UK user, EPG help "no data available" (1 Viewer)

[IanJ]

Hi all,

I am new to MP, all going pretty good except for the EPG.............no data available.

I have managed to get the XmlTv plugin working and have managed to create a tvguide.xml file (5mb in size), and when I view it it does contain channel/program data for some of the channels I need. Indeed, the mappings tab shows me that some of the channels I have visible in the guide have good mappings tuning to guide data.

I have also unchecked the DVB-EPG box for all my cards.

So why does my EPG show every channel as no data available. It took me 20 mins to get MP installed, but I've been at the EPG issue for 3hrs.

Do I need to tell MP where to pick up my tvguide.xml......? or does it just have to sit where it was created.

Help!

Ian.

 

[IanJ]

Fixed.......thanks to Google!

The plugin needs some work. For the newbie it's very unclear.

Ian.

 

[jameson_uk]

Please let us know what you did in case anyone else gets this

 

[IanJ]

Hi all,

Here's what I did.....in brief:-

1. Enable MP XMLTV plugin, but don't bother with the supplied scripts as they didn't work for me. Sure it made a tvguide.xml for me but it wasn't very well populated (using RadioTimes conf as I'm in the UK).

2. Install XMLTVGUI. This is a standalone program which can create an xml file from a variety of sources. I have it configured for RadioTimes. In the setup for XMLTV GUI make it save the XML file to the MP XMLTV plugin folder, i.e. the same folder where the original sits. Get it all configured nicely and test that it grabs the data and is able to save the XML file to the proper location etc. The XML file MUST be saved as tvguide.xml

3. Using windows Task Scheduler, have XMLTV GUI run once every day, say 3AM. The command line switch to have it auto-run and grab data is:-
xmltvGUI.exe /Grab

4. Back to MP XMLTV config. Under GENERAL point to the folder where the .XML & .DTD files are located. Config to say 48hrs which will more than cover the EPG being remade every 24hrs above.
Import new tvguide.xml = checked
Import files in new tvguide.lst = unchecked
Delete Old...... = checked

5. Go to MAPPINGS which will load the XML and you'll be able to see what channels are going to work for you. You must get a match for each channel TUNING CHANNEL / GUIDE CHANNEL otherwise MP will not show any programmes. Hit SAVE.

6. Back to the GENERAL tab hit FORCE IMPORT and wait for MP to load the XML file. You'll get a report of exactly how many channels & programmes were imported. All going well you should get a significantly high amount programs. Mine has 387 channels, over 93088 programmes.

7. Thats' it. Whenever a new tvguide.xml file is written to the folder then MP will pick it up automatically.

8. Open MP and check your pupulated TV Guide.

9. Any channels that don't match up, say slight differences in the spelling etc then you must rename them in MP. This is done at under TV CHANNELS in the MP TV Server config, you just simply EDIT the name. - NOTE: I haven't tried this yet.

10. For any channels you can't get a match, say they don't exist in the XML file, then you can leave them to be picked up, at least now/next, via your sat feed etc.

FOOT NOTES:-
It should be a LOT easier than this. I have used nPVR and the guy that wrote it has a wee GUI where if you don't get a match between the XML and the source channels then you see that straight away and can pick any channel to substitute....a lot easier than manually renaming and hoping for the best.

One good thing that the plugin does support is a web based XML file, so all it needs is for somebody to produce a range of XML files, all fully featured etc and you know I'd pay to have this. Imagine an online GUI where you could generate the sources, edit the names to suit if you wanted and have your custom XML file available by http.
It just seems to me that a LOT of effort has gone into MP, but the EPG side of things is largely lacking and overly complicated.

REF INFO:-
http://www.techwatch.co.uk/forums/53693-mediaportal-xmltv-guide.html

Ian.

 

[wonkyd]

Is there any reason your using the XML epg grabber over the DVB epg?

 

[IanJ]

Is there any reason your using the XML epg grabber over the DVB epg?

I'm lucky if I get now & next via OTA epg, most channels "no data avail".
I also have 4 devices, a mix of 2off DVB-S & DVB-T feeds. I find that the one source of EPG data is the most complete for me.
Still a couple of channels I'm missing though, but once I configure XMLTVGUI a bit further then it'll hopefully be able to merge that data for me into the one XML.

Ian.