Schedules Direct EPG Plugin - how to use it? (1 Viewer)

[deamon_knight]

I've been rebuilding my HTPC system, and I'm experimenting with different EPG Grabbers for OTA TV in the USA. I have been using Schedules Direct, grabbing with mc2xml and then importing with xmlTV plugin. I've tried to use the Schedules Direct EPG Client plugin but it never seemed to work for me. I recently tried the Schedules Direct plugin again and found that if I used it in addition to grabbing with mc2xml and xmltv plugin, I would get some additional information in the EPG entries.

Without the Schedules Direct plugin, I would get a title and episode description. With the Schedules direct plugin, I would also see an original air date added to most entries. The Schedules direct plugin also has a way to pull episode info from the TV DB, but this does not seem to be working.

Can anyone help me understand what this plugin in doing and how to use it?

Thanks

 

[milhouse]

For the most part, once the scanned channels are mapped with the right Schedules Direct ids, It Just Works(tm). I never even think about it.

To start with, I am assuming you have scanned in your OTA channels with your cards, and hidden the ones you don't care about (TV Server channels list, unchecked the ones you would never watch). And I also assume you've set up your lineup in SD and selected (only) the channels you care about.

In theory, SD ought to be able to map the channels to the right station based on the broadcasted channel name. Or, using the "allow EPG channel mapping by channel number only" as a fall back, it ought to be able to map on just the broadcasted channel info.

If you need to manually fix things, I personally use mySQL workbench:
SELECT idChannel, externalID,displayName, channelnumber
FROM mptvdb.channel
where isTV = 1 and visibleInGuide=1;

Your schedules direct lineup "report" has all the info you need to add the externalID that is used to link SD to the channel. xlmid.logicalchannel.schedulesdirect.org
SD lineups:

SD lineup report

mysql:

Once channels are properly mapped to SD, then the only settings I have checked in the SD TV Server plugin are:
Advanced Tab - add addition rating, air date, etc is the only box I have checked anywhere.
TheTVDB.com tab - fetch season and episode information.


That's it. Lastly, select the box to force a full guide update, then stop/start the service and wait at least 5 minutes to look. Could take an hour to completely populate if you have the full 13 day guide like I do.

Good luck....
milhouse

 

[deamon_knight]

Thanks milhouse,
I'll check it out. In my setup, there are a couple of channels that Schedules direct doesn't map properly, I need to pull a second SD lineup from another city and manually map them in xmltv. I'll have to check out mySQL workbench.

 

[deamon_knight]

Well, I disabled xmltv plugin. Refreshed the EPG in The TV server manual controls. I enabled the SD plugin, and set it to force a full guide update on next TV Server restart. Then I manually restarted the TV service in manual control. I waited a couple of hours and still no guide data. I rebooted and still did not have any guide data. I enabled debug logging in SD Plugin, but I don't know where the log files are.

 

[milhouse]

Well, that stinks. Yeah, log files will help.
C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\log\TVService.log for me. Look for the lines the indicate schedules direct. Example from my log file:
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,383] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Starting EPG refresh job on thread #9
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,383] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - UTC time is 12/22/2017 3:15:05 PM, local time is 12/22/2017 10:15:05 AM (DST is False)
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,385] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Rename Existing Channels is set to: False, with Template: {number} {callsign}.
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,387] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Add New Digital Channels is set to: False, with External Input: YRYBYInput1.
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,389] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Add New Digital Channels is set to: False, with External Audio Input: SPDIFInput2.
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,390] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Add New Digital Channels Country is set to: United States.
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,392] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Add New Analog Channels is set to: False, with External Input: YRYBYInput1.
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,394] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Add New Analog Channels is set to: False, with External Input: SPDIFInput2.
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,395] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Channel Sorting is set to: False.
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,396] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Allow Channel Matching without Frequency is set to: False.
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,397] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Delete Channels with No EPG Mapping is set to: False.
[2017-12-22 10:15:05,575] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Requesting 24 hours of program listings from [12/22/2017 10:15:05 AM] to [12/23/2017 10:15:05 AM]
[2017-12-22 10:15:14,810] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Processing lineup Time Warner Cable [id=NC32421:X type=CableDigital postcode=27613]
[2017-12-22 10:15:14,812] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Channel WRALDT2 (WRAL-DT2) was found as H&I in EPG mapping database
[2017-12-22 10:15:14,817] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Updated channel H&I [id=3448 xmlid=21915.1255.schedulesdirect.org]
[2017-12-22 10:15:15,315] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Could not find a match for WNCN/1203
[2017-12-22 10:15:15,326] [Log ] [SchedulesDirect EPG Client] [INFO ] - Channel WUNCDT4 (WUNC-DT4) was found as UNCNC in EPG mapping database

And for the schedules direct calling TVDB for extrta info, logs look like this:
[2017-12-23 13:31:49,476] [Log ] [TvDbThread] [INFO ] - SD-TvDb: Start asynch update of tvdb.com info for all schedule recordings. Total number: 3
[2017-12-23 13:31:49,479] [Log ] [TvDbThread] [INFO ] - SD-TvDb: Update tvdb.com info for The Outer Limits
[2017-12-23 13:31:50,312] [Log ] [TvDbThread] [INFO ] - SD-TvDb: No episode match for series: The Outer Limits, seriesId: 71699, episodeName: New Lease
[2017-12-23 13:31:50,435] [Log ] [TvDbThread] [INFO ] - SD-TvDb: No episode match for series: The Outer Limits, seriesId: 71699, episodeName: Double Helix
[2017-12-23 13:31:50,549] [Log ] [TvDbThread] [INFO ] - SD-TvDb: No episode match for series: The Outer Limits, seriesId: 71699, episodeName: Dead Man's Switch


Also, what version of the plugin do you have? I am at 1.2.3.2.

 

[deamon_knight]

Thanks Milhouse. I didn't realize the channels should be named identically to schedules Direct . I renamed some channels and confirmed its working. I have installed MySql workbench, but I haven't figured out how to use it to map the channels if the names don't match. Also, I'm not sure if its pulling extra data from The TVDB, I'll need to research further. Should the additional data be added to the episode description field? Since I'm using Kodi as a front end, I may not be able to see the additional Rating and Episode number.

Thanks