German charset for EPG

Hello,

I'm using the latest version of ProgDVB (v 5.07.04) [but I also had the same Problem in v 4.84.4], Windows XP (all ServicePacks/Updates installed),
with a Pinnacle PC-TVSat.

From one version to another the EPG did not display correct characters any more. If I switch to a german station I only see little squares and sometimes brackets so it looks like this: □□□□} etc.

I tried all language options but nothing helped.
The funny thing: If I switch to a spanish station the correct content is displayed without any errors although the spanish charset only contains very few differences to the german one.

Can anyone help ?

Try to change the video renderer (Audio/Video settings) Direkt Show...

regards MaBoben

it's also wrong on the status-bar and anywhere else.
It's a problem with ProgDVB itself and not with the Codec or the video renderer. I'm not the only one who has that problem but I could only find out that it has to do with the german language. Maybe it is also linked to the Pinnacle PTCTV Sat-Card. Any other ideas ?

Thanks a lot for your efforts anyway !

If I switch to a german station I only see little squares and sometimes brackets so it looks like this: □□□□} etc.

I confirm this problem now, in full

EPG capture is completely useless on all german stations, on all birds I can get (19.2°E, 13°E, 28.5°E, 30°W), but works normal on non-german stations.

Was and still is OK on earlier versions of ProgDVB up to 4.48.x (though I was using an even older EPG module for a long time).
On unicode versions I've had some success on mky favourite (german) Win98SE, with a lot of patches. But as I had to do a complete re-install recently, for technical reasons, I cannot recall each and every patch I've made over all the years...

On Win2000 Sp4 it's completely the same, unicode versions and as well the w9x varieties.

Oh, yes, my Win98SE has also learned unicode already, but his happens with or without the system patch or the two unicows.dll in ProgDVB folders.

Tried drivers from TT 2.17, 2.19 and 2.19h for my Nexus2.2.
Even tried all possible combinations of settings, including the networking device, no changes.


Up to this point, I thought, this might have been a matter of my hardware, even on both of my computers, BUT...

- this never happened on any other DVB software I have, and there's quite a bunch of them...

- now I've got an MSI Digivox Mini II (DVB-T BDA 9206 device), which shows exactly the same behaviour on ProgDVB (separate fresh installation on Win2000 Sp4), also on two different machines, a P3 800EB on i440BX / ASUS CUBX-E and a Duron2000+ on SIS 740 chipset.

So it's neither my computer hardware, nor my OS, nor my DVB hardware, or soft- or hardware mode....

Looking precisely at the characters shown, there's no relation detectable in any way, between normal capture and that bad one.
Seems, ProgDVB tries the wrong stream or has some timing trouble.

Something must be different on german stations, and that's NOT the char set. Else we would find wrong letters, but could still guess about the content.
But here we have just a few bytes most times, and they are all the same combinations of rectangles, vertical lines (|], question marks and a few special characters, that aren't existing in german charsets.

No 3rd party stuff involved, no language file, no plugin, no whatsoever...
And this does NOT depend on the root file, at all.
Tested with several originals and properly patched ones as well.

That's really weird..,..
I've run out of ideas.

Any true genius around

I'm not alone.

Sometimes I could see complete registry hives instead of a usfull EPG.
Looks like

\PCIDevices\VEN_10DE&DEV_0068&SUBSYS_0C111043&REV_A4

for example and it's definately a registry key related to a certain device I get displayed ... but this only happens occasionally. Most of the time I see the squares and wired things.

I also agree, that the EPG works fine e.g. on Spanish chans.

Any Ideas ?

That ID string part points to a USB controller, if google is correct.

So, what DVB device do you have?
OS, driver, relevant hardware etc. pp. ...

Details rule, if we want to try and find out anything...

No ... sorry: This was just exemplary, because I can't copy this string to clipboard I just looked up a similar looking Key in the registry.

I use a Pinnacle PCTVSat, but I suppose the reg key shown points to the PCTVSat card. I'll try to note it down when I receive it the next time !

Now I have restored my old Win98SE installation to my second machine, inserted the Nexus there.
Guess what...
On my huge collection of ProgDVB4 installations the EPG capture on german stations is fine again.
Works with the old Win98SE, fails with the fresh one and with Win2k SP4.


