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Hi

Even the newbies section seems advanced to me and so I hope you will bear with me. I think I'm hoping to be pointed to either a setup wizard and / or video tutorial for the latest version. And maybe to an overview of terminology used - there seems to be serious jargon overload.

Maybe there will be a place for a Sticky / pinned details in the Forum


A little background

Very briefly and never on a subscription we had a sky box receiving but not recording channels (box is still somewhere) and at the time we had a dish professionally installed with two cables coming in (which I believe means I can view or record two channels at once)

I have now set up a PC running Windows 7 with a BGT 3620 quad tuner (I don't think its on the approved list for DVBViewer but it seems to be working).

For many months I have used Windows Media Centre (WMC) and have to say I like its interface and it recorded well and with the benefit of Series Record was/is great.

The Problem I have with WMC is that it doesn't seem to pick up many channels successfully - a lot of them are there but never able to pick EPG or even picture therefore making viewing and recording difficult maybe impossible.

I paid for DVBViewer as I was able to view and now record many more channels - Big Plus for DVBV !

Broadly I want to be able to
- view and hear and record the all the Freesat channels There are a few others I'd like to bring in and the satellite choices seems to be Astra 19.2E. Hotbird 13.0E and Astra Eurobird 28.2E, and there are plenty that I and many others will never want to watch.
- To know that epgs and channels update automatically - or at least I'm notified or reminded to run a new scan
- To ideally get the display controls to be rather more like WMC across the various everyday screens - particularly in terms of size of text in things like timeline view - can it all be done from 10 foot away ? (I have seen XBMC and that seems to be similar to one of the views in DVBV - but I haven't yet worked out how to get to that view regularly
- to know which channels and maybe even satellites I can confidently get rid of or hide in things like the channel list/editor and to have all the ones I want appear in all the various views (for instance I can't seem to get Movies 4 Men to appear in some of the views despite it having ticks in all the epg choices in the channel editor).
- understand what's possible and what's not rather better.

By the way the fact that I'm able to view and record any channels at all points to a lot of good work having been done in the automated setup process.

Your help with getting a clear overview and handle on unavoidable jargon so I can make things similar to WMC in look and feel would be much appreciated (at some point I need to address the issue of it "just working" when I introduce it to the rest of the family - my wife especially, she is not a geek and wants simplicity of form and function)

Lastly, I want to get a remote and perhaps a keyboard (this is on a PC after all) - are there any that people are using and recommend for a set up like mine. If it makes any difference the other piece of the jigsaw is a Samsung smart tv 2 years old which has dlna and links via ethernet and powerline to a very very basic home network. I can sort of control the WMC from my android with Unified Remote but the free version at least seems to work only when I reinstall it for each session the paid one may be better and may have better PC control functions.

I apologise for the length of this and look forward to any responses

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DVBViewer can decode the Freesat EPG. Best way to capture it is to set up a Scheduled Task repeating daily which tunes to the EPG channel, which is "Freesat Info" on the 11426 H transponder. Also select this transponder in Options-Siehfern-MHW.

 

Freesat channels are sent from the satellites at the 28.2°E position. To get channels from other satellite positions, you will need either additional LNBs and switches (and a larger dish) or else a motor capable of turning the dish to each position.

 

The On-screen Display (OSD) user interface may not be quite the same as WMC, but you can choose alternative skins. Unlike WMC, the interface can be customised.

 

You can just delete the channels you don't want from the list in Channel Editor.

 

A WMC remote is easiest to obtain and simplest to set up. You can customise the keys in Options. I believe there is an Android remote app, but haven't used it.

 

The Samsung may be capable of receiving streamed output from the Recording Service (RS) - this is an extra application tthat replaces the tuning and recording functions of D-Pro, which then becomes a streaming client of RS, as would your TV, PC or portable device. Functions might vary with TV model, but my B-series Samsung can tune live TV channels from the RS tuners and play back TV recordings. You will need to read the Wiki description for RS set-up and follow the instructions precisely. I found Homeplugs inadequate for streaming HD channels, but newer, high-capacity models might cope.

 

I'm afraid there is no "dummies" guide for this application. The user guide on the web-site is out of date and would confuse users, so the best option is the Wiki - you should read through this and refer to it as you configure. The German version is more complete, so Google Translate can help a lot - I recommend getting an add-on for your browser that will translate each page at a click.. Your secondary guide would be old forum posts - use the Search function (and Translate if necessary). Finally, when you can't find the answer, ask a question here. Please note that attachment of a support file to posts will generally get more specific answers - use the Supporttool.exe application to generate this.

Edited by QBox User
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OK some important stuff first.

 

You'll want to use the recording service. It's separate from DVBViewer, you can download it from the members section. This installs a 'Windows service' - basically something that runs all the time the computer is on. It handles your recordings, updates, and makes sure that when your PC goes to sleep, it wakes up to record the next scheduled recording. It also hosts the 'EPG search' - the closest thing DVBViewer has to series link. You basically set up lots of text searches - say I set one up for Luther, on BBC One HD. That will ensure that every time there's a programme called Luther on BBC One HD, it will be recorded. In some ways better than series link as it will record across different series. Lars also put some clever functionality in there to keep a log of everything that's been recorded, to try and avoid recording the same programme a number of times.

 

Recording service will manage your recordings, and also your tuners. It will 'own' the tuners and make sure that when a recording is due, a tuner is free. You then configure DVBViewer to be a slave of the recording service - you don't allow DVBViewer direct access to the tuners (you don't want recording service and DVBViewer fighting over them), but you point it at the Recording Service, which will either provide a 'virtual tuner' that DVBViewer can use, or say 'oh no sorry, too many recordings going on, you can't watch live TV at the moment'.

 

Another bonus you won't be aware of yet is, unlike Sky and WMC, the Recording Service will record multiple channels on the same transponder. For example, BBC One HD and BBC Two HD are on the same satellite transponder, so recording both of them at the same time will actually only take up one tuner.

 

The other main point - the 10ft skin. They call it the OSD around here. As mague suggested there are a few OSD Skins to choose from. Where as the DVBViewer Windows skin is activated and seem mainly through mouse interaction, the OSD skin is usually seen by using keyboard shortcuts. Try maximising DVBViewer to full screen then pressing the return key. They mini EPG will show up. If you go into the DVBViewer options and input, you can see al the keyboard shortcuts that can bring up OSD screens of timers, recordings, timeline etc. You can then program your remote control to send those key presses into DVBViewer.

 

As a Freesat and Freeview user myself, I ended up doctoring an existing skin to suit my needs - it kind of reflects some of the functionality I was used to with a Sky+ box. I'll zip it up and send it to you when I'm home - PM me with an email address.

 

All this should get you going in the right direction but mague makes other good points too - especially 'read the wiki'!

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