Phillie14586

TV Guide not updating

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Addenda...my Mini's are all running OSX Sierra (10.12.6) along with the identical EyeTV HD boxes. I have tried all of the usual power-down/reboot routines on the Minis and the EyeTV hardware to no avail.

While working on my second Mini EyeTV revival, I will also have a new system to play with. Fed-Ex just brought me a new Mini which has Mojave installed with the new APFS file system, so I'll get to try installing EyeTV from scratch on a new 64 bit Mac and see what happens. I'll report back....:-)

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32 minutes ago, Holden said:

I do have a second Mini that is "no-channels-bricked" like the first, so I will revive it with a back-up restore. On that one I am going to try EYEMISSELGATO's "schedules direct" helper files and see if I can succeed there and then choose xmltv or schedules direct for the successor to TV Guide based on which one meets my needs. But since the "schedules direct" implementation seems much more daunting for non-programmers like me, I'm not convinced I can make that work. If not at least I'll have a workable xmltv solution to set up on all of my Minis. All of this thanks to the many knowledgeable and helpful contributors to this Forum!

You could try exporting the channel list from your first, working mac mini and then import the channel list to the second "bricked" mini. Go to "Channels" on the left column in the eyetv software on the working first mini, then the "service" dropdown on the right bottom, scroll down to the "edit" selection near the bottom. Then you can select your working channels selection (if you never saved the working set, you should do that first.) Select "export," and export the channel set. Get it over to your other mac mini, and repeat the process in that Eyetv software, "importing" the channel set. You shouldn't need to restore the entire computer, just import the channel set. This set should work no matter if you use xmltv or schedules direct in the future for this machine. 

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32 minutes ago, Holden said:

While working on my second Mini EyeTV revival, I will also have a new system to play with. Fed-Ex just brought me a new Mini which has Mojave installed with the new APFS file system, so I'll get to try installing EyeTV from scratch on a new 64 bit Mac and see what happens. I'll report back....:-)

My setup works perfectly on my new Mac Mini 2018 with Mojave as well as a Mac Mini 2014 running High Sierra and a 2011 running High Sierra. I transferred all my files for all apps and documents the 2014 to the 2018, didn't install eyetv from scratch. 

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I am tempted to try the beta software (I still have my EyeTV account).  Before I try however, does anyone know if this software will work with an HDHomeRun box (like other folks with this hardware, I'm running the old 3.6.9 (7520) software).

Thanks,

George

PS: I'm currently using XMLTV - it works great, although there are a few local channels it does not get, so I have to resort to ATSC for those...

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2 hours ago, EYEMISSELGATO said:

My setup works perfectly on my new Mac Mini 2018 with Mojave

How do you like the new mini? I think I read somewhere that they no longer allow the user to install more RAM. It was pretty easy on my old mid-2010.

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10 minutes ago, Earl Noe said:

How do you like the new mini? I think I read somewhere that they no longer allow the user to install more RAM. It was pretty easy on my old mid-2010.

The new mini is great. Very fast, even though it is just the I3 chip. The RAM is actually upgradable on the new mini, so I just went with 8 and will upgrade someday. It is quite an ordeal to update the memory on the new mini, a total dis-assembly is required. But I have done it before on my previous minis with good results. The hard drive is no longer upgradable, so I went with a 1 TB drive. Apple way overcharges for storage, but it is now or never with the storage capacity on the new mini. 

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22 minutes ago, geohough said:

I am tempted to try the beta software (I still have my EyeTV account).  Before I try however, does anyone know if this software will work with an HDHomeRun box (like other folks with this hardware, I'm running the old 3.6.9 (7520) software).

Thanks,

George

PS: I'm currently using XMLTV - it works great, although there are a few local channels it does not get, so I have to resort to ATSC for those...

Others have said it will not work with HDHomerun. Sorry. 

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8 minutes ago, EYEMISSELGATO said:

Others have said it will not work with HDHomerun. Sorry. 

Rats!  I was afraid that might be the case.  Here's hoping they change that in a later beta...

Thanks for getting back to me on this.

G

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EYEMISSELGATO...Do you (or anyone else) have an "experimental" EyeTV setup where you can try things out without risking your utility system?  If so, could you try the following in a terminal window on a version of EyeTV beyond where HDHR has been disabled:

defaults write com.elgato.eyetv "poll for HDHomeRun" 2

If the way they disabled HDHomeRun was (lazily) just by deleting that preference, then putting that preference back might restore it.  Unlikely, but you never know...  I'm afraid to try it myself because I only have the one system and I don't want to risk messing it up.  But it would be great if this worked for the beta.

