External channel setting to disable

JiRo

I use Tvheadend to receive free Czech Television channels from its web interface. For a certain set of channels, the provider uses the channel allocation method from a channel pool and then defines what is broadcast on which channel in its EPG, which is always generated for these channels only for the next 24 hours.
I have all the channels of this pool defined in Tvheadend, but because the broadcast is not continuous and does not permanently occupy all channels from the pool, most of the time most of the channels are without any program, and only a video loop is running on them and their EPG is empty.
To ensure a clear display of the channel list and EPG in the client (Kodi), I would need to be able to block the channel in Tvheadend (set the Enable channel status to False), preferably from an external script that I use to periodically load the EPG).
I tried to do this by changing the status value in the file of the relevant channel in the directory, but this is not overwritten in the channel status (except after restarting Tvheadend).
Can anyone advise me on how to solve this problem differently?

davep

JiRo The channel files are only read at startup.

What you want can be done using a script and the HTTP API. First you need to find the uuid corresponding to your channel name. Run
curl http://user:pass@your.ip.address:9981/api/channel/list?limit=10000 which will output a JSON list of channel names and uuids, and select the channel you are looking for. Second, run
curl -d 'node=[{"uuid":"your_channel_uuid","enabled":false}]' http://user:pass@your.ip.address/api/idnode/save

JiRo

davep Thanks for the tip. That's exactly what i needed.

JiRo

davep Unfortunately, I still can't get a response from the API. After entering curl http://user:pass@your.ip.address:9981/api/channel/list?limit=10000, the server still returns a 401 code. I have enabled everything in the user settings in Tvheadend.
EDIT I used wget instead of curl and the channel list loaded.

davep

JiRo The "Web interface" box must be ticked on the Access Entries screen for the user. Also for this way of passing user details to work Tvheadend must be set to use "Plain" or "Plain + Digest" authentication (Configuration -> General -> Base -> HTTP Server Settings).

JiRo

JiRo I used wget instead of curl and the channel list loaded.

JiRo

OK. I think I'll "struggle" with it.

Thank you very much.

Tony Wagner

I recently did this. In my case, EPlusTV creates virtual channels for sporting events. But many channels will be empty if there aren't many overlapping events.

For scripting, I chose Python because it could make the API calls with its "requests" module, as well as easily manipulate the data returned from those API calls.

First, assign a certain tag in TVHeadend to all of the channels you want to check, if they don't have one already (I used an internal tag named "EPlusTV").

Next, fill in your TVHeadend connection information in the code below, save it to a file like "disable-inactive-channels.py", and run the script like python3 disable-inactive-channels.py "EPlusTV" disable

I actually first run this script without the word "disable" at the end (so python3 disable-inactive-channels.py "EPlusTV") before running my TVHeadend XML guide import command. This just enables all of the channels to avoid any potential errors with importing guide data to disabled channels. Then I run this script again, with "disable" at the end of the command, to disable those channels that don't have any events in the new EPG.

Finally, schedule that Python command to run daily using cron.

import sys
import requests
import json

# your TVHeadend connection information
tvh_user="user" # optional
tvh_pass="pass" # optional
server_prefix="http://" # REQUIRED
server_ip="localhost" # REQUIRED
server_port="9981" # REQUIRED
http_root="/tvheadend" # optional

# TVHeadend API base URL creation
api_url_base = server_prefix
if tvh_user != "":
    api_url_base += tvh_user
    if tvh_user != "":
        api_url_base += ":" + tvh_pass
    api_url_base += "@"
api_url_base += server_ip + ":" + server_port + http_root + "/api/"

# get the required tag (case-sensitive) passed to this script
try:
    tag_name = sys.argv[1]
except:
    print("no tag specified")
    sys.exit(1)

# find the UUID for that tag
tag_uuid = ""
r = requests.get(api_url_base + "channeltag/list?all=1")
for entry in r.json()['entries']:
    if entry['val'] == tag_name:
        tag_uuid = entry['key']
if tag_uuid == "":
    print("specified tag not found")
    sys.exit(1)

# get all channels with that tag
tagged_channels = []
r = requests.get(api_url_base + "channel/grid?all=1&limit=10000")
for entry in r.json()['entries']:
    if tag_uuid in entry['tags']:
        tagged_channels.append(entry['uuid'])

# enable all channels with that tag (before looking for EPG events, or before updating EPG)
headers = {'content-type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8'}
data = 'node={"enabled": true, "uuid": ' + json.dumps(tagged_channels) + '}'
requests.post(api_url_base + "idnode/save", data=data, headers=headers)

# if second "disable" parameter was passed to this script, proceed with disabling inactive channels
try:
    if sys.argv[2] == 'disable':
        # get only active channels with that tag (those channels that have upcoming EPG events)
        active_tagged_channels = []
        data = {"dir": "ASC", "sort": "start", "start": "0", "limit": "100000", "channelTag": tag_uuid}
        r = requests.post(api_url_base + "epg/events/grid", data=data)
        for entry in r.json()['entries']:
            if entry['title'] != 'Off Air' and entry['channelUuid'] not in active_tagged_channels:
                active_tagged_channels.append(entry['channelUuid'])

        # disable all channels with that tag
        data = 'node={"enabled": false, "uuid": ' + json.dumps(tagged_channels) + '}'
        requests.post(api_url_base + "idnode/save", data=data, headers=headers)

        # re-enable only active channels with that tag
        data = 'node={"enabled": true, "uuid": ' + json.dumps(active_tagged_channels) + '}'
        requests.post(api_url_base + "idnode/save", data=data, headers=headers)
except:
    pass

JiRo

Tony Wagner Thanks for sharing your solution. I've practically come up with a very similar solution.

JiRo

Tony Wagner I have one more question. What client do you use to receive channels from Tvheadend? I use Kodi and the pvr addon pvr.hts but I have a problem with updating the enabled/disabled channels in the Kodi guide (Epg). I made a simple workaround that restarts pvr.hts for me, but its complicated and has unpleasant consequences for Kodi operation. Do you have any trick to ensure that when a channels are disabled/enabled in Tvheadend, this information is reflected in the Kodi (or another client)?

Tony Wagner

JiRo I use both Kodi and TvhClient (iOS).

My script disables channels in the middle of the night. The next day, I just exit and relaunch Kodi if I want to browse the live TV guide. (Edit to add: I was in the habit of doing this anyway because my Kodi guide seems to get of whack after awhile when idle, even without disabling channels.)

TvhClient can cache the channel list too, but I notice it less — it must close and refresh after it has been in the background awhile.

JiRo

Tony Wagner Ah, so you're in a better situation.
My provider publishes the program list only a few hours before the broadcast starts. That's why I need to update the epg periodically on the Tvheadend side and with a similar period on the client side (Kodi) too.
A possible solution for me is to create a workaround (Kodi addon of the service type), which, according of the information from the Tvheadend server, would be able to restart pvr.hts. It's complicated, but without it, it won't work on the Kodi side correctly. Until then, I have a button mapped to restart the pvr.hts add-on on my remote control.
Thanks for the opportunity to discuss it with you.

Tony Wagner

JiRo If you manage to automate restarting the pvr.hts addon, please share your solution!