Zap2it free TV listings XML is no more. (28 Viewers)

[antidot]

This is how I do it with a batch file:

@echo off
cd c:\zap2xml
newzap2xml -d 14 -F -u username -p password

cd \Program Files (x86)\Geekzone\EPG Collector
EPGCollector.exe /ini="C:\ProgramData\Geekzone\EPG Collector\EPG Collector.ini"
exit

Again, this is for windows and media center.

 

[NRivera637]

Well Antodit, the message I posted was based on all my efforts as indicated by the advice of many. In the beginning they did work for a week or two but then GraceNote began to rotate their IP numbers (some ROUND ROBIN thing) making it difficult to 'capture', 'plug into hosts file' and 'run zap2xml' before the IP was rotated out - I've timed it to seconds between flips.

Sample three(3) IP numbers rotated during day. New threesome used following day:

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: gn5462-gapzap-prod-webuialb-401831066.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com
Addresses: 35.162.137.176
44.236.15.236
34.210.152.133
Aliases: tvlistings.gracenote.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I did see your executable but my 'Windows Defender' started barking at me and wouldn't let me use your files. I worked around it but then got spooked and set it aside. I don't get all the jibber-jabber you wrote but then I have no ego to bruise (Spock). I am a Programmer - everything from COBOL to Visual Basic. Unfortunately not the lingo used in these fancy newer apps.

But to be fair, as I was swept away by the jibber-jabber... I decided to try out your file - all that's needed is for it to work. So thank you for your effort there and I'll circle back and post how I made out. Thanks.

 

[mrceolla]

ALSO, when trying to extract the .exe file from the .zip file, my computer's A/V gave me a false positive. No idea why. Maybe the perl compiler has a code that triggers something. The file is 100% clean, and only goes to gracenote.com, as it is based on the .pl file.

I think compilers "throw" in all the necessary libraries, perl environment or whatever to make the .exe file work on its own. Me thinks....I'm not a programmer.

Sooooo... Based on what you said here I went to initiate a Windows Defender scan on the downloaded zip file, and then the file disappeared. Of course I can't seem to find evidence of Windows Defender removing it. I right-clicked to initiate the scan and by the time the window opened the file was gone and Defender said it scanned zero files. Kind of alarming. What is your antivirus?

You're right, an exe can include code from other sources besides your single perl script. Maybe scan your whole perl directory?

 

[Noise672]

This is what Windows 11 Defender says in French :

Thank you all for trying to find a solution.

 

[antidot]

Ok, here we go. I took the publicly available.pl (Perl) file and using a perl compiler, compiled it into a windows executable. Then I zipped the file to make it smaller for easier sharing. Than I downloaded the same file from this forum, and tried unzipping it to make sure everything was kosher.

My Windows Defender popped up, and started complaining. I disabled it, ran the file with the same old arguments, and everything worked. Why it's triggering a false positive A/V is beyond me. Maybe the perl compiler included some libraries that A/V flags, I don't know. I used Strawberry Perl for this.

Anyway, I don't want to go too deep into this. I'm trying to help, if a false positive spookes you, that don't use it. Period.

I've been using MCE for 15 years now. When Microsoft stopped providing EPG I had to switch. Somebody developed a zap2xml.exe and epgcollector.exe to remedy the problem. Used them until 2 months ago when zap2it got swallowed up by gracenote.

This created a problem as zap2it.com was hardcoded into the zap2xml.exe file. Nobody could reverse engineer it. So the only solution was to manually redirect zap2it -> gracenote, which could be only accomplished by modifying the hosts file in windows. This is internet 101 by the way.

It came to the surfacet hat gracenote was using AWS, and their gracenote IP was changing almost on a daily basis, so a fixed IP in your hosts file would work only for a short period of time.

There was a gentleman who actually developed a nslookup (batch file), that would automatically update the hosts file with the current gracenote.com IP. It was an awesome solution, and I ran it prior to the zap2xml.exe, and I would always get proper EPG from gracenote.

So far, so good. Thing changed again, when AWS decided to deny certain "agents" to login to their services (gracenote). This could not be remedied with a batch file of any sort, it was a game changer. Luckily, there was someone out there with Perl knowledge who wrote the zap2xml.pl file, but you needed a 1GB Perl environment to execute it.

I tested it, it worked. But, I thought there must be a cleaner solution, just an .exe file just like before. I ran into a Reddit post how to compile .exe from .pl using Perl. So, using a perfectly working zap2xml.pl file and ran it through a Perl compiler, and 2 miutes later voila. I had my newly created newzap2xml.exe file. Tested it, worked like a charm.

To make the long story short, this solution has all the problems solved. I will continue to use gracenote's FREE EPG service, for as long as it works. Now that I have a proper zap2xml.pl (as a source file), any problems in the future such as domain names, agents or whatever changes will be easy to correct.

I have 4 MCE computers at home, they all pull EPG flawlessly from gracenote. If I may suggest disabling your A/V for minute, download and unzip the file ( exctract the newzap2xml.exe). Run it with the exact same command arguments (switches) as the older zap2xml.exe, it will run just fine.

Seems to me that the whole subject has boiled down to "do I trust this file" vs hey "does it actually work?"