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11 minutes ago, UnixGuy said:

EYEMISSELGATO...Do you (or anyone else) have an "experimental" EyeTV setup where you can try things out without risking your utility system?  If so, could you try the following in a terminal window on a version of EyeTV beyond where HDHR has been disabled:

defaults write com.elgato.eyetv "poll for HDHomeRun" 2

If the way they disabled HDHomeRun was (lazily) just by deleting that preference, then putting that preference back might restore it.  Unlikely, but you never know...  I'm afraid to try it myself because I only have the one system and I don't want to risk messing it up.  But it would be great if this worked for the beta.

It seems to me someone on one of the EyeTV Forums posted a message they'd received from Angela or someone else at Geniatech that specifically said they no longer support HDHomeRun. The post is within the last 2 months, definitely since the EPG problems started.

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39 minutes ago, UnixGuy said:

EYEMISSELGATO...Do you (or anyone else) have an "experimental" EyeTV setup where you can try things out without risking your utility system?

Do you have a free external drive or partition? You could make a bootable clone of your internal drive and do your experiments on that. If things don't work out, you can just wipe it. This is how I try new software and OS updates. I still haven't adopted High Sierra, but sometimes boot into it on a partition for things like Hulu that work best with it. You can have an installation of EyeTV on external partition share the EyeTV archive on your internal drive, since it's always mounted and available.

Edited by Earl Noe

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Hi Earl...No, I don't have an external drive.  However, I should buy the new Mac Mini in any case, so then I can try out some things with a backup, just in case.

The reason I wonder if there might be some inherent capability to detect HDHR is because of this FAQ entry:

https://www.geniatech.eu/faq/eyetv-3-software-does-not-support-the-hdhomerun-plus/

Note the curious remark:

"If a HDHomeRun Plus is on your network, EyeTV may detect it by mistake, but that is not intended."

How can it "detect something by mistake" if it is not supported by the code?

 

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1 minute ago, UnixGuy said:

How can it "detect something by mistake" if it is not supported by the code?

 

I think your speculation is sound. I have a little trouble imagining Geniatech doing a major overhaul of the software. They will take the easier way, although I'm not sure what their motivation for killing support for the HDHR would be in the first place. As for that hard drive, storage is cheap. One of the nice things about EyeTV is you can save as much content as you want on externals, and I've picked up some inexpensive 3T drives for clones and archived video.

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48 minutes ago, Earl Noe said:

 As for that hard drive, storage is cheap. One of the nice things about EyeTV is you can save as much content as you want on externals, and I've picked up some inexpensive 3T drives for clones and archived video.

^ I don't know how well known it is (it is not in official EyeTV documentation), but you CAN have multiple EyeTV archives. I have for many years after I tried some stuff which the tech people at Elgato liked, back in the day. I have a 2TB internal drive in my 2010 Mac Mini (to be replaced before the next OS, just in case Geniatech is tardy about a 64-bit version). Nowhere near enough for all the EyeTV HD recordings I have, so I have a 3TB external drive to hold the rest. EyeTV only allows one EyeTVArchive folder, BUT just put an alias to the EyeTVArchive folder on the external hard drive INSIDE the EyeTVArchive folder on your computer's internal hard drive and voila, you can record terrabytes more! The external folder is indexed and accessed by EyeTV just as if the recordings on it were in the main Archive folder that EyeTV looks for.

[Notes You have to manually move EyeTV recording files to the external drive if you want to free up space on the internal one; EyeTV will still place new recordings only on your default internal drive. If you eject the external drive, quit and restart EyeTV so it doesn't get confused looking for files that aren't there; after you restart, it will show the missing files but in an abbreviated greyed out they-are-missing format. When you reconnect the external drive, EyeTV won't be able to find the files either; just quit and restart EyeTV after the external drive shows up on your desktop and the files on the external drive will be reindexed and displayed normally.]

Just a tip for folks, this seemed like a good place to get it out there.

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2 minutes ago, WisconsinEric said:

If you eject the external drive, quit and restart EyeTV so it doesn't get confused looking for files that aren't there; after you restart, it will show the missing files but in an abbreviated greyed out they-are-missing format.

