EPGRefresh

[IanSav]

Hi Mike,

This is not a bug. It is a limitation of the T2. There is not enough hardware capability in the T2 to perform a fake recording.

Regards,
Ian.

[emmsee]

Thanks Gully, Thanks Ian

[MrQuade]

Refresh EPG using is not an option, even in advanced options.
From reading other post it seems necessary to change this from main channel to fake recording.

Mike

That was the limitation that I mentioned in your other thread.

[emmsee]

Quite right Mr Quade,
But from your other post I didn't surmise a command would be missing from the epg refresh plugin.
If, like other posters, I were to run the refresh at 0300 (in my case anyway) nothing else is going on on my T2.
I understand now why the command is missing.
Thanks again.
Mike

[mike007]

Hi guys, after EPGrefresh runs it says X number of timers were modified but they don't seem to be. Some programs can be replaced by a different program but it still makes a recording with with the name of the original program. I assume some of the modifications would be slight start finish times changing but surely when the Auto Timer is run after a refresh if the program isn't even on the EPG any more the timer should be deleted?
Cheers Mike

[prl]

I don't think EPGRefresh updates timers. AutoTimer does, though.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

... but surely when the Auto Timer is run after a refresh if the program isn't even on the EPG any more the timer should be deleted?
Cheers Mike

My understanding is that AutoTimer won't delete any timers.

[mike007]

... but surely when the Auto Timer is run after a refresh if the program isn't even on the EPG any more the timer should be deleted?
Cheers Mike

My understanding is that AutoTimer won't delete any timers.

Thanks guys, that would be a good thing to do when it "modifies timers"
Cheers Mike

[Grumpy_Geoff]

... but surely when the Auto Timer is run after a refresh if the program isn't even on the EPG any more the timer should be deleted?
Cheers Mike

My understanding is that AutoTimer won't delete any timers.

Thanks guys, that would be a good thing to do when it "modifies timers"
Cheers Mike

I'm guessing the AutoTimer plugin iterates through the list of AutoTimer definitions looking for matching EPG event entries. When a match is found, the plugin then checks the list of timers for a timer it previously generated that has that same EPG event identifier (the event's unique ID). If found and the event/timer times differ (taking pre/post-padding into account), then the timer is updated. If the timer is not found, then it is created.

I don't think the plugin also iterates over timers it had created that now no longer qualify. It's probably a good idea though.

[dRdoS7]

Hi,

Hi Mike,

This is not a bug. It is a limitation of the T2. There is not enough hardware capability in the T2 to perform a fake recording.

Regards,
Ian.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere in the last month or so, that this was going to be fixed in an update to EPGRefresh.

I thought I'd try "fake recording", and that now works, it doesn't switch channels when scanning any more.

I did it manually, and checked with the OK button to bring up the Infobar, it shows a recording on another tuner.

I've been running EPGR in automatic for about 5 days, and the Guide has been kept up to date. I don't switch channels much, so it is EPGR that is doing it.

Thanks,

dRdoS7.

EDIT: Found discussion here: http://www.beyonwiz.com.au/forum/viewto ... 50&t=10949

[MrQuade]

I thought I'd try "fake recording", and that now works, it doesn't switch channels when scanning any more.

Ahh cool. I hadn't thought to check for that. Nice to know that the new version is in now. Thanks for the heads-up!

[emmsee]

dRdo57,
Which model Wiz were you 'fake recording' on?

Hi,

Hi Mike,

This is not a bug. It is a limitation of the T2. There is not enough hardware capability in the T2 to perform a fake recording.

Regards,
Ian.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere in the last month or so, that this was going to be fixed in an update to EPGRefresh.

I thought I'd try "fake recording", and that now works, it doesn't switch channels when scanning any more.

I did it manually, and checked with the OK button to bring up the Infobar, it shows a recording on another tuner.

I've been running EPGR in automatic for about 5 days, and the Guide has been kept up to date. I don't switch channels much, so it is EPGR that is doing it.

Thanks,

dRdoS7.

EDIT: Found discussion here: http://www.beyonwiz.com.au/forum/viewto ... 50&t=10949

[MrQuade]

Which model Wiz were you 'fake recording' on?

