What is EPG?

To begin with, an electronic program guide, often abbreviated to EPG, is an advanced feature offered on most modern television sets, digital IPTV devices and even radios; it acts as a digital alternative to the old-fashioned, printed television program guides and catalogues. An EPG provides you with the most current information about content broadcasting. It includes information regarding the up-coming programs, time and duration of the scheduled programs, and a brief description. Furthermore, it provides many options that allow you to establish parental control, purchase premium content, view the programs and channels based on a specific category. you can also set a recording schedule, so you don’t miss any of your desired programs, any time of day or night.

Moreover, most service providers offer their own program guide; also, each channel has its own, individual EPG, which is available for both cable channels and IPTV channels. On cable and satellite channels, these services are automatic. You can view the brief details bellow the name, when switching between channels, or you can access the full description by clicking the EPG button on the remote control. However, accessing the program guide for IPTV depends on whether or not your IPTV service provider offers the service; if you use multimedia players that manually provide program guides, or if you use a third-party source to obtain an EPG.

EPG Services

Firstly, even if your IPTV provider offers EPG services, it won’t always appear automatically on every device. On a MAG device, content is received through a Stalker Portal Link, which includes the guide; therefore, by streaming a program and clicking on the EPG button on the MAG, you can view the full program guide. See What a stalker portal is on MAG. This is also the case for Samsung and LG TVs, which sync with the appropriate EPG based on the M3U file. Yet, on some devices you may need to activate their program guide manually, using an EPG link.

Secondly, if your IPTV provider does not offer EPG services and you use a media player to stream your IPTV channels, sometimes, you must manually define an EPG source or link in order to receive your desired data. On the other hand, some media players are not compatible, and do not offer these services. For instance, the VLC media player does not offer EPG services, so you must obtain your information from a different source.

Lastly, you may also obtain your program guide from a third party. Third party sources may be payed sources or free sources like Google, for example. You can obtain your link from the source and then, easily paste it in the correct field in the settings of your media player. In other cases you can use certain softwares that provide EPG using a link, like E-Channelizer. Once you have inserted the link the application begins to sync the related data and presents you with the information.

So, after a long day, you don’t have to waste your time searching for something to watch anymore, because your program guide has you coverd!