Freeview EPG/Missing Channel Data

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Hi @sa2000 and any other interested participant with the same issue in the UK where Freeview is missing Channels, you can preach the fact that Plex has a number of different “Line-Ups” for Freeview, and a few for Sky, Freesat and Virgin, of which the last 3 are nothing to do with Freeview and should not even be in the Lineup fullstop, unless???

Anway, cut to the chase, Plex Live TV/DVR has been missing channels since quite possibly the beginning of time. I run 3 WinTV DuoHD Tuners on PMS under Ubuntu MATE.
The issue I’ve been having since I began running the Live TV/DVR earliy 2018 is missing channels from the EPG, and it’s getting worse. I’ve put it down to Grapefruit, sorry @ChuckPa, @sixones & @sa2000, this is how Gracenote have become, and I know I am not alone with channels going missing when using the correct “Hand Picked” Line-up which is the “Freeview” one, it did have 207 and 208 in the EPG which are the channels my kids watch when in their rooms, but the last 2-3 weeks they have disapeared, but these channels are still transmitting and my Freeview TV and using VLC on my server PC with one of the tuners both receive them along with the EPG Data over the air.

Here is what my server and player details are -

Server Version#: 1.16.0.1226
Player Version#: 3.100.1

As You can see in Tuners after scanning for the Full UK frequency list, I get 171 channels, but only Tuner 3 can only automatically get most of the channels without manually adding them to Tuners 1 & 2

Tuners
Tuners823×608 115 KB

Tuner1 is the worst hit out the 3 with only a few channels automatically scanned and added, I have had to add the rest to this Tuner each time I’ve deleted the DVR and picked the “Line-Up”

Tuner%201
Tuner%201810×617 67.1 KB

Tuner2 finds and adds a few more on it’s own, but like Tuner 1 I have to manually add the rest…

Tuner2
Tuner2835×598 164 KB

Tuner3 picks all and adds most of the channels that are in the “Hand Picked” Freeview Lineup but channels 207 & 208 along with other that are being transmitted from the Wenvoe Transmitter aren’t even in the Lineup since around 2-3 weeks ago.

Tuner3
Tuner3842×594 164 KB

Here are my logs after the DVR Creation and tune from 15th June, I’m hoping either @sa2000, @sixones or sorry @ChuckPa can finally shed some light on why the UK Freeview has such a bad EPG? I have requested them using the webpage that I was given a while ago, but as I’ve found, requesting channels doesn’t seem to get anywhere, either Plex don’t forward these on to Gracenote, or Gracenote just can’t be bothered!!

Plex Media Server Logs_2019-06-15_22-59-33.zip (5.1 MB)

If needed I can delete the DVR and create a new one, but I will only use the Freeview or Local Over the Air “Hand Picked” Lineups as I said the Sky, Freesat and Virgin Lineups are for Satellite and Cable TV, and I cannot for the life of me work out why these are even in the list in the first place…

I do hope I get a reply from someone, as I was requested to start a new thread for some reason, even though the issue I am having is the same as the other thread in question!!!

Dave

2

I don’t want to muddy the waters, as your post is about an issue specific to you, but I’m having a similar-ish issue.

I’m across the pond in the States and subscribe to cable. Everything was once fine, but after the last EPG outage, I noticed things were amiss when I was finally able to get the guide to update. The lineup I was using lost almost all of its channels and there really isn’t another choice to make, as channels are extremely different from provider to provider.

Some of this may be moot as the EPG provider is apparently changing at the end of the month, but it’s still a rather annoying issue.

I’ve posted about it here:

and here:

3

Hi @Noah0504,
Muddy the waters? not a chance, I did start trying to help others get their issues seen and hopefully fixed, but as you probably read, I got told to create a new thread that I know deep down, won’t get looked at.
It seems this is the Plex way, and I have been told that they know about this issue, and are looking into it??? by looking into it I’m not sure what they mean? but, just to give me something to do while my 6 month old daughter is now in bed, I thought I’d humour myself and post the issue just to see if it actually gets looked at?

Gracenote is terrible, you’re not the only one that has been affected by the EPG issue, along with myself and a couple of others, I am hoping others will now come forward and also put forward their EPG issues and maybe, just maybe???

Maybe I’m dreaming? Who knows, but I know there’s no love lost between myself and one Plex member at the moment, as they just don’t get it, they seem to think it’s a Transcoder issue or some other strange problem, hoping they can stall us till the new “EPG Provider”??? comes online, and this is as mysterious as it sounds, no one knows who this provider is. It seems to top secret, unless it’s just a ploy? sorry for my paranioa, but after the number of setbacks I’ve witnessed on Plex across my devices, I’m allowed to be I think???

