East/West coast guide the same

[gillmacca01 211]

Not sure if this a bug (haven't seen anyone else report it, so unlikely), User configuration error, Emby Guide data issue, or I don't understand how it works

My IPTV provider has channels covering the USA East & West Coast. Using this as example: FX & FX West 

Checking online tv guides, I have determined that FX is New York & FX West is Los Angeles.

I have added the following guides 

 

I then matched the channels to the guides:

 

 

One the refresh guide has run, I checked both guides to make sure they match what is showing on the channel, but both guides are showing the exactly same programmes at the same time, even though FX West is 3 hrs behind FX (it's almost as if I have used the same guide for both channels)

Example:

FX guide shows Total Gym on now, and that is what the channel is playing

FX West shows Total Gym on now, but that will not be aired for another 3 hrs

 

[Carlo 4560]

That won't work as you choose the same channel for both. Doesn't matter the time zone it was chosen from as it uses UTH/zulu time.

Try Spectrum HD Beverly Hills 90210
 

[Luke 42077]

Just for testing purposes, if you remove both the east coast tuner and guide data source, then how does the west coast guide look in emby?

[gillmacca01 211]

I'm not at home at the moment, but I have a Emby installed on my laptop for test purposes that only use my providers epg. Will add west coast when I get home and report back 

[gillmacca01 211]

I've used exactly the same guide data - Zip Code:90001 Lineup: Directv Los Angeles (Los Angeles) and channel FX West. The rest of the channels are using the provider's EPG. This is run on my laptop

According to the provider EPG, the film Transporter 2 should be playing. When viewing the channel, Transporter 2 is playing. Using Los Angeles listings says Planet of the Apes should be playing.

Checking on my qnap for Directv New York, it is saying that Planet of the Apes and that is what is playing on FX East.

So in conclusion, If I choose Directv New York and Directv Los Angeles, they both show the same EPG (Planet of the Apes 11:30 to 14:00). FX East channel is playing Planet of the apes, but FX West is playing Transporter 2

 

[Carlo 4560]

EPG guide data is written using UTC time.

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It serves as the basis for civil time and time zones globally, ensuring uniformity in timekeeping across different regions. You might have also heard of Zulu time* or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)* both are directly related. 

Couple things to understand for this to make sense.

Daylight Savings Time (DST)
Not observed everywhere but understand it if you live in an area that observes Daylight Saving Time.
On the second Sunday of March clocks are set ahead. At 2 AM clocks are set ahead to 3 AM. 
Daylight saving time (DST) ends on the first Sunday of November each year. At 2 AM clocks are set back to 1 AM.

DST often affects the name of the time zone you're in.  For example, in the Eastern Time Zone (Phila, NY City, Boston, Miami):

• EST (Eastern Standard Time): This is observed during the winter months.
  It is UTC -5.
   
• EDT (Eastern Daylight Time): This is observed during the summer months when Daylight Saving Time is in effect.
  It is UTC -4.

If a TV Show was being broadcast in NY City on 3/9/2025 at 8 PM  would have a UTC start time of 12 AM UTC on March 10th, 2025. (8 PM + 4 hours = 12 AM UTC the next day).

Anyone living in the Eastern Time Zone would currently be using Eastern Daylight Time which is UTC -4, meaning subtract 4 hours from UTC to get the local time. If you subtract 4 hours from 12 AM UTC on March 10th, 2025 you would have 8 PM on March 9th, 2025.

A person in Los Angeles referencing this same channel in the guide would see the program start time as 5 PM on March 9th, 2025. LA would be using PDT (Pacific Daylight Time) which is UTC -7.

What's important to understand is that it would not matter if you loaded the HBO eastern feed from a source in Philadelphia or from San Francisco as it's exactly the same written in UTC time. The HBO Western or Pacific feed is actually delayed 3 hours and so is the guide!!!

The fact the broadcast has a real 3 hour delay between east and west feeds is what trips up everyone trying to load the same channel using a different zip as it won't work.  You either need a guide source with the 3 hour delay incorporated, or you need a way to say "here use this guide source but add (or remove) 3 hours from my local UTC offset when doing time calculations for this channel.

 

* Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, serving as the world's time standard before being replaced by Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in 1972.
* "Zulu time" is a term used in various fields, such as aviation and the military, to refer to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). For example, "14:45:15Z" represents 14 hours, 45 minutes, and 15 seconds UTC.

[gillmacca01 211]

I think i understand what you are saying, but Luke requested the info based on what i posted in another topic

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/44627-emby-server-epg-time-shift/page/2/#comment-1428335

[Carlo 4560]

Got ya.

What Luke asked won't work if it's the same feed.

[Luke 42077]

9 hours ago, gillmacca01 said:

I've used exactly the same guide data - Zip Code:90001 Lineup: Directv Los Angeles (Los Angeles) and channel FX West. The rest of the channels are using the provider's EPG. This is run on my laptop

According to the provider EPG, the film Transporter 2 should be playing. When viewing the channel, Transporter 2 is playing. Using Los Angeles listings says Planet of the Apes should be playing.

Checking on my qnap for Directv New York, it is saying that Planet of the Apes and that is what is playing on FX East.

So in conclusion, If I choose Directv New York and Directv Los Angeles, they both show the same EPG (Planet of the Apes 11:30 to 14:00). FX East channel is playing Planet of the apes, but FX West is playing Transporter 2

 

In this case the EPG is incorrect so I think this is where the offset option belongs. There could still be an override on a channel, but I think as a starting point it feels most natural to put the option at the source of where the problem actually is.

If you import an EPG that is off by say, 4 hours, I don't think it would be obvious or self-explanatory that you would have to go back to the tuner setup to configure an offset to fix that.