Hello,
Sorry if this has been answered before…I searched the site, but couldn’t find an answer.
I’m looking to see if the EPG data can be shown in a simple grid/timeline format vs using the “discover” interface?
I’m still using MCE, and have attached a screenshot of how I’d like to see the EPG data. Is this possible and I’ve just simply not found the correct setting?
MCE user here too. No I don’t think it will happen. Much requested but no official response all I know it’s Robi in USA may have patients that cover a guide layout used for decades somehow. I think the current layout can be learnt but a list view showing a full guide for everything on a channel would work for me and not infringe on a trademark.
Ian…Here is to hoping!! BTW…it doesn’t have to be exactly like the MCE EPG. Here is a snapshot of how NextPVR shows their EPG data. Again…same type of look/feel.
Just want a simple way to browse channels…seems easy enough. 
MCE user here too. No I don’t think it will happen. Much requested but no official response all I know it’s Robi in USA may have patients that cover a guide layout used for decades somehow.
Rovi’s patent on guide data layout have been invalidated by Netflix.
It would be nice to have a matrix layout of channels. Just about every DVR on the market already does.
+1 for EPG Grid. Or global search in AppleTV 4.
Failure to have a grid layout available will be a deal breaker for lots of customers. It’s a huge problem for us but we’re giving it the “learning curve college effort” before we give up on plex, cause this problem MIGHT be manageable as is, but I’m moving towards the doubting side after every wrestling match with it.
The article linked as evidence of the invalidation of Rovi’s patent on the grid data layout does not mention that specific patent. Rovi has many patents, and Netflix pursued the ones they are interested in, which apparently did not include the grid layout.
As far as NextPVR using the grid view and offering their software at no cost, see this link and response from the New Zealand company (last post):
+1 for grid layout. Not all shows I record fall into “News, Sports, Movies, etc…” categories.
This is the most frustrating part for me so far.
If this is truly hampered by a patent, that is infuriating. I doubt newspapers pay to present TV programming data in a matrix. Patent trolls are the worst. Our patent system is horribly broken.
+1 This is a big deal. Even more so that it can’t be accessed from the Plex Media Center Windows App.
If for some reason you can’t give us a grid view, can you give us enough API surface to make one with plugins?
What about if instead of selecting TV, Movies etc you could select all then the channel number. That would do me. That would be easy to implement and you can’t copyright an agenda view. Plex are trying to do DVR different so I do encourage people to give what they have a chance, tweaking what is there might do the job. Why is a Grid view essential and what other view would do the same thing is what you need to think of. Yeah grid is great for us old people who spent most of our life reading it in paper form, it make sense and our brains are hard wired. I wouldn’t say no to it but I see the benefit of the current views also.
@ian.spencer said:
Why is a Grid view essential and what other view would do the same thing is what you need to think of. Yeah grid is great for us old people who spent most of our life reading it in paper form, it make sense and our brains are hard wired.
No. It’s not just a question of us “old” people who saw it in print - it’s the most efficient way to render the information, just as the pre-Discovery listing of content was the most efficient way to get to your content, but Plex has long since stopped giving a rats’ ass about what users want and decided user-hostile UI is the way to go.
To give you a simple example of what I have to do here to record, let’s say, Meet the Press:
Here’s the same process in MCE:
MCE is 7 steps shorter; 5 shorter if you guessed “show” up front. What if you wanted to record the evening newscast? We watch news with dinner at 7.30-7.45pm, so we want to record, say, the 7pm showing of Newsline. At least we won’t have to play guess the category - it’s correctly marked as News. But good luck figuring out how to record the 7pm recording exactly - because it doesn’t show up. Why? Because Plex’s guide data has six different Newsline shows and you have to find the one that has the 7pm showing. If it was in a grid, I’d just go to the channel, go to the 7pm hour and choose record this show at this time.
To be absolutely clear: the DVR feature is incredibly useful. It’s a potentially a killer feature - if I could get it setup perfectly, I’d put my old HTPC out of its misery and switch to solid-state boxes velcroed to the back of the TVs. Instead, they’ve taken this incredibly useful feature and made it fundamentally unusable because they want to push their user-hostile, time-consuming UI.
@vnangia said:
@ian.spencer said:
To give you a simple example of what I have to do here to record, let’s say, Meet the Press:
- Go to the Program Guide.
- Change from the useless Discovery to another setting. Now you get to play guess the category - is MtP “news” or “show”?
- Let’s guess it’s news.
- Scroll down to M. Look and look and look. Scroll down to P, maybe it’s under “Press, Meet the”.
- Discover in fact it’s not news.
- Change to “Show”
- Scroll down to M.
- Click the poster (making sure not to hit the giant red button in the center of the poster that’s the biggest target).
- Click the record series button.
- Click advanced.
- Choose HD
- Choose the channel (4.1 here in the DC area, one of several different broadcasters).
- Hit record.
I started this tread and I REALLY REALLY REALLY want a grid view, but your 13 step process can be greatly reduced. Just type the name of the show in the search bar at the top…hit enter…the click record (go to advanced if you want to force HD). For me, I have simply removed all the non-HD channels from my available channels, so I don’t have to do that step any more.
Here is a picture of where to enter the name of the show you want to search for.
Another +1 for a grid view.
At the very least, create a Rovi guide plugin that can be enabled with a Rovi subscription on a per user basis. That way people can decide how much the extra convenience is worth to them.
@ian.spencer said:
What about if instead of selecting TV, Movies etc you could select all then the channel number. That would do me. That would be easy to implement and you can’t copyright an agenda view. Plex are trying to do DVR different so I do encourage people to give what they have a chance, tweaking what is there might do the job. **Why is a Grid view essential **and what other view would do the same thing is what you need to think of. Yeah grid is great for us old people who spent most of our life reading it in paper form, it make sense and our brains are hard wired. I wouldn’t say no to it but I see the benefit of the current views also.
I think what is actually essential is the concept of a timeline. And the grid (i.e. a spreadsheet) is essentially the best way to list multiple shows for each hour along a time line.
If you turn the TV on at 6:00p and wonder what might be coming on later tonight, you want an easy way to scroll to the 8/9/10 o’clock time slot and see an entire list that can be quickly scrolled through.
No grid guide Data = No PLEX in the living room!
Another vote here for the grid view. The idea of combining a DVR into Plex is brilliant, but I keep reverting back to the Samsung HDD built into the TV because programmes just aren’t easy enough to find!
@tannerjim said:
I started this tread and I REALLY REALLY REALLY want a grid view, but your 13 step process can be greatly reduced. Just type the name of the show in the search bar at the top…hit enter…the click record (go to advanced if you want to force HD). For me, I have simply removed all the non-HD channels from my available channels, so I don’t have to do that step any more.Here is a picture of where to enter the name of the show you want to search for.
Thanks - that’s useful to know. It solves that one problem with MtP, for instance, but it doesn’t really solve the other issues. Moreover, much as I want to remove the HDs, the truth is that here they’re using a combination of HD and SD channels OTA - mainly in the form of an HD main channel and SD sub-channels - many of which are way more interesting than the main HD channel.
In short, I really also want a grid. 
