Tvheadend doesn't get episode or broadcast info from xmltv.xml file, only channel info is read

J Padilla

I can't figure out why Tvheadend won't read the episode information from the xmltv file I generated using the epg grabber tv_grab_uk_tvguide

Every time I run the epg grabber (test file with only 4 channels) I get the results shown below:

channels tot= 4 new= 0 mod= 0
brands tot= 0 new= 0 mod= 0
seasons tot= 0 new= 0 mod= 0
episodes tot= 0 new= 0 mod= 0

broadcasts tot= 0 new= 0 mod= 0

I know that tv_grab_uk_tvguide is working because below is an excerpt of the contents of the xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE tv SYSTEM "xmltv.dtd">

<tv source-info-url="http://my.tvguide.co.uk/" source-info-name="TV Guide UK" generator-info-name="tv_grab_uk_tvguide" generator-info-url="http://wiki.xmltv.org/index.php/XMLTVProject"> <channel id="1033">
<display-name lang="en">BoxNation</display-name>
</channel>
<channel id="134">
<display-name lang="en">Discovery Science</display-name>
</channel>
<channel id="610">
<display-name lang="en">NHK World</display-name>
</channel>
<channel id="634">
<display-name lang="en">Discovery Science +1</display-name>
</channel>
<programme start="20170814000000 +0100" channel="134">
<title lang="en">Food Factory</title>
<sub-title lang="en">Salty and Sweet</sub-title>
<desc lang="en">An insight into how certain foods are produced, beginning with doughnuts, ice-cream, Korean kimchi and kosher salt.</desc>
<category lang="en">General Education</category>
<category lang="en">Science</category>
<category lang="en">Factual Topics</category>
<episode-num system="xmltv_ns">1.0/26.</episode-num>
<star-rating>
<value>6.2/10</value>

</star-rating>

Now here is the really strange thing:

I already successfully run the zap2xml grabber and that one works properly.

As a test I even renamed the zap2xml file so that the tv_grab_uk_tvguide module would read it and it STILL only read the channel info.

Any help would be appreciated, I've spent a week trying to figure this out but can't get it to work.

J Padilla

Ok, I got this working, solution is below:

There were two issues going on simultaneously:

Issue 1:

The epg grabber tv_grab_uk_tvguide is BROKEN the xmltv.xml file it generates does not include show end times and hence why it could never pick up any episode info.

Issue 2:
This is a common mistake that many overlook; You have to map the epg guide for the channels found in the xmltv.xml file to the channels you have in TVheadend first before it will download any episodes, and then you have to trigger the epg grabber again to see if the episode info is downloaded.

Robert Cameron

Re. 1: You ought to report this to the XMLTV project so they can fix the grabber.

Re. 2: Yes, even if your grabber maintains its own list of channels to grab for, Tvheadend maintains its own second set of enabled channels, and only seems to read info for channels you have mapped and enabled. Ensuring they both match is also one way to cut down on network bandwidth so you're not grabbing info for channels you don't need.

jim dods

Hi, very new to this, and have gotten one grabber setup. Now I am trying to get the UK guide grabber to work. I can run the command on a RasPi setup to output an .xml file, only by using the --output switch on the command line. Shouldn't the grabber file output this automatic when it is run from TVH? Also, how did you resolve the no show end time?

Thank you. This is a great program.

J Padilla

As I said in my previous post, the tv_grab_uk_tvguide grabber is broken the xmltv.xml file it generates does not include show end times.

I had to use a different grabber in order to get useful guide data, that grabber is called: Webgrabplus

Webgrabplus will generate a .xml file which TVHeadend can then read and pull the info from by using a grabfile. You will need to set up a cron job (a daily task scheduler that's part of linux) so that webgrabplus can generate the .xml file on a regularly scheduled basis (I do it twice a week)

Then under TVHeadend you set up the grabfile to read the .xml file generated by webgrabplus on a regular basis.

This is where the grab file is available: https://github.com/Rigolo/tv-grab-file

You will have to edit the file from the link above with the details and location of the .xml file generated by webgrab plus. The tv_grab file itself needs to be located in the same folder where the other tvheadend grabbers are located

Read up on how to use webgrabplus.

Also I recommend you read up on how to use a program called zap2xml (zap2xml is for the USA only though) but it'll help you understand how all this works together.

jim dods

Thank you J, I will read up on webgrabplus. That is just the info I was looking for.

Regards.