EPG for NA OTA/zap2it

Edward Crosby · 2017-03-23T16:55:01+00:00

So, I am running into an issue where parts of getting EPG to work is flaky when trying to pull from zap2it. I've been using this guide: https://github.com/r...

* drac2000 *

K Shea wrote:
> drac2000 wrote:
> > Now that zap2xml is not an option anymore ;)
>
> zap2xml was only "not an option" for about 4-5 days. ...
>
K shea, I think you got it wrong. It was not option for "me". I used zap2xml for few years now, and I enjoyed a lot (on different OS including windows) and all credits are for its author.

Now for my needs (Kodi on whatever OS you have), I found that zap2epg (even if it's still in dev) is quite simpler --in my opinion-- and fixes an issue with encoding (special chars in EPG descriptions).

K Shea

* drac2000 * wrote:
> K Shea wrote:
> > drac2000 wrote:
> > > Now that zap2xml is not an option anymore ;)
> >
> > zap2xml was only "not an option" for about 4-5 days. ...
> >
> K shea, I think you got it wrong. It was not option for "me". I used zap2xml for few years now, and I enjoyed a lot (on different OS including windows) and all credits are for its author.

> Now for my needs (Kodi on whatever OS you have), I found that zap2epg (even if it's still in dev) is quite simpler --in my opinion-- and fixes an issue with encoding (special chars in EPG descriptions).

Well you are certainly entitled to your opinion, and to use the software that you prefer. All else being relatively equal, I prefer to stick with the software I already know how to use, but maybe you are the type of person that likes to experiment with the latest software, and that's fine too. Anyway, it's good that there are multiple options!

I personally have never noticed an issue with special characters in EPG descriptions, maybe that's what zap2xml's "-e = encode entities (html special characters like accents)" option is for?

* drac2000 *

K Shea wrote:

> I personally have never noticed an issue with special characters in EPG descriptions, maybe that's what zap2xml's "-e = encode entities (html special characters like accents)" option is for?
>

You are right, I've seen that switch and I used it but I think it was fixing the titles but not the descriptions or details. So maybe I didn't got it well (I used it in a windows context in a long time). But just make my point, I've a lot of respect to all the community and the specially open-source project authors. Thanks to all of them.

drac2000

edit4ever !

FYI - I have pushed the 0.7.1 update to zap2epg that deals with an error in the episode id number.

This error was causing tvheadend to record all shows on a channel when setting a series recording.

Please update to fix this issue:

https://github.com/edit4ever/script.module.zap2epg/releases

Thanks!

edit4ever !

For those interested - I have posted a basic setup guide wiki as well as information on manually creating/editing the settings.xml file. This is useful for those that just want to run zap2epg.py without running it as a kodi addon.

https://github.com/edit4ever/script.module.zap2epg/wiki

Please let me know if any information needs more detail.

Thanks!

K Shea

edit4ever ! wrote:

> For those interested - I have posted a basic setup guide wiki as well as information on manually creating/editing the settings.xml file. This is useful for those that just want to run zap2epg.pywithout running it as a kodi addon.

Huh? Doesn't look like it...

> https://github.com/edit4ever/script.module.zap2epg/wiki >

> Please let me know if any information needs more detail.

From the first paragraph: "Configuration is done through the addon in kodi..." and I see nothing that shows how to use it without running it as a kodi addon. What's needed is a non-GUI utility or script that can be run on a server.

edit4ever !

K Shea wrote:

> Huh? Doesn't look like it...

Please keep in mind...my intention in creating the zap2epg addon was to simplify the setup process for those who are not technically inclined (and new to kodi pvr setups).

That being said, since some people started to ask for a way to use the script outside of a kodi/tvheadend setup, I wanted to let everyone know that I designed the zap2epg.py script to be run on it's own without kodi. However - it does require the settings.xml file for configuration.

Since someone asked how the settings.xml file works I have now put that information in the wiki under the settings.xml section. https://github.com/edit4ever/script.module.zap2epg/wiki/6.-Settings.xml

Basically - just copy the zap2epg.py file to whatever system/directory you want. Create/Copy the settings.xml to the same directory. Configure the settings.xml the way you want based on the new wiki information. And now run the zap2epg.py script. If it generates an xmltv.xml file - bingo! Now just setup a cron to run it once or twice a day and you're good to go.

