[mythtvnz] Return to NZ

[Steven Ellis]

On Wed, May 21, 2008 8:12 pm, NZ Russ wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> Been a subscriber to the NZ mailing list for about 18 months of the 3 yrs
> I
> was in the US. I am glad to be home in good ol' Auckland - and looking
> forward to being a bit more active in the local Auclkand_Linux and MythvNZ
> community.
>
> I managed to get my mythtv box (with a Skystart II DVB-S) card hooked into
> Freeview with no problems, and am really happy with the results.  (Before
> I
> left the US I also bought a second card, which turned out to be that later
> model that is not supported by Linux - so only have one DVB-S card
> currently
> fitted). Let me just say thanks for all the tips and advice on getting
> setup
> with mythtv in NZ.
>
> I do have one major observation about the differences between my
> experience
> here and the US with Mythtv. Three words: EPG, EPG, EPG.  After having
> been
> a subscriber to the fantastic EPG that SchedulesDirect offer, NOTHING
> beats
> good EPG to rapidly improve the Mythtv experience.  ( I dont recall ever
> having a seen a fault with SchedulesDirect EPG in terms of program names
> changing and you could have real confidence that your Myth box would not
> miss your shows.
>
> When the whole Zap-2-it labs folded and they had to setup
> Schedules-Direct,
> there was much discussion around the source of the EPG. From what I
> gathered
> Schedules Direct get their info from Tribune Media Services for a small
> fee.
> It also seems that the TV companies PAY Tribune Media Services to scrape
> their TV guides and then Tribune SELLS the aggregated data to other
> companies (I guess like TV Guides etc). Anyway, this company makes money
> coming and going.   I guess they have good economies of scale to work as
> well as a large and fragmented TV market.  I have to admit that I haven't
> used any of the webscraping tools or the unofficial feeds. Partly as I'm
> not
> sure where they are (www) or just how reliable they are, but also to ease
> my
> (and your) Internet GB/Month (p2p anyone?. Also it seems to be a constant
> game of cat and mouse with cease and desist letters from what I see on the
> MythtvNZ site - so telling me to 'shove off and use those' might also be
> the
> answer.
>
> It IS great having the EPG off the EIT on Freeview, and while I believe it
> is getting better (it seems thanks to Steve talking with Freeview), I
> think
> it has way to go.  I'm also not sure the EIT stream supports all the info
> that MythTv can accept (anyone?), or even if standard Freeview boxes would
> benefit from good EPG, and I haven't got many ideas on how a suitable long
> term solution could be resolved. But I am willing to do actual work toward
> getting one.
>
> I'd be interested in any ideas and am willing to make some calls if we can
> collectively come up with a robust approach that benefits everyone.
> Perhaps
> Advertising in the EPG Stream? Paying for a XML feed from "TV guide"?   I
> have some good friends in marketing companies that have regular contact
> with
> these companies. Also seems Steve has direct access to TVNZ and
> Freeview...
> nice one!
>
> So is it worth putting in some ideas toward getting better EPG? Or is "the
> collective" happy with what we have?


First up the EPG will be getting better as the PVR units appear later in
the year. They are going to start EIT Actual which provides accurate start
times.

Sadly some of the really good information might be in the MHEG-5 stream
rather than EIT..

Commercial EPG is a non starter. TVNZ want too much money, and Sky won't
provide their data to anyone, no matter what you offer to pay them. A lot
of people in NZ wouldn't be willing to pay a Schedules Direct level of
subscription, and based on my conversations you would need to charge
considerably more than that to break even.

Steve

--------------------------------------------
Steven Ellis - Technical Director
OpenMedia Limited - The Home of myPVR
email   - steven at openmedia.co.nz
website - http://www.openmedia.co.nz