 

[goRt]

@ronand - it's my day for apologies, apparently! I did another test on Saorview, setting an autotimer and enabling VPS on an event that was about 30 minutes ahead. Worked fine - VPS modified the start time (ignoring my padding) and started the recording as the event in the EIT changed. It terminated the recording when the event changed again at the end. So it's working for me on autotimers on sat and terrestrial. Overall, I'd question how useful it is over an autotimer unless you are using a broadcaster who is accurately modifying the now/next events to align with the actual programme start. BBC/ITV/C4 certainly automate the now/next changeover with the actual programme start, but other broadcasters don't - like C5 for example, or Saorview which just uses the scheduled event time to send now/next change.

When you come from a toppy it's the way things should be

Sent from my IN2013 using Tapatalk

 

[ccs]

I've never noticed these debug entries before (5.4.005, Freeview, no VPS in sight)...

18:24:41.6992 [eDVBServiceRecord] now running: BBC News at Six (1800 seconds)

18:32:21.7105 [eDVBServiceRecord] pcr of eit change for event 18827: 19514571c

18:32:21.7106 [eDVBServiceRecord] now running: Look North (East Yorkshire and... (1800 seconds)

 

[birdman]

@birdman - any testing would be done on a dev build I presume?

I'm talking about a dev branch of oe-alliance/enigma2-plugins. Not sure whether anything uses that for a build.

 

[Joe_90]

I've never noticed these debug entries before (5.4.005, Freeview, no VPS in sight)...

18:24:41.6992 [eDVBServiceRecord] now running: BBC News at Six (1800 seconds)

18:32:21.7105 [eDVBServiceRecord] pcr of eit change for event 18827: 19514571c

18:32:21.7106 [eDVBServiceRecord] now running: Look North (East Yorkshire and... (1800 seconds)

I would see entries like these (pre-VPS) when I was recording. Are you saying that you weren't recording BBC News?

 

[Huevos]

I'm talking about a dev branch of oe-alliance/enigma2-plugins. Not sure whether anything uses that for a build.

"dev" branch => used by OpenATV. Also used by our P3 project.

 

[birdman]

"dev" branch => used by OpenATV. Also used by our P3 project.

Well, it needs to be fixed too.
I'll tidy up the master version (as used by Vix) then make the same changes to dev.
After that I'll look at adding PLi changes into both (from a quick look earlier today that only seemed to involve "pausing").

 

[ccs]

I would see entries like these (pre-VPS) when I was recording. Are you saying that you weren't recording BBC News?

Look North was the first recording, it's been a busy night recording wise, but it looks like they're all linked with recordings about to start.

I'll have another look tomorrow when there are no recordings, it's very cluttered at the moment, like all these threads!

 

[Joe_90]

VPS is reported to work with Freeview, so it should work for you. Mind you, I have only got it working with timers generated by AutoTimer. I have my doubts about the usefulness of VPS on its own. Really needs to be combined with CRID handling to have a killer series-link and exact time recording plug-in. ...continue in other thread!