New to MP2 - Trying to configure EPG/Schedules Direct (1 Viewer)

[wjw]

As I don't see it mentioned anywhere - just in case you missed this vital step - when you set up the XMLTV plugin did you map the channels to the guide data and then press the Save button? If you don't do this then no programs will be imported into your guide because the plugin can't know where to put the data.

This step is tedious and has to be done carefully - but you only have to do it once. If you haven't seen this there is a very comprehensive guide in the Wiki.

 

[BG02578]

XmlTv - thanks wjw I will double check that
Can someone please post a "good" tvguide.xml file so I can compare it with the one I generate with seems not to match the expected format.




Plugins - I loaded Power Scheduler and Schedules Direct plugins as indicated above. Still no guide listings. A couple of questions:

Is there a log or error log generated for the guide download from Schedules?

Is there a way to manually start the guide down load or is it only done by Power Scheduler? The options in Power Scheduler seem excessive.

What actually starts the guide download?

When I hit OK in TV Server Configuration the program just closes - what should still be running to to the guide down load?

Can someone describe the download process? I assume some task must login to Schedules Direct, but I don't see any evidence of that happening.

Is there anyway to detect that the guide download is happening ?

I was surprised to see that in Schedules Direct I can select both JJSON and DDxx xml can both be selected at the same time - does that cause a problem?

I will keep trying.

Thanks and stay healthy

Barry

 

[wjw]

A lot of questions - but first I have one for you. Did you read and follow the guidance in the section of the documentation that I referred you to? If so you should have answers to some of your questions.

One that probably isn't is the question of what actually causes the download from SchedulesDirect in the first place. I found the easiest way is simply to use Windows Task Scheduler to run a small .bat file daily (or at any interval you want to choose with the Scheduler options). This is the contents of mine:
cd C:\Users\john\Desktop\XMLTVstuff
C:\Users\john\Desktop\XMLTVstuff\mc2xml
C:\Users\john\Desktop\XMLTVstuff\XMLTV\xmltv-0.5.68-win32\SED "/"dd_progid"/d" C:\Users\john\Desktop\XMLTVstuff\xmltv.xml > C:\Users\john\Desktop\XMLTVstuff\tvguide.xml

Obviously you would need to change all locations to your own names. You can also - for the moment - ignore the 3rd line as this is only required to fix a small issue in the way Series Nos. and episodes gets handled. You may need to search the forum for posts on this subject from quite few years ago.

You do not actually need to use PowerScheduler at all (I don't). I have also attached an extract from an TVGuide XML file - the original is huge!

 

[CyberSimian]

Is there a way to manually start the guide down load or is it only done by Power Scheduler?

The way that @wjw triggers the download of the EPG is one way of doing that, but I think that PowerScheduler would be the "normal" way of downloading the EPG.

On the PowerScheduler "EPG" tab, you should select every day of the week to cause the EPG to be downloaded every day. If you want to download the EPG less frequently, then select the specific days of the week when you want the download to occur. (When I used WMC, I downloaded the two-week Microsoft EPG only once per week.)

Also specify the time when you want PowerScheduler to wake the HTPC and initiate the download. Obviously your internet connection must be available at that time. (I mention this because I keep my internet connection switched off except when I am actually using it.)

Click "Apply".

To perform an immediate download, on the "Advanced Options" tab of the Schedules Direct plugin, select Force full guide update on next TVService startup (halfway down the panel).

Now go to "Manual Control" (left side menu) and click the "Stop TV Service" button. Wait 10-20 seconds until the text on the button changes to "Start TV Service". Click the button again to start the service, and the EPG download should commence.

I don't know what logging the plugin generates. However, you may get some info if you change the log level for TV Server to DEBUG; you do that in the "General " section (left side menu). The logging info (if any) will be placed in the TV Server log file, not in the MP client log file.

You can close "TV Server Config" whenever you like -- you don't need to keep it open until the EPG download finishes.

