SmartEPGvu+ for Beyonwiz Now Available

[IanL-S]

For those who transitioned from Topfield PVRs and miss SmartEPGtms, Firebird is in the final stages (we hope) porting the SmartEPGvu+ Enigma2 plugin used on European vu+ PVRs to run on Beyonwiz PVRs.

[Paragraph updated 13-04-22] There is a wiki explaining how to use the plugin - three versions, German (de), English (en) and Beyonwiz version (oz) which is still work-in-progress. The wiki can be found here: https://nayal.de/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=oz:start. You can download the latest build of SmartEPG vu+ from the wiki. My extensive testing has not thrown up any major problems. After installing the plugin you must restart the GUI. Sometimes the Beyonwiz menu does not display properly after installation or (possibly) reconfiguring the SmartEPGvu+ settings; restarting the GUI usually corrects the problem, if it does not, rebooting the Beyonwiz fix the problem.

[Paragraph deleted 13-04-22]

[New paragraph 13-04-22] SmartEPGvu+ can use either free-to-air EPG data or IceTV. When a timer is created by SmartEPGvu+ it is added to the Beyonwiz timer as an IceTV timer, and is then managed by IceTV Interactive as a one-off timer. The main advantage of creating series timers via SmartEPGvu+ is that pre- and post- padding can be customised for that series.

[Paragraph updated 13-04-22] I have set up a SmartEPGvu+ area on the oztoppy forum: https://oztoppy.forumchitchat.com/smart ... wiz-897704. FireBird will be monitoring oztoppy forum so that he offer assistance and deal with any bugs.

Ian

[IanL-S]

[This post is superseded]
Alex (FireBird) has put together a build of SmartEPGvu+ which runs without crashing the GUI on Beyonwiz. I have done some limited testing creating series timers for a T2 using the OpenWebif plugin.

The process was much swifter than I anticipated, in part because the plugin was already bilingual, with an version of the GUI in English.

I am currently working on a version of the SmartEPGvu+ wiki that is customised for the Beyonwiz. It is the oz version. So far I have been working through the text, the screenshots will be updated once the text is settled.

Ian

PS you can find the wiki here: https://nayal.de/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=oz:start

[IanL-S]

As noted above, SmartEPGvu+ is now available for the Beyonwiz.

My recollection is that it will also work if you are using the OpenATV image on your Beyonwiz.

Ian

[MrQuade]

This looks to be a mashup of the standard Graphical EPG, Single EPG and Multi-EPG formats rolled into a more design-cohesive package.

Does the genre info get picked up in the normal Aussie FTA EPG data?

[prl]

Does the genre info get picked up in the normal Aussie FTA EPG data?

If its skin uses the standard EventName/Genre converter in the base firmware, it should display the FTA EPG genre correctly, and will display one entry from the list of genres in the IceTV EPG data.

[IanL-S]

Does the genre info get picked up in the normal Aussie FTA EPG data?

Good question - not sure if it does

If its skin uses the standard EventName/Genre converter in the base firmware, it should display the FTA EPG genre correctly, and will display one entry from the list of genres in the IceTV EPG data.

Peter, I will get this clarified by FireBird; not sure if EventName/Genre converter used by the vu+ image is comparable to that in the wizos.

Ian

[IanL-S]

SmartEPGvu+ uses icons to show genre, but unfortunately they are not explained/described in the wiki. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be working as one would expect. Definitely something for me to take up with FireBird.

Ian

[prl]

IceTV genres are almost completely incompatible with the ETSI standard genres. Australian FTA EPG genres are mostly compliant with the ETSI genres, but only a small subset of the ETSI genres are used.

The Beyonwiz base code doesn't support icons for genres.

[IanL-S]

IceTV genres are almost completely incompatible with the ETSI standard genres. Australian FTA EPG genres are mostly compliant with the ETSI genres, but only a small subset of the ETSI genres are used.

The Beyonwiz base code doesn't support icons for genres.

Thanks Peter, this would explain what appears to be going on. However there is appears to be something going on that I do not understand - for some sports programs a SPORT icon is being shown for free-to-air EPG; there is also a SERIES icon that is exhibiting similar behaviour. I will need to discuss this with FireBird.

Ian

[IanL-S]

SmartEPGvu+ does not use genre information provided by either free-to-air or IceTV. FireBird (who has unsucceessfully attempted to register on this forum) advises that:

SmartEPG is using a different approach for the genre icons. First we’ve tried to you use the ETSI based classification transmitted by the channel providers but weren't impressed by the result. Because of that our team member Twilight has created a system that classifies the show based on keywords and the length of the show.

While this creates quite good results over here, it obviously won’t work for other languages. It is currently hard coded but if there’s interest, we can put the keywords into some kind of configuration file for localisation.

Cheers,
Alex

This explains why there are some genre icons appearing; [unexpectedly] there seems to be more success where IceTV EPG is being used.

Ian

[MrQuade]

....
While this creates quite good results over here, it obviously won’t work for other languages. It is currently hard coded but if there’s interest, we can put the keywords into some kind of configuration file for localisation.

This explains why there are some genre icons appearing; [unexpectedly] there seems to be more success where IceTV EPG is being used.

Erk, sounds like something best turned off then. Hard-coded guesswork sounds less than useful.

I see there is an option in the menu called "select genre icons".
Does that actually mean "enable genre icons", or is there actually some additional way to customise the icons?

[IanL-S]

....
While this creates quite good results over here, it obviously won’t work for other languages. It is currently hard coded but if there’s interest, we can put the keywords into some kind of configuration file for localisation.

This explains why there are some genre icons appearing; [unexpectedly] there seems to be more success where IceTV EPG is being used.

Erk, sounds like something best turned off then. Hard-coded guesswork sounds less than useful.

I see there is an option in the menu called "select genre icons".
Does that actually mean "enable genre icons", or is there actually some additional way to customise the icons?

#$@%^^ something went badly wrong and the content of my reply disappeared! Managed to find it by repeatedly pressing the back arrow! It is below....

As I understand it it means select which genre items are to be enabled. You do not get to choose the icon to be used to represent a particular genre. Only one genre classification is shown at a time - in my [very limited (in the sense genre is not something I pay attention to)] experience "series" seems to be give top priority. [If a program is scheduled to be recorded via IceTV, then the IceTV icon appears by default - see comment below.] You can see other genre by using the filter key, which will display for example only movies - called cinema. One of the genre, which I just noticed, is "show" which is not immediately obvious; possibly a mistranslation from German. Odd that there does not appear to be one for comedy - maybe that is what "show" is supposed to be. I cannot recall seeing an incorrect genre being given, which is interesting.

IceTV elaboration: Once SmartEPG has scheduled a recording to take place, management of the recording is taken over by IceTV, and it can be managed remotely using IceTV (for example it can be deleted, added to favourites or changed to a series recording (which may be have complications). [I have also used it to assist in scheduling the same program on another Beyonwiz or one of my Toppys.] The search period used to schedule recordings is customisable; I use the default 3 days. SmartEPG places the IceTV symbol against recordings scheduled by IceTV.

Ian