The T2 needs to be running the latest 16.1 beta firmware to allow the "Fake recording" method to be used.

16.1 is in release candidate stages now and will most likely be released soon.

[prl]

dRdo57,
Which model Wiz were you 'fake recording' on?
...

T2.

The problem of not being able to set EPGRefresh as a "fake recording" was only ever a problem on the T2. This was because the test on whether it was allowed in the configuration was incorrect in older versions of EPGRefresh. This has now been fixed in newer versions of EPGRefresh.

I think the new version of EPGRefresh with those changes may only be available in the current beta version. The beta has now reached "release candidate" state, so it may not be too long before it becomes an official version.

[exitguy]

Before I install, is this currently pretty stable and working OK on a T2 ??
Read through the whole thread, printed out Warkus settings and was going to use those as a starting point to get the EPG populated in the morning - the T2 is set to DeepStandby at night but would like to get the EPG populated at around 6am for that day and then put back to DeepStandby till it's required either in the afternoon or evening.

[MrQuade]

Before I install, is this currently pretty stable and working OK on a T2 ??
Read through the whole thread, printed out Warkus settings and was going to use those as a starting point to get the EPG populated in the morning - the T2 is set to DeepStandby at night but would like to get the EPG populated at around 6am for that day and then put back to DeepStandby till it's required either in the afternoon or evening.

This plugin works fine on a T2. I use the "fake recording" setting with mine without issue.

As you may know, the T2 is unable to automatically return to Deep Standby after waking to make a "recording", so you will need to take extra steps if you want your T2 to wake at 6am and then go back to Deep Standby. You need to set up a power timer to fire at about 6:15am to put your T2 back into Deep Standby once the EPGRefresh run has completed (15 minutes gives EPGRefresh plenty of time).

[exitguy]

As you may know, the T2 is unable to automatically return to Deep Standby after waking to make a "recording", so you will need to take extra steps if you want your T2 to wake at 6am and then go back to Deep Standby.

OK, would these be some options to pursue rather than a 6am wake up:-
- Is it possible to automatically run the plugin after the Wiz has booted ??
- If the above is not possible, manually run the plugin to populate the EPG and then close it down ??

[MrQuade]

OK, would these be some options to pursue rather than a 6am wake up:-
- Is it possible to automatically run the plugin after the Wiz has booted ??

Perhaps it can be "tricked" to work this way, though I haven't experimented with it.
EPGRefresh usually just runs once a day within a user-definable window of times. So in your example, you would say "run sometime between 6am and 7am".
EPGRefrsh can also be set to run only when there are no other recordings active, and can also be configured to not wake the T2 from Deep Standby or not in order to run the refresh.

You may be able to set the time window to a large value, like 6am-10pm for example. You could then configure EPGRefresh not to wake from standby, and to not wait for an idle period between recordings.
That way, When you manually turn on the T2, it is likely you will be in the time window, and EPGRefresh should kick off as soon as it is able.
It's possible you could run into conflicts if the T2 wakes for other timers, or needs extra tuners for some other reason though.

Also, doing it this way would mean that if you were away on holiday, the T2 might not wake often enough to keep the EPG fresh, and if you have any Autotimers, they may run out of EPG to check. This is not a huge problem though I think, since if you *are* using autotimers, the T2 should be waking up to make recordings anyway.

- If the above is not possible, manually run the plugin to populate the EPG and then close it down ??

You can manually run EPGRefresh from Live TV by pressing the BLUE button. There will be an option in the popup menu to manually run a refresh.

Setting a repeating power timer is not a terribly bad idea in this instance though, so don't dismiss it outright as an option.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

...
Setting a repeating power timer is not a terribly bad idea in this instance though, so don't dismiss it outright as an option.

For a T2, I think it's not a bad idea in any instance, as it'll stop the timeshift filling up the HDD (unless the timers themselves are configured to send the T2 to standby/deep standby).

[exitguy]

Interesting, today we switched on the T2 from DeepStandby that it had been in overnight - and there is the EPG, it is fully populated after it booted and went to the first station in the EPG. So may not need to go down the routes we have been discussing - will keep on eye on it, and see if it does the same thing when switched on, over the next few days.

