Rick Evarts

Good luck with the Tivo, I had one many many years ago but I ditched them in favor of DirecTV during one of their ebbs amongst may ebbs and flows.  Have have using EyeTV in conjunction with HD box since 2010, and probably have about 36TB of HD movies (+36TB of backups) in EyeTV format, so I guess you could call me a captive audience not willing to switch...

11 hours ago, SWLinPHX said:

23 hours ago, Rick Evarts said:

Not sure how how to seed a cable box with the supported way broken.  You might be able to get something if you were using the HD instead of the Hybrid, but that's too much wiring for me to play with.  What you really need is a prefs file from somebody that got Cox working before Geniatech broke it. 

<< I am using the HD box (not Hybrid).  Did you mean the opposite?

No.  I just meant the only Mac I could easily play with had a Hybrid attached, and the only services it can create are Analog cable and OTA antenna.  I thought it might be possible to use a Mac with a HD box to create a dummy Digital cable service that could have channels manually added to it, but that would be harder for me to test.

23 hours ago, Rick Evarts said:

If you have the right "service", then part of the setup process, knowing you had a Cox cable box, would bring up a dialog to test that the blaster was working.  In my DirecTV case it has IR signals for like 40 different boxes, so it steps through them sending a signal out until you tell it it worked.

<< So even if I get channels imported (manually or thru a borrowed file from another user) and then import the .xmltv file, it still won't let me set up the IR blaster and test it because I wasn't able to select a box thru EyeTV, or is there a place to set up the blaster once I get any guide working?

No and yes.  If you only did something manually you still wouldn't have a Cox service and the IR blaster software wouldn't know what signals to send.  If you borrowed a Cox file from another user, it would have the Cox service info embedded (see next answer), and rerunning the setup would let you test the blaster.

23 hours ago, Rick Evarts said:

I think the bottom line is you can *probably* get xmltv and its guide working OK with what you have in hand, *probably not* get IR blasting working without a working Cox service either by Geniatech fixing their bug or finding somebody to send you their settings.

<< So I have to find someone who has the exact same Cox service in Phoenix set up with any version of EyeTV? 

I don't think you'd need the exact same - my guess is Cox digital cable boxes are the same everywhere and so anybody with EyeTV Cox preferences would work as far as the blaster goes.  If it wasn't Phoenix channels, then you'd have to do some manual fixups to match the Phoenix layout.  I think the EyeTV version doesn't matter - my old Mini seemed to be sharing the same info between 3 and 4.

<< Is it possible to edit the file enough thru a text editor to tweak the lineup to suit me if I have one to work off of?  Can you tell me where this file is located on the Mac (in my home preferences or...?) and maybe send me a copy so I can see what it looks like.

That's an interesting thought.  AFAIK, all the files all live in /Library/Application Support/EyeTV.  You don't need to know that, though, because if you just use EyeTV Reporter to export and import the prefs, you'll get a superset of what's needed in a zip file containing (on my working machine)

ApplicationSupport
 Locations
  DirecTV_H24_-__channels_4_Copy_2.eyetvloc
  DirecTV_H24_-__channels_4_Copy.eyetvloc
  DirecTV_H24_-__channels_4.eyetvloc
  DirecTV_H24_-_Backup_Channels.eyetvloc
  DirecTV_H24_-_Channel_Backup_3.eyetvloc
  DirecTV_H24_-_More_backup_channels.eyetvloc
  DirecTV_H24_-_Untitled_Channel_Set.eyetvloc
  locations.plist
 crashLogs
 EPGFiles
 EyeTV Archive
 EyeTVRecordings
 NetworkTuners
 Others
 sharedPrefsFiles
 sysPrefsFiles
 userPrefsFiles

All of the info about channels etc are in XML files in the Locations subfolder.  (I have a bunch because i resave each time a do a ~100 xmtv mappings, it's *really* tedious and I wouldn't want to lose edits.  DirectTV_H24 is the name of my service.)  You'd have to make a guess what the name of the Cox service is, but I'd hope that's enough to get the IR Blaster setup to ask the right questions.  Spending a few minutes looking at the intertwingled info about channels, though, would definitely motivate me to use the EyeTV GUI (even if it meant manually adding each channel) rather than hacking with a text editor.

