EPG and Catch-Up Explained: Watching Across UK, US, Canadian and Australian Time Zones
Why guide times drift, how catch-up works, and how to set your device so listings match the clock on your wall, wherever you are.
The TV guide is the part of an IPTV service you use most and think about least, until the listings are an hour out or a programme you wanted to catch up on is nowhere to be found. Our customers watch across the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and Germany, which means a lot of time zones and a lot of clock changes. This guide explains how the EPG and catch-up work, and how to keep listings right wherever you are.
What the EPG is
EPG stands for electronic programme guide. It is the on-screen TV guide in your player app: a grid of channels and times showing what is on now, what is next and, usually, a short description of each programme.
Most player apps show the guide in two ways:
- a mini guide along the bottom of the screen while you watch, with the current and next programme;
- a full grid, with channels listed down the side and times across the top.
How the guide gets its times
The listings data arrives separately from the channels and is matched to them by the player app. Behind the scenes, the times are stored in a universal format and converted to local time by your device. That conversion depends on one thing: the date, time and time zone set on the device.
That is why the most common guide problem, listings an hour or more out, is almost never a fault in the service. It is the device’s clock settings.
What catch-up is
Catch-up lets you watch a programme after it has aired, without having recorded it. On channels that support catch-up, you scroll back in the guide, pick a programme that has already been shown and press play. It then plays like any on-demand video: you can pause, rewind and skip.
Catch-up is not the same as the on-demand library. The library is a collection of films and series you can start at any time. Catch-up follows the channel schedule, letting you go back to what was broadcast.
Time zones in the countries we serve
| Country | Main time zones | Clocks change? |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | GMT (winter), BST (summer) | Yes, last Sunday of March and October |
| United States | Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska, Hawaii | Yes in most states, in March and November; most of Arizona and Hawaii do not change |
| Canada | Newfoundland, Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific | Yes in most provinces; most of Saskatchewan does not change, and Yukon stays on one time all year |
| Australia | AWST, ACST, AEST | Yes in NSW, Victoria, the ACT, Tasmania and South Australia; not in Queensland, WA or the NT |
| Germany | CET (winter), CEST (summer) | Yes, last Sunday of March and October |
Notice that the clocks do not all change on the same day. For a few weeks each spring and autumn, the gap between, say, London and New York is an hour different from usual. A correctly set device handles this automatically.
How to set your device so the guide is right
- Open the device’s date and time settings.
- Turn on automatic date and time, so the clock follows the network.
- Choose your city or region as the time zone, rather than a raw offset such as “UTC+10”. A city setting knows about daylight saving; a raw offset does not.
- Restart the player app and refresh the guide, usually from the app’s settings menu.
Special cases
- Arizona: choose the Arizona setting, not Mountain, because most of the state does not use daylight saving time.
- Newfoundland: the half-hour offset means a guide set to Atlantic time will be thirty minutes out.
- Saskatchewan: choose the Saskatchewan setting rather than Central.
- Queensland: choose Brisbane, not Sydney; in summer the two are an hour apart.
- Germany: choose Berlin, and remember that British channels broadcast one hour behind German time.
Watching channels from another country
Many households watch channels from more than one country: British expats in Germany or Australia, families in Canada who follow US channels, and so on. The guide always shows times in your local time zone, not the channel’s. A programme that starts at 9 pm in London appears at 10 pm in a guide set to Berlin, and at the matching early-morning time in a guide set to Sydney.
That is exactly where catch-up becomes useful. Instead of staying up for a live broadcast from the other side of the world, you can watch it the next day at a sensible hour, on channels that support catch-up.
When the guide looks wrong: a checklist
- Listings are exactly an hour out. The device is probably set to a raw offset, or automatic time is off around a clock change. Set your city and turn on automatic time.
- Listings are thirty minutes out. You are probably in Newfoundland with the wrong zone, or the device has the wrong half-hour setting for central Australia.
- The guide is empty. Give it a few minutes after the first login, then refresh it from the app’s settings.
- Only some channels show listings. Not every channel has guide data at all times. If a channel you watch often is always empty, tell us.
- Catch-up is missing on a channel. Catch-up is available only on channels that support it, and for a limited period.
Getting more from the guide
- Build a favourites list so the grid shows only the channels you watch.
- Set reminders, if your player app supports them, for programmes you do not want to miss.
- Use the search in the guide to find a programme by name.
- Check catch-up first before assuming you missed something: it may still be there.
How this fits your plan
Every Trex TV plan, including the free trial, includes the TV guide and catch-up on supported channels, alongside 33,000+ live channels and 160,000+ movies and series. Paid plans run 3, 6 or 12 months, from $35; 12 Months costs $69.99, which works out at $5.83 a month.
Each of our regional pages goes deeper into local time zones and viewing habits:
- Trex IPTV UK, with GMT and BST;
- Trex IPTV USA, with all six US time zones;
- Trex IPTV Canada, from Newfoundland to the Pacific;
- Trex IPTV Australia, with state-by-state daylight saving;
- Trex IPTV Germany, with CET and CEST.
EPG and catch-up: quick answers
Why is my TV guide an hour out?
The device’s time zone or automatic time setting is almost always the cause. Choose your city as the time zone, turn on automatic time and refresh the guide.
Is catch-up included in every plan?
Yes, on channels that support it, including during the free trial.
How far back can I watch on catch-up?
It varies by channel and is limited. The guide in your player app shows what is available.
Will the guide show the channel’s home-country time?
No. It shows your local time, based on your device’s settings, which is usually what you want.
See every plan on the Trex IPTV subscription page, test the guide yourself with the free trial, or message us if your listings still look wrong.
