XMLTV MC2XML w legacy Guide problems (1 Viewer)

[Frustrated]

I looked through the Task scheduler and July 27th is the previous time that the problem occurred requiring me to run the task scheduler and force an import.

The Windows task scheduler is as shown in the attached screen shot. The Start In Field has the following:

C:\Users\gregg\Downloads\XMLTV

which is where MC2XML app is located as well as TVGuide.XML and MC2XML.DAT files are located

The following is the task scheduler information for this task for 08/05 run:

Level    Date and Time    Event ID    Task Category    Operational Code    Correlation Id
Information    8/5/2014 1:00:13 AM    102    Task completed    (2)    6e0b95f6-437f-484c-902b-734c3b1db83a    "Task Scheduler successfully finished ""{6E0B95F6-437F-484C-902B-734C3B1DB83A}"" instance of the ""\TV Guide Update"" task for user ""Stacker\gregg""."
Information    8/5/2014 1:00:13 AM    201    Action completed    (2)    6e0b95f6-437f-484c-902b-734c3b1db83a    "Task Scheduler successfully completed task ""\TV Guide Update"" , instance ""{6E0B95F6-437F-484C-902B-734C3B1DB83A}"" , action ""C:\Users\gregg\Downloads\XMLTV\mc2xml.exe"" with return code 0."
Information    8/5/2014 1:00:08 AM    129    Created Task Process    Info    00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000    "Task Scheduler launch task ""\TV Guide Update"" , instance ""C:\Users\gregg\Downloads\XMLTV\mc2xml.exe""  with process ID 5092."
Information    8/5/2014 1:00:08 AM    200    Action started    (1)    6e0b95f6-437f-484c-902b-734c3b1db83a    "Task Scheduler launched action ""C:\Users\gregg\Downloads\XMLTV\mc2xml.exe"" in instance ""{6E0B95F6-437F-484C-902B-734C3B1DB83A}"" of task ""\TV Guide Update""."
Information    8/5/2014 1:00:08 AM    100    Task Started    (1)    6e0b95f6-437f-484c-902b-734c3b1db83a    "Task Scheduler started ""{6E0B95F6-437F-484C-902B-734C3B1DB83A}"" instance of the ""\TV Guide Update"" task for user ""Stacker\gregg""."
Information    8/5/2014 1:00:08 AM    319    Task Engine received message to start task    (1)    00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000    "Task Engine ""S-1-5-21-732576572-3118243812-3968400554-1000:Stacker\gregg:Password:LUA""  received a message from Task Scheduler service requesting to launch task ""\TV Guide Update"" ."
Information    8/5/2014 1:00:08 AM    107    Task triggered on scheduler    Info    6e0b95f6-437f-484c-902b-734c3b1db83a    "Task Scheduler launched ""{6E0B95F6-437F-484C-902B-734C3B1DB83A}""  instance of task ""\TV Guide Update"" due to a time trigger condition."

 

[RonD]

In many/most parts the Tv Server Config, changing settings in TvServers, TvChannels, recording folders, the config program will popup and say it is triggering a TV Server stop/start to use the new settings.

For all/most of the plugins, webepg, xmltv, comskip, enabling the plugin makes the setup options visible, you can tweak setup, do things like import xmltv/tvguide info and it works, but the real core tv server engine does not make full use of the plugin features/functions until a tv server stop/start. The newer versions of the config program at least give a popup message about needing a manual. stop/start. I remember about 90% of the time, sometimes I forget, see things don't work correctly and go "oops" forgot the stop/start again.

To be honest, after I have done a full setup or major reconfigure of MePo I always do a windows reboot, to make sure MePo will still work as expected after a reboot. I figure this way I still remember what I was playing with and can fix something that does not work after a reboot. If I wait a week then do a reboot, its a lot harder to remember what did I change last week, why doesn't it work this week.

 

[RonD]

The following is the task scheduler information for this task for 08/05 run:

that looks reasonable, I personally use a small bat/cmd file to save a little mc2xml log info. If you delete or rename/save the tvguide.xml and mc2xml.dat files from your run folder, then use task manager to manually run your task. It should popup the mc2xml setup windows for zip/provider, run and generate new tvguide.xml, mc2xml.dat files. Does this work as expected?

 

[Frustrated]

For testing I have created a batch file with the following in it:
e:
cd “E:\Downloads\MC2XML”
mc2xml.exe -otvguide.xml

The TVGuide.xml file is created the first time I run this batch file and configure MC2XML parameters which creates the MC2XML.Dat file in this directory, If I then delete the TVGuide.xml file the TVGuide file is not recreated when I run the batch file again and I see No New Data Available from the output of the batch file. Is this normal? The last entry in this TVGuide.xml file is 08/22 which is a day later than the task scheduler event that is simply calling MC2XML directly and not using a batch file to get the guide info.