Dave

4

Argh! Can’t sleep, so, here’s something I don’t normally do. My apologies to @sa2000 if I’ve given you a hard time, but please do note that it looks like I’m right though, Gracenote are the issue and we’ve just got to wait till the new system has been beta tested?
Right, I’m going to try and get another hour as it’s 0330 in the morning and my daughter has finally dropped to sleep again…

Dave

5

@mw0dcmplex I am looking at your logs today. Please stick to this thread for your channels issues,

6

It may be a little too late, but will see what you make of them. Awaiting new beta version with new EPG to test, but I know that have ashtray found that the UK Freeview EPG has changed a few times, this is hopefully getting looked at and fixed before release…

Dave

7

Sticking to the thread, unless someone needs help, I’ll gladly help. What are the chances of 207 & 208 being added back to the list? Also any other missing channel thanks to Gracenote?

Dave

8

Sounds like a number of different issues here.

For channel 207 / 208, we will need to find out if the frequencies changed - I will need to look at the data mentioned here UK Scanning Issue - Losing Channels - #126 by asjmcguireplex

For the mismatch in number of channels picked = may be this is a usb2 / usb3 issue

I noticed that the 3 DVRs are 2 on USB 3 and 1 on USB 2

USB3

Jun 15, 2019 22:51:17.556 [0x7f6d767fc700] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://127.0.0.1:32600/devices/compound_device093dvb#v4l#/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.1/0000:03:00.0/usb3/3-1/3-1.1/3-1.1:1.0:0014024542/scanners

Jun 15, 2019 22:51:17.630 [0x7f6d767fc700] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://127.0.0.1:32600/devices/compound_device093dvb#v4l#/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.1/0000:03:00.0/usb3/3-1/3-1.2/3-1.2:1.0:0014020406/scanners

USB 2

Jun 15, 2019 22:51:17.697 [0x7f6d767fc700] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://127.0.0.1:32600/devices/compound_device080dvb#v4l#/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb2/2-1/2-1.6/2-1.6:1.0:0014025207/scanners

Will continue tomorrow

9

Hey @sa2000,
It should show 3 WinTV DualHD tuners, not just 2, and as for the new version of the server, thumbs down as we still have the missing channels, so back to square one with everything… Where can we go from here, other than quit Plex and go elsewhere???

Dave

10

I don’t believe the new EPG has been enabled for UK customers yet. What does it say at the bottom of the grid view ? Powered by xxxxx line

11

It doesn’t say anything as I’ve currently disabled LiveTV in disgust… I may go back to it laterr once I’ve got some sanity back at last!! But from what I saw, I had to remove my DVR and re-install it, but each Welsh Lineup had missing channels, and for what it’s worth, why is Sky and Virgin still in the list and BT and Youview when these are pay TV platforms.

Dave

12

It says Powered by Plex, when I use it from London.

13

Yes - it appears that newly created DVRs will use the new guide and Powered by Plex
Existing DVRs are not yet auto migrated for the UK

14

If you have used the new EPG - please see the form that is available to help us fix these anomalies quickly
See Reporting Plex DVR Lineup Inaccuracies

15

This form is useless, we need a better fix from Plex

Almost every channel has an awful cryptic name in the EPG, making it impossible to match
Well over 50% of the episodes in the guide have wrong Season/Episode numbers
Well over 50% of the episodes in the guide only have generic data
Some shows have a Season/Episode but they are wrong

Plex need to fix the issues and not expect users to spend weeks filling out forms

This new EPG is nowhere near ready for use

16

The forms allow us to capture more detailed information about post code / lineup used so that the issue can be investigated and reproduced and looked into.

We are working hard to fix the reported issues.
There is a specific problem with Episode 1 assigned to shows and that is being fixed. Other related issues are being looked into.

Please try and give us specific feedback and try and use the form to summarize the issues

17

Minor issues i would agree and have no problem doing so, but when the majority of the guide is wrong then it’s upto Plex to fix this (some of these issues i filled out froms for in the past with Gracenote and they never got fixed)

As an example, our main broadcster, BBC, the main Channel is BBC One, why has the EPG got this channel as B1T, it’s a similar random selection of letters for all channels, you expect me to fill out forms listing all channels

I have just picked 3 random shows tonight from the first page of the EPG, all of these had a generic discription, you expect me to go through all episodes that are in the guide and fill out a form for them being wrong (10,000+ entries)

This EPG change is being forced on everyone, the least we can expect is decent data

Correct channel names on the EPG end
Correct Season/Episode numbers
Correct descriptions

Is it unrealistic to expect these basics to be correct?

If I bought a DVR from a shop with these issues straight out the box, I would take it back for a refund as not fit for purpose

18

There is a problem where when selecting a lineup, the national lineup is being picked up instead of the local - the data is making Plex Media Server give a higher score to the national. You can override that and select the local OTA lineup. This would explain the cryptic B1T

19

Already set to Local OTA, but what you said makes sense of why the EPG shows London regional news instead of my local one (I am in the North East)

These are the names that need fixing (look at channel 001 & 003 mainly), others are worse further down the EPG

Correct Channel name is shown on the left, some on the right make sense, others just look like random letters

newepgmatching

20

I need the rest of the info (requested in the form) to follow this up

Exact Lineup name - so a bit more of the screenshot (you attached)
Post Code used for setup