EPG Upgrades

[Mano9423]

For the past week or so I have been testing an upgrade to the EPG in my Formuler Z7+. This "Beta" test is something they have been working on and we've been authorized to post some of the results.

As anyone who has one of these boxes, and the Dreamlink versions of them, knows, the EPG can be painfully slow to load with some (most) services. To combat this, the developers have been working on a way to have the EPG load in the background so that it was no longer necessary to scroll through the entire guide to populate the EPG fully.

They have succeeded in this.

As tested, the current version of MyTVOnline (DOL2 for you Dreamlinkers), will load the entire EPG in the background while you watch TV. It takes roughly 3-4 minutes for most providers, although the official statement is to allow 10-15 minutes for full population. There is currently no way to track the progress of the EPG or to force it to load other than on initial startup. Some of the issues that are being worked on are the loss of data when exiting MTVOL, they hope to be able to cache the EPG so that its still populated when reloading the portal. Also, there is an issue where the EPG does not seem to reload after several hours of consistent watching. It loads an initial pull, but never seems to pull the info again. With some providers that is a problem as only several hours of info is pulled at a time, so watching for the whole day can leave gaps as the day goes on.

This is very exciting for those of us that have had these boxes for a long time! It shows once again that the support they give these boxes is incredible! They just keep improving! The official release is scheduled for sometime in late March along with some other upgrades. Hopefully by then they have worked out all the bugs! Even if they don't, the current Beta version is a giant improvement over the previous way of loading the EPG. :cool:

[jropps]

@ Mano9423:

Cool !! Thanks for the update. I kinda already have a T2 (loaned it recently to a family member, not sure if I'm ever gonna get it back!), but I have been thinking about getting a Formuler z7+ to add to my collection. EPG issues are what kept me from getting my T2 until a couple of weeks ago (before I so foolishly loaned it out), but updates like this are what make my decision to consider getting a z7+ easier and easier.:) Thanks again for the info!!

[85146]

Great update thank you. While having the data load in the background is certainly a step forward are you able to comment if there are any indications that 5he update will give users an option to customize where the data comes from and adjust the guide time offset? Having the data load better is an advancement but only if the data is good data (currently no UK info) and is off by 2 hrs.
Appreciate any insight as to the progress of this beta. It sounds like good stuff coming from the DL team!

[Mano9423]

Great update thank you. While having the data load in the background is certainly a step forward are you able to comment if there are any indications that 5he update will give users an option to customize where the data comes from and adjust the guide time offset? Having the data load better is an advancement but only if the data is good data (currently no UK info) and is off by 2 hrs.
Appreciate any insight as to the progress of this beta. It sounds like good stuff coming from the DL team!

Your issues with missing info in the UK section and the time offset being off are likely a provider issue, not an issue with the box. Every service is different when it comes to how much EPG info they provide. There are plans in the works for the ability to use m3u lists within the DOL2/MTVOL softwares. While that likely won't alter what sources you can pull the EPG from, it should make it easier to load the EPG overall and hopefully speed up the process.

[MrPat]

The million dollar question, When will it be released.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

The million dollar question, When will it be released.
He said late March

[crazy carl]

For the past week or so I have been testing an upgrade to the EPG in my Formuler Z7+. This "Beta" test is something they have been working on and we've been authorized to post some of the results.

As anyone who has one of these boxes, and the Dreamlink versions of them, knows, the EPG can be painfully slow to load with some (most) services. To combat this, the developers have been working on a way to have the EPG load in the background so that it was no longer necessary to scroll through the entire guide to populate the EPG fully.

They have succeeded in this.

As tested, the current version of MyTVOnline (DOL2 for you Dreamlinkers), will load the entire EPG in the background while you watch TV. It takes roughly 3-4 minutes for most providers, although the official statement is to allow 10-15 minutes for full population. There is currently no way to track the progress of the EPG or to force it to load other than on initial startup. Some of the issues that are being worked on are the loss of data when exiting MTVOL, they hope to be able to cache the EPG so that its still populated when reloading the portal. Also, there is an issue where the EPG does not seem to reload after several hours of consistent watching. It loads an initial pull, but never seems to pull the info again. With some providers that is a problem as only several hours of info is pulled at a time, so watching for the whole day can leave gaps as the day goes on.

This is very exciting for those of us that have had these boxes for a long time! It shows once again that the support they give these boxes is incredible! They just keep improving! The official release is scheduled for sometime in late March along with some other upgrades. Hopefully by then they have worked out all the bugs! Even if they don't, the current Beta version is a giant improvement over the previous way of loading the EPG. :cool:

This is a interesting concept to implement, I wouldn’t be impartial to firing up dol and even pressing a download epg button and letting it sit for 10-15 mins if it means scheduled recorder works and the epg stays populated for as long as the application is running

[85146]

Your issues with missing info in the UK section and the time offset being off are likely a provider issue, not an issue with the box. Every service is different when it comes to how much EPG info they provide. There are plans in the works for the ability to use m3u lists within the DOL2/MTVOL softwares. While that likely won't alter what sources you can pull the EPG from, it should make it easier to load the EPG overall and hopefully speed up the process.
Thx, I understand how the data comes from the server that is why it would be nice to have the option to use an xml file from another source either local or by url. I hope they reconsider. I really cant believe this would be a big effort to incorporate particularly when an app like Perfect Player can do this, which btw loads the entire guide in less than a minute, not 10-15 as being contemplated here. The DLite being made explicitly for IPTV should for sure have this as an option.
Thx again for testing for us.

[Mano9423]

Thx, I understand how the data comes from the server that is why it would be nice to have the option to use an xml file from another source either local or by url. I hope they reconsider. I really cant believe this would be a big effort to incorporate particularly when an app like Perfect Player can do this, which btw loads the entire guide in less than a minute, not 10-15 as being contemplated here. The DLite being made explicitly for IPTV should for sure have this as an option.
Thx again for testing for us.

Its funny to me whenever I read the phrase "I can't believe this would be difficult to do" or the like. I think its far more difficult than most people think to do any of the things that they are doing!

Anyways, you may very well get your wish at some point. Like I said, they are looking at implementing m3u compatibility within the software which, by extension, should make it compatible with xml files I would think.

And also, like I said, while the developers told us all to expect between 10-15 minutes for the EPG to load, my experience is that its a MUCH shorter time. Somewhere between 2-4 minutes depending on the service.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Hang in there guys, a better EPG is coming soon. As Mano said,Beta testing has been underway for awhile. Just be patient a couple more weeks.
Thanks, CK

[p5yc0n]

the epg load thing did take a long time to find a viable soluion.. there is a lot more to it than simply "make epg load faster"
the reason its slow is a limitation of the stalker API. it basically grabs epg data one channel at a time.
they once said ok, make it grab alll channels .. that quickly triggered anti-ddos on some providers and caused users boxes to get blocked.. that would have been a nightmare

so they made it do the same thing, but much slower, mimicking the speed an actual user would go from what i can see.. this needed to be tested extensively not because the client cant handle it, but to ensure users would be blocked by their provider. they have also been adding a lot of improvements as well at the same time.. they know you all want fast epg, but they were smart not t just throw out untested product that potentially could have caused a lot more issues than it solved by releasing prematurely. stability and reliability is their priority..