Phillie14586

TV Guide not updating

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Is there a tutorial or how-to somewhere about using XMLTV listings with EyeTV? I've Googled around a little, and discussions rapidly devolve into discussions of scripting which are completely Greek to me. I don't mind subscribing to a listing service if there is some fairly straightforward way of using it with EyeTV. As I learned from a hilarious three-day unsuccessful attempt to install Linux, I am a graphical interface kind of guy.

Edited by Earl Noe

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Many thanks to DC Rakerby  for providing the scripts for using Schedules Direct. When setting up a Schedules Direct account what did you check for the "Software you use" part of the Sign up form? And, how does one select the correct schedule for their TV service?

 

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14 minutes ago, jim301 said:

When setting up a Schedules Direct account what did you check for the "Software you use" part of the Sign up form? And, how does one select the correct schedule for their TV service?

 

I chose "Non-distributed: Personal research (XMLTV)" under "Software you use".

Once you create an account, you create a lineup via the web site.

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DC Rackerby: Thanks for the tutorial on xmldv.  I set it up and got it working right now. I live in the metro St. Louis area.

A few pointers to those who are trying to do this as well.

Step 1: set go to schedulesdirect.org and and click on the "Sign Up" tab to create an account. It sets you up with a free 7 day trial account. I haven't upgraded to the $6 2-month or $25 yearly account yet.

Step 2: You'll get an e-mail with an activation code. Copy and paste it into the schedules direct web page.  

Step 3: on the "SD-DD Subscribed Lineups: Add a new lineup   Report Lineup Problems  " line click "Add a new lineup" and select the appropriate channel service you need. I have an HD Antenna which picks up 54 stations in the St. Louis area.

Step 4: go to the http://mc2xml.awardspace.info to download mc2xml. Scroll down about a page and click on the download. since we are on Mac's choose the third column for OS X (x86)

Step 5: create a folder "scripts" in your home folder (i.e. /Users/username - for me it is /Users/weber). You can go to the menu bar at the top of the screen and click on "Go" and navigate down to "Home"  then right click on the Home folder and add a "New Folder" and name it scripts.

Step 6: move mc2xml from your downloads folder to the scripts folder

Step 7: open "Terminal" from your "Utilities" folder which is inside your "Applications" folder. type "cd ./scripts" to navigate to the scripts folder. Then type "chmod 755 mc2xml" so that mc2xml is recognized as an executable.

Step 8: still in the Terminal window, type in ."/mc2xml -T sdusername:sdpassword" where username and password are what you choose for schedules direct in step 1. It will take a minute or so to process and will create a mc2xml.dat and xmldv.xml file and place them in your "scripts" folder.

Step 9: still in the terminal window, type in "open -a EyeTV  /Users/username/scripts/xmltv.xml". be sure to change username to your actual username. for me it is weber as you can see in top 5.

Step 10:   Go to EyeTV (which should be open). Click on "Channels" the third tab under Library on the left. Then for each channel click on the EPG tab and change it to xmldv. It will ask you to assign a channel and give you the list to choose from. This corresponds with the "lineup" you hopefully correctly choose in Step 3. Note, I tried setting each channel to xmldv before Step 9 and I got a blank list. So step 9 has to come first.

Step 11: Once done for each channel you can go to the EyeTV "Program Guide" and see that it is filled in including titles for each episode and colors to indicate type of program - as we were used to with EPG TV Guide.

Step 12: Open "TextEdit" and copy in the getup.sh procedure (listed again below). Remember to change your mac username on lines 2, 3 and 5and the schedules direct username and password on line 10. Then save it as getup.sh and place it in the "scripts" folder you created in step 5

#!/bin/bash

MC2XML="/Users/username/scripts/mc2xml"

XMLTV="/Users/username/scripts/xmltv.xml"

#Set the working directory

cd /Users/username/scripts/

# Check if we have internet connection

ping -q -c 1 -t 5 google.com > /dev/null

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then

# Get new schedule

$MC2XML -T sdusername:sdpassword

# Reload EyeTV with the file

open -a EyeTV $XMLTV

fi

Step 13: Back in the "Terminal" window. type chmod 755 getepg.sh" to make getup.sh recognizable as an executable. Now in the terminal window you can tap "./Users/username/getepg.sh" and it will do the whole job for you.