I manually copy programs from the Archive and then delete them in the Recordings window. I just store the .eyetv files in a regular folder on the external. Double clicking them causes them to play in the EyeTV copy on whatever partition I'm booted into. As long as the external is mounted, EyeTV seems to have no trouble locating them after stopping and resuming play. If I unmount the external for some reason, I delete the program from EyeTV's recordings menu. Double clicking the file on the external drive will cause it appear in the Recordings window again and resume playing in the copy of EyeTV on the partition I'm booted into. I have found it convenient to make the Archive on my internal the Archive for all the copies of EyeTV on external partitions so I always have access to the recordings stored there and all recordings go there, no matter which copy of EyeTV on which partition is running. It's a nifty program.

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11 hours ago, UnixGuy said:

EYEMISSELGATO...Do you (or anyone else) have an "experimental" EyeTV setup where you can try things out without risking your utility system?  If so, could you try the following in a terminal window on a version of EyeTV beyond where HDHR has been disabled:

Sorry, don't have a setup like that to use to try it. Makes sense to me that they just hid the preference, though, and maybe it can be found. There was an email someone posted from 'Angela implying they were looking into the HDHomerun situation, and whether to offer refunds or perhaps do an update just for HDHomerun users: 

"Thank you for contacting us.

For now, the restoration work is at the testing stage. We will take some actions to support Hdhomerun users or compensate in other ways and will let you know that when it is finished testing. 

Kind regards,

Angela 

Geniatech EyeTV Support Team"

 

 

 

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10 hours ago, Earl Noe said:

 I'm not sure what their motivation for killing support for the HDHR would be in the first place. 

I think their motivation is quite simple.

They want you to put your HDHR in the garbage bin and buy their Netstream, 4C. This problem was already present in the Elgato days when they only supported the Dual-like devices and even sold these under their own name.

Most likely they have tried to get money from Silicon Dust in order to turn support on again. SD refused and is (I'm told) now working to improve their DVR program so that it can live up to the EyeTV standards. Their present program is quitte useless

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43 minutes ago, Ton said:

Most likely they have tried to get money from Silicon Dust in order to turn support on again.

What do you suppose happened with TV Guide? Did they ask for larger fees or just abruptly quit supplying their service to Geniatech as they did to broadcasters a few years back?

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On 2/22/2019 at 4:08 PM, WisconsinEric said:

With more time on my hands than I probably should spend on this (being retired), I decided to preserve the indispensable advice posted here in a single PDF guide (attached). After all, Geniatech could kill this Forum without notice, and I'd hate to lose this information. Sorry, but the "enter your info marked in red" color failed to transfer from NeoOffice to the PDF, but I also used brackets so you'll be able to see it. Please be sure to call any errors to my attention so I can fix them, but I have tested everything and it works.

IMPORTANT: this guide applies just to Macs (I don't know the Windows world), and to using xmltvlistings.com as the North America EPG source (which is what I am doing). Maybe someone will do a similar guide for schedulesdirect.org.

Again, thanks to everyone who has contributed to this Forum! [I'm also posting this on the other Forum thread discussing these issues, specifically on xmltvlistings].

XMLTVListings EPG with EyeTV-Guide.pdf

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Posted just now

  On 2/22/2019 at 4:15 PM, WisconsinEric said:

 

XMLTVListings EPG with EyeTV-Guide.pdf 79.85 kB · 13 downloads

Here is a corrected version of this guide I posted 2/22/19; the error being corrected is clearly marked. Unfortunately there is no way of deleting/editing the original post. Thanks to cpaulPHL for pointing out an omission of one line of code (typo). My sincere apologies to anyone who tore their hair out over this.

XMLTVListings EPG with EyeTV-Guide.pdf

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On 4/1/2019 at 10:02 PM, WisconsinEric said:

^ I don't know how well known it is (it is not in official EyeTV documentation), but you CAN have multiple EyeTV archives. I have for many years after I tried some stuff which the tech people at Elgato liked, back in the day. I have a 2TB internal drive in my 2010 Mac Mini (to be replaced before the next OS, just in case Geniatech is tardy about a 64-bit version). Nowhere near enough for all the EyeTV HD recordings I have, so I have a 3TB external drive to hold the rest. EyeTV only allows one EyeTVArchive folder, BUT just put an alias to the EyeTVArchive folder on the external hard drive INSIDE the EyeTVArchive folder on your computer's internal hard drive and voila, you can record terrabytes more! The external folder is indexed and accessed by EyeTV just as if the recordings on it were in the main Archive folder that EyeTV looks for.

