Freesat EPG on Dreambox Enigma 2 Pli

Zaphod

The latest PLi Engima 2 image has Freesat EPG functionality. Tune to any of the freesat channels, and it reads the data from the TP to fully populate the EPG after a few minutes.





The native EPG layout in PLi is a little clunky in comparison to Gemini IMO. For example, if you are on a channel, and click info, you get the current programme EPG info. Clicking the right arrow key takes you to the next channel, but that's it - still only now and next.

Can you get something like MultiView for Enigma 2 to get more of a grid type layout for multiple channels?

http://www.pli-images.org/

rlogue

e2_loadepg will read from radiotimes.com and populate the graphical EPG. This means that you actually get much better programme info for the irish channels than on the sky guide. Major drawback is that you have to run the e2_loadepg job on a regular basis but at least the dreambox then has a top quality epg allowing easy recording.

cormacl

The freesat epg support (if it works reliably) will definitely retire my use of e2_loadepg.

e2_loadepg works well, but not for all FTA UK channels I watch. (have it running nightly to grab 7 days of epg for UK services), but the thought of getting more timely data without the CPU stress and enigma restart appeals big time. I realise that the bones of this work was done in the mythtv domain and ported over, but it does again highlight the advantages of the dreamboxes and their flexibility.

Gemini 4.0 for the 7025, 800 & 8000 was just released and includes the freesat EPG support.. so I plan to install it in the next few days and will post some screenshots to this thread, esp the graph-multi-epg view.

yellabelly

cormacl wrote: »

Gemini 4.0 for the 7025, 800 & 8000 was just released and includes the freesat EPG support.. so I plan to install it in the next few days and will post some screenshots to this thread, esp the graph-multi-epg view.

Hopefully a version for the 7000/7020 will come out as the freesat EPG wasn't in the last release 4.6.

Is the 8000 available to buy? I haven't seen it for sale anywhere.

byte

yellabelly wrote: »

Hopefully a version for the 7000/7020 will come out as the freesat EPG wasn't in the last release 4.6.

Is the 8000 available to buy? I haven't seen it for sale anywhere.

It's listed on hm-sat.de for a grand, though they don't seem to have any stock.

cormacl

The dm8000 is indeed available. The supply is slow however and hence the likes of HM-Sat & Sat-Place are showing longer waiting times. However people have ordered it and received it. I've been given WAF approval to get one shortly. The hope is to restore the DVB-T services and get some HD services for the new LCD.

Attached are some screen shots from my 7025 running Gemini 4.0 with the new freesat EPG support. The Skin I'm using is called BeyondDreamsII. The other skin I've typically used is called NemesisGlassLine.. but for some reason, the screen capture cannot capture the OSD of that skin. This new one, looks much nicer IMO.

Also included are two shots from the GraphMulti EPG. You can also see the Irish DTT services in the EPG. These are from the DVB-T tuner I have installed. But I've only been receiving sound for these since the mpeg4 launch from Three Rock. The DM8000 will work with this tuner.

I'm using a UK FTV card, which is becoming obsolete big time.. but I still get Fiver, Five-US & Sky3.. none of which are on the freesat EPG. So technically, there is still some justification to use the e2_loadepg to use the radiotimes XML feeds. Similarly, there would be some FTA services not (yet) part of Freesat and these two may benefit from e2_loadepg.

But I'm going to stick with just the freesat EPG for now and see how things go.

rlogue

I think I will stick with e2_loadepg for the moment as I obviously don't have access to the RTE DTT transmissions for the Irish EPG info. From playing with the Freesat EPG via DVBViewer I can see a full 7 day EPG for the RTE Radio stations so is it possible to run both the Freesat and e2_loadpeg EPGs together?

I'm thinking however of going for the DM 800 - I simply can't spend £900 on a barebone receiver, no matter how good it is. I can then send my extra feed from my Astra 2 dish directly to my HTPC rather than looping it through the Dreambox.

yellabelly

rlogue wrote: »

I think I will stick with e2_loadepg for the moment as I obviously don't have access to the RTE DTT transmissions for the Irish EPG info. From playing with the Freesat EPG via DVBViewer I can see a full 7 day EPG for the RTE Radio stations so is it possible to run both the Freesat and e2_loadpeg EPGs together?

I'm thinking however of going for the DM 800 - I simply can't spend £900 on a barebone receiver, no matter how good it is. I can then send my extra feed from my Astra 2 dish directly to my HTPC rather than looping it through the Dreambox.