 

[RonD]

mc2xml uses the MC2XML.Dat info to detect if the server has newer data to download. If your local data is same as the server data, mc2xml.exe does not do a download. For testing I remove the MC2XML.Dat file, use task manager to run the script, and verify things are working. You'll need to do the zip/provider steps each time if you remove MC2XML.Dat.

 

[Frustrated]

The following is the task scheduler information for this task for 08/05 run:

that looks reasonable, I personally use a small bat/cmd file to save a little mc2xml log info. If you delete or rename/save the tvguide.xml and mc2xml.dat files from your run folder, then use task manager to manually run your task. It should popup the mc2xml setup windows for zip/provider, run and generate new tvguide.xml, mc2xml.dat files. Does this work as expected?

No it does not. Nothing happens. I see not popup configuration at all if this batch file is run from Windows Task scheduler. I even tried creating an new task and same thing. All task scheduler shows is Running for the task.

 

[RonD]

sorry I led you down he wrong path, its been a while since I did any task manager vs mc2xml hands on debug. I needed to go to a different computer and run this again.

since you removed the mc2xml.dat file, you'll need to run the bat file or mc2xml.exe file to re-run the program and generate a new mc2xml.dat file. let task manager run overnight and see if it does an update.

 

[Frustrated]

Ok got it to work. I downloaded the free version of System Scheduler from http://www.splinterware.com/download/index.htm setup the call to the batch file. The config window for MC2XML popped up I set it up and it downloaded the guide and created the tvguide file properly. I then ran the task again and saw the cmd window pop up saying no new data available. I never seen the cmd window open up saying that there was no new data available when using Windows task scheduler. I checked the MediaPortal Server XML and it showed that it had imported the guide file properly. I will keep an eye on the guide. Thanks every one for the help.

I may be back if this does not work out.

 

[Andrew H]

This is a great thread! Sorry I'm late to contribute... I had an issue w/MC2XML back in June (as I recall) and you'll NEVER guess what the issue was... I was using the OTA call with a channel limiting file (to only download certain OTA channels, not them all). It was working just fine but somehow the data in the file had changed... I was using channels 11 - 22 or so and now my local channels are coming in the file as 26 - 37 or so (I'm making this up since it's been a month or two since this happened). Essentially I was requesting reference channels 11 - 22 from a "new" set that began at 26 thus I was receiving an empty set of data! Once I eliminated the channel limiting file (and did a FORCE data) I received real data REALIZING the channel reference numbers I needed were all different! I had to reassociate these new 'listings' to my scanned channels in the MP XMLTV plug-in, and once this was done all was well!

I don't know why Microsoft reassigned the reference numbers to my local channels, but they did!

 

[mm1352000]

@RonD (...and anybody else who is interested in the XMLTV plugin)
Your comment about the XMLTV plugin being the unloved red haired second step cousin has prompted me to take action! Not only because my brother and his kids have red hair but because I'm genuinely interested in making things better.

Some teaser screenshots attached.

Key points:

• "import now" no longer freezes the UI
• added the ability to run a program or batch script instead of (or as well as) downloading and unzipping a file
  
• import and schedule status updated every 10 seconds so you can see what is happening
• removed unnecessary "import tvguide.lst" and "import tvguide.xml" options
• "delete old programs before import": when ticked, all existing programs for the imported channels are deleted - when not ticked, only overlapping and expired programs are deleted
• renamed and clarified the ultra-confusing "apply time compensation..." option - previous recommendation was to enable the option and set hours and minutes to zero (in order to automatically compensate for daylight saving); now daylight saving compensation is automatically applied, and you should only enable the option if you really want to adjust times
  
• added the ability to specify separate time adjustments for each file in tvguide.lst
  
• fixed the mapping bug with brackets that you found -->here<-- (there are no reserved characters)
• generally tidied up the UI (group boxes, tab order, better descriptions)
• generally tidied up the code (better structure, better logging, some performance improvements)

All of this will be in my TVE 3.5 working branch very soon.

In many/most parts the Tv Server Config, changing settings in TvServers, TvChannels, recording folders, the config program will popup and say it is triggering a TV Server stop/start to use the new settings.

For all/most of the plugins, webepg, xmltv, comskip, enabling the plugin makes the setup options visible, you can tweak setup, do things like import xmltv/tvguide info and it works, but the real core tv server engine does not make full use of the plugin features/functions until a tv server stop/start. The newer versions of the config program at least give a popup message about needing a manual. stop/start. I remember about 90% of the time, sometimes I forget, see things don't work correctly and go "oops" forgot the stop/start again.

Yep, I already confirmed this happens for all plugins.

I actually really despise the automatic restarts. They're inconsistent (sometimes with a popup, sometimes silent); they sometimes don't check whether any timeshifting or recording sessions are active; sometimes [like for the plugins] they're not implemented, and people have to manually restart. What a mess!

In TVE 3.5 I am determined to eliminate the need to restart TV Server. With good design, configuration changes can be picked up without a restart. Enabling plugins without a restart is not easy, but that is next on my job list. It is possible... just tricky.

Any more feedback would be welcome...