K Shea

edit4ever ! wrote:
> Since someone asked how the settings.xml file works I have now put that information in the wiki under the settings.xml section. https://github.com/edit4ever/script.module.zap2epg/wiki/6.-Settings.xml

You didn't link to that specific page in your previous post, so that's why I didn't see it. After looking it over, I don't personally see anything that at the present time would induce me to switch from zap2xml, if only because I'm already familiar with that software. The two limitations I see are that it's not real clear how the "desc01", etc. settings are used, but the bigger problem is that if you can receive channels from more than one TV market there is no easy way to download or combine listings from a second area. Your program expects there to be one configuration file, and in that file it appears you can only specify a single lineup. For some people (those that can only receive channels from a single market) this will not be an issue, but for others it's a fairly major limitation.

I do realize that you could probably have multiple copies of your program, each with its own configuration file, in different directories on your system, but that's still not exactly an easy thing to deal with. In contrast, with zaptoxml there are options to specify filenames and you actually don't even need a configuration file, since all options can be specified on the command line, and it does have an option to combine xml files. So, it is much easier to run it more than once to pick up additional lineups.

Different people have different preferences in software and I'm sure yours will appeal to some people, in fact it might be much more appealing to me if I only received channels from a single market area, if only because of my slight dislike of Perl scripts. If you can ever get it to download and combine listings from multiple lineups, then I think it will be much more useful to those of us in those "between market" areas.

edit4ever !

K Shea wrote:

> Different people have different preferences in software

Agreed. My main focus was to get noobs up and running with a guide in a simple way - especially for those using setups like LibreELEC. I am happy to contunue looking into making it easier/better to use for those with more experience in setting their systems up manually.

Multiple lineups is something I can investigate. Just as an FYI, I have found that if you choose a different zipcode in the "in between" areas, you often can get a lineup that includes both markets. For example, here in San Diego, many but not all of the zipcodes include the LA OTA stations as well as the San Diego stations. So one can check on zap2it to see if there is a zipcode that will pull both markets.

I can also look at setting up either command line arguments for the options - but it would be messy to handle the DESC01 type options that append information to the plot description. Maybe I can make a command line based setup interface if that would be desired.

K Shea

edit4ever ! wrote:

> I can also look at setting up either command line arguments for the options - but it would be messy to handle the DESC01 type options that append information to the plot description. Maybe I can make a command line based setup interface if that would be desired.

Even if you could just do something as simple as

zap2epg.py settings1.xml
zap2epg.py settings2.xml
zap2epg.py settings3.xml

...

That would make it easier, although you'd still need a way to combine the resulting xml listings files, but that can be easily done using sed if I recall correctly (I just saw something about that on a page the other day). That would need to be done between runs of your program, so that subsequent runs after the first don't overwrite previous output files.

Or better yet

zap2epg.py settings1.xml settings2.xml settings3.xml ...

With automatic combination of the resulting output xml files. That way you could keep all the existing options (though I still don't quite understand the need for the DESC01 options) and you wouldn't need multiple directories or multiple instances of your program.

As for the using the zipcode from an "in between" area trick, I know that will work in many areas, but where it kind of falls apart is for free-to-air satellite viewers that can receive channels from multiple non-contiguous areas. It's a bit hard to explain if you aren't into free-to-air satellite, and not many people are, but often you can receive channels that would be offered on a subchannel (one of the .2, .3, .4 etc channels) in some markets, but maybe not in yours. Then, to get listings you need to find a station that actually carries that channel, even if it's nowhere near you, and associate the schedule for that channel with the satellite feed. Or maybe you get both east and west coast feeds of a channel such as public broadcasting, in that case you may want to incorporate the listings for that channel from the generic eastern and pacific time zone listings. I would not spend a lot of time worrying about this because you probably could count the number of free-to-air viewers that use Tvheadend and that read this forum on both hands (maybe even just one hand), but just wanted to explain that there can be situations where someone might want listings from multiple areas that are not contiguous.

edit4ever !

K Shea wrote:

> ...but just wanted to explain that there can be situations where someone might want listings from multiple areas that are not contiguous.

Thanks for clarifying. I actually have an idea for how to do this - but it will be easiest to setup in the kodi interface to make sure that the channel list gets configured, in order to limit the number of downloads.

In your case, do you use kodi at all on any system? If so, I can build the interface for configuration - and then the zap2epg.py and settings.xml file can be copied to any other system you want to run the script on.

K Shea

edit4ever ! wrote:
> K Shea wrote:
> > ...but just wanted to explain that there can be situations where someone might want listings from multiple areas that are not contiguous.
>
> Thanks for clarifying. I actually have an idea for how to do this - but it will be easiest to setup in the kodi interface to make sure that the channel list gets configured, in order to limit the number of downloads.
>

> In your case, do you use kodi at all on any system? If so, I can build the interface for configuration - and then the zap2epg.py and settings.xml file can be copied to any other system you want to run the script on.

