Channels DVR integration

[EkoOne 5]

Out of curiosity I recently installed Channels DVR on my NVIDIA Shield not realizing it was also possible to integrate it with Emby as an additional TV source. I haven't tried to integrate the two but I was wondering what benefit the Channels guide offers (at extra expense) over the Emby guide? I don't have cable and use an antenna for local OTA broadcasts so having both seems redundant, but perhaps I'm missing something.

[daldana 122]

If you are just using OTA, then Channels won't give you anything more than Emby does, guide-wise (in my opinion anyway). Integrating Channels into Emby is best for bringing in TVE sources that Emby doesn't do yet.

[them8os235 47]

On 8/4/2024 at 5:24 PM, EkoOne said:

Out of curiosity I recently installed Channels DVR on my NVIDIA Shield not realizing it was also possible to integrate it with Emby as an additional TV source. I haven't tried to integrate the two but I was wondering what benefit the Channels guide offers (at extra expense) over the Emby guide? I don't have cable and use an antenna for local OTA broadcasts so having both seems redundant, but perhaps I'm missing something.

On 8/5/2024 at 11:36 AM, daldana said:

If you are just using OTA, then Channels won't give you anything more than Emby does, guide-wise (in my opinion anyway). Integrating Channels into Emby is best for bringing in TVE sources that Emby doesn't do yet.

I don't know if there is something I don't know about to address what I'm about to describe, but ...

I find that Channels guide can be updated frequently, every few hours, and it will do it.  Compare that to Emby ... I don't know the exact rule that Emby follows but is seems Emby Guide Data refreshed more frequent than say 20 hours are ignored (the 20hr figure may be a bit different, but empirically it seems the restriction is close to that).  If you set a schedule to frequently request guide data updates from XMLTV sources, those will be updated.  But refreshing of TV sources bound to Emby Guide Data definitely has a daily governor.  I always assumed it's a restriction requested/mandated by the guide data service provider and can live with it since I can get 2 weeks of guide data from Emby, vs the only 6 - 20 hrs for Samsung and Pluto m3u+xmltv channels.

[daldana 122]

@them8os235

You can change the frequency of Emby refreshing guide date by going into the Scheduled Tasks and adding a "Trigger" for a shorter time. Remember to delete the old trigger though 

[them8os235 47]

7 hours ago, daldana said:

@them8os235

You can change the frequency of Emby refreshing guide date by going into the Scheduled Tasks and adding a "Trigger" for a shorter time. Remember to delete the old trigger though 

But have you done that for OTA channels provided by Emby Guide Data?  And you see changes on every update?  I have done this exact thing you describe.  And have done it manually plenty too.  And I have compared it to other TV Guide sources that show new movies or programs about 13.5 - 14 days in the future.  The XMLTV channels from Channels get updated but the OTA channels from my HDHomeRun devices that use "Emby Guide Data" won't show those new shows that are about 13.5 - 14 days in the future, unless the last update was about 20hr or more ago.  

Is this behavior limited to me?  lol

Edited September 29, 2024 by them8os235

[Carlo 4560]

Hi, @them8os235

What is likely happening is that Emby is pulling down new guide data but it's the same as the last time it was pulled.
I don't recall the timing off hand, but the backend provider is likely doing batch updates only 1 or 2 times a day so there is no new content for Emby to update.

Carlo

[them8os235 47]

5 hours ago, Carlo said:

Hi, @them8os235

What is likely happening is that Emby is pulling down new guide data but it's the same as the last time it was pulled.
I don't recall the timing off hand, but the backend provider is likely doing batch updates only 1 or 2 times a day so there is no new content for Emby to update.

Carlo

Thanks.  I'm not so sure that fully explains it tho.  I seem to recall that if I go in and edit the TV Source, make no change but click Save, it can force a TV Guide update.  If memory serves me that "forced" update seemed successful more often than twice a day.   But that had been months ago.  I'd have to do it again at varying hours apart to be sure.  Channels is set to update the guide data every 3 hours.  So I should be able to verify that the OTA guide is indeed updated more frequently as I believed it is, by taking a sampling of a few channels every three+ hours.  

Edited October 1, 2024 by them8os235