EPG layout

[ShaneR]

Hi,
When I use the Openwebif I can set the EPG to TV guide layout. However, on the T3 it appears in a timeline view.
Is there a setup that will enable TV guide layout from the T3?

TV guide layout is when the TV channels are shown horizontally and the time is vertical.

Cheers,
Shaner

[MrQuade]

There is no guide layout available for the Beyonwiz firmware.

There is a guide layout available for the V2 if you switch to running the OpenATV firmware though.

I'm not sure how difficult it would be to import (and possibly re-skin) the guide EPG into the Beyonwiz firmware, but its not something that a regular end-user can do at the moment.

Perhaps a clever dev can suggest if it is possible to get done as an enhancement.

[prl]

Is there a setup that will enable TV guide layout from the T3?

TV guide layout is when the TV channels are shown horizontally and the time is vertical.

The guide style setting in Open Webif only affects how the EPG is displayed in Open Webif.

You can select from a number of different guide styles on the PVR bt long-pressing the EPG remote button. You get a popup that lists the avialable guide styles. The default is Graphical EPG.

There isn't one that's exactly what you've asked for (I think that's a style in a popular Topfield plugin - though they're called something else in Topfield-speak).

The closest one to what you've asked for is Single EPG, which shows a single channel with time running down the screen. You can move through channels with CH+/-. This EPG is called "Show EPG for current channel..." in older firmware.

Once you've tried the EPG styles and found one that suits, you can set it as your default with long-EPG, then select "Select default EPG type" from the popup menu, then select the EPG type you want to use as default.

[prl]

I'm not sure how difficult it would be to import (and possibly re-skin) the guide EPG into the Beyonwiz firmware, but its not something that a regular end-user can do at the moment.

The EPG code is a "maze of twisty little passages, all different". It's hard to know how much effort would be needed to import the ViX EPG style into the Beyonwiz code without doing most of the work needed to actually do it.

The EPG code should probably be rewritten and inheritance properly used to tease out the common parts of the code from those specific to the various EPG styles rather than the huge horrible if/elif/else chains that are currently used all over the place in the code. That would be a large amount of work.

Perhaps a clever dev can suggest if it is possible to get done as an enhancement.

Not sure whether I count as "clever", but see above.

[adoxa]

There is a guide layout available for the V2 if you switch to running the OpenATV firmware though.

Is that the "Vertical EPG"? I don't think it's quite the same thing, as it doesn't keep the time in sync, making it more like a vertical Multi EPG. Doesn't look like it should be too difficult to add it; I don't know how difficult it would be to (optionally?) align it to time. If the OP could try Single EPG first, then if that's not good enough I'll see what I can do (no promises when, though).

[MrQuade]

Is that the "Vertical EPG"? I don't think it's quite the same thing, as it doesn't keep the time in sync, making it more like a vertical Multi EPG. Doesn't look like it should be too difficult to add it; I don't know how difficult it would be to (optionally?) align it to time. If the OP could try Single EPG first, then if that's not good enough I'll see what I can do (no promises when, though).

Yep, vertical EPG style was the one I was thinking of.

I admit that I didn't pay enough attention at the time to notice the time alignment other than it looked similar to the Topfield style EPG.

[ShaneR]

I tried the single EPG not really what I want. The vertical EPG with the channels arranged horizontally and the shows vertically is what I wanted, the time sync issue is not important to me.

[prl]

I tried the single EPG not really what I want. The vertical EPG with the channels arranged horizontally and the shows vertically is what I wanted, the time sync issue is not important to me.

The Beyonwiz doesn't have that option.

[MrQuade]

I tried the single EPG not really what I want. The vertical EPG with the channels arranged horizontally and the shows vertically is what I wanted, the time sync issue is not important to me.

Here is a shot of the "Vertical EPG" from the V2 running OpenATV firmware.

I believe this is similar to what you are after, and what adoxa was referring to.

As you can see, the layout is similar to what you want, but the time alignment is probably not exactly what you want.

[prl]

Do LEFT/RIGHT in the grid just move horizontally in the grid without reference to time?

If that's so, moving left across the 5th row down would take you to programs at 12:00, 13:59, 14:00, 17:46, 13:28. The next line down is for programs at 12:59, 16:00, 16:00. 19:29, 13:57.

It looks supremely bad at answering "whats on at a certain time?" questions other than when the time is "now".

[adoxa]

Here's a preliminary version of Vertical EPG. I haven't skinned it, yet, so it's just the default (which is already in the firmware). Testing has been light.

