[jackhulk]

Hello

I noticed that a large number of people are using 'Schedules Direct', but I don't understand the reasons why? I already have EPG available within Kodi/NextPVR, so what are the benefits of Schedules Direct over my existing EPG please?

Thank you

[emveepee]

Depends on the country and your xmltv alternative. 

Ease-of-use

For ease of setup Schedules Direct is trivial to setup with a user id an passport.  Fully integrated with no batch files or scripts.  Reasonable cost $25 year

in v5 several operations are based on a good EPG source.  For a new user who doesn't know much about getting an EPG source SD can save hours of research and frustration

Forum support of the integration in NextPVR and SD data on the SD web site

Data

- excellent details/subtitles.
- has good season/episode
- duplicate prevention is good.
- has new show flag for recording only new shows.
- has visual new plus series/season premier/finale flags
- 2 to 3 weeks of data

Some people use zap2xml which has most of the same data but you have the break your zap2it.com usage terms to use it.  Also it breaks from time to time

Series art & channel icons

- download series poster and landscape art from SD, with art for almost every show.
- download channel icons for all channel.

Martin

[jackhulk]

Thanks Martin. You mentioned this being easy, but my setup couldn't have been any easier as I did precisely nothing to gain the EPG I have currently. I scanned for channels and NextPVR simply obtained the data automatically. The SD website is far from noob friendly and I couldn't even find list or explanation of it benefits, so had to ask here.

How does the data obtained by NextPVR (via my aerial I assume?) differ to that from SD? Would the data I have now not include all those features you mentioned?

I've used TV via Kodi (or rather XBMC way back when) and one thing that was a let down was trying to record series without it incorrectly recording reruns etc, and often it would miss new episodes. Would the data from SD improve on that please?

"Some people use zap2xml which has most of the same data but you have the break your zap2it.com usage terms to use it."

Can you explain this please? It doesn't make any sense to offer a service where users would break the T&C's by using said service? lol

[emveepee]

If you are using OTA guide data in some countries with some tuner it is pretty easy too but I already explained the possible areas.  Note that Kodi v18 doesn't show as much of this data as Kodi v19 and NextPVR v5 provides more too.  If you are happy with what you have now don't worry to much.

NextPVR duplicate prevention and new show detection is great with SD.  I don't think any OTA data includes the new flag.

zap2xml scrapping is not something I wish to get into since zap2xml might not even meet this forum's rule.

Martin

[jackhulk]

Thank you. Yeah I'll see how I get on for now, but I really like the idea of series and episode tags and for example "S11E23" being shown in recordings, which is something I don't have right now.

NextPVR duplicate prevention and new show detection is great with SD.  I don't think any OTA data includes the new flag.

So with OTA not including new show flag, how does it determine to record without that tag? Perhaps it goes on the name only, instead of in additional to the series/episode flags SD would provide? I guess this would be why I had poor results in the past.

[emveepee]

If the guide data doesn't have a new flag all shows are treated as new.  Then the duplicate prevention logic kicks and it isn't bad with some OTA source but only helps if you have previously recorded a show.

Martin

[jackhulk]

If the guide data doesn't have a new flag all shows are treated as new.  Then the duplicate prevention logic kicks and it isn't bad with some OTA source but only helps if you have previously recorded a show.

Martin

Thank you. Ohh there was one more question I forgot to ask please. I read somewhere earlier today (can't find where now!) that SD is good for sporting events. I read that if a sporting event goes over schedule, your recording will be extended appropriately. Is this the case? I assume then that the EPG data is being constantly updated and more so than OTA?

I used to record football and would always dread any possible extra time in cup matches, as if I forgot to set timer appropriately I'd miss the climax! Not sure a bad thing in most instances as my team lost more often than not! haha.

[emveepee]

The schedules direct implementation of sports extending is dead as it is not being supported at their server.   I do have a sports extender addon for NextPVR called NextEnd that works pretty well, but it is mainly used with North American major league sports plus F1 racing.  I did add "soccer" last year but don't think anyone uses it.    Also I can't easily test with EPL because here in Canada that is not carried on cable television  (streaming is killing TV!) and I only get what is on an American Network.

But yes my addon is designed with SD style title and subtitles in mind.   I will test some "soccer" to see if it is working next weekend on EPL and Bundesliga

Assuming you are in the UK and the name is the same in your guide as ours then NextEnd might work.  I would need this format

Title Premier League Soccer
Subtitle Crystal Palace FC vs. Manchester City FC

Bundesliga Soccer
FC Augsburg vs. FC Bayern Munich

If the format is different I can probably tweak it.

Martin

[sub3]

Hello

I noticed that a large number of people are using 'Schedules Direct', but I don't understand the reasons why? I already have EPG available within Kodi/NextPVR, so what are the benefits of Schedules Direct over my existing EPG please?

Thank you

It really depends which country you're in, and where you're getting your TV from.

If you're in the US or Canada, there is only a few hours of TV listings transmitted with digital tv. This is next to useless. For these countries it's pretty much required to use another type of EPG, like SD or XMLTV. SD is easier to setup and more reliable than XMLTV.

In a lot of other countries you'll get a week or so of TV listings directly from the broadcasts, and really don't need to use SD. (SD would still have some advantages around artwork etc, but it wouldn't be worth the extra cost for most users)

[Karellen]

Thanks for the explanations. It was something I wondered about also. Australia broadcasts a 7 day epg and assumed other countries did the same. Had no idea some locations broadcast only a few hours worth which explains the need for SD.

[emveepee]

To close the topic on my SD sports extender it did monitor all the EPL games today so it might work with UK SD.  I probably could get it going with other EPG source if there was enough interest.
 

Code:

    ENGLISH PREMIERE LEAGUE FOOTBALL
    ================================
    Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Aston Villa              Final              
    Newcastle United vs. Chelsea                        Final              
    West Ham United vs. Everton                         Final              
    Burnley vs. Leicester City                          Final              
    Watford vs. Tottenham Hotspur                       Final              
    Southampton vs. Wolverhampton                       Final              
    Norwich City vs. Bournemouth                        Final              
    Manchester City vs. Crystal Palace                  Final