PromaSoft EPGcenter
  EPG Software for Windows

EPGcenter Help (1.1.200)

*This help file is due for an update. Things might look very different on the latest release. Help is also one click away

Beginners help topics

EPGcenter Help

Advanced help topics

Using EPGcenter with the MV plugin on a Dreambox
Using EPGcenter with the MV plugin on a Dreambox (Detailed)
Using EPGcenter with MediaPortal
Using EPGcenter with GB-PVR (GBPVR)
Using EPGcenter with TVxb
Using EPGcenter with XMLTV
Using EPGcenter for North American Channels
Video Streaming for the Dreambox

 

* EPGcenter can work on its own and does not need any of above devices or applications
* Other media center software capable of reading XMLTV data can of course also use EPGcenter

Quick start guides

The XMLTV Organizer Input location

 

The EPG tab gives an overview of all your TV channels in a tree view. To view the shows for a certain channel simply click on the channel name in the tree view. The shows pane will list all shows of the selected channel.

The first entry of the shows pane will have a light green bar indicating how long the show has been playing.

Right clicking on the channel name will present you with a number of options

• Manage channel: with this you can rename your channel
• Move Up: to move the channel up. Pressing Shift-Up arrow on your keyboard has the same effect
• Move Down: to move the channel down. Pressing Shift-Down arrow on your keyboard has the same effect
• Hide Channel: use this to hide a channel. For instance if you can't receive the channel on your TV set anyway. Later you can still "Unhide" the channel if needed (see channels tab)

Right clicking on one of the shows will present you with following options (note that you need to make sure the show is selected first (red color))

• Add to favorites: this will add the currently selected show to your favorites list. A popup will allow you to change the favorite details if needed.
  • Title: whatever is typed in this field has to be present in the title of the show
  • Channel: whatever is typed here has to be present in the channel's name
  • Only when the program starts between: select this if you want to make sure that a show is only marked as a favorite if it plays within a certain time range (e.g. shows playing reruns several times a day)
  • Display warning on screen: if one of the currently playing shows matches all above fields a warning will be displayed on the screen of your PC
• Remove favorite: this will remove a defined favorite. Note that this not allways works if you have altered the favorite details.

The presets section

Selecting "Favorites" in the channels tree will show you all shows that match any of your defined favorites.

Selecting "Now Playing" in the channels tree will show you a list of all shows currently airing.

The EPG favorites tab allows you to manage all your defined favorites.

Right clicking on a selected favorite presents you with following options:

• Add Favorite: use this to manually add a new favorite
• Edit: use this to edit the favorite
• Delete: use this to delete the favorite

The Channels tab allows you to manage renames or hidden channels.

Right clicking on a selected channel (or the empty grid) will present you with following options:

• Clear Channel mapping: this will remove the renamed channel reverting it to its original name.
• Hide Channel: this will hide the currently selected channel from the tree view. Note that hidden channels are not removed and can be unhidden later.
• Unhide Channel: this will unhide a previously hidden channel.

The input tab allows you to specify where EPGcenter needs to get its EPG information. Out of the box EPGcenter already has one defined HTTP location.

Note: Important to know is that EPGcenter will deal with the location starting with the ones on top. This is usefull for integration with for instance XMLTV.EXE. To move the order of an input location, select it and press shift-up or shift-down.

Note: You can have as many input locations active as you want. All channels of active input locations will be imported and shown.

Right clicking on a selected input location or the empty grid will provide you with following options:

• Add new location: use this to add a new input location
• Delete: use this to delete the currently selected input location
• Edit: use this to edit the currently selected input location
• Activate: use this to activate the currently selected input location. Activated input locations will be used by EPGcenter.
• Deactivate: use this to deactivate the currently selected input location. Deactivated input locations will NOT be read by EPGcenter

Location types

Currently two types of input are possible:

• XMLTV File: if you have setup an external EPG grabber application like XMLTV you can instruct EPGcenter to read the XMLTV files generated by this application. All you need to do is to specify the location of the files. Important to know is that you can use wildcards. For instance "C:\XMLTV\*.XMLTV" will read all files with the extension XMLTV in the C:\XMLTV directory.
  