I tried dragging some of my files into this post, but the forum software just kept saying Upload Failed over and over.  If you message me your email I can send you the whole zip file if nobody from Phoenix Cox enters the fray,

P.S.  Having typed all this, I guess I should confirm:  when you run the EyeTV setup and get to the account and following screen, do you have any success?  I don't, and haven't for years, but that's where all this info is supposed to come from.

4 hours ago, SWLinPHX said:

Are you using the 2010 EyeTV HD box (specifically made to connect to a cable or satellite box/receiver) too? 

Yes on my "real" installation.  (Bought several off ebay a while back so I'd have spares in case it went belly up.)

Does anyone know where or how I can find and "seed" my channel list -- or add the channels manually at least?

 

I played with this some more by blowing away the prefs on an EyeTV installation on a different Mac (to get past the invalidated key bug).  I did a ATSC channel scan (this computer has a EyeTV Hybrid hitched up, not an HD) just to get some channels seeded.  Did the xmltv.xml drop and it then let me change the service to xmltv and pick from its channels.  It was showing the frequency in khz and my working installation just uses channel # so I don't think it would work with blaster.

How does this "seeding" process work?

Not sure how how to seed a cable box with the supported way broken.  You might be able to get something if you were using the HD instead of the Hybrid, but that's too much wiring for me to play with.  What you really need is a prefs file from somebody that got Cox working before Geniatech broke it.  That's also key to your next question.

Do you have to first "set up" your cable box/satellite receiver and does it not recognize certain ones, even if the broadcast signal is coming thru perfectly?  I don't know if that's yet another issue.

If things were working you could just say you're in 85268 (or whatever) and it would bring up a list of services there - DirecTV, Cox etc.  If you have the right "service", then part of the setup process, knowing you had a Cox cable box, would bring up a dialog to test that the blaster was working.  In my DirecTV case it has IR signals for like 40 different boxes, so it steps through them sending a signal out until you tell it it worked.

So.. I think the bottom line is you can *probably* get xmltv and its guide working OK with what you have in hand, *probably not* get IR blasting working without a working Cox service either by Geniatech fixing their bug or finding somebody to send you their settings.

 

I ran into many of these same problems recently when I upgraded to a new Mac.  I use DirecTV instead of cable, but I’m guessing the problems are the same.  The issue I had and I think you have is before you can set up the IR blaster or the xmlTV stuff you have to seed EyeTV with a channel list.  I think the automated seeding (where you give it a zip code) has been broken for a really long time.  I eventually solved it by using EyeTV Reporter to move the channel list from the old Mac to the new one.

If that hadn’t worked my next step was to try to add channels manually.  I think you can do that, but when I tried to do it on a different computer I ran into the “your key has been invalidated” problem that support seems to ignore all communications about.  I just bought a new license so I could move forward on the computer I wanted working.

 I emphatically agree with everybody who says EyeTV 4 is a huge step backward, from 3 but I no longer have any working computers that are 32-bit.

Maybe there’s somebody in Phoenix using Cox that could send you their channel list.  I have DirecTV Phoenix but I don’t 9think that will help you.

Hi Stefan,

I'm trying to help my brother get an EyeTV Hybrid woking with EyeTV 4 on his M1 Mac Mini running on Mac Montery.  Support hasn't been helpful.  Below is the hardware we're using.  Are you using this generation, or one of the newer (EU only) Geniatech versions?

Thanks in advance, Rick

11 minutes ago, pdhill77 said:

I have a MacBook Pro M1 with EyeTV 4 on it.  I do not like the new program however the program guide works.  My preferred Mac for EyeTV is my old iMac 27 inch running High Sierra and EyeTV3.   I like EyeTV3 so much better and the MacBook isn't always set up since it is portable.  Can I download EyeTV4 to the iMac?  Will it cause problems?  

You need Mojave to run EyeTV 4.  Can your iMac run Mojave?  If so, and you upgrade to it, you can run both versions of EyeTV on your iMac - see previous posts.

16 minutes ago, starliner said:

So EyeTV 4 can be installed and used on a Mac (Mojave) running EyeTV 3 without the two conflicting  -- garbling each other's configuration files, etc. -- and with a default installation?

Yes, I just set up 2 Macs this way.  Once you run the setup, they share everything you’d want.  Just remember to go into the EyeTV 4 installation periodically to update the guide.

