Satellite transponders/frequencies

[sorethumbs]

The last time I set up UK freesat on a media center pc I found that not all channels had been picked up. I went to kingofsat and looked at the frequencies for those channels I knew I was missing and set them up manually to get them working.

Does Windows 7 media center have a set of frequencies it will check by default built in that will never change (meaning any future scans I do I will have to run the manual ones again) or do these extra frequencies get included by way of some sort of update to media center?

[milli260876]

It never gets changed. If you have a hauppauge device they add a set of frequencies that go in the registry. My TBS card doesn't pick them up. I'd love to know if the frequencies could be edited but i doubt it...
i even pm'd motz to see if he had any idea unfortunately got no response. He probably ignores them now thinking it will be more echo bashing!!

[sorethumbs]

I remember when first using my TBS6981 it never picked up BBC HD or C4 HD (can't remember which) and I ran a hauppauge patch
(just found it here http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/forum/showth ... 2&p=103681)

There is a bit about about manually adding frequencies at the bottom, wondered if that would work for TBS seeing as the hauppauge patch worked as well

[holidayboy]

When I go through TV setup with just a tbs6981, I have to manually scan the necessary transponders for the missing SD and HD channels.

With regards to the initial transponder list that gets imported, that list is well and truly out of date!

I've tried various ways to try and inject newer satellite data as part of the TV setup process and have failed miserably every time!

[milli260876]

I remember when first using my TBS6981 it never picked up BBC HD or C4 HD (can't remember which) and I ran a hauppauge patch
(just found it here http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/forum/showth ... 2&p=103681)

There is a bit about about manually adding frequencies at the bottom, wondered if that would work for TBS seeing as the hauppauge patch worked as well

not sure if i was misunderstood, as previously mentioned my tbs card picks the channels up if u scan the relevant transponder. But with the Hauppauge you can edit the transponder list and it will find them all on the full scan...

[sorethumbs]

No I got what you meant. I was just trying to see if I will always have to run manual scans or if it ever gets updated so you don't have to.

Its not a big deal but if you didn't know you had missing channels you would never know to run manual scans

[holidayboy]

I mess around now and again with this issue to try and edit the satellite list that media center downloads but I haven't succeeded yet.

If you mess with the hard coded list in the DLL files and then disable net access during TV setup then you lose access to downloaded guide data.

I haven't managed to get at the downloaded data during TV setup in order to alter it that way either.

Maybe I'll try messing with it again over the Xmas holidays if I get bored and have some free time

It would be nice to get MS to update the satellite list that gets downloaded, obviously, I'm not too hopeful!

This old tgb.com thread has some info about the process: (2nd post by Lorcan)

http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... 80950.aspx

[tony_park]

dvblink makes this so much easier - download the latest transponder files from kingofsat, stick it in the template folder, scan... as a well known tv advert quotes - simples!

[holidayboy]

^ +1

Off topic alert:

I've had to go back to native 7/8MC tuning though as I can't get all channels tuning on all 3 of my sat tuners for some reason (tbs6981 + nova HD s2).

I've tried different motherboards, drivers, PCI slots etc... It's just in dvblink that this happens.

[milli260876]

@rob i used to have two different tuners and dvblogic wouldn't work. Which is why i never got into it, tried it recently and my cpu wasn't up to the transcoding to stream the channels so i left it.. Again.
I'm due a format so might have a faff around with the dll's you linked to, i use epg collector anyway as i find it more accurate anyway (also there is a real chance Microsoft will drop guide support).

[milli260876]

Just opened this ticket on connect
https://connect.microsoft.com/site1145/ ... ers-update
jump on it please!
the more the merrier, not expecting much mind you...

[NWW]

The thing is there is no one way to have a correct WMC system in the UK (or Europe for that matter).

First off, as the OP mentionned, the configuration data is wrong. Now you could argue that you could scan manually every missing transponder and edit your guide, but what's the point in that. After each transponder move that Freesat/Sky might do, you'd have to do that again.

Then, assuming that you managed to get your channels set up correctly, there is the matter for EPG data.