After looking at the spec of the 800 I'm wondering what additional features is the 8000 going to have for all the extra money. The 800 doesn't appear to have any CAM slots. If it can PVR to an internal/external disk and can be setup to stream to PCs I think I would be happy enough to upgrade my 7020.

Is there a quick guide to setting up e2_loadepg anywhere?

cormacl

After looking at the spec of the 800 I'm wondering what additional features is the 8000 going to have for all the extra money. The 800 doesn't appear to have any CAM slots. If it can PVR to an internal/external disk and can be setup to stream to PCs I think I would be happy enough to upgrade my 7020.

The dm800 has a card slot only and only one switchable tuner. It can take an internal 2.5" (laptop) SATA drive or feed to an external SATA drive for PVR functionality. The single tuner means that it cannot record two programs simultansously (if they are on different transponders) and it also means that its satellite or terrestrial and not the two at the same time.

The DM8000 has 2 built-in DVB-S2 tuners and expansion slots for 2 more tuners. It has two built-in SATA interfaces... one for a 3.5" hard-drive and one for a DVD drive/writer. It also has an expansion mini-PCI slot for a WIFI module.

It has 4 CI module slots and 2 card slots for CAM usage.

The processor is also more powerful at 400Mhz and tests have shown that it has no problem recording multiple HD broadcasts at the same time while watching recordings etc.

My reason for opting for this model is that I need a DVB-S & DVB-T combination receiver for FTA usage.. UK & German satellite & Irish DTT. And more particularly, I need 2 DVB-S tuners at a minimum to avoid recording conflicts. A single DVB-T tuner added to one of the expansion slots will do for the national 4. As these are on a single transponder, I can record from all 4 simultaneously.. so no need for a 2nd DVB-T tuner.

I actually don't need the DVD option or WIFI as I have a an Ethernet cable by the TV point. Similarly, all the card and CI slots are not required for me.. the only viewing card I use is a Sky FTV card for an ever dying list of extra channels.. Fiver & Five US are the only 2 watchable channels it provides at this stage and we assume they are destined for Freesat at some point.

But what about alternatives.

The cheaper S/T combo receivers with USB interfaces for recording to external drives are slower and more awkward and they are nowhere as flexible as the dreamboxes. The external USB drives remain spinning 24x7. I saw a satellite only version this Christmas in Germany and it was just complete ****e.. what I'd call a poor mans PVR.

You can't easily transfer recording to/from these receivers without removing the external drive between computers.. the dreambox supports network shares, FTP, SSH/SCP etc. The dreambox web interface also allows for remote programming if required.

The Lyngbox is another candidate (cheaper than dm8000 but more expensive than the poor-mans USB PVR). It has 2 built-in tuners, 1 DVB-S2 and 1 DVB-T with an expansion module allowing an extra tuner to be added.. but it doesn't have the same traction as the dreambox and the receiver level software is not opensource for 3rd party add-ons etc. If bets were being placed on which one will still be around in 5 years, the dreambox would win.

So yes, its a grand to spend on a very expensive receiver.. but it will do everything I need of it and also allow me to copy on ripped DVDs, act as a NAS for backup of other computers in the house. The Enigma2 software is well proven at this stage and very stable.

Is there a quick guide to setting up e2_loadepg anywhere?

One exists with the download itself.. see..
http://www.ambrosa.it/e2_loadepg/

yellabelly

Thanks cormacl for the detailed reply. Plenty to think about from your comparison of Dreambox HD receivers. I am suprised other manufacturers haven't come up with a budget Linux HD box to fill the gap. I thought Technosat and the like were providing some competition for DB.

The 8000 does seems to be the top receiver but it is hard to justify the spend. It would happily replace the 3 receivers I currently have stacked up.
If only the 800 had 2 tuners so it could be setup as a combo unit. Most of the other features you could manage without or compromise. e.g. use a wifi adapter on the ethernet port. USB port for card readers

I had a quick look at e2_loadepg but it doesn't look like it will work easily on the 7020. Probably not worth the effort if the freesat EPG is put into the next 7020 Gemini image.

cormacl

yellabelly wrote: »

I had a quick look at e2_loadepg but it doesn't look like it will work easily on the 7020. Probably not worth the effort if the freesat EPG is put into the next 7020 Gemini image.

You're right It won't work given the dependency on python, something the Enigma1-based images do not use.