XMLTV Idiot's guide please....hoping there is one!! (1 Viewer)

[LJG]

Thankyou, that would be interesting - certainly help me to learn a bit more about how this stuff all works.

These are a couple of lines from the test grab I did with the xmltv grabber:

<episode-num system="xmltv_ns">0.2.</episode-num>
<episode-num system="dd_progid">EP021732450004</episode-num>

 

[Robert Kulagowski]

Thankyou, that would be interesting - certainly help me to learn a bit more about how this stuff all works.

These are a couple of lines from the test grab I did with the xmltv grabber:

<episode-num system="xmltv_ns">0.2.</episode-num>
<episode-num system="dd_progid">EP021732450004</episode-num>

Right - the grabber needs to pull the total number of episodes in a series from a different record, which in this case it's not, so that's something that you'd need to address with the grabber author. (Our data shows that there's 1 season, with 4 episodes.)

 

[LJG]

Interesting (and fast) thank you very much!

That was grabbed using the grabber that you linked to:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/xmltv/files/

So, it seems that it is the grabber at fault and not the TV Server (Argus). ?
That is sort of hopeful, as development on Argus TV is at a bit of a standstill, where as development on xmltv grabbing is ongoing.

 

[wjw]

@Robert Kulagowski

Following your post earlier I have also just downloaded the "official" grabber, configured and run it. I'm afraid the issue with Series/Episode numbers is still there - see the following extract from the downloaded file.


<programme start="20160701013500 +0000" stop="20160701020500 +0000" channel="I17155.json.schedulesdirect.org">
<title>Power Monkeys</title>
<desc>The results are in, the UK's fate has been decided. Tony is keen to begin the healing process, Preeya departs into government, and the David Cameron fudge has morphed into a sad metaphor.</desc>
<credits>
<actor>Jack Dee</actor>
<actor>Claire Skinner</actor>
<actor>Anthony Calf</actor>
<actor>Liz Kingsman</actor>
<actor>Kevin McNally</actor>
<actor>Andy Nyman</actor>
<actor>Gwyneth Keyworth</actor>
<actor>Archie Panjabi</actor>
<actor>Amelia Bullmore</actor>
<actor>Ayda Field</actor>
<actor>Robert Wilfort</actor>
<actor>Ben Willbond</actor>
<actor>Alec Utgoff</actor>
</credits>
<category>Comedy</category>
<category>Politics</category>
<category>Series</category>
<category>series</category>
<episode-num system="xmltv_ns">0.3.</episode-num>
<episode-num system="dd_progid">EP024389810004</episode-num>
<previously-shown start="20160624" />
</programme>
<programme start="20160701020500 +0000" stop="20160701023500 +0000" channel="I17155.json.schedulesdirect.org">
<title>Dispatches</title>
<sub-title>Are you Owed a Pay Rise?</sub-title>
<desc>Dispatches investigates the impact of the National Living Wage. Introduced earlier this year, it was supposed to mean a pay increase for some of Britain's poorest workers, but is everyone really getting richer?</desc>
<category>Newsmagazine</category>
<category>Community</category>
<category>Series</category>
<category>series</category>
<episode-num system="dd_progid">EP012813480234</episode-num>
<previously-shown start="20160627" />
</programme>

In the first program the data in the "XMLTV_NS" fomat is there in the line before the "dd_progid" format - which is good. However, in the very next programme the "xmltv_ns" format does not appear whereas the "dd_progid format does. As mm135200 explained elsewhere, MediaPortal does not support this format. This is why I run a post-process script to remove the "dd_progid" lines. Ideally it would be really great if the grabber could include a calculation element to extract the data from the "dd_progid" line and insert a new line into the file in the "xmltv_ns" format. This is well beyond my skills otherwise I would do it at the the same time as removing the problem line.

I also would very much like to see total number of episodes in the series included - does not appear in my downloaded file.

 

[mm1352000]

However, in the very next programme the "xmltv_ns" format does not appear whereas the "dd_progid format does. As mm135200 explained elsewhere, MediaPortal does not support this format.

This is true, but it isn't relevant if there's no episode-num for the xmltv_ns system. TV Server requires an xmltv_ns episode-num in order to pull in season and episode numbers from XMLTV sources. Any xmltv_ns episode-num needs to precede any other episode-nums such as dd_progid in order to be pulled in. However if there are only non-xmltv_ns episode-num(s) like in your second example, they'll pass through and be ignored without issue.

Ideally it would be really great if the grabber could include a calculation element to extract the data from the "dd_progid" line and insert a new line into the file in the "xmltv_ns" format.

They're completely different systems. As far as I'm aware one cannot directly convert or calculate the season and episode numbers from a dd_progid episode-num. Rather, they must be looked up in a system that has both pieces of info. Again, as far as I'm aware there is no such system which is freely accessible to the public. Therefore the dd_progid episode-num value is assumed to be an proprietary, opaque and unusable episode identifier.

 

[mm1352000]

@wjw
If you're curious, I think you'll find more information about the dd_progid format ("production codes") here:
http://developer.tmsapi.com/docs/read/data_v1_1

(Under "important GraceNote terms".)

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.
If the source did not have proper xmltv_ns numbers and you want to invest the time for post processing the guide xml file, there is a free and easy to use tool out there that tries to add as much episodes numbers and other data from TVDB to the Guide.xml before you import it into the TV Server Database.
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/episodes2tvguide-e2t-customizing-tvguide-xml.133843/
I'm using it and it has about 95% - 98% of all series episodes properly identified in daily usage. Depending on your internet connection, how much channels and days your guide covers, it may take one hour to complete or even more. But it runs without any user interaction so the pure time is not that important, imho...
The result is great, even the episode plot is filled, if no plot is ávailable in the "raw" guide... Never hat that good guide data epecially for series before...

 

[Robert Kulagowski]

For your Power Monkeys example, EP024389810004 was Season 1, Episode 4, with 5 total episodes (so far). If it's not in the XML data then you need to contact the XMLTV developers because they're the ones that are taking the JSON data and converting it to XML.

For Dispatches, the Season / Episode information isn't in the upstream data. Does Channel 4 publish an official Season / Episode list somewhere? I did a quick check and I didn't see it on their website.

 

[wjw]

@Robert Kulagowski Yes, I have now gone through the whole downloaded .xml file and I see that for some entries the total number of episodes is quoted. So it does seem to be a matter of the source data provided to Schedules Direct. if it's there then the grabber grabs it. Interestingly, I think is something the "official" grabber that you referenced is doing but which mc2xml isn't. Also, it looks as though with the "official" grabber the "xmltv_ns" line always appears before the "dd_prog_id" line. This will a post-process run as MP will now recognise this first and import the data correctly.

@Lehmden Thanks for the pointer - I'll be trying it out in the very near future.

 

[mm1352000]

but which mc2xml isn't

If one were to contact the mc2xml developer(s), I'm sure they would consider any suggested modifications or improvements seriously.