(original thread) US/Canadian/Mexico EPG Zap2it Plugin Released (10 Viewers)

[bradsjm]

How is it that the plugin matches up existing channels against the ones from Zap2It to create the mappings??

Good question, thanks for helping test this plugin

MediaPortal keeps an internal table for EPG mapping that maps your channels to the "XMLid" which is the internal ID that the guide is using. Once this mapping is established all imports simply use that to do their lookup (this applies to traditional XMLTV imports too).

Of course, the problem is, how do we establish that mapping for a new channel from Zap2it that we've not seen before? The XMLTV import does a channel number + name match but because Zap2it provides more information about your lineup, I can do different tests:

• 1. I check for an existing map, if there is one, I use it. This means if your mappings are screwed up, rerunning the import isn't going to fix it. You need to start from scratch.
  
  2. I check for a callsign match so if you name your channel identically to the Zap2it name (e.g. SCIFI), it will find a match.
  
  3. If this is an ATSC channel, I look for a major/minor channel match (e.g. 4-1) only against any channels that haven't been mapped to anything yet.
  
  4. If this is a broadcast channel (either over the air or analog cable) I try to match the channel number only to a channel that has been autotuned (I check it has a frequency found) and that hasn't been mapped yet (this was added in 1.1)

If none of that works and you haven't disabled the adding of new channels then I add the channel. Right now, that channel is just a placeholder but some new features are coming to this in the future 8)

Easy right The most likely issue is that the import assumes your existing mappings are CORRECT and won't try to "fix" any problem mappings. You'll know this is happening because the epg.log will have messages saying "channel was found in EPG mapping database".

If you are having issues, please post your epg.log to http://pastebin.com and post a link to it and I'll take a look

 

[opusnut]

ok, that all makes sence. I'll try a few more things and post my results. The one thing you dint addres though is the in the renaming. Like i said in my first post, All my channels other than the ATSC channels, are brought into MP via my SVHS port so the channel mapping would look like "250000/81". Now when i choose to rename the channels, your plugin will rename it as stated BUT will change that channel number to "81/81" which wont let MP get the video via the SVHS port. Try setting a channel to "recieved by external set top box" via SHVS and run your import. You'll see what i mean.


thanx...
opusnut

 

[opusnut]

ok... where does MP store that epg channel mapping info?? i've tried deleting the tvdatabase file, but i still end up getting "could not find match" for most of my channels and they are named exactly what zap2it uses.

thanx..

 

[xemumanic]

ok... where does MP store that epg channel mapping info?? i've tried deleting the tvdatabase file, but i still end up getting "could not find match" for most of my channels and they are named exactly what zap2it uses.

thanx..

opusnut:

I had this very same issue a few times. Each time, doing something different fixed it. Zap2ItPlugin's alert would come up saying that EPG update was completed, and wouldnt happen until CurrentMonth/CurrentDay/0001. I would check the epg.log, and none of the info would match. The solution I used last night was to delet all my channels, and have the add the channels itself.
Beware, if you have more than one ZIP code/Provider setup at the Zap2It site, things will get funky. For example, I used to have channels setup for when I lived I New York City, but now I live in Pennsylvania. My channels list in the Mp config app only had PA channels, yet when I deleted the entire channels list, it would add both sets from Zap2It and would cause confusion. So just make sure you have the one set, delet all your channels, your program guide data, and have the plugin add new channels. Your list will be refreshed, EPG data and all.

Brad: you've talked to me on IRC under the name '_Spekkio_', if you see me, I want to show you a few examples of what I've explained here.

 

[opusnut]

OK... I am up and running... but there are still a afew things. My problem was that i thought you were just searching WITHIN the current name string to make a match, not and identical match. i had channel numbers beofre the matching zap2it names ie. "81 KCBSDT". So that is resolved, but when the plugin does the id matching and updates the channel, even though it does recognise that it is external, it does not retain the SVHS port mapping and i need to go through all my channels and reset this in MP config. Not ideal!


Another thought i have for the naming of the channels, I think that it would be great if we could input our own custom names. eg. "KCBSDT" could be names "CBS HD". I find that more readable. I would be more than happy to try and implement this into the plugin if you like. When i wrote the XMLTVmapper plugin, i had originaly planned to continue it into what you have now written but since you were almost done, it saved me alot of time!

So if i can help.. let me know!

opusnut

 

[bradsjm]

opusnut, you are definately correct about the zap2it plugin assuming all channels are internal channels. This is extremly annoying. I have to manually set up all my channels to Composite each time the guide is updated. I really don't think it is a fault the zap2it plugin but mediaportal itself. I think it is rather annoying that one has to change each and every single channel to whichever imput they are using.

It is my fault I set the channel to the number provided by Zap2it and had forgotten that MP uses special channel numbers to refer to composite, svideo etc. I'll see what I can do to resolve this

 

[opusnut]

Brad, I thought tht MP uses the IDs to match epg data and channels. After i ran your import, i went back into the MP config and renamed a channel, and the guide info for that channels no loger shows up. Does this mean that it is matching against channel names aswell??

thanx
opsunut

 

[bradsjm]

I thought tht MP uses the IDs to match epg data and channels. After i ran your import, i went back into the MP config and renamed a channel, and the guide info for that channels no loger shows up.

I've just tried this and it appears to work fine on my machine. I was able to go and change the name of the channel name string and go back into MediaPortal and the guide data was still there with the new channel name. Make sure you are not using "F2" or the menu to go into the config but actually exiting MediaPortal, making the change, and then restarting MP to ensure the cache is refreshed.

 

[bradsjm]

1.2 now posted

Thank you for your helpful feedback and testing

http://mediaportal.nrgup.net/plugins/Zap2itPlugin.zip

1.2: 6/11/06

Fixed repeat detection logic and added original air date if known to program description
Added more information (episode title, show original air date, year and star rating for movies) to description
Allowed user to configure which external input to be used when automatically adding new channels
Removed code that was resetting channel numbers each import, now channel numbers are set on on new channels
Added experimental code to autoset frequency information for broadcast and analog cable channels

 

[broadband412]

Thanks alot Jonathan. This will be dandy. I'm really surprised this was something you was able to fix on your own. I thought this was going to be left up to mediaportal development team to fix it so that the user can select the option of how is the tv tuner card hooked up to the cable/satellite. By the way, This may seem like a stupid question but now that the new version of the guide plugin is out, do I have to do any editing of the mytvguide.xml file since your plugin now includes episode tittles by default? Thanks.