EPG help in USA (2 Viewers)

[ap90033]

I see your point however it really isnt a solution. MP is touted as "the" Media Center Replacement and this is a very basic feature. This should be a 30 min fix for a programmer (I am not but was an analyst) all they need to do is provide the ability to grab an xml file from zap2it and use our credentials. There was a program but it doesnt seem to work (they stopped working on it in 2007 i believe) now probably since so many changes have been made to MP. Seems like there are a half dozen ways to get schedules (why so many?) I am currently trying XMLTV but when i run zap2itxml and output to xml it doesnt like it...

 

[2BitSculptor]

About 4 years ago, Zap2It changed it's access policies. It might have been through pressure from the various commercial HTPC software companies. That's why the Zap2It plugin was stopped, because it was no longer a free and open service (as I understand it). Not all broadcasters provide the same level of completeness in its' EPG information. Even Zap2It has issues with complete and useful information at times. Nonetheless, a couple MythTV devs got together to contract with Zap2It for access for independent and open source enthusiasts (like us) ... thus was born Schedules Direct.

It seems the US, a free democratic society, is not so free with it's information if there is a buck to be earned.

If there can be an efficient standardized way to scrape the US broadcast channels for complete EPG information, then WHOOHOO let's do it.

- Chuck

 

[ap90033]

Actually we are a republic. I bet there is a way, I will have to talk to some of my programmer friends and see if they have any ideas... Thanks

 

[2BitSculptor]

Actually we are a republic.

 

[ap90033]

I figured it out or at least a way to do it. Not that hard either.
All you do Go to Zap2it.com and create an account then go to tv listings logged in as yourself and setup the guide for your zip etc. under preferences make sure to pick 6 months (or so i was told).
Then get a copy of Zap2xml.exe and xmltv.dtd and copy these to the XMLTV directory under Program Data/Team Media Portal/media portal tv server/xmltv
then make a bat file to tell it what to pull and what to call it mine is like this
zap2xml.exe -u username@email.com -p password -d 14 -o tvguide.xml -A "new live"
(Above is an example)
Then create a Task under task scheduler to run the Bat file daily.
Lastly, go to TV Server Config and add plugin XMLTV and point it to the tvguide.xml file and import it.

For this to work you of course need your tv tuners and channels already setup...

 

[xvffx]

Always good if you can post some specific things you have had to do, just to help others get the right idea

sorry I missed this post.

the main thing I had to was to manual map the channel info to the proper channel number (I would say easily over 600 channels to map).. a lot but maybe I'm downloading the data wrong? and maybe Scedule direct is the way to go?

the download and import working good using the task (took me a bit to figure out that needed a extra file and that the name needs to be specific.)

btw.. when I do a force import (it gets imported but freeezed... I've read that this was addressed).. still using 1.1

another question is what's with export?... export it is for? it would make sense if there's a import there as well.

Vff

 

[charettepa]

Re: EPG help

hello everyone

i have my tvguide.xml populating properly
all channels and all shows are in the xml
my channels are properly mapped

the issue is in the actual onscreen display of the guide
every 4-5 hours no new shows are displayed
instead it reports a 1 hour show as a 3-4 hour show
it does this for every channel
at the end of the stretch it displays properly again
it does this for every day

so 3 times a day it just stretches out shows accross the board for 3-4 hours
then is ok for 3-4 hours and repeats working/not working
over and over again


example

jeopardy is 30 minutes starting at7pm
the guide reports that it actually lasts 4 hours
so do all other shows on all other channels as of 7

at 11 the guide reports properly again
then the issue starts again at about 3
it does this for every day
and as mentioned the tvguide.xml is fully populated and all the shows are in it

what could i be doing wrong
please help

 

[ap90033]

I have a question, my EPG is working and I have Zap2itxml grabbing the guide and labeling NEW Shows with an *. Is there anyway to have Zap2itxml label the old shows instead? I cant get Season and Episode Numbers for some reason...

 

[2BitSculptor]

I have a question, my EPG is working and I have Zap2itxml grabbing the guide and labeling NEW Shows with an *. Is there anyway to have Zap2itxml label the old shows instead? I cant get Season and Episode Numbers for some reason...

I don't believe there is an option for that, all you have available are the details that zap2itxml has in it's function list. Possibly a request to the author (if it is still in development) for it to retrieve and store that information, or minimally, the program number that could be processed by the plugin that retrieves the episode season/label and other info from thetvdb.com.

This is the one reason I stopped using the program.

Chuck

 

[ap90033]

Thanks, I am checking out the Donate version ($20 CAD) of mc2xml (I think the same guy made it) it is supposed to have more data (hopefully Season and Ep. Number) *fingers crossed*