Newbie confused about EPG possibilities

[George Kildare]

I am a newbie who has no experience of enigma receivers and I'm thinking of purchasing an enigma2 receiver, such as the VUPlus Duo2. My provisional plan would be to get a double tuner for satellite reception (mainly UK FTA channels) together with a cable tuner for Ziggo (the Netherlands cable). It seems to be straightforward to construct favourite lists that combine channels from both.

I am confused about the epg possibilities and their relations to “skins”, if any. I would want to set up a combined 7-day epg for both the Ziggo and UK FTA channels (e.g. Freesat epg), preferably with a “series link” possibility. How easy is it to do this and what plugins or apps would I need? Would the epg apps download from the web or from satellite? Do I understand correctly that the OpenVIX skin is the easiest for working with the UK 7-day epg?

Very many thanks for any help you can give me about this. Sorry if these questions are already answered in other threads or if I should have posted this message elsewhere. Most of the information that I can find about this on the web is a few years old. I am willing to learn, am OK with computers, but am not very conversant with Linux.

[Peterj]

Ziggo is broadcasting his own EPG in the streams. You will get it automatically. IIRC it is 3 days EPG.
There is no external provider for Ziggo EPG.

[cactikid]

presuming user is in that area and not in uk?

[George Kildare]

Very many thanks for the info about Ziggo. Can anyone tell me something about the possibilities for a 7-day UK FTA EPG with series link? What plugins or apps would I need? Would the epg apps download from the web or from satellite? Do I understand correctly that the OpenVIX skin is the easiest for working with the UK 7-day EPG? There is a lot out there about Sky, Sly and Freesat EPGs, but it is quite confusing. Why do people want a Sky EPG for an Enigma receiver without the possibility of Sky working in an Enigma box? What are Rytek and XMLTV? Sorry for my ignorance.

[cactikid]

i just use what works for me if in uk or ireland i use cross epg for 7 day epg off the sat 28.2,also use autoboquetmaker to get correct listings for my area
in bouquets are many favourites to choose from even fta channels,some forums dont like seeing things about sky so talk is about sly=same thing.
epg is very important on these boxes if you want to record 6 days in advance with a timer recording.
Rytek i think is the collection of providers for setting up correct epg and xmltv was one i chose but had problems with it and moved to cross epg now.

[abu baniaz]

See this post by Fat Tony.
http://www.world-of-satellite.com/showthread.php?41526-Weird-EPG-problem&p=321393&viewfull=1#post321393

You can can install the EPG refresh plugin which will automate the zapping.

[twol]

As much as I love Vix image, and I know they (in general) love CrossEPG, I find the simplest , workable setup is via XMLTV.
I select Rytec for (in my case) Germany and UK.... It is fast and happens daily witout problems, compared to my attempted use of CrossEPG.

Regarding the Sky format... It is usually what people and family are used to......:)

[George Kildare]

Very many thanks for all the replies.

Do I understand it correctly that:

1. The autoboquetmaker plugin allows the desired combination of channels/ providers to be selected?

2. There is choice in setting up the UK FTA EPG between using
i. a CrossEPG plugin or
ii. a XMLTV plugin (EPG data from Internet) in which you can select a Rytek option?

3. There is an "EPG refresh" plugin automates the downloading of the EPG data?

4. The references to the Sky/Sly EPG refers to the EPG format that is desired?

5. A "series link" option for recording is part of the EPG plugins (or a separate plugin)?

[Andy_Hazza]

1. Yeah the ViX teams very own ABM is a great channel maker and the beauty of this it mirrors the sly's numbering and everything. I have mine to scan at 3am every morning.

[Andy_Hazza]

2. IMHO crossEPG is the best for your 7 day guide, and this beauty comes with 5. Built in. Add Timers/Auto Timers are the equivalents to Sly's series link, Timers (green button) being one off recordings or Auto Timers (blue button) being series links.