  
• HTTP: the easiest way to get EPG data is to use a source on the internet. EPGcenter already has one HTTP location defined as example. Also note that you can use wildcard in the url. For instance http://wolf.xs4all.nl/xmltv/*.XML will retrieve all files with the XML extension from the webserver.
  
  
• BATCH: this input type is used to launch an external application that for instance grabs EPG data and exports it to an XMLTV file. A subsequent input location can be defined then to import the generated XMLTV in EPGcenter.
  
  
• Sky Bleb: this input type is great when you want to load UK channels and/or Sky channels. After you have selected this input type you can click on the "Show/Select" channels button which will then present you with a list of all avaible channels.
  
  
• XMLTV Organizer: This input type actually is a graphical user interface on top of the XMLTV.EXE application. To have this option available you need to install the XMLTV Integration Package (takes 10 seconds). Using this input type you will have a choice of over 400 channels from UK, Italy, Sky, Spain, Netherlands, Danmark, Finland, Hungary, Romania, etc ...

• TVxb: This input type actually is a graphical user interface on top of the TVxb application. To have this option available you need to install the TVxb package (download). Using this input type you will have a choice of over most Europen, Asian and Australian channels.

Note that EPGcenter will cache files downloaded from an HTTP location to not overload the webserver. If for some reason you want to re-download all files again you can clear the cache manually.

The input locations grid also shows you if an input location has been downloaded correctly and when.

For your own ease of mind, EPCcenter will log everything it does in the log window. This way you exactly know what is happening and what might go wrong. If you desire so you can also let EPGcenter write the log to a file automatically.

On this tab you can set following options:

• Start with windows: select this options if you want EPGcenter to start when Windows is started.
  
  
• Start minimized: select this option if you want EPGcenter to start minimized. Note that EPGcenter will always be visible in the windows system tray
  
  
• Auto load EPG data at startup: select this option if you want EPGcenter to automatically download the newest EPG data when started. Note that EPGcenter will only start doing this when it finds that the current EPG data is outdated.
  
  
• Load EPG data at: this will enable you to instruct EPGcenter to automatically download EPG data at a certain time of day. This will make sure that EPGcenter always has the most current EPG data
  
  
• Language: Use this to select the interface language. Currently English and Dutch are supported.
  
  
• Close to system tray: Will make sure that EPGcenter is not stopped when you click the close 'X' button on the form.
  
  
• Hide when minimized: Will hide EPGcenter when minimized.
  
  
• Write Log to file: Will automatically write the log entries to a file called EPGcenter.log
  
  
• Perform FTP transfer after update: When this option is active, EPGcenter will automatically upload the EPG data (in XMLTV format) to the specified FTP location. This is usefull for instance to provide your EPG online or to upload the EPG to the DreamBox Satellite receiver.
  
  
• FTP Account/Password/Server: The FTP server account details if above option is active.
  
  
• FTP Destination: this is the destination where the EPG data XMLTV file will be uploaded. You can speicify a directory but also an exact filename (e.g. /var/tuxbox/config/mv/epgcenter/EPG.XMLTV)

Following actions can be taken throught the menu

• File/Refresh View (F5): use this to manually refresh the shows view
  
  
• File/Reload EPG (F6): use this to force a reload of all EPG data
  
  
• File/FTP Transfer (F7): will upload your currently visible EPG data to the specified FTP server without reloading the EPG data
  
  
• File/Clear Cache: use this to manually clear the cache. The next time
  EPCcenter downloads EPG data from an HTTP location it will redownload all the files.
  
  
• File/Print: use this to print your EPG on paper
  
  
• File/Backup: This will create a backup of your current EPG data and configuration to a file in the BACKUP sub directory.
  
  
• File/Factory Reset: use this to reset all settings. Note that you will loose all your defined channels too.
  
  
• Edit/Add Input Location: will add a new input location. Note that this also can be done by right-clicking on the input locations grid.
  
  
• Edit/Add Favorite: will add a new favorite. Note that this also can be done by right-clicking on the favorites grid.
  
  
• Help/Register: use this to enter your registration codes
  
  
• Help/Help: will show this web page
  
  
• Help/Input Locations: will open the web page with currently known HTTP input locations

After clicking on the Print tab, an EPG will be generated which can be printed. Currently you can choose to report all programms or only programs marked as favorite. You can also enter a date range for the report. To print the EPG select File/Print