This seems to be an ongoing issue. Frequently mentioned but always ignored. Just thought I'd add it again to see if there might be some response.

Listings for many pay channels (e.g. Sky1, Sky2) is missing on DVB-S (DVB-S Astra 28.2 East - Headend 250282) where the same listings is available via STB and analogue (Sky Digital BBC London/ITV London - Headend 210193)

1. CountryCode
UK
2. PostCode
RH1
3. ServiceType (cable, sat, ota)
Sat (DVB-S)
4. ServiceProvider (name of service provider)
SkyTV
5. IssueType (list one)
Unable to download guide data.
6. Description
No data is available other than inband (now/next) when tuned to the channel.
7. IssueDateTime
Ongoing (17/04/09)
8. As much information from the About Guide Listings under the TV Settings section of Media Center:
1) ProviderID

2) Version

3) HeadendName
DVB-S Astra 28.2 East
4) HeadendID
250282
5) TVSignal
Digital Satellite
6) SchemaVersion
?
7) Language
EN
8) StartDate
ongoing
9) EndDate
ongoing
1. URL to valid information.
Information is available on headend 210193 (Sky Digital BBC London/ITV London)
2. ListingDateTime (this is the time the guide states)
all
3. ActualDateTime (this would be the time the listing is actually scheduled)
all
4. SeriesName
all
5. EpisodeName
all
6. EpisodeNumber (if available)
all
7. SeriesDescription (if incorrect)
all
8. EpisodeDescription (if incorrect)
all

Hi Fred,

I don't see those channels (sky1, sky2) as being part of that lineup. The now+next info you are getting is inband data. Meaning it is coming in as part of the signal rather than downloaded through Media Center. We only provide data for channels that are contracted.

-joel

The fact that they're not part of the lineup is the problem. Can you explain why why they are not "contracted"? There are a number of us here that can confirm they are definitely part of the lineup. They're encrypted but available using a valid paid subscription to Sky, exactly as they are in the other headend.

i believe if you have a paid subscription, you should be using a different headend.

Sky Digital BBC London/ITV London

I looked at this headend for your postal code and I do see Sky1 and Sky2.

The headend you listed in the OP is the free version.

-joel

Maybe I didn't explain it clearly.

 

Sky1 and Sky2 are available and have guide listings available on "Sky Digital BBC London/ITV London" - Headend 210193. This is what you can pick if you have an analogue tuner and a STB.

Sky1 and Sky are available using a DVB-S tuner, CI and valid paid subscription card via "DVB-S Astra 28.2 East" - Headend 250282. Guide listings for this don't include Sky1 and Sky2. I don't think I've picked the wrong satellite as the channels work fine, there's just no guide listings.

 

I don't want to use the STB option as the picture quality is awful. I've also tried having both STB and DVB-S but Media Center got in a right mess. The analogue tuner would sometimes appear up to 17 times for a channel and keep adding more every time I rebooted!

 

Maybe I'm being paranoid, but it seems that it always goes quiet at this point!

Joel - any comment? Any reason why the guide for 250282 (DVB-S) doesn't contain the same channels as 210193 (same signal but received via a STB)?

My guess is that Sky are happy for listings to appear when using a STB and analogue as the quality is pretty poor. They don't want it to appear if you're receiving via DVB-S as they feel it's competition for their own Sky+ set top box (with included PVR).

I agree.  It does go deathly quiet at this point and no fixes have yet surfaced for these issues.

How do you manually change the headend for the guide listings?  Direct DVB-S in Windows 7 takes any choice away from you as regards which headend to use for guide listings?  I suspect I am pulling in one of the incomplete listings rather than the full Sky listing.

>How do you manually change the headend for the guide listings?
It looks like the settings have been migrated from the registry into the .mxf file.

It will probably need some additional reverse engineering to modify it.


There is clearly a discrepency going on between the UK DVB-T & DVB-S listings data, but it seems MS doesnt really want to address it.

Sad really :-(

Julian
Birmingham, UK

does anyone have a link to a website that shows what should be included in the lineup for each signal?

For example here, in the US, with Comcast, I can see the lineup if I have an analogue cable subscription vs. what the lineup should be if I have a digital cable subscription.

This would help me identify accurately where the descrepancy is in the channel lineups. This would not, necessarily change what channels have guide listings as that is based on what channels we have contracted to receive data for.

-joel

Joel,

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure where to find the whole listing for this satellite, but I receive all the channels from Sky (incl. paid channels with a valid subscription card).

http://tv.sky.com/tvlistings

This should be the same as that already provided for the STB headend of 210193. MCE could successfully merge the listings when I had both.

ok, i'm trying to work with a local UK guy and find out what this lineup is supposed to look like. I've seen this headend pop up quite a bit, as you've mentioned, and I'd like to settle it and make sure we all get on the same page for what to expect.

I'll let you know when I have an update.

-joel

Hi joel,

Any update ?

I use a DVB-S card for the main source of my TV, pulling "sky" content from the sources on Astra 28.2.
Once MCE goes mainstream, this will be one of the standard ways of viewing.

Currently, however, to get EPG working on mce is *complicated* (see below).

It has taken weeks of experimentation & tweaking to get this working, and I must admit I have enjoyed the real technical challenges of getting EPG working with W7 MCE.

However - as it stands today - Its the masses who just "want it to work" I feel sorry for, because this level of configuration would be way too much.

The fact that all the listings are already there is the slightly frustrating part - being regularly distributed but via a different headend ID and hence totally inaccessable.

My current method :-

For some obscure sky channel listings, I use a PHP based scraper to pull listings from http://tv.sky.com/tvlistings and then export as an XMLTV. I merge these with other XMLTV data from the radio times website pulled via xmltv gui from http://www.birtles.org.uk/xmltv/.
Eg for Channel4 & Channel 5 which are already available via DVB-T headend, if I chose to use it !!

These sources are then injected directly into the MCE database via bigscreen epg (www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/big-screen-software/35139-big-screen-epg-0-1-beta-discussion-support-thread.html)

Keep up the good work !

Regards,

Julian
Birmingham, UK

no update yet and i have sent off another email.

-joel

Hi Joel,

An earlier post summarised the current problem :-

>Any reason why the guide for 250282 (DVB-S) doesn't contain the same channels as 210193 (same signal but received via a STB)?

Do you have any theories, or ideas about this ?

Regards,

Julian

PS

If you need remote access (RDP) to a UK based MCE installation to explore the issues - please PM me. Note that my setup only has 250282 (DVB-S) currently.

Hi,

I really hope Joel can sort this - I was discussing this during the TV Pack beta, and so far we're no further forward.... hopefully this time we can get there

Thanks
Tony