I actually do run Kodi, but not on the same system as my Tvheadend backend. And right now I'm happy with the way zap2xml is working, and I don't want to go through the hassle of using a Kodi addon that's not in their "approved" official repository. My strong preference is to let Kodi be Kodi, and let Tvheadend be Tvheadend, and not try to mix the two except via the official Tvheadend PVR addon for Kodi. So if you want to try and add that functionality using the Kodi interface that's fine, and it may help some people, but I personally would not be likely to use it as long as it's not in the official Kodi addon repo. Also, I am still running Kodi Isengard, because newer versions of Kodi have broken some functionality, so chances are that if your addon expects a newer version of Kodi it wouldn't run on my Kodi installation anyway.

As a side note, I realize that at some point I will probably be forced to upgrade Kodi and I really dread that day, just as I dread most major software upgrades, because nowadays they tend to break more things than they fix (Tvheadend being an exception to this; I don't think I've ever yet done a Tvheadend upgrade where the newer version hasn't been better than the one it replaced; even so I seldom upgrade once I have a working Tvheaded installation). But it's definitely not going to happen until after Ubuntu 18.04 has been out for a while, at which point I will probably start over with a clean install of Ubuntu and then install Kodi. But given my aversion to upgrades to working software, and because I have specifically read that newer versions of Kodi have some issues with passthrough audio, it's likely I won't upgrade until just before the long term support period for Ubuntu 14.04 ends next year.

Kian Rafiee

I am getting the following error in the log file for zap2epg.py:

2018/01/28 15:40:35 Exception: main
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "zap2epg.py", line 718, in mainRun
tvhMatchGet()
File "zap2epg.py", line 115, in tvhMatchGet
response = urllib2.urlopen(channels_url)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 154, in urlopen
return opener.open(url, data, timeout)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 429, in open
response = self._open(req, data)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 447, inopen 'open', req)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 407, incallchain
result = func(*args)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 1228, in http_open
return self.do_open(httplib.HTTPConnection, req)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 1198, in do_open
raise URLError(err)
URLError: <urlopen error [Errno 111] Connection refused>

Kian Rafiee

Never mind had to disable tvheadend stuff.

Dan Vachon

edit4ever Hi...

I really appreciate your kodi addon " zap2epg" But i'm trying to install it on a Odroid-HC2 NAS with openmediavault...or dietpi......my zap2epg work very nicely on

libreelec.....But kodi and me...it's over.....i prefer plex....on docker via my nas....with tvheadend as pvr....lol

I finally install openmediavault....on it....It's a nice little NAS server....

But for the benefit of all.....would it be possible to create a "Docker" for "zap2epg" or having an integrated tvheadend's docker with zap2epg included.... or a

zap2epg for Plex's docker....

I know i ask too much...lol

But the idea is to replace my old Windows Media Center who is eating tons of electrons......lol

My Droid HC2 run on 12 volts with 6 TB RED WD

http://www.hardkernel.com/main/_Files/prdt/2018/201801/201801130635362637.jpg

just like that....for more infos...

http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G151505170472

https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-docker-and-why-is-it-so-darn-popular/

https://www.docker.com/

Or another possibility is to add or integrating zap2epg grabber to tvheaden's grabber software all this without kodi........

Thanks !!

Dan

jim dods

Hi edit4ever!

I have been using your program nicely with a couple lineups (in separate directories) with only 5-10 channels. I recently switched my main lineup over to zap2epg, which has 85 channels. In the slist, i have those channel IDs. However, no matter what i do, it only outputs 5 channels to the xmltv file. Would you have any idea why this happens?

Thanks

edit4ever !

@jim dods - happy to try to help...would you be able to provide the zap2peg.log file?

jim dods

Thanks. I have been playing around with it. It seems to be only certain channels. For my latest one, I have about 70 channels, but only 32 write to XMLTV (those with actual channels number <100). Thanks'

I should add, running from the Kodi addon works for those channels, like Show 11115, but I run it via command line on RasPi server and it does pull it in.

edit4ever !

Thanks for the log - it will definitely help. Looks like there are some errors with individual show details - and it seems there is a naming bug in the code that is showing up for those...which I'll have to dig into.

It is only showing 32 channels - so to dig into that - can you provide the channels.json file? I want to compare the channel info and how the system is pulling.

It will probably be another day or so until I can fully dig in - but thanks for providing the info on the issue!

jim dods

Thank you. Which .json file to provide? there are so many, and not sure how to tell which is for which channel.

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