xmltv install / configure for ATSC / OTA U.S.A (1 Viewer)

[breese]

EDIT: I am working on a new setup of this and will post here when completed. The new setup will allow the addition of Series info by means of TVGuide.com. As an added bonus, the channel mappings produce a greater number of Auto-Mappings.
Thanks goes out to zap2xml for the recent updates allowing all this to be possible!

This is an effort to ease the install and configuration of the xmltv plugin included with MP1 and MP2.
While Schedules Direct and others require the use of a paid service, the following uses a free service, as such I have documented and moved over to it.

Any and all comments or recomendations are welcome. Once this has been tested by others, I will ask it becomes a Sticky.

Info Source:
Create an account on tvschedule.zap2it.com
Edit your account for the area code and service (Cable Company, OTA, Etc. )
Close your browser.

Download zap2xml ( http://zap2xml.awardspace.info/ ) EDIT: Author requested download from his site only... My Bad...
NOTE: Think of the best place to install zap2xml.
I choose to install it on the root of my F:\TVGuide drive and directory in order to make it easier to locate and configure the scheduling.
This allows the application to continue to get updates even while I am doing Clean Installs for testing and, at any given time this folder can take up 12Plus megs of space depending on the number of channels.

Once zap2xml is installed:
Download from this thread the xmltv.zip file, unpack it, and copy the xmltv.dtd file to:
C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Server\SlimTVCore\v3.0\xmltv\

Open the folder where you installed the zap2xml.exe and create a file called zap2xmlrc.txt
Add the following lines within this new text file
NOTE: Do not include the Quote Marks after the Equal Sign

days="put the # of days you want downloaded every day"
user="UserName used on zap2it.com"
pass="Password used on zap2it.com"
outfile="F:\TVGuide\tvguide.xml" ---- As I said above - This is My Location and File Name Used
Save and Close the file.

From the same location, run the zap2xml.exe with the following command line
zap2xml -u tvguideuser@email.xx -p password -o myfile.xml
tvguideuser@email.xx == Your zap2it username
password ==Your zap2it password
myfile.xml == tvguide.xml

Once started you should see a new tvguide.xml file in this folder.
NOTE: This can take a few minutes to complete... F5 within the folder and monitor the size of the file.
Once completed, you can open the tvguide.xml
There should be channel and guide within it.

Example:
<tv source-info-url="http://tvschedule.zap2it.com/" source-info-name="zap2it.com" generator-info-name="zap2xml" generator-info-url="zap2xml@gmail.com">
<channel id="I91649.labs.zap2it.com">
<display-name>2.2 WBBMDT2</display-name>
<display-name>2.2</display-name>
<display-name>WBBMDT2</display-name>
</channel>


MediaPortal TV Configuration

Open the MediaPortal 2 TV Configuration

Configure your TV Tuner

Complete a channel scan

NOTE: You can view the channels found while the scan is running and you can go back to the scan to monitor its completion.

Click on Plugin's
Put a check mark next to xmltv
Click on xmltv under Plugin's
Under the General Tab, change the location of the TVGuide.xml to where your file is
NOTE: You Must Uncheck the box Import files in the new tvguide.lst

Click on Import
NOTE: If all goes as planned, this may take some time to complete and will populate
Last import run at:
Total channels imported:
Total programs imported: This will get populated after we map the channels.

Click on Mappings (If it does not change to Mappings, the Importer is Still running, Once the importer is done the Mappings tab will open)
Place a Check Mark on Partial match
Pull down the Group and choose All Channels
Click on Load/Refresh

Once Loaded, Click Save
NOTE: The MediaPortal TV Configure window can be dragged to make larger making it easier to configure.

The channel mappings might not locate some or all your channels.
To resolve this, locate the MP2 Server Log file and open it (Leave the TV Configure Open)

The channels will be in the same order within both the Server Log and TV Configure.
Do a find for your first channel (mine is CBS2-HD)
Use the maj:# and the min:# to now locate (thru the pull down) the correct channel mappings.

Example From Server Log:
[2015-12-13 14:00:20,632] [9340335] [80 ] [DEBUG] - atsc:Found: ATSC:tv:Terrestrial CBS2-HD Freq:-1 ONID:1 TSID:999 SID:1 PMT:0x0 FTA:True LCN:2001 phys:12 maj:2 min:1 mod:Mod8Vsb


Repeate the steps for all the other channels
Click on the General Tab and then Click the Import Button again.
NOTE: Because we have now completed the mappings of all channels, this will take some time and should fill in all the imported info

Task Scheduler:
To automate the download and install of the TVGuide, create a Task Schedule
Here are the setting I currently Use

 

[dmacleo]

huh I get an account not found error but I can actually log in just fine.
did hand type the cmd to make sure I didn't have format error.
any thoughts?
the guide issue is only reason I have not upgraded from MP1.x series, OTA in rural Maine so web epg a PITA

EDIT
Found issue, had to remove the -z
http://zap2xml.awardspace.info/
-z = use tvguide.com instead of zap2it.com

 

[breese]

Is it working now?

 

[dmacleo]

think so have not done the MP end yet but the xml file is pulling correct info.
was wondering if you meant -Z as the cmd as that is
-Z <zipcode> (if not using username/password)
but the -z was (I could see in cmd run) looking at tvguide.com

 

[dmacleo]

I did have to place the xmltv.dtd file in the working directory for the tvguide.xml file
I did also place it where you stated
once I did that it worked fine and guide works as it should.

would like to find a way to make scheduled direct dlls work, need to read up on the source code I guess. I suck at that though LOL

 

[JoeyDaPh1sH]

Thanks, you saved me a lot of time. Was struggling with webEPG but This worked great! Had to create an account just to say thanks.

 

[breese]

Thanks, you saved me a lot of time. Was struggling with webEPG but This worked great! Had to create an account just to say thanks.

Your welcome

 

[ghatch]

Breese,
I can get the epg to work using the command line approach, but cannot get the task scheduler to work. I believe I have it set up the same way as you, but it does not pass any of the arguments when zap2xml.exe is run through the task scheduler. So what is returned is simply a list of the arguments "options" that can be passed to zap2xml. The same information is returned if I execute zap2xml.exe without any options. Any ideas?

Thank you for this thread. I was not able to get an EPG until I tried your method that was documented so well.
Garry

 

[breese]

If you are getting the list of options, then there is some type of a typo.
The last picture I have posted are the exact options and spaces between the options I use.

 

[ghatch]

You were 100% correct. My options were fine, but I had not noticed the "start in (optional)" entry. I filled in my file location and it immediately started working. Thank you for getting me to go back and looking at everything one more time.