SUSE LINUX 9.3

Chapter 14. TV, Video, Radio, and Webcam / 14.4. nxtvepg—The TV Magazine for Your PC
	14.3. Webcams and motv		14.5. Watching Digital Video Broadcasts with xawtv4

14.4. nxtvepg—The TV Magazine for Your PC

From some broadcasters, an EPG signal (Electronic Program Guide) is transmitted along with the video text signal. Easily view this electronic guide using the program nxtvepg. To do this, however, you must have a TV card supported by the bttv driver and be able to receive one of the channels broadcast with an EPG.

With nxtvepg, the broadcasts are sorted according to channel and topic, such as ‘movie’ and ‘sport’, and filtered according to criteria, such as Live, Stereo, or Subtitle. Start the application with ‘Multimedia’+‘Video’+‘nxtvepg’ or at the command line with nxtvepg.

14.4.1. Importing the EPG Database

To set up and update the program database via the EPG signal, set the tuner of your TV card to a station that broadcasts EPG. This can be done using a TV application, such as motv or nxtvepg. Only one application at a time can access the tuner.

If you set an EPG broadcaster in motv, nxtvepg immediately begins importing the current list of TV programs. The progress is displayed.

Figure 14.2. The Electronic TV Magazine nxtvepg

If you have not started a TV application, let nxtvepg search for EPG broadcasters. To do this, use ‘Configure’+‘Provider scan’. ‘Use .xatv’ is activated by default. This indicates that nxtvepg is accessing the broadcasters saved in this file.

	Troubleshooting
If there are problems, check to see if the proper video source has been chosen under ‘TV card input’.

Select from the EPG providers found in ‘Configure’+‘Select Provider’. ‘Configure’+‘Merge Providers’ even creates flexible associations between the various provider databases.

14.4.2. Sorting the Programs

nxtvepg provides a convenient filter function for managing even the most extensive program offerings. Activate a network selection list with ‘Configure’+‘Show networks’. The ‘Filter’ menu offers plenty of filter functions. Right-click the program list to open a special filter menu in which to activate contextual filter functions.

Of particular interest is the ‘Navigate’ menu. This is built directly from the EPG data. It appears in the language provided by the network.