A side-effect of this change is that the Graphical EPG colour buttons can be configured (and skins can define colours for times in the past).

Install: extract it where the Wiz can see it (USB, network share). Run vertical-epg/setup.sh. Restart. Repeat to remove. Remember to uninstall before doing an online update!

[MrQuade]

Nice work . I'll have a look!

Edit:
It installs and seems to work. In a fashion.

The navigation is truly bizarre. I can't really figure out the logic behind what columns scroll and when and how the events on each service are highlighted.

I'll need to see what it actually did on OpenATV to compare I think . Just based on my previous screenshot, it doesn't look like it had the same strange event highlighting behaviour.

[Star6key]

Errrrr... how do you activate this?
I've copied the vertical-epg folder to the U4 and then run setup.sh. It executes and says 'Vertical EPG installed.'
From live tv I press the Guide button, but get the normal guide.

Do I need to perform some sort of 'secret masonic handshake'?

[prl]

Errrrr... how do you activate this?
I've copied the vertical-epg folder to the U4 and then run setup.sh. It executes and says 'Vertical EPG installed.'
From live tv I press the Guide button, but get the normal guide.

I haven't installed it, but I'd hope that it would install in a way that it shows up in the popup on long-EPG. And if it does, you should be able to make it the default from that menu in the normal way.

[Star6key]

Errrrr... how do you activate this?
I've copied the vertical-epg folder to the U4 and then run setup.sh. It executes and says 'Vertical EPG installed.'
From live tv I press the Guide button, but get the normal guide.

I haven't installed it, but I'd hope that it would install in a way that it shows up in the popup on long-EPG. And if it does, you should be able to make it the default from that menu in the normal way.

Long EPG?? Didn't even know that was a thing.
Sadly, not there.

[prl]

Long EPG?? Didn't even know that was a thing.

That information is a single HELP button press away from you.

Sadly, not there.

I'll leave it to those who've installed it then.

[adoxa]

Errrrr... how do you activate this?
I've copied the vertical-epg folder to the U4 and then run setup.sh. It executes and says 'Vertical EPG installed.'
From live tv I press the Guide button, but get the normal guide.

Sorry, yes, press long EPG or long INFO to select it, but you must restart first.

[MrQuade]

Long EPG?? Didn't even know that was a thing.
Sadly, not there.

There are a couple of other EPG styles available from the long-EPG button press too.
You might like the Infobar EPG for example.

[Star6key]

...

but you must restart first.

Ahhh, that was the missing bit. Thanks.

First impressions... I like it!
Some thoughts - (keeping in mind that I'm not sure what limitations there are in regards to coding)

1) When continuously scrolling up/down the screen, the disparity of program times between channels quickly becomes vast and (visually) unusable. When the scrolling passes midnight, then all the channels should display the first entry closest to midnight, which would then realign all channels. The same process should be used for 'Primetime'.

2) If '1' is feasible, then you can remove the date/time that's on every second line and instead display the time/Title for every line. e.g. 14:30 - Bondi Rescue
You can then have a single display of the day/date.

3) Have an option for 'number of columns'.

[Star6key]

...
You might like the Infobar EPG for example.

That's a definite NO.

[MrQuade]

Out of curiosity, what advantages do people see in the vertical layout as opposed to the horizontal one? The data presentation is practically identical as far as my usage is concerned.

[MrQuade]

That's a definite NO.

That long press menu also allows you to select over off the alternate EPG styles as the short-press default EPG too.

[prl]

Out of curiosity, what advantages do people see in the vertical layout as opposed to the horizontal one? The data presentation is practically identical as far as my usage is concerned.

As Star6key says, "When continuously scrolling up/down the screen, the disparity of program times between channels quickly becomes vast and (visually) unusable". I noted something similar early in the discussion: "It looks supremely bad at answering "whats on at a certain time?" questions other than when the time is "now"."

If you only want an answer to the question "What's on now or coming up soon", it's probably not too bad, but otherwise, I'm not impressed.

The horizontal format will typically show more channels at a time, too.

Not that my views should count much. We don't use the EPG much, and even then, mostly as a smarter now/next list.

[MrQuade]

As Star6key says, "When continuously scrolling up/down the screen, the disparity of program times between channels quickly becomes vast and (visually) unusable". I noted something similar early in the discussion: "It looks supremely bad at answering "whats on at a certain time?" questions other than when the time is "now"."

I actually meant in concept. The vertical guide that you would have seen in an old-school TV guide was properly spaced by time. I realise this particular Vertical EPG layout is quite busted and can use some refinement.

