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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.