Working Free US EPG (2 Viewers)

[jimbo13]

When searching the forums I repeatedly found it said there isn't a working US EPG other than schedules direct and that's no longer accurate.


I found a free working EPG.

Mc2xml supports grabbing from media center, titantv or scheds direct.

1) create a folder C:\program files\EPG (you can put it anywhere)

2) Download mc2xml and extract to the folder you created.

mc2xml

3) put the xmltv.dtd in this folder with mc2xml

3)Run Mc2xml, enter your area code and select your preferred grabber (titan and scheds direct requires a account)

4) Rename the output file tvguide.xml

5) In your media portal TV server configuration in the guide configuration point it to tvguide.xml

 

[johnmilky]

Cool this work for me you save me 20 bucks from SD.

 

[CRSharff]

How would I go about setting up a update.bat to autoupdate the tvlisting?

 

[jimbo13]

Just set windows task scheduler to run it once every two weeks, personally I do it manually and haven't bothered looking up how to automate it.

 

[CRSharff]

Yeah I would have no problem running this manually every couple weeks but I'm setting this up for someone else who is not very computer savvy.

 

[michael90t]

Ok well its not perfect but it DOES work.... tips so far

make a bat file that has something like this

mc2xml -o "tvguide.xml"

that will automagicaly rename the output file to tvguide.xml so you dont have to do it manually....

then with windows task scheduler set it to run the bat file every couple days to make sure you have the most up to date version...... .... though it would be nice if tv server had a way to run external programs on a schedule just for all these different grabbers.......


Other then that I use OTA digital bradcasting and the EPG data through the microsoft page(free place) is VERY lacking... it seems to only show the channels for regular analog broadcasting.... with the antenna option..... anyone else tried any of the other options (like sat or cable) for OTA broadcasts and get it to fill the correct channels for digital OTA?????

 

[cgilson33]

ok, so i haven't installed MP yet, just got my new pc up and running last night!
but what i'm missing is how this is free, you have to pay for sched direct right?

 

[jimbo13]

Yes you have to pay for scheds direct.

But it can also grab from Windows which is free, and it can also grab from titantv which I think is free. It works for me and I paid nothing.

Just a bit of advice if your just setting up MP for the first time.

Don't worry about the guide yet, MP is not easy to setup but it's the best option on XP or Vista. (trust me, I've tried them all) I first tried Mediaportal 6 months ago, spent two weeks trying to get all the features working before giving up.

Later I bought a new tuner card and with the more recent builds everything worked on the first try but it still takes a good weekend to get everything tuned right.

The guides a easy aspect that's best to tackle once you have everything working.

 

[michael90t]

Ok well its not perfect but it DOES work.... tips so far

make a bat file that has something like this

mc2xml -o "tvguide.xml"

that will automagicaly rename the output file to tvguide.xml so you dont have to do it manually....

then with windows task scheduler set it to run the bat file every couple days to make sure you have the most up to date version...... .... though it would be nice if tv server had a way to run external programs on a schedule just for all these different grabbers.......


Other then that I use OTA digital bradcasting and the EPG data through the microsoft page(free place) is VERY lacking... it seems to only show the channels for regular analog broadcasting.... with the antenna option..... anyone else tried any of the other options (like sat or cable) for OTA broadcasts and get it to fill the correct channels for digital OTA?????

Ok update to this post the titan tv seems to be free and seems to be best for OTA digital programing really good info and works like a charm!!!! thanks jimbo!!!!


dont forget to run it from a bat file and use the -o option so it will output the correct filename no need to manually rename the output file if you do it that way.....

So to recap

make a bat file with this line in it

mc2xml -o "tvguide.xml"

and use it to run mc2xml either manually or setup a windows task to run it once a week to automagicaly keep you up to date!!

 

[crespoh69]

Sorry, I'm still having problems with this, there doesn't seem to be an option on the sever config screen to let me go to that file, how would I tell MP to go to that file?