My question was more querying the advantage of an ideally laid out (or at least a Topfield style) vertical guide vs horizontal.

[prl]

Sorry, my misunderstanding. I think that the Topfield JustEPG TAP was a "newspaper style" EPG, and had a dedicated following among Topfield users.

The enigma2 UI API doesn't really have a suitable Component class that would suit the easy implementation of a "newspaper style" EPG. Implementing it in the current UI API would be even more of a mess than the grid/graphical EPG.

[Star6key]

Sorry, my misunderstanding. I think that the Topfield JustEPG TAP was a "newspaper style" EPG, and had a dedicated following among Topfield users.
...

The best epg I have ever used. So many options. So easy to use, and easy on the eyes.

To answer MrQuade's question... it's usefulness is in the way it presents each program, ie uniformly.
With the horizontal epg, there is so much space wasted for long programs with short titles, and short programs barely have any space for the title. From a visual perspective, it's like playing sideways Tetris.

[ShaneR]

Thank you adoxa, for your vertical-epg.
I have tried it out and it does work.
However, when I tried the add timer function the T3 did a restart but did start recording when the T3 had restarted. Auto-timer function worked without restarting.

I have some thoughts on the vertical-epg layout that you have created which appears quite good and whether it could be cleaned up by having the highlighted TV channel as the only one that has the TV shows displayed, this would overcome the issue with time offsets between TV channels.

Thanking you again for quick your response

Cheers,
Shaner

[prl]

Thank you adoxa, for your vertical-epg.

It's not adoxa's, though he did the work of extracting it from another enigma2 image's source.

I have tried it out and it does work.
However, when I tried the add timer function the T3 did a restart but did start recording when the T3 had restarted. Auto-timer function worked without restarting.

If, when, the T3 "did a restart", you got a black screen covered in white text, it most certainly doesn't work properly, because something in setting the timer threw an uncaught exception in the code.

Even if you didn't get the crash screen, it's still not working properly - setting a timer shouldn't trigger a restart.

I have some thoughts on the vertical-epg layout that you have created which appears quite good and whether it could be cleaned up by having the highlighted TV channel as the only one that has the TV shows displayed, this would overcome the issue with time offsets between TV channels.

How does that differ from the single-channel EPG that I suggested you try, but which you didn't like?

[adoxa]

Thank you adoxa, for your vertical-epg.

As prl says, I didn't create it, but extracted it from the OpenATV image (seemingly created by iPKay).

However, when I tried the add timer function the T3 did a restart but did start recording when the T3 had restarted. Auto-timer function worked without restarting.

I did miss some changes (which affects how scrolling works), and I know there was something related to timer, but our timer is slightly different. In any event, I'll have to fix it.

I have some thoughts on the vertical-epg layout that you have created which appears quite good and whether it could be cleaned up by having the highlighted TV channel as the only one that has the TV shows displayed, this would overcome the issue with time offsets between TV channels.

Disable MENU > Show marked events. I want to make inactive events use a different colour. I'm also going to put the time first and either change it to time+title/description (as Star6key suggested), or make that (or the current one) an option.

[dRdoS7]

Hi,

Sorry, my misunderstanding. I think that the Topfield JustEPG TAP was a "newspaper style" EPG, and had a dedicated following among Topfield users.
...

The best epg I have ever used. So many options. So easy to use, and easy on the eyes.

To answer MrQuade's question... it's usefulness is in the way it presents each program, ie uniformly.
With the horizontal epg, there is so much space wasted for long programs with short titles, and short programs barely have any space for the title. From a visual perspective, it's like playing sideways Tetris.

IMHO, and not to start a EPG TAP war, but SmartEPG was the best.

dRdoS7

[Grumpy_Geoff]

However, when I tried the add timer function the T3 did a restart but did start recording when the T3 had restarted. Auto-timer function worked without restarting.

I did miss some changes (which affects how scrolling works), and I know there was something related to timer, but our timer is slightly different. In any event, I'll have to fix it.