On 8/6/2019 at 4:23 PM, Syd said:

I got 7528 working in a 10.14.6 guest os on a 10.14.6 host using parallels. But when trying to run the VM on 10.15, 7528 crashes after startup when playing a channel. 
I couldn’t get virtualbox to work, 7528 loads but no sound and huge lag on a 10.13 guest os on 10.14.6 host. 
love to hear how VMware goes. 

Finally got around to playing with VMWare.  Installed High Sierra under Mohave and everything worked fine except I couldn't log into the EyeTVEPGPremium service.  Don't think that has anything to do with VMWare, though, because it's also happening on another (formerly working) installation.  Maybe they're now enforcing only one active installation login?

I'll have to dig out a spare Mac to install Catalina on, that's probably going to take a while...

I have both Parallels and VMWare, but I’ll start with VMWare because Parallels has gone subscription and I hate subscription!  I also have Virtual Box but when I tried to use it in the past it gave new meaning to hard of use, and it (at least used to) only support Mac OS server.

Downloaded version 7528 and it fixed all the problems I was having with the 7527 beta.  Got a six month extension on the TV Guide replacement.  I'm a happy camper!

I'm already going to have to virtualize High Sierra (or maybe Mohave) under Catalina to support some other 32-bit apps.  Maybe time to see how EyeTV behaves in a virtual machine...

47 minutes ago, essandess said:

I’ve migrated to a new box with fresh install of EyeTV.

Because I am not able to download any channels, the xmltv solution does not appear to work on this new install.

I tried copying over the original /Library/Application Support and /Library/Preferences to get the channel file, but think I’m still missing this.

I’d greatly appreciate any advice or pointers on how to an EyeTV set up with channels so that I can import a Schedules Direct program.

Do you still have the old, working box?  In my case, I went to the old box, picked LIBRARY/Channels on the left hand side.  Then I picked "Service/Edit on the bottom, and it brings up a window titled "Manage Channel Sets".  Pick a Channel Set, and click on "Export...".  Move the created file to the new box and reverse the process, picking "Import..." instead of "Export...".  Worked for me.  YMMV.

26 minutes ago, PickleRick said:

I see that there's a new version (Release Candidate) of EyeTV available.  The notes say that it supports the new guide.  My setup has two HD Homeruns, so I'm stuck on 7520.  The website still says that the guide is "out of stock".  Can anyone on 7520 who still has a subscription check the guide as see if it works again?  If it does, then maybe I can download the new version, subscribe to the guide, then roll back to 7520.    My guess is that the guide will be exclusive to 7524.

I was going to try it, but it's a lower build than the beta I currently have installed (7527).  The description talks about "Update eyetv plus – renew activation / subscription", which I don't think is the same as EyeTVEPGPremium where I'm getting the new guide.  At least it's a completely different button, and when I select United States it says not available in my country yet:

4 hours ago, UnixGuy said:

Did you go to the drop-down menu for each individual channel and select the new guide?  Does the drop-down on each channel show "TV Guide" or something new?  Is "xmltv" still in the list also? 

I did a select all in the Channels list and changed them all to EyeTVEPGPremium - there are 1105 channels! 

TV Guide is gone from the dropdown, replaced by the new one.  xmltv is still there.

I should also have mentioned earlier that I was doing the export/import of the channel list because even though all my zip code's providers show up in the setup window, it never showed the right Service and never downloaded a channel list.

8 hours ago, jpmist27 said:

Nice going, thanks for spending the time. So this computer didn't have a prior EyeTV install, so no EyeTV files in the System? Where I got lost is the "import my channel list part", since I've never done that. Any chance you could manually add the missing channels?

The computer I installed it on did have some older version of EyeTV on it, although I had only ever used it for OTA recording (Olympics!), so it didn’t have my DirecTV channels on it.  I followed the instructions from an earlier post in this chain on how to export a channel list from one EyeTV installation and import it into another.  All the channels do show up in the channel list, but for some reasons not all channels get populated in the guide.

I still have an active TV Guide subscription, so I downloaded the beta mentioned above and tried it on a spare computer.  No trouble logging into EyeTV, and the service now says EyeTVEPGPremium - USA and Canada with the TV Guide expiration date.  After some fiddling around in Setup, I managed to import my channel list from my real EyeTV installation and ran the program guide update.  I saw the grid start filling up and thought "Voila!", but unfortunately it only gets a (random?) subset of the total channels.  Anyway, it looks like they're very close!