[Notes You have to manually move EyeTV recording files to the external drive if you want to free up space on the internal one; EyeTV will still place new recordings only on your default internal drive. If you eject the external drive, quit and restart EyeTV so it doesn't get confused looking for files that aren't there; after you restart, it will show the missing files but in an abbreviated greyed out they-are-missing format. When you reconnect the external drive, EyeTV won't be able to find the files either; just quit and restart EyeTV after the external drive shows up on your desktop and the files on the external drive will be reindexed and displayed normally.]

Just a tip for folks, this seemed like a good place to get it out there.

Great tip - wish I'd known this earlier.  Worked for me.  My alias name in the internal drive EyeTV Archive folder, and folder name on the external hard drive, are identical, e.g.:

EyeTV Archive

.  Thanks.

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On 3/31/2019 at 12:53 PM, Holden said:

I did successfully receive a pro-rated refund of my TV Guide subscription fee from Geniatech through PayPal and since I was already in process of trying the .xmltv solution, I decided to push through to the end on that before trying EYEMISSELGATO's (and others) 'schedules.direct' fix. But, alas, I found my way to where 'jpmist27' landed and somehow lost EyeTV's EPG channels previously populated by TV Guide when that was still working leaving nothing to work with...grrrrr.

I tried reinstalling a new copy of EyeTV 3.x after removing all EyeTV related files and folders. But during set-up it wouldn't create the channels again because the Set-Up Assistant uses a successful connection to the TV Guide server to do that which isn't happening....double grrr. I am going to try and wipe the Mini's drive and restoring from a Time Machine back-up from mid-January when all was well, but that is going to take awhile

Sorry about that! Seems like you went thru what I did. I also ended up using a Time Machine backup to get it going again, but I'm still convinced the channels list is in a preference file somewhere in the System Library, so I dug into the system and have stored copies of all the EyeTv/ elGato files I could find. There are files in the Application Support folder as well as the Preferences folder in both the System and User libraries. I tried reading the ones I could with TextEdit but couldn't find anything like a channel list. 

Still haven't gotten up the mental energy to go rooting around with the xmltv solution, but frankly, I had been using TitanTV for years before breaking down and shelling out for the TV Guide so it's not a big loss to go back to it. . .

Glad you got yours back up and running and to everyone else, just for insurance, consider backing up those system files. . . 

SS -  2019-04-04 at 4.17.30 PM.jpg

 

 

Edited by jpmist27

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21 minutes ago, jpmist27 said:

I tried reading the ones I could with TextEdit but couldn't find anything like a channel list. 

I find a file Digital Antenna (ATSC) - Channels in Boot Drive > Library>Application Support>EyeTV>Locations

Getinfo says it is a file opened by EyeTV. I can open it with TextWrangler (TextEdit won't open it) and it turns out to be my channels list as a .plist file.

Edited by Earl Noe

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On my EyeTV setup, it is in an .xml file, not a plist file.

Prompt%    cd "/Library/Application Support/EyeTV/Shared"

Prompt%    ls 
ChannelList.xml    EyeTVEPG.db

Prompt%    ls -l
total 269024
-rw-rw-rw-  1 ...           58209 Mar 25 20:27 ChannelList.xml
-rw-rw-rw-  1 ...  137678848 Apr    4 08:47 EyeTVEPG.db

Every time I restart EyeTV (last Mar 25) it seems to update the ChannelList.xml file.

The EyeTVEPG.db file updates when it downloads the new guide.  (Every day at 3am---I don't know why it touches the file at 08:47 PDT  i.e.  3:47 pm GMT.)

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3 minutes ago, UnixGuy said:

On my EyeTV setup, it is in an .xml file, not a plist file.

Here is the start of the file channels.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>TV source type</key>
    <integer>1</integer>
    <key>TV system</key>
    <integer>3</integer>
    <key>TV system variant</key>
    <integer>3</integer>
    <key>channel list</key>
    <array>
It goes on at some length, like this:

<key>EPG Lineup</key>
            <string>20434</string>
            <key>EPG Provider</key>
            <integer>7</integer>
            <key>EPG Provider Channel ID</key>
            <integer>590265122</integer>
            <key>active</key>
            <true/>
            <key>artificial name</key>
            <false/>
            <key>channel name</key>
            <string>CW (KWGN) Denver, CO</string>
            <key>channel number</key>
            <integer>34</integer>
            <key>logical channel number</key>
            <integer>2</integer>
            <key>minor logical channel number</key>
            <integer>1</integer>
            <key>service</key>
            <data>
            AAAAAKAEAzGYCQxoGAAAAwAAAAA=
            </data>

and so on.

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