I haven't yet automated the procedure using Launch Agent, but will do that shortly. I also have to go thru this procedure on another mac since I have 2 eyetv hybrids.

Thanks again to DC Rockery. I needed to put together this dummies guide because it took me a while to figure out how to make it all work. I figured someone else may need this as well

 

 

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DC Rockery: Thanks for the tutorial on xmldv.  I set it up and got it working right now. I live in the metro St. Louis area.

A few pointers to those who are trying to do this as well.

Step 1: set go to schedulesdirect.org and and click on the "Sign Up" tab to create an account. It sets you up with a free 7 day trial account. I haven't upgraded to the $6 2-month or $25 yearly account yet.

Step 2: You'll get an e-mail with an activation code. Copy and paste it into the schedules direct web page.  

Step 3: on the "SD-DD Subscribed Lineups: Add a new lineup   Report Lineup Problems  " line click "Add a new lineup" and select the appropriate channel service you need. I have an HD Antenna which picks up 54 stations in the St. Louis area.

Step 4: go to the http://mc2xml.awardspace.info to download mc2xml. Scroll down about a page and click on the download. since we are on Mac's choose the third column for OS X (x86)

Step 5: create a folder scripts in your home folder (i.e. /Users/username - for me it is /Users/weber). You can go to the menu bar at the top of the screen and click on "Go" and navigate down to "Home"  then right click on the Home folder and add a "New Folder" and name it scripts.

Step 6: move mc2xml from your downloads folder to the scripts folder

Step 7: open "Terminal" from your "Utilities" folder which is inside your "Applications" folder. type "cd ./scripts" to navigate to the scripts folder. Then type "chmod 755 mc2xml" so that mc2xml is recognized as an executable.

Step 8: still in the Terminal window, type in ."/mc2xml -T username:password" where username and password are what you choose for schedules direct in step 1. It will take a minute or so to process and will create a mc2xml.dat and xmldv.xml file and place them in your "scripts" folder.

Step 9: still in the terminal window, type in "open -a EyeTV  /Users/username/scripts/xmltv.xml". be sure to change username to your actual username. for me it is weber as you can see in top 5.

Step 10:   Go to EyeTV (which should be open). Click on "Channels" the third tab under Library on the left. Then for each channel click on the EPG tab and change it to xmldv. It will ask you to assign a channel and give you the list to choose from. This corresponds with the "lineup" you hopefully correctly choose in Step 3. Note, I tried setting each channel to xmldv before Step 9 and I got a blank list. So step 9 has to come first.

Step 11: Once done for each channel you can go to the EyeTV "Program Guide" and see that it is filled in including titles for each episode and colors to indicate type of program - as we were used to with EPG TV Guide.

Step 12: Open "TextEdit" and copy in the getup.sh procedure that  have now set up the getup.sh and put that in my scripts folder and run it from "Terminal"

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Millstadt Weber said:

A few pointers to those who are trying to do this as well.

Thanks again to DC Rockery. I needed to put together this dummies guide because it took me a while to figure out how to make it all work. I figured someone else may need this as well

 

 

Thanks for saving me the work to compose this tutorial. It is so good to have the EPG back integrated into eyeTV. Some added notes for fellow travelers:

* If your lineup has lots of channels (the one I use has 857), BE PATIENT not only with the downloading of the raw data, but also the restarting of eyeTV. It can take one minute for the initial data download, and a few minutes for eyeTV to absorb the data, even if you're not using all the channels (during which time, the eyeTV windows were not visible, even though the app was still running in the Finder). Have a cup of coffee, go to the bathroom, whatever, but do not force quit the app. Let it do its thing.

* I changed the EPG column in the Channels pane to "xmltv" only for the channels I watch/record. This greatly reduces clutter in the Programs listing to all beef.

* In my lineup, there are no "New" flags, but there are "Repeat" flags. I had to change some of my Smart Schedules so that the New field is "false"

image.png.bd9f5ba1fdaaaa993c4bdf84a0a70f9c.png

* For automation, I'm trying a scheduler called Cronnix (https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7486/cronnix). I'