xmltv always importing (1 Viewer)

[PhilMcCavity]

I have WebEPG configured to run as a scheduled task every day. It seems to work ok, generating a new tvguide.xml file which is always the same size about 15 or 20 minutes after the task is initiated. It even wakes the computer up to do it!

The XMLTV plugin in tvserver config always shows "tvguide.xml already importing" and it always shows 0 shows added. It does however always show the correct time of the last update to tvguide.xml. On the second tab of the xmltv setup page it shows all my guide channels with a white indicator - is this ok?

My problem is that sometimes I have an epg in MP and other times it shows "no data available" for all channels. It's got me tearing my hair out because some days my recordings are named correctly and other days they're all "manual".

Is there a better solution for Australia (Sydney) than this? It's my third MediaPortal machine and it's always been a real black art to get the EPG working and it seems that what worked on one machine doesn't work on the next one.

Thanks

 

[PhilMcCavity]

Turns out I was impatient. WebEPG runs at 3pm and finishes at 3.09pm. When it completes, the TV server kicks in and loads the tvguide.xml file. The first thing it seems to do is delete all my existing programs as I see "no data available" all across the TV guide. I checked periodically and sometime between 4.30 and 5pm the programs appeared.

The tvserver's xlmtv plugin page still shows "tvguide.xml already importing" with 0 shows added, and it never updates the "last import time".

So it seems xmltv is taking between 100 and 130 minutes to load 7 days of guide data for 12 channels (3 of which only have one day of data). This seems inordinately long for a computer that's otherwise idle - what are others' experiences of this?

 

[PhilMcCavity]

I tried deactivating the xmltv plugin, deleting the tvguide.xml file and rebooting. On reactivating the xmltv plugin, it still says "already importing", which is total garbage as there's now nothing there to import!

I'm suspicious that this is also related to a problem that I have waiting in the wings - that PowerScheduler never puts the PC to sleep, and I'm guessing it's because it always sees the TV server importing EPG data.

My error log says the following :

2009-04-03 10:36:54.843750 [SetupTv]: plugin:xmltv import failed
2009-04-03 10:36:55.000000 [SetupTv]: Exception ystem.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.
at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer& number, NumberFormatInfo info, Boolean parseDecimal)
at System.Number.ParseInt32(String s, NumberStyles style, NumberFormatInfo info)
at TvEngine.XMLTVImport.Import(String fileName, Boolean showProgress)
at TvEngine.XmlTvImporter.ThreadFunctionImportTVGuide(Object aparam)
Exception :Input string was not in a correct format.
site :Void StringToNumber(System.String, System.Globalization.NumberStyles, NumberBuffer ByRef, System.Globalization.NumberFormatInfo, Boolean)
source :mscorlib
stacktrace: at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer& number, NumberFormatInfo info, Boolean parseDecimal)
at System.Number.ParseInt32(String s, NumberStyles style, NumberFormatInfo info)
at TvEngine.XMLTVImport.Import(String fileName, Boolean showProgress)
at TvEngine.XmlTvImporter.ThreadFunctionImportTVGuide(Object aparam)

2009-04-03 10:37:34.812500 [XmlTvImporter]: plugin:xmltv import failed
2009-04-03 10:37:34.812500 [XmlTvImporter]: Exception ystem.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.
at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer& number, NumberFormatInfo info, Boolean parseDecimal)
at System.Number.ParseInt32(String s, NumberStyles style, NumberFormatInfo info)
at TvEngine.XMLTVImport.Import(String fileName, Boolean showProgress)
at TvEngine.XmlTvImporter.ThreadFunctionImportTVGuide(Object aparam)
Exception :Input string was not in a correct format.
site :Void StringToNumber(System.String, System.Globalization.NumberStyles, NumberBuffer ByRef, System.Globalization.NumberFormatInfo, Boolean)
source :mscorlib
stacktrace: at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer& number, NumberFormatInfo info, Boolean parseDecimal)
at System.Number.ParseInt32(String s, NumberStyles style, NumberFormatInfo info)
at TvEngine.XMLTVImport.Import(String fileName, Boolean showProgress)
at TvEngine.XmlTvImporter.ThreadFunctionImportTVGuide(Object aparam)

​

 

[Taipan]

So it seems xmltv is taking between 100 and 130 minutes to load 7 days of guide data for 12 channels (3 of which only have one day of data). This seems inordinately long for a computer that's otherwise idle - what are others' experiences of this?

Yes, it does seem to be excessive. I have never actually timed the re-load of xmltv data, but I have never seen it take more than a few seconds for 7 days of 11 channels. I could do a timed test, if that would be useful to you?

That exception error looks bad - I would focus on trying to find the cause of that error - do the time stamps on the error message give you a clue to the possible cause? At what stage was the EPG process at when the error was first triggered?

BTW, I don't use WebEPG anymore - I use GuideDigger, which is fast and reliable ...

 

[PhilMcCavity]

Wow. Isn't it a pleasure when something "just works"!!! The data import takes at least a second (12 channels).

Presumably WebEPG must be generating bad xml since xmltv works with "known good" XML.

Thanks for the tip!