After using mythtv for years I thought I would post the following to let others know why you want/need to use Shepherd for your guide and NOT the EIT data that transmits over the air. If this does not make sense to you then you will be using the EIT guide and you should check out shepherd. I can't believe how long I put up with EIT data before finally checking this further so hopefully this post encourages ppl to switch.
WHY USE SHEPHERD?
Because the guide the TV stations transmit is not consistant. If you tell mythtv to record only 1 showing of a TV series like 'The Block' the station will at times add LIVE to the title and it wont record and your wife gets angry at mythtv. Using Shepherd and it detects this and renames the shows so they are all called the same and you do not miss out on that live special your wife loves and you get a happier life . Also some shows may add RPT short for repeat in the description and you then get a show that you have already watched recording again. Shepherd fixes this. Countless reasons to switch over including having season and episode numbers actually work when the metadata is fetched.
I went from using EIT to using Shepherd and then back to EIT recently out of interest to see what was different and went straight back to Shepherd. Great project that is working well once you have it setup. Its free and designed to work with mythtv.
My myth backend will power up automatically before a recording, update the guide using shepherd and then the recording takes place, afterwards the box powers down.
I've been using shepherd for years now and found it to be excellent. However I recently stumbled across the following website: http://au.freepg.tv/
I'm not sure if the data is any better (or worse), but if you can download the XMLTV data from a single source, and not have to apply multiple levels of processing to make the data useful (freepg.tv have already done that for you), then it could be a good alternative.
Unfortunately I don't know enough about XMLTV and how it's imported into MythTV to try it, and I don't want to break a currently working set up to test either.
Schedules Direct correct me if I'm wrong charge a yearly fee, Shepherd is free and works great.
I checked out the link Nexzzt posted and it claims on its own website that the data comes from oztivo.net which the Shepherd website mentions this source in its wiki here.. http://svn.whuffy.com/wiki
The wiki mentions some drawbacks to the oztivo data, but that wiki was written 3 years ago to be fair and I have never tried the oztivo source. Interested to hear from others that have.
Yep it cost US $25 per year but that is a small price to pay for good quality legally obtained EPG data
Don't know if it is still true but there was the question of whether Shepherd is legal or not since it scrapes websites, against there TOS, to obtain the data but I guess you can say the same for many of the XMLTV grabbers as well?
There is no law AFAIK currently against doing what Shepherd does. IceTV started selling EPG data and got sued by the stations, but IceTV won the legal battle so the networks will be against Schedules Direct no doubt if they do it as well. Just because the networks dont like it does not make it illegal. This is why Australia has such bad EIT guide data as the networks are actively trying to block PVR use claiming copyright breach if you use the EIT to create XMLTV. I hope Schedules Direct do start offering it as the more choice we have the better as the EIT sucks due to the networks deliberately making it bad so it can not be used for PVR. Is it the same in other countries?
From the Shepherd FAQ...
Is Shepherd legal?
Some of the grabbers used by Shepherd read web sites that say they don't want their data used in PVRs, but that doesn't mean it's illegal. Shepherd doesn't host or distribute data, but rather allows individuals at home to access it via their PVRs. Like a browser, it sends HTTP requests to public websites and formats the result for display in a manner appropriate to the user.
Last edited by skinah on Fri Sep 09, 2016 11:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
There was a similar issue in the UK a few years ago - many programs would have spurious NEW added at the front of the title. There was a MythTV fix to remove this which has been successful.
An enhancement request for your particular situation my be a long term solution.
Phil
Interesting to hear it happens in other countries too, but it sounds like it is far worse here. We get new, live, final, special, premier and heaps more added. Plus we also get tags/symbols thrown in that rate the age group the program is designed for like "MA15+". Because of the huge number of different things they throw in the TITLE alone i would guess this is not going to be a Mythtv fix developers are interested in. If they are interested in putting this into mythtv then let me know as I have a list of common things they do that I can supply in a bug report. Then comes countless other issues with subtitle and description fields. The mythtv wiki covers this pretty well here.
The fix that already works is Shepherd, as what you are suggesting is what it does plus a lot more like filling in subtitle and description fields that the EIT is completely missing or is full of data designed to trip up PVR use.
All our stations now all have on demand / catchup apps, which could make PVR use redundant if the video quality was increased. It would be great to add support to mythtv for these on demand apps, as I am finding I use them more and more instead of using myhtv and to clarify yes these are legal apps the networks run and own.
Skinah wrote:If they are interested in putting this into mythtv then let me know as I have a list of common things they do that I can supply in a bug report.
See #10098. Improvements to the EIT fixups for Australia are welcome. We like patches with unit tests best, but can work from less.
Robfish that does not surprise me as Shepherd is free and really is working well so people like me dont wish to mess with a working setup in order to trial a service which is not free after the 90 day free trial they are offering at the moment. If you are using the EIT then you should try the 90 day trial for schedules direct so you can compare to Shepherd if you wish to change. If not enough people support S.D. then we may loose it as an option as this is why it is currently free. If they dont see enough people using it in Australia then they will cancel the service and they dont wish to have to refund money.
I've had a chance to play around with the XMLTV data from freepg.tv. This isn't a complete test as it's all in VM, with no tuners that I can connect to the VM's to test the actual recording (to confirm the start and end times are correct, although is that actually possible given the way the Aussie free-to-air channels stuff around with the broadcast times?). Anyway, I've been able to import the data into MythTV and look at the listings.
Firstly, the data is in the correct format and imports without issue into MythTV, and it looks to be quite good. The titles and subtitles are all there, and there are descriptions for most time slots. For TV series there appears to be more listings with season and episode numbers when compared to Shepherd. The only data that's missing (that I noticed or use) on some listings is the description, and this is an assumption as what is in the description is a request for donations to oztivo.net.
The process of downloading the data and importing it into MythTV is VERY simple when compared to Shepherd, and very quick. In my "production" environment Shepherd can take an hour or 2 to download and reconcile the data. The script I put together to download the data from freepg.tv and import it into MythTV takes seconds to complete. I guess this might not be a fair comparison as the reconciliation of the guide data has already been done for freepg.tv, where as Shepherd is doing it on-the-fly.
I guess the main drawback for freepg.tv is the reliance on oztivo for the guide data, and from what I've read, the uncertain future of oztivo. I took a look at the Shepherd wiki relating to the oztivo data and the concerns may still be valid as I did pick up one TV show that was in the guide data on my production setup, but was not appearing in the freepg.tv test setup (I searched the XMLTV data directly in case it was a config problem in MythTV, still didn't find it).
skinah wrote:IceTV started selling EPG data and got sued by the stations, but IceTV won the legal battle so the networks will be against Schedules Direct no doubt if they do it as well.
<snipped>
Some of the grabbers used by Shepherd read web sites that say they don't want their data used in PVRs, but that doesn't mean it's illegal. Shepherd doesn't host or distribute data, but rather allows individuals at home to access it via their PVRs.
The problem with grabbers has always been that they need to be maintained to keep up with the TV guide websites changing their layouts (sometimes done just to combat scrapers). This can result in days or weeks where the grabber is broken and your EPG data runs out. A decade ago I realised the best way for me to improve my guide data with consistent titles and repeat flags etc, and avoid regular battles with scrapers and TV guide websites, was to subscribe to IceTV (though it helped that I had a few free months that came with a PVR).
IceTV now have a cheaper subscription just for xmltv users for less than a $1 a week. See my other post here: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2081
. Also some shows may add RPT short for repeat in the description and you then get a show that you have already watched recording again. Shepherd fixes this. Countless reasons to switch over including having season and episode numbers actually work when the metadata is fetched.