The Schedules Direct plugin has to understand the format of the data downloaded from Schedules Direct. If the XML form and JSON form are both selected, you might get both present in the downloaded data, which would probably cause the EPG collection to fail.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[BG02578]

wjw, thanks

When I try to do the Mapping my channels are there, but the status field is all red for every entry and there is nothing in the dropdown fields in the GuideChannel box and I can't enter anything in the GuideChannel box when I try to type in the box.

I also do not understand in the Wiki:
"If needed you can find the ATSC Channel.SubChannel for the MediaPortal TuningChannel by selecting TV Channels > All Channels, right-click on the channel and select Edit. For KQED+ the Detail field has the following information."

I can't see TV Channels > All Channels

I think I need to start over with mc2xml and the information you have provided.

I finally got some guide data via the SchedulesDirect plugin, but I will keep trying XmlTv and report back.



CyberSimian, thanks


Manual Control Seems to Work
It was fast, but I see I only downloaded a couple days of guide. It is either continuing to work or I need to set the number of days.

I can probably figure out PowerScheduler and will check to see that things work.

CyberSimian>"The Schedules Direct plugin has to understand the format of the data downloaded from Schedules Direct. If the XML form and JSON form are both selected, you might get both present in the downloaded data, which would probably cause the EPG collection to fail."
DIDN'T SEEM TO CAUSE A PROBLEM THAT I HAVE DETECTED
If I find problems, I will turn off JSON. I am still running another PC with WMC.

 

[wjw]

For the moment I suggest we leave the issue of how you automate the grabbing process and focus on getting channels mapped.

So, to make sure we're at the same point in the process please do the following:
First, grab some data from SchedulesDirect. If you decide to use MC2XML then just access the JSON version. I have been doing it this way for over 5 years now - and it works every day. You might want to configure your grab to get only a small amount of data at this stage as it make at least one of the next steps go a bit quicker. Just configure MS2XML as you want and run it manually.

When you have the XML file, rename it to tvguide.xml and place it in the directory you have specified in the XMLTV plugin This is a screenshot on my configuration so you can see a working setup. The actual location doesn't matter of course - just be sure that it's where you have put your tvguide files.




Look further down this window and you can see "Force import" and the "Import button. Press this - and wait for the Last import time just below this button to change - do this because depending on your hardware and size of the xml file this really can take some time. Only when the details of the last import have changed can you do the next bit. In real life you don't have to do this as it will all run in the background driven by when TVServer detects a new guide file has been loaded.

Now select the "Mappings" tab at the top of this window and you should see something like this: Note - you must have selected a group to load and then pressed the "Load/Refresh" button before you will get the data presented to you.


You cannot type anything into these fields. To make the selection you have click on the down arrow at the end of the column headed "Guide channel". Unfortunately I couldn't get a successful snip of one like that - but what you should get at that point is a drop down list of all the channels that have been imported into the database. If the data have been successfully imported then choosing the "Partial Match" option should geat most of the channles mapped properly. If not then you can go down the drop down list until you see the channel info that matches the channel you want that data mapped to.

Two further comments at this stage. I can't help you with the ATSC thing - I.m in the UK and have no idea what that means. The TV Channels > All Channels is not part of the XMLTV plugin but is is in the TV server tuning window. That's where you will see the default channel listings and where you can create your own group of channels that you are likely to spend most time watching/recording - that's why you will see that the group shown in the image above has only a few channels. All the other channels are still available to you if you want them - worry about that later!!!

 

[2BitSculptor]

Being a long time user of the SD plugin, all of this seems a lot more complicated than when I first set it up. I have a roof antenna with 2 dual HDhomeRun tuners and I scanned all the available channels in TV Server. I don't use power scheduler, nor the xmltv plugin. For me it took about 40 minutes to download my SD lineup in only XML. I selected a 14 day lineup. I have received guide listings faithfully since. I did go back in and changed the names of my channels to a more useful form (for me) for the guide, and grouped them by city of origin (I get two cities' listings) with separated religious and TV-marketplace channels. I hope you forgive me, but I'm scratching my head over the difficulties you are experiencing, then again, I'm assuming also you have different way of tuning that I don't.