[MrQuade]

Interesting, today we switched on the T2 from DeepStandby that it had been in overnight - and there is the EPG, it is fully populated after it booted and went to the first station in the EPG. So may not need to go down the routes we have been discussing - will keep on eye on it, and see if it does the same thing when switched on, over the next few days.

If the EPG was fully populated when it was put to sleep last night, then it will still be (mostly) fully populated when you wake it up the next day. The EPG is saved on shutdown and loaded from storage into memory when you boot up again. You should have had 7 days of advance data last night, and today, you will have 6 days of advance data until you re-visit each channel again.

The problem only comes about if you don't visit a channel for a few days, and the EPG for that channel will not be updated, so your available EPG data on those lest-visited channels will shrink day by day.

[dRdoS7]

Hi,

Interesting, today we switched on the T2 from DeepStandby that it had been in overnight - and there is the EPG, it is fully populated after it booted and went to the first station in the EPG. So may not need to go down the routes we have been discussing - will keep on eye on it, and see if it does the same thing when switched on, over the next few days.

As Mr Quade says, if you don't regularly go to at least one channel from each of the networks, then no EPG data.

Save yourself a hassle, and use "Standby" & EPGRefresh (Fake Recording). The T2 uses SFA in Standby mode, even when left on, it's low.

The only problem is if the T2 is not in LiveTV, or playing a file (I think), i.e in a Menu. Then it won't go to Standby, and there'll be a prompt on the screen when you do return to LiveTV asking if you want to let it go to Standby.

dRdoS7

[exitguy]

With a bit of experimenting found another solution to putting the T2 into DeepStandby after an early morning EPG scan -

Set EPGRefresh as per warkus post settings (mine are wake up @ 5:00, back to Standby @ 6:30)
Set Sleep Timer to go to DeepStandby / Daily / @ 7:00 / After Event Do Nothing

What would be the minimum period needed for the T2 to be On (warkus had 2hrs)
Minimum time for EPGRefresh per channel (warkus has 120sec)

Another Day, learnt something new so another day not wasted !!

[prl]

...
What would be the minimum period needed for the T2 to be On (warkus had 2hrs)
Minimum time for EPGRefresh per channel (warkus has 120sec)
...

According to FreeTV Operational Practice OP - 58 Implementation Guide for DVB EIT Schedule Information (EITschedule_actual):

2.2 Playout Repetition Rates

The playout rates for the EITschedule actual table will be divided into two different values. The first eight days will be played out with a repetition rate of 10000ms (10 seconds), with any included remaining days being played out at a repetition rate of 30000ms (30 seconds). (refer to Section 4.4 of TR 101 211 [3])

Because no-one sends more than 8 days of EPG, a complete EPG should be sent each 10 sec. It's probably a good idea to allow at least double that, so the if the EPG transmission is part-way through, the collection process sees at least one complete EPG in that time. Once an EPG scan has completed, the next one won't be scheduled for 5 minutes, so unless the time on channel is more than about 5:30, you'll never catch a second scan of the EPG whils staying on that channel.

You need to allow a second or so for tuning, and half a second between when the channel is tuned and the EPG collection process starts. If, for some reason, the scan fails, its retry is set to follow after the setting of "Delay if not in standby (minutes)" (defaults to 10 min).

It seems to me that 120sec per channel is conservative, but not excessive. It could probably be safely halved. 2 hours "on" time seems more than necessary, even allowing for retries, and could possibly also be halved.

However, I don't use EPGRefresh, and there may be good reasons why MrQuade has the times set as he does.

I also don't know why MrQuade uses a power timer to shut down after doing the scan rather than setting "Shutdown after EPG refresh" in the EPGRefresh settings.

[MrQuade]

However, I don't use EPGRefresh, and there may be good reasons why MrQuade has the times set as he does.

I also don't know why MrQuade uses a power timer to shut down after doing the scan rather than setting "Shutdown after EPG refresh" in the EPGRefresh settings.

Those were just suggested times, I don't operate my Wizs like that. Mine are permanently in standby, so I don't need to sweat those details.

