Before you even start watching TV you will probably want to have your TV Guide working.

Getting your Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) data is essential for viewing program names, air times, descriptions and genres and is invaluable for scheduling recordings. 

Once you have your EPG data, your TV Guide can look like this:

You will likely wish to add TV Channel Logos as well.

The Guide will display any programs recording or scheduled for recording in a different color - red in the Default skin. So you can easily see where there are scheduling conflicts. If you have set a reminder when a program is about to start, this will also show up in a different colour - yellow in Default skin. A recording icon will be shown at the top of every window in MediaPortal while a program is recording.

Simply select a currently airing program to watch it or select a program not yet aired to record it.

Channels and Groups

To display a listing of all programs for a specific channel, select the channel name to the left in the EPG.

You can switch channel groups by:

1. selecting the vertical channel group button to the left of the channel names; or
2. pressing F9 or the Info/More button on your remote and selecting channel groups from the dialog window

You may create and modify groups in TV-Server Configuration > TV Channels

Navigation

Jump to Another Day

At the top left of the window the current day/date is displayed. You can select the arrow buttons to the left or right of the date to view TV Guide data for other days.

To navigate to the Day Change button with a remote, just highlight the first channel and press the up button on your remote. Then you can use the left or right arrow buttons to change the day displayed.

Change the Time Period of Display

Beside the Day Change arrow buttons are two additional arrow buttons. These buttons can alter the length of time each program uses in your TV Guide display:

• 15 minutes
• 30 minutes
• 45 minutes
• 60 minutes

Note how the display is set for every 60 minutes, so you see more data in the Guide, but not as much of each program name.

Upcoming Airings or Episodes (Program Information)

To view all the upcoming airings or episodes of a program, just select a program that is airing in the future (i.e. not currently airing or MediaPortal will play it for you!). Of course, only those programs that exist in your TV Guide will display.

This window can also be used to Record TV or schedule a recording.

Set a Program Reminder

You are able to have MediaPortal remind you when a program is about to start. To set or cancel a reminder press F9 or the Info/More remote button when a program is selected in the TV Guide.

Programs which has a reminder set will show in a different color in the TV Guide.

The reminder will popup in any window as long as MediaPortal is running and gives the user an option to switch to the channel where the program is running.

You cannot set a reminder on a program that's currently running or one that has already ended.

You can configure the reminder popup properties at MediaPortal Configuration > TV > TV Client.

Movie Details

If your EPG Guide data does not contain all the information you wish, you can look up further details using the IMDb movie lookup.

Press F9 or the Info/More remote button and select IMDB

MediaPortal will query the IMDB and if your movie (or even TV Show) is found, it will download all the data for you: