Still Freesat EPG update issue when recording

[uglyned]

Hi,

 

The Recording Sevice does not update the Freesat EPG from PIDs 3841 and 3842 when recording from a transponder which carries the EPG service.

 

It does update from these PIDs when watching a channel in DVBViewer, connected to the Recording service.

 

Please could you fix this so that the EPG does update from those PIDs while reocrding?

 

It used to work this way before these updates on 26 September 2010

 

•Add: Based on an idea by Griga added a automatic FreeSat detection. Must be activated in the options.

•Add: Svc Options: Added an option to activate the automatic FreeSat EPG detection.

•Removed: Svc Options: The FreeSat frequencies can't be added to the MHW list anymore.

[Lars_MQ]

There is no differences between watching (streaming) and recording in the Recording service, so I have no clue, what I should fix.

[uglyned]

So is it possible that the DVBViewer itself is updating the EPG and not the recording service at all?

 

All I can say for sure is when DVBViewer is watching live TV from a txp carrying EPG data on 3841 and 3842, EPG updates. When RS is recording from the same transponders, no update.

 

Can you check to see if RS is picking up PIDs 3841 and 3842 at all?

[Lars_MQ]

It's the identical code in the DVBViewer and the Recording service. Did you compare the settings of the DVBViewer and the recordingservice?

[uglyned]

Yeah the settings are pretty simple now.

 

I'll disable all Freesat EPG gathering in the DVBViewer tonight then see if the EPG gets updated at all while recording / watching TV.

 

I'll post you a support.zip too just in case I've done something stupid (wouldn't be the first time).

[uglyned]

OK I stand totally corrected.

 

Just deleted epg.dat from config folder then restarted Recording service - it had no EPG whatsoever, predictably.

 

So I set a recording going from a BBC transponder and EPG data immediately started to appear.

 

So it does work. Really sorry for wasting your time.

[uglyned]

Right .. well ... I knew something was wrong.

 

If no EPG exists already, then the EPG update from PIDs 3841 and 3842 works fine while a recording is happening.

 

If EPG data does exist already, no EPG update takes place when a recording is happening.

 

For instance when I deleted epg.dat yesterday I set a recording going and a full EPG populated.

 

Now, one day on, I set another recording but the additional day's EPG listings that are now available have not been added to the EPG.

[Lars_MQ]

That's not possible. The freesat EPGparser makes no check if there is EPG or not. It runs and tries to add the epg entries it finds. Just like the DVB EIT EPGParser...

[uglyned]

Does it write any EPG activity into a log file anywhere so I can get a better idea what's going on? I've had a look through but couldn't find any.

[uglyned]

Something is going wrong. I had a recording going for 1 hour (the cycle for the EPG is a full delivery every 30 minutes or so) and it picked up no new EPG records.

 

I stopped the recording service, restarted it, resumed the recording and it immediately found EPG records and started updating them.

 

Yesterday I stopped the recording service to delete the epg.dat then restarted it and started a recording - that's when the EPG update started working.

 

Is there some way of logging what's happening with the EPG updates?

 

Attached support.zip

[uglyned]

So it seems like when the RS has been running for a while (or after a resume from sleep - can't tell yet) something happens to stop the EPG updater updating during a recording.

 

Restarting the recording service fixes the problem but is not practical.

[Lars_MQ]

The EPG Parser keeps track of the versionnumbers of the incoming tables. It only processes new table, to keep the processload down. So yeah, if in a cycle all is read and a new cycle brings no new versions, nothing will be read. if you stop and start the reacording it starts all over again.

 

This works all the same for EIT EPG since a long time now, so I doubt there is any problem there, otherwise there would be more than one report.

[uglyned]

But what I'm saying is it just stops collecting EPG data and never starts again until I stop and start the recording service.

 

The recording that was running earlier stopped before a full EPG collection could take place - OK and normal. But then another recording started 10 minutes later - that has been going for nearly 1 hour now and added no new data. Some channels have EPG data for half the day - up to 1pm or 4pm but Freesat data is updated by whole days - always to midnight.

 

If I leave the Recording Service now for 7 days, running normal recordings but never stopping and starting the service, the EPG will run out at 1pm next Thursday and from then there will be no EPG at all.

 

Yet if I stop and start the service, everything will work OK for just 1 recording (it seems) then will all stop again until I restart the service again.

 

I've spent a lot of time troubleshooting this - there is a problem! It's not just normal behaviour.

 

I can give you remote access to my recording service if you want, or run a special debug version - whatever you like - but there really is a problem here.

[uglyned]

It works on some transponders but not others.

 

I stopped RS, deleted epg.dat, started again. No EPG.

 

I set 3 recodings going - one on Channel 4 (10714H), one on BBCHD, one on BBC One HD (both 10847V).

 

No EPG. Apart from the now / next for all channels on those transponders but that comes from somewhere else.

 

Added a recording on BBC2 England (10773H). 500+ EPG records appear, and more, and more. This is strange because EPG is transmitted on the same PIDs on this transponder as on the other 2.

 

Stopped BBC2 recoring. EPG stopped.

 

Ran old Dos program - DVBGuide - which picks up Freesat EPG from a set transponder - I used this before you integrated Freesat EPG into DVBViewer.

 

Had Dos program running on 10847V at the same time as recording service was recording from that transponder (using different hardware). The DVBGuide was finding EPG data on that transponder but RS was not. See screenshots taken a few minutes apart.

 

So it seems like there is a problem on some transponders but it's not that simple - yesterday when I deleted the EPG and started RS, it picked up all the EPG from 10847V no problem.

 

Transedit scan says lots of packets arriving on 10847V PIDs 3841 and 3842 at the same rate (around 40k and 30k respectively) as the other transponders including the BBC2 one.

 

 

I can't test much more myself, but there really is a problem.

[uglyned]

...I put the PC to sleep for 5 mins then woke it up.

 

Now when I record from the 10847V transponder, RS likes it and gathers EPG data. But Channel 4 on 10714H still doesn't work.

 

Oh right now this is getting REALLY weird.

 

Channel 4 (eng) on 10714H - when I record from that channel, no EPG data collected.

Film4 (eng) on 10714H - the same transponder, using the same tuner - EPG data collects fine.

 

Stop the Film 4 Recording, start the Channel 4 recording - no EPG data.

Stop the Channel 4 recording, start the Film4 recording - EPG data collection starts again.

[uglyned]

Me again.

 

Bit more.

 

Behaviour is the same on 10847V.

 

Epg data collects when I record from BBC One HD but it doesn't collect when I record from BBC HD. Earlier I started a recording in BBC HD so no data collected. When I added a recoring on BBC One HD it uses the same transponder so recording service stuck it on the same tuner - no EPG. But when I record BBC One HD on its own tuner - EPG data collects.

 

I'm wondering if it's anything to do with the service name attributed to the PIDs as displayed in Transedit. If the Service name given to the PID matches the service name of the channel I'm recording, then no EPG data collects.

 

I'm just guessing, but that seems to be a bit of a pattern - on the two transponders I mentioned at least.