sparse content for 7000PVR

[deangelj]

Hi guys,

Have loaded the new 7K firmware which enables the icetv integration and loaded the guide last night. First impressions are that the content makes the EPG viewing pretty cumbersome because of the gaps in the data. For example, the PVR's EPG viewer shows a per channel display of shows for the time slots over a set period (I think 6 hours) but because of the gaps it's difficult to figure out what's on at a certain time e.g. with normal fully populated data you would see:

6:00 - 6:30   News
6:30 - 7:00   A Current affair
7:00 - 7:30   next show
7:30 - 8:30   show after
etc

But we get for example:

6:00 - 6:30   News
7:30 - 8:30   show after
etc.

There are actually shows in between but the guide doesn't contain the info, I assume because it is not a HD program it is not included in the content. Could this please be fixed asap because it is unusable as it is...

thanks,
John

[Daniel Hall at IceTV]

This sounds like its for the HD channels as the SD channels will have full information available to them.

The biggest problem with doing this is there are no published guides for the HD channels that are currently in use by the networks.

As such if there is no HD programming on there is absolutely no way to confirm what will be on a given channel. This policy of the networks can change at any time.

At this stage it would be much worse if a show was listed on the HD channel and it did not air than if there are the unknown gaps in the guide.

[bosustow]

Hi Daniel

I think we need a comprimise on this one.

Any chance of showing all shows after 6.00pm to Midnight on HD???

[Daniel Hall at IceTV]

That still doesn't change the fact that if there is no HD programming on there is absolutely no way to confirm what will be on a given HD channel.

[goldcoastguy]

Isn't it accepted these days that the HD demo (on those channels that still have one) is only on during the day and at night any non-HD shows (on all channels) are upscaled to HD?

Maybe a listing like the one below would be appropriate:

7:30 The HD Show
8:30 The Non-HD Show (SD only)


Evan :->

[deangelj]

Daniel, according to a DigiTV user (on the DTVForum) you already do this? Here's an extract from that forum

"IceTV can already do this - on behalf of our customers we asked them nicely ages ago and they now provide two different formats of data for DigiTV DVB-T card owners: one has the "sparse" HD info with "Unknowns" in it, and the other has a duplicate of the SD data for the HD channels (ie not one annoying "unknown" to be seen!).

DigiTV users can simply change between the two formats by slightly changing the URL being used by DigiTV to obtain the data from IceTV's servers (ie op=digitv becomes op=digitv2).

It works a treat - as long as you remember when setting timers that sometimes during the day the HD channels are showing the HD loop rather than what the guide is actually saying.

I suppose it is just a matter of them writing the appropriate script to do the same thing for XMLTV data (or whatever format they are producing for the Toppie). "

[Daniel Hall at IceTV]

Yes we do this for DigiTV as part of our agreement with them.

We are investigating something now for other users.

The current thought is that we will add an option (with lots of warnings to say that this is use at your own risk) to choose to have the SD listings copied to the HD channels, this would default to being off and would need to be turned on if you want to use it. To confirm this would entirely be a use at your own risk scenario as we cannot confirm what will be on during the current "unknown" times.

[bosustow]

Hi Daniel

I would be happy for that arrangement...only have myself to blame then, however I only record at night 7,9 & 10 and they all run the shows at night upconverted if the show is not in HD.

[deangelj]

Thanks Daniel - that would be great !   ;D

[deangelj]

Hi Daniel,

anymore news on this - it really makes the HD content pretty useless on a 7000 if this isn't filled out correctly.

cheers,
John

[Daniel Hall at IceTV]

Hi John,

Just to confirm, the HD channels are currently being filled in correctly by only listing the shows that are in HD.

We are still working on the ability to simply copy the listings from the SD channels across.

[bosustow]

Hi Daniel

This would be good if youcould do this.

[madmax]

I'd say it is now essential to do this.

On my HD plasma I have the following channels set up: 21, 20, 30, 70, 90, 12. Nearly all HD channels, as I have no need for the SD channels. And I want to set my PVR up the same way. But how can I with stuff-all EPG data?

As I mentioned in a similar thread over at the Topfield Forum, why not put a * before the title for non-HD content e.g. *Great Outdoors. Then you can just put a disclaimer on your website such as:

"Note: Programs marked with a * are programs on the HD channels which are not promised to be screened by the networks, therefore we in turn are unable to promise the accuracy of this data. If you wish to record such a program, we recommend using the corresponding SD channel to avoid possible disappointment."

I don't see why this is so hard....??

[Daniel Hall at IceTV]

Yes, We are working on getting all show information copied to the HD channels, we do not have a time frame for this though. It also isn't the easiest of tasks as some might think, we need to ensure that it works for all PVR's that use the guide and that it's a selectable option because having a full HD guide is not accurate enough to have as the default option.

[bosustow]

Hi Daniel

Any news on this yet?

As most of us 7000 owners bought the machine to watch the HDchannels (even if a majority of the shows are upconverted) it is still annoying to have to flick back to SD channels to see the EPG line up.