GREEN/Add Timer crash (in case you haven't tried it yet) -

Code: Select all

{1888}<   990.459> KEY: 399 make KEY_GREEN ('GREEN',)
{1888}<   990.460> KEY: 399 break KEY_GREEN ('GREEN',)
{1888}<   990.460> [ActionMap] skipping timerAdd (EPGSelectActions)
{1888}<   990.461> [ActionMap] calling green (ColorActions)
{1888}<   990.463> menu_path: Timer entry
{1888}<   990.473> [Skin] processing screen TimerEntry:
{1888}<   990.488> [Skin] processing screen NumericalTextInputHelpDialog:
{1888}<   990.499> [SCREENNAME]  NumericalTextInputHelpDialog
{1888}<   990.508> [Skin] processing screen SetupSummary:
{1888}<   990.509> [SCREENNAME]  SetupSummary
{1888}<   990.510> [SCREENNAME]  NumericalTextInputHelpDialog
{1888}<   990.510> [SCREENNAME]  TimerEntry
{1888}<   991.535> [eConsoleAppContainer] Starting /usr/bin/grab
{1888}<   994.450> [OpenWebIf] wrong hw detection
{1888}<   994.452> KEY: 399 make KEY_GREEN ('GREEN',)
{1888}<   994.452> [ActionMap] calling save (SetupActions)
{1888}<   994.486> [SCREENNAME]  ['EPGvertical_summary', 'SimpleSummary']
{1888}<   994.488> KEY: 399 break KEY_GREEN ('GREEN',)
{1888}<   994.494> [SCREENNAME]  EPGvertical
{1888}<   994.501> [RecordTimer] record time changed, start prepare is now: Mon Jan 13 11:52:40 2020
{1888}<   994.502> [RecordTimer] Record RecordTimerEntry(name=Girl Happy, begin=Mon Jan 13 11:53:00 2020, end=Mon Jan 13 14:23:00 2020, serviceref=1:0:19:564:506:1013:EEEE0000:0:0:0:, justplay=False, isAutoTimer=False)
{1888}<   994.532> Traceback (most recent call last):
{1888}<   994.532>   File "/usr/lib/enigma2/python/mytest.py", line 242, in processDelay
{1888}<   994.532>     callback(*retval)
{1888}<   994.532>   File "/usr/lib/enigma2/python/Screens/EpgSelection.py", line 1573, in finishedAdd
{1888}<   994.532> AttributeError: 'MenuList' object has no attribute 'getCurrentCursorLocation'
{1888}<   994.533> [ePyObject] (CallObject(<bound method Session.processDelay of <__main__.Session instance at 0xb0dfc698>>,()) failed)

[Star6key]

...

IMHO, and not to start a EPG TAP war, but SmartEPG was the best.

dRdoS7

There's always one in the crowd.

[adoxa]

GREEN/Add Timer crash (in case you haven't tried it yet) -

I hadn't tried it yet, so thanks. Easy enough to fix.

[adoxa]

1) When continuously scrolling up/down the screen, the disparity of program times between channels quickly becomes vast and (visually) unusable. When the scrolling passes midnight, then all the channels should display the first entry closest to midnight, which would then realign all channels. The same process should be used for 'Primetime'.

This has been partially addressed (stuff I missed from OpenATV), but there's still room for improvement. There's two approaches (not necessarily exclusive): scroll only the necessary programs; add blank events to keep them aligned. I think the former would be easier, as the latter might require some finessing (plus you could end up with huge gaps).

2) If '1' is feasible, then you can remove the date/time that's on every second line and instead display the time/Title for every line. e.g. 14:30 - Bondi Rescue
You can then have a single display of the day/date.

I could do time+title/description as an option, or instead of time+date/title. Time+title would truncate the title, not sure how much that would matter.

3) Have an option for 'number of columns'.

Sorry, no, that's too dependent on the skin. Of course, I guess extra skins could manage it, but it's not really something I want to do.

[Star6key]

2) If '1' is feasible, then you can remove the date/time that's on every second line and instead display the time/Title for every line. e.g. 14:30 - Bondi Rescue
You can then have a single display of the day/date.

I could do time+title/description as an option, or instead of time+date/title. Time+title would truncate the title, not sure how much that would matter.

We'd have to see them to get an idea of what works best.

3) Have an option for 'number of columns'.

Sorry, no, that's too dependent on the skin. Of course, I guess extra skins could manage it, but it's not really something I want to do.

No problem. It was just a thought, besides... you're the one driving the bus.

[adoxa]

I could do time+title/description as an option, or instead of time+date/title. Time+title would truncate the title, not sure how much that would matter.

We'd have to see them to get an idea of what works best.

In that case I may as well just make it the option. There could also be a third option, with just the time and title, allowing for more rows.

No problem [re optional columns]. It was just a thought, besides... you're the one driving the bus.

What did you have in mind? I don't see the point in having one or two columns (just use Single EPG); you might get away with six, but no more than that; the PiG version is pretty much stuck with three. With extra skins there's not much code involved, so once they're done creating three- or four-column variations wouldn't really be all that much work.

[Star6key]

I could do time+title/description as an option, or instead of time+date/title. Time+title would truncate the title, not sure how much that would matter.