I'm not a A/V specialist, nor a Perl programmer, just used tools readily available on the Internet. Already spent way to much time crapshootin' the subject, and trying to explain myself for trying to help the MCE community. This is the best I can do with my knowledge and tools to make free EPG work properly again.

Cheers

 

[antidot]

Well Antodit, the message I posted was based on all my efforts as indicated by the advice of many. In the beginning they did work for a week or two but then GraceNote began to rotate their IP numbers (some ROUND ROBIN thing) making it difficult to 'capture', 'plug into hosts file' and 'run zap2xml' before the IP was rotated out - I've timed it to seconds between flips.

Sample three(3) IP numbers rotated during day. New threesome used following day:

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: gn5462-gapzap-prod-webuialb-401831066.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com
Addresses: 35.162.137.176
44.236.15.236
34.210.152.133
Aliases: tvlistings.gracenote.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I did see your executable but my 'Windows Defender' started barking at me and wouldn't let me use your files. I worked around it but then got spooked and set it aside. I don't get all the jibber-jabber you wrote but then I have no ego to bruise (Spock). I am a Programmer - everything from COBOL to Visual Basic. Unfortunately not the lingo used in these fancy newer apps.

But to be fair, as I was swept away by the jibber-jabber... I decided to try out your file - all that's needed is for it to work. So thank you for your effort there and I'll circle back and post how I made out. Thanks.

Basically, you can NOT use a fixed IP address to download EPG from gracenote, as their IP changes on a daily basis. So, the hosts file method will only work if you run a "tracert tvlistings.gracenote.com" and whatever IP you get back immediately plug into your hosts file. Then it will work, until they change their IP again. At least this was the case until 2 weeks ago.

This method won't work anymore (even with a correct IP), becasue AWS where gracenote is hosted needs an updated "agent" https://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12700&start=100 to log in.

Now this a problem, trying to use the old zap2xml.exe file. My newzap2xml.exe addresses both issues, as it is based on a working .pl file. The updater looks for tvlistings.gracenote.com and uses an updated "agent", so your login won't get rejected by AWS.

 

[mangraveydavey]

For anyone who was using a python script for Zap2xml like me, with the help of the user agent suggestion and Grok I updated my zap2xml.py to the attached and I have guide data again. I had already previously modified the URLs to gracenote previously.

More lightweight than the pearl version. Idk about the .exe. I already had something that worked a week ago so I didn't want to start from scratch. I use windows and Jellyfin/nextPVR. A batch file and task scheduler automate my guide data. I don't post on forums much because normally my problems are old and there's already a solution. First time I've been on the front lines . Hope someone finds this helpful!

Original source was arantius. A very simple script to fetch EPG data from zap2it.com and write it to XMLTV format. GitHub - arantius/zap2xml-py: A very simple script to fetch EPG data from zap2it.com and write it to XMLTV format.

 

[Noise672]

@antidot

Thank you for your newzap2xml.exe. It worked perfectly.

I had to remap chanels. Maybe because I ran it on a different less critical Windows 11 with Defender disable.
Then copied xmltv.xml / tvguide.xml to my TVServer Windows machine. Remapping needed maybe because out of sync with the xmltv.dtv or I don't know.

Anyway all is looking good.

Thanks again

 

[pfilippone]

For all the Windows users wanting to use a simple .exe to download EPG from Gracenote, here is the freshly compiled file. User agent correction applied, as well.

Cheers

PS It's been reported that when extracting the .exe file from the .zip container the A/V system may complain. It's a false positive, the file is just a recompiled .pl into .exe. May contain libraries that A/V don't like, I don't know. Works for me.

@antidot: I appreciate your help in getting EPG listings to work, but unfortunately I get an error when using newzap2it.exe .
Error screenshot:
newzap2it-err.png
Any assistance you can provide is greatly appreciated. I disabled my antivirus to avoid the issues mentioned previously.
Also I tried the -Z option which seems to allow entering a zip code instead of username/password, but still complains about needing to login with a username/password.

FYI I have a free account with Gracenote. I use MediaPortal to import EPG from an XML file. I was using mc2xml program successfully until the recent updated agent change by Gracenote . I am the creator of this thread if it gives me any brownie points.

Thanks

 

[NRivera637]

Greetings @mangraveydavey

I've looked at your contribution here but noticed you're offering a 'Zap2XML.py' file whereas my Zap2Xml uses only 'Zap2xml.pl' files. I also realized I've been chasing my tail testing solutions for MCE and not my setup. Also realized that solutions provided might be not only for MCE but also for Linux..? If this is true then I blame incomplete descriptions presented and my unfamiliarity of those other environments. Below is my setup:


I am running MP 1.37 on Win10/Win11 and use the MP XML Plugin to import the TVGuide Data in TVguide.XML created by my Zap2XML

This guy below would import the TVguide.XML data created which I would then map for use.


So for my future awareness and reference, what systems are the PY files used versus the PL files..? Will appreciate clarification - Thanks.

Also, I'd like to extend this revelation to @antidot with whom I was unknowingly vultureing. Apologies.

I have 5 days of listing left so hopefully a solution can be found by then - While this will not lead to mass suicide I expect... it will lead to frustration , anger and broke-ass hearts .

We stand at the mercy of those who know -