tv_grab_file only grabs 24 hours EPG

Mark Partridge

Hi,

I started using TVHeadend last week and everything is working great. Just 1 issue that has me stumped. I'm using tv_grab_file to import EPG data from an available XMLTV source I have. But each import only grabs 24 hours data. I can't figure out how to extend this. I have confirmed my source file and it definitely contains more than 24 hours, so i'm a stuck on this one.

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

Mark Partridge

Anyone who can help on this?

Robert Cameron

Have you tried getting the XMLTV into Tvheadend using the socket from the same source? Which

tv_grab_file

are you using, as I've seen several out there?

Mark Partridge

the source of the XMLTV is a weblink. I'm using wget to pull the file locally in a cron job, then using tv_grab_file to pull it into tvheadend.

I was not aware there was more than 1 tv_grab_file. I've seen it in a few locations, but the content was all the same. The only difference I saw were with and without the spelling mistake that is in the older version. i'm using the version off the github page.

Robert Cameron

If you use

tv_grab_file

from the command line, does its output match the XMLTV source? If so, then it's a TVH problem, if not then the problem is with your @tv_grab_file@.

Mark Partridge

Yes, it has the same output running it from the command. tv_grab_file looks like it does not have any parameters to set duration. Is there any way to expand the number of days with it?

Robert Cameron

In general, most XMLTV grabbers support

--days

and

--offset

to specify the number of days to grab, and which days to skip ahead for the grab.

You still haven't indicated the source of your grabber. Can you post it here? It's basically just a wrapper for @curl@, IIRC.

Mark Partridge

This is the source of the file...

https://github.com/Rigolo/tv-grab-file

It doesnt support specifying --days like other grabbers. If there is an alternative one somewhere that does specify, that would be great.

Robert Cameron

And what script/cronjob are you using to update the source XMLTV file you are retrieving?

The reason I ask is because that script merely spits out the XMLTV to stdout. So the problem must be the XMLTV file itself that

tv_grab_file

is reading. How are you downloading the XMLTV file? (And if you are using another program to download the XMLTV file to your harddrive, why not just feed it to Tvheadend's xmltv.sock rather than using another step of the dummy grabber?)

Mark Partridge

I am simply running a wget direct from a cron job to download the xmltv file from a web link.

I was not aware of the method you mention, but I will do some reading. Will it allow me to pull the file direct from a web link?

Robert Cameron

Mark Partridge wrote:
> I am simply running a wget direct from a cron job to download the xmltv file from a web link.
>

> I was not aware of the method you mention, but I will do some reading. Will it allow me to pull the file direct from a web link?

http://docs.tvheadend.org/webui/config_epggrab/

That link contains the information on configuring the XMLTV socket. Basically, you go to

Configuration > Channel / EPG > EPG Grabber Modules@, and from there select the @External: XMLTV

grabber. Select "Enable" and save, and the "Path" field will tell you where the socket is. (On my installation, that's @/home/hts/.hts/tvheadend/epggrab/xmltv.sock@.)

Then, modify your cronjob so that instead of just saving your XMLTV file, you pipe it to that socket (using netcat, socat, &c.), i.e.: @curl -sSL [URL of XMLTV file] | netcat -u /home/hts/.hts/tvheadend/epggrab/xmltv.sock@, replacing the URL of wherever you are downloading your XMLTV file from.

Mark Partridge

i've tried this, but it doesnt seem to work direct from the web link. It works passing the file locally to the xmltv socket, but the web link does not. I'm guessing that is because it passes a username and password in the URL. Passing the file locally still only results in 24 hours, so i'm guessing the issue is something in the file itself.

Many thanks for your assistance Robert.

G Kazaroth

are you still having issues creating the xmltv.xml file?

Mark Partridge

Yes, i switched to the socket method advised by Robert, but it is still only giving me 24 hours. It's obviously not the grabber, as both methods do the same, so i'm assuming it is something to do with my source.

G Kazaroth

The reason I asked is I am working on a verification and installation script that should get everything cleaned up and working. It uses the files I used when I installed my set. It does assumes you are running Debian operating system, but if you are, you can give it a shot. The guide is at
https://github.com/rocky4546/script.xmltv.tvheadend/wiki and the release software is
https://github.com/rocky4546/script.xmltv.tvheadend/releases It needs one last piece to work from http://zap2xml.awardspace.info/ which is described on the wiki page. Let me know if you are interested and have any questions.