We'd have to see them to get an idea of what works best.

In that case I may as well just make it the option. There could also be a third option, with just the time and title, allowing for more rows.
...

Personally, I prefer time - title. Others might not, so having the 3 options would be good.

...

No problem [re optional columns]. It was just a thought, besides... you're the one driving the bus.

What did you have in mind? I don't see the point in having one or two columns (just use Single EPG); you might get away with six, but no more than that; the PiG version is pretty much stuck with three. With extra skins there's not much code involved, so once they're done creating three- or four-column variations wouldn't really be all that much work.

6 columns would be perfect. That would allow the main channels for each broadcaster 7,9,10,sbs,abc, and one extra (for me, sbs movies) all on one page. With the font size set to -5 and the entries set to Time - Title, most entries should fit on 1 line.

[adoxa]

Here's a beta version of Vertical EPG. It's now been skinned (for the default skins, I'll leave OverlayHD to Ian) and I've added stuff from OpenATV I missed the first time.

There's a "List view" option to choose between "Date/Title" (what it is now), "Title/Description" (time and title on one line, short description following; timer icons will overlay the title), and "Title" (time and title only; timer icons will be drawn at the bottom, no prime time icon).

Scrolling is better (that was stuff I missed), but it's still awkward, and hard to fix when the lists themselves only scroll by page. What it does at the moment (for things like prime time) is create new lists starting with the appropriate time; scrolling all up then creates new lists starting six hours earlier (I think). Assuming I can get something to work my intention was to:

• if you scroll down the current service scroll all other services to match the new start time;
• if you scroll up the current service scroll all other services to match the new top start time;
• if you scroll down all services find the visible service with the earliest new start time and scroll that down as above;
• if you scroll up all services find the visible service with the latest top start time and scroll that up as above.

[IanSav]

Hi Adoxa,

Newer versions of OverlayHD are no longer compatible with the Beyonwiz image. The Beyonwiz firmware is now too far behind OpenViX and OpenPLi. When Captain merges some of the newer work then Beyonwiz will also be well behind OpenATV.

I will rethink supporting Beyonwiz when the upstream changes are available in the Beyonwiz firmware.

Regards,
ian.

[naigy]

Interested to give this a go as not a fan of the other EPG layouts on my T4. I have tried to install this (both versions above) and they just cause my T4 to get stuck in a loop on bootup (Powered by WizOS screen).

The front display gets to loading 100% then goes back to 50% and continually scrolls to 100% a few times before the front display goes blank and the TV screen freezes (but without the scrolling star). Have left it on this screen for over 10 minutes. Can SSH back into the t4 and when I run the setup program again it removes and when I restart it boots up completely as normal.

Any ideas what is causing this or what I can try. Thanks.

[MrQuade]

Agree you running firmware in the 19.3 series?

Patches like these are generally for a very specific firmware version, and are not guaranteed to work in the long term. I'm actually not sure how compatible this particular patch is our whether it works need to be uninstalled prior to performing any online update our not.

If advise using this as a preview only and not to be used as your "daily driver". If your really like it, you can petition to get it finalized and added to the official firmware.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

I just installed it on 19.3.20200405. It works.
The install changes these files in /usr/lib and /usr/share, so I'd be uninstalling it before doing any online update -

Code: Select all

root@beyonwizu4:~# touch -t 07:00:00 me
root@beyonwizu4:~# find /usr/lib /usr/share -newer me
/usr/lib/enigma2/python/Components/Renderer/Picon.pyo
/usr/lib/enigma2/python/Components/UsageConfig.pyo
/usr/lib/enigma2/python/Components/EpgList.pyo
/usr/lib/enigma2/python/Screens/EpgSelection.pyo
/usr/lib/enigma2/python/Screens/ButtonSetup.pyo
/usr/lib/enigma2/python/Screens/InfoBarGenerics.pyo
/usr/share/enigma2/setup.xml
/usr/share/enigma2/easy-skin-aus-hd/skin_epg.xml
/usr/share/enigma2/Full-Metal-Wizard/skin_epg.xml
/usr/share/enigma2/menu.xml
root@beyonwizu4:~#

[naigy]

Firmware was the issue it seems. Have now upgraded from 17.5 to 19.3 and rerun the setup without any issue. Love this EPG. Not as nice as the JustEPG on Toppy but definitely a step in the right direction. The wife hasn't used the EPG in ages but says she just might with this new layout. Will see how it goes. Appear to work well with timer and autotimer integration and shows current timers also.

Screenshot for those that want to see interface on a T4