I'm talking about the original working installations from 4.5x to 4.8x, and even fresh new installs, no difference.

So, the problem source must be within Windows itself, on one hand.
And on the other hand, it's ProgDVB exclusive
Never ever haqppens on any other DVB soft I've ever tested...

My greatest problem, I just can't go back to the old Win installation on my main machine, as with the momentary hardware configuration that's broken down to VxD / VFAT error BSOD hell...
Can't change hardware, nor move to another machine now, as my living room system must stay multi purpose, silent and fully legacy / vintage hardware compatible.

So i have to locate two ugly problems, that VxD dirt and the source location for the DVB capture of unicode ProgDVB.
That on two machines, one after the other, as I only have one SS1...
The reason MUST be in Windows, both Win98SE and Win2000, as it's NOT the driver or hardware or inside of the ProgDVB folder system.

Trillions of possible causes, have to find the needle in the hay stack...

Bl**dy st*upid computer sh*t, just made to make us go nuts in the end...

Maybe I should return to good old typewriter and carbon copy paper, slide rule and pencil...

Why waste life watching TV, when it's warm and sunny outside, and crispy young chicks are waiting at the pool...

Descision:
This friday now will be my day off, bike ride to the next lake, getting roasted and re-motivated I hope

I'm just a little surprised. I know this problem already occured in Windows 98SE/Windows ME when updating ProgDVB.
So ... In my case I still suspect a change in the ProgDVB-source for being responsible to mess up the charset.

Yes, that's one half of the truth.

But if exactly the same ProgDVB folders are behaving different on two machines resp. Win98SE installations, the other half is Ugly Bill's nasty stuff.

I'm just missing the idea, how Win98SE could interfere with EPG data drawn from thwe3 hardware by ProgDVB, once fine, else completely wrong.
That's because I'm not a programmer, nor do I understand the TT SDK and driver functions.
It's not networking related at all, drivers and most or even all updates and patches are identical, but ...
Obviously it's almost the same thing for others havein the same trouble, that's why we NEED full knowledge and a solution.

2 Things:

1.) modyfing the root file (with a char-editor) doesn't help
2.) installing RelictEPG in v 4.x could fix the problem in some cases
even with the native EPG
3.) installing RelictEPG in the latest Version fixes the Problem that the
scheduler doesn't work but it doesn't fix the native EPG Problem.
However: Since a certain change in RelictEPG, announcing a fix
with German EPGs, Relict EPG works. Even with the latest ProgDVB 5
version, while native EPG doesn't.

Maybe someone should ask Relict Marauder what was the problem in detecting german EPGs with the earlier Versions of relictEPG.

Well, in the end, Prog pointed me into the right direction now.

Conditions:
Nexus / SS1 Premium card in HW mode
German W9x or Win2k (no idea on XP)
ProgDVB above ~ 4.2

Error:
All german EPG contend is not getting displayed, neither in the EPG window, nor in the status bar, nor in the (else working) OSD


Solution:
Add turkish codepage 28599

- in Win9x, use windows update and add optional pan-european language support and turkish menues and dialogs to the internet explorer. Reboot

- in Win2k just hit the country setttings, add turkish there. Reboot

Good for testing is DW TV on Astra 19.2, they have an EPG that's mixed german / english.
And up to a few minutes ago, all german content was missing, was finding some weirtd symbols instead, or blank, depending on PropgDVB version.

No idea, why ProgDVB (and only it) needs this, but it helps, on all versions with such trouble, including the latest ones.

If some special characters stil are wrong in HW OSD, but OK in status bar and EPG window, this, and only this, is a matter of the root file.

Have fun

in Progdvb 4.88.2 ist with german Language
the time in EPG-Table + 1 Hours
example :
Programm starts real to 20:15h
in EPG List is the start Time 21:15h

Greetings, Manfred

Don't have this problem here, neither on 4.88.2, nor on 5.12.2

Check your Windows clock, we're back to winter time, GMT+1.

p.s. this has it's own thread now, it's a different issue.
Forgot to check the EPG window and scheduling, as status bar was OK.
However, this thread stays closed.

____________________________________________________

Codepage issue is solved with 4.88.2 and 5.12.2
Turkish codepage is not required anymore, to display german EPG.
For running older versions you still need it, for latest ones you don't.

This for, thread is CLOSED now.