Highest Waf EPG solution?
#1
Hi,

I'm new to using a tuner with XBMC and I'm wondering what everyone considers the easiest to use EPG solution?

I've tried the built in liveTV but the controls are a bit of a nightmare even for me so I can't see anyone non techy using it. The fact the you can't seem to close the epg when you press "e" and are forced to switch select a channel is a major pain, other little annoyances like bring up extra menu's when you select a channel on the epg and bring up the video controls window when you press "enter" and having no exit confirmation just make the whole setup pretty much unusable.

So far i've come up with the following 2 alternatives:

PseudoTV Live - has friendly controls and I already use it for custom playlist channels
TVGuideDixie/OnTapp.tv - EPG looks really nice and seem's simple to use (i've not tested fully yet though), requires you to make custom strm files for your backend

What's peoples opinions on other epg solutions and the most usable?
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#2
Buy a mce remote !
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#3
(2014-05-23, 22:00)Jönke Wrote: Buy a mce remote !

I may do in the long run but I have a couple of decent remotes already with the necessary buttons =)

My issue more with navigation flow which feels really awkward and non standard compared to freeview/sky set top boxes.
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#4
You can change what happens when you click on a channel in the EPG, you can have it switch to that channel directly if you want. Regarding the rest of your complaints I don't really understand what you mean I'm afraid, could you elaborate a little bit? Keep in mind that much of the GUI surrounding PVR functions is still work in progress and will likely get better with time, so don't give up completely just yet.
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#5
Take a look here for a nice "pvr mapping" for mce remote http://openelec.tv/forum/103-infared-rem...mitstart=0

I also added this to have nice pvr/epg control around the arrows

Code:
<FullscreenLiveTV>
<remote>
<start>XBMC.ActivateWindowAndFocus(MyPVR, 32,0, 11,0)</start>
<left>XBMC.ActivateWindowAndFocus(MyPVR, 31,0, 10,0)</left>
<right>XBMC.ActivateWindow(PVROSDGuide)</right>
</remote>
</FullscreenLiveTV>
<TV>
<remote>
<start>FullScreen</start>
</remote>
</TV>

So it looks/ works like this ( i dont use timeshift)
http://openelec.tv/forum/103-infared-rem...t=90#75684
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#6
Great info guys thanks A lot it seems I may be able to configure it work exactly how I want then!

(2014-05-24, 08:37)negge Wrote: You can change what happens when you click on a channel in the EPG, you can have it switch to that channel directly if you want. Regarding the rest of your complaints I don't really understand what you mean I'm afraid, could you elaborate a little bit? Keep in mind that much of the GUI surrounding PVR functions is still work in progress and will likely get better with time, so don't give up completely just yet.

How do you make it change to that channel directly? I cannot find any options for this in the settings.

(2014-05-24, 10:50)Jönke Wrote: Take a look here for a nice "pvr mapping" for mce remote http://openelec.tv/forum/103-infared-rem...mitstart=0

I also added this to have nice pvr/epg control around the arrows

Code:
<FullscreenLiveTV>
<remote>
<start>XBMC.ActivateWindowAndFocus(MyPVR, 32,0, 11,0)</start>
<left>XBMC.ActivateWindowAndFocus(MyPVR, 31,0, 10,0)</left>
<right>XBMC.ActivateWindow(PVROSDGuide)</right>
</remote>
</FullscreenLiveTV>
<TV>
<remote>
<start>FullScreen</start>
</remote>
</TV>

So it looks/ works like this ( i dont use timeshift)
http://openelec.tv/forum/103-infared-rem...t=90#75684

Thanks I did not know you could remap controls for each individual window. Where do you get all the different commands for these? I've added them to my settings but the activate window commands e.g. XBMC.ActivateWindowAndFocus(MyPVR, 31,0, 10,0) seem to not do anything.
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#7
@ianuk2005: increase your setting level, it's there in Settings -> Live TV -> EPG I think.
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#8
Regarding the remapping of buttons there's a whole section on the wiki on how to do it. Now that you know the actual actions to perform (XBMC.ActivateWindow etc.) you just need to know what your remote's buttons are called. You can enable debug logging in XBMC to see what button is being pressed and what action XBMC decides to take (very handy when fiddling with the keymap).
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#9
(2014-05-24, 17:12)negge Wrote: @ianuk2005: increase your setting level, it's there in Settings -> Live TV -> EPG I think.

Ah increase settings level is Gotham only right? I'm still on frodo I will have to upgrade, is it more stable than frodo now?
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#10
Try

PHP Code:
<pvr>
         <
showepginfoonselect>false</showepginfoonselect>
</
pvr
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#11
Ok I updated to gotham which seems to have done the trick for the option of going straight to the channel on the epg select.

I've used this trick to get it to go straight to the epg when you select on the menu: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...pid1709253

And customized the keyboard.xml to disable any input from my remote when viewing a channel except select which brings up the epg and back which goes back.

So now it's just 2 screens for the setup: Viewing TV and the EPG. No more awkward screens with channel lists and info panels and a simple 2 button setup to fit with the rest of XBMC =).
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#12
"+1 Insane" for removing every feature that makes using a computer to watch TV better than just using the TV.
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#13
(2014-05-26, 21:15)negge Wrote: "+1 Insane" for removing every feature that makes using a computer to watch TV better than just using the TV.

Lol I don't want a billion options for the live TV features. All I want is an EPG and viewing. All the shows we watch get subscribed to with other plugins for watching on demand so don't even really need record abilities.
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#14
Sure, whatever makes you happy I guess :-)
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#15
I'm not sure if no one planned it out, or examined best of breed setups beforehand, or if its just a product of very slow iterative improvements, but I have to agree that (even though I am grateful for it) the PVR setup started out sub par in almost every way, and has slowly progressed such that I don't want to shoot myself after using it.

However, if my primary stream of content was recording from the PVR, and managing it happened through the PVR Recordings screen I would definitely still have to lock up all sharp and dangerous objects in the house before sitting down.
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