• - MS data lacks most Freesat channels. Repeat tags are present though, which is nice because some UK programming (I'm thinking about "Top Gear", "Misfits"...) don't have episode titles in them.
  - Also, no program icon for TV Shows
  - HD flags are only present on BBC One HD (used to be on BBC HD before it became BBC Two HD)

If you go the route of EPGC though, you get:

• - All the channels with data
  - Program Icons for TV Shows
  - Correct metadata everywhere in WMC (search, synopsis, season/episode data when available)
  - HD Flags everywhere
  - But, this is a huge problem: shows like the aformentionned "Top Gear" or "Misfits" can be hard to detect if they are repeat or not. Especially "Misfits" where E4 likes to show that the entire week. When you catch up on a show, it can be hard to know which episode is before which.

Add DVBlink into the mix:

• - Paid extension ...
  - Benefit of streaming to multiple clients in the house
  - Ability to use decryption plugins
  - Easy to use multiple providers (Freesat + Local terrestrial + other satellites)
  - But, maintenance is high, incompatibility with EPGC if you use a standalone collection, XMLTV integration is funky (repeats everywhere), the playready update issue when a channel has moved transponders etc etc

Overall, Freesat on an HTPC requires too much work and effort. I like the advantages it provides, but using WMC as a DVR in Europe becomes hard. As much as reading here, I see people in the US complaining, over here, it's starting to become a disaster. I'm waiting to see what MS will do with the Xbox One when "OneGuide" becomes available here, and what they will do for WMC users, but I honestly am tired of all the maintenance my WMC requires.

[barnabas1969]

@NWW: Are there other HTPC options for people in Europe?

[holidayboy]

@rob i used to have two different tuners and dvblogic wouldn't work. Which is why i never got into it, tried it recently and my cpu wasn't up to the transcoding to stream the channels so i left it.. Again.
I'm due a format so might have a faff around with the dll's you linked to, i use epg collector anyway as i find it more accurate anyway (also there is a real chance Microsoft will drop guide support).

I'll check my notes for my last attempts at editing the dll and post anything I find!

[NWW]

@NWW: Are there other HTPC options for people in Europe?

Mediaportal is another contender, but the learning curve and setup is bigger. Otherwise, XBMC with a TV backend (like DVBlink for example), or vdr under linux. But the main issues about setup, EPG and maintenance remain.

[holidayboy]

Regarding other options in Europe, there are several.

A lot of folks will probably know this already - we have no issues with DRM over here, but we do have encryption to contend with on several platforms - in the UK, this is for channels that are exclusive to Sky (http://www.sky.com).

Basically, in the UK, any PVR software that can work with DVB-S2 tuners will allow you to record Freesat programmes (http://www.freesat.co.uk/channels).

I keep looking at other PVR solutions myself to be honest (Mediaportal looks pretty nice), but everything is still way behind 7MC when it comes to the UI imho, plus as NWW says, setup is even more involved in most cases.

Then there's the extender dilemma. The lack of DRM means that we can use mini PC boxes (or Raspberry Pi with XBMC etc) at each TV and watch any recorded TV content without issue, but to use a shared guide, you still need a true extender, just like US users.

Using DVB-S/S2 is a bit of a pain to get set up, but in reality, changes to satellite transponders are not that common and once you've scanned in the channels and assigned guide data, you're done (for a pretty long while at least).

[milli260876]

@rob I've got high hopes for the nextpvr implementation in mediabrowser. Server>client=winner

[CyberSimian]

A lot of folks will probably know this already - we have no issues with DRM over here

Some months ago I recorded a film from terrestrial TV (DVB-T), and when I looked at the metadata I was astonished to see that it claimed that it was copy protected! I have only one HTPC, so I cannot try playing it on another HTPC to see if it really is copy protected.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[tony_park]

I agree with the maintenance aspect of this setup - I'm looking to see whether lineup will help with the channel changes, unfortunately I've not got round to testing it yet

[holidayboy]

A lot of folks will probably know this already - we have no issues with DRM over here

Some months ago I recorded a film from terrestrial TV (DVB-T), and when I looked at the metadata I was astonished to see that it claimed that it was copy protected! I have only one HTPC, so I cannot try playing it on another HTPC to see if it really is copy protected.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

I think that in the US, you can't play protected content using wmp? Worth a test I guess.

I'd guess that something weird in the stream caused MC to set the attribute incorrectly?