[prl]

However, I don't use EPGRefresh, and there may be good reasons why MrQuade has the times set as he does.

I also don't know why MrQuade uses a power timer to shut down after doing the scan rather than setting "Shutdown after EPG refresh" in the EPGRefresh settings.

Those were just suggested times, I don't operate my Wizs like that. Mine are permanently in standby, so I don't need to sweat those details.

OK. My misunderstanding.

Exitguy, give one minute on channel and "Shutdown after EPG refresh" (and no separate shutdown timer) a try and see how that goes. If "Shutdown after EPG refresh" works properly, it's a cleaner way of doing the shutdown than using a separate timer.

[MrQuade]

Exitguy, give one minute on channel and "Shutdown after EPG refresh" (and no separate shutdown timer) a try and see how that goes. If "Shutdown after EPG refresh" works properly, it's a cleaner way of doing the shutdown than using a separate timer.

I assume the shutdown setting will be ignored if the refresh is manually triggered.

[prl]

Exitguy, give one minute on channel and "Shutdown after EPG refresh" (and no separate shutdown timer) a try and see how that goes. If "Shutdown after EPG refresh" works properly, it's a cleaner way of doing the shutdown than using a separate timer.

I assume the shutdown setting will be ignored if the refresh is manually triggered.

Code: Select all

	def finish(self, *args, **kwargs):
		print("[EPGRefresh] Debug: Refresh finished!")
		...
		
		# shutdown if we're supposed to go to deepstandby and not recording
		if not self.forcedScan and config.plugins.epgrefresh.afterevent.value \
			and not Screens.Standby.inTryQuitMainloop:
			... do shutdown ...

self.forcedScan is set when a manual scan is done.

[exitguy]

From reading - Manual EPGRefresh will not go into Standby after completion, but once it's automated probably no need to do anyway.
I'll play around with the times over the next few days and see how they go - thanks for the feedback.

[Gully]

Just to confirm that "Shutdown after EPG Refresh" does exactly as it says so no need for a Power timer with scheduled use.

[exitguy]

Well, seems to be working - no link light on the switch T2 line so that means the unit is in DeepStandby.

Does EPGRefresh provide any log of what it has done, or is there anywhere I can check what happened this morning to make sure its working OK.

[prl]

EPGRefresh logs to the debug log. Enable the debug log in Open Webif and restart the PVR.

Then use the "grep" command in the command line interface to the PVR to search for "EPGRefresh". Grep searches are case-sensitive by default. Log files are time stamped by UI startup time.

[Gully]

Or at the simplest level just go into EPGRefresh and press Info to see the last time it was run.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Or at the simplest level just go into EPGRefresh and press Info to see the last time it was run.

It's been two years since I ran EPGRefresh, from memory you have to be in the configuration screen to be able to press INFO to see the last scan time

[Gully]

Or at the simplest level just go into EPGRefresh and press Info to see the last time it was run.

It's been two years since I ran EPGRefresh, from memory you have to be in the configuration screen to be able to press INFO to see the last scan time

Same difference - I did say "go into EPGRefresh" which is the configuration screen.

[exitguy]

However, I don't use EPGRefresh, and there may be good reasons why MrQuade has the times set as he does.

I also don't know why MrQuade uses a power timer to shut down after doing the scan rather than setting "Shutdown after EPG refresh" in the EPGRefresh settings.

Those were just suggested times, I don't operate my Wizs like that. Mine are permanently in standby, so I don't need to sweat those details.

OK. My misunderstanding.

Exitguy, give one minute on channel and "Shutdown after EPG refresh" (and no separate shutdown timer) a try and see how that goes. If "Shutdown after EPG refresh" works properly, it's a cleaner way of doing the shutdown than using a separate timer.

All OK, been running it for a few days now - EPGRefresh is set to wake up @ 7am, do the refresh @ 120sec per channel between 7-8 and then do the "Shutdown after EPG refresh" - it wakes from DeepStandby, does its thing and then sends the T2 back into DeepStandby - no additional power timers needed - happy chappy !!!

[prl]

Great to hear!