UK Freesat Guide - why is Channel 4 HD still missing?

[iamhepto]

The guide data for Freesat in the UK does not include Channel 4 HD (on channel 126) - what is the right way to get this fed back to the guide provider please?

It does exist in some of the other providers so the guide provider is aware of the channel, but then the rest of those listings do not exactly match as it is the wrong guide overall so not a solution really.

What is strange about this is that it has been missing since it was added almost a year ago - it's quite surprising that it has not been resolved as presumably every consumer of that guide has it missing. e.g. I think Channels uses the same provider as Plex which also has the same problem.

What is more curious is that other channels have been added since Channel 4 HD was added to the Freesat line up - for example E4 Extra on channel 181 only started a few months ago and appears in the guide fine. E4 and Channel 4 are the same broadcaster so why wouldn't Channel 4 HD be in the listing?

Channel 4 HD is one of the largest channels in the UK. For now I can map it to the SD version on 104 as I think 99% of the programming is the same - at least at primetime. But it would be good to get this properly resolved if possible especially for metadata purposes - happy to do the leg work to the guide provider if I can be pointed in the right direction.

You can see it missing in the following screen shot:

(p.s. there are a couple of minor channels missing as well but C4HD is the biggest gap so focusing on that for now ...)

[alex_m]

I used a Sky line up to channel match and found the C4 HD on something like channel 138.

Has everything and all of the HD channels are there somewhere near the bottom. Seems to be the same as guide you can find if you Google Sky TV Guide.

P.S. Channel 4 SD is just downconverted HD channel so everything is the same EPG-wise.

[iamhepto]

Thanks - I may end up using the Sky guide but frankly I was trying to avoid the effort of mapping it all plus it's now a kind of personal mission to find out why it is missing!

I also experimented with just having Channel 4 HD using the Sky lineup but everything else on Freesat which conceptually worked fine but it messed up the available tuner count so too much risk it would try to record too much at one time.

[alex_m]

I’ve ditched the freesat guide format and made my own channel list which made more sense to me and my family via TVheadend so had to re match all channels anyway. But meant I could get the right ITV and BBC region channels in the correct places and like I say, order the way I wanted.

Would be interested to know your setup - unsure how the link between guide data and tuners will cause you problems?

[tmm1]

In your screenshot, scroll to the top, click the gear icon next to the text box, switch to Search All then type C4 into the box

[iamhepto]

Thanks @tmm1 - I didn't know you could actually do that, and actually that made me see that you can add two (or more) guides to one lineup. That may be useful. Previously, I was adding a second source entirely (duplicating the first) so that I could use a different guide. Which, to answer @alex_m's question, meant that I was making it look like I had more tuners than I did (as they were both sharing the tuner). This method is much better.

Anyway, although it gives me flexibility on guide data and plugs the gap, I'd still love to know how to get the Freesat lineup completed? Is there a feedback mechanism to the provider - which I presume is Gracenote? Given that C4HD exists on the other lineups, should be a sensible request to add it to Freesat listings?

As a bit of feedback, I don't know what it is like in the US but the UK listings are pretty messy, frankly. I'm sure all the channels are there for every provider but they are named strangely, have incomplete listings, and the whole thing generally adds a bit of friction / doubt that makes cutting slightly more difficult.

@alex_m you mentioned you used a Sky lineup, but I don't see a perfectly suitable one - this is what I get. Sky SD and Freesat from Sky are incomplete. United Kingdom (extended) seems comprehensive - so I may just use that and hope that it is the right listings.

[alex_m]

Good to know, hence my question about what your setup is. You can easily add other channels by searching the whole lot of channels and there’s no need to add your system again!

I use Sky SD, and as I say, has everything I use and all of the HD channels are on higher channel numbers. I don’t use the freesat or Sky channel numbers - I think I use less than 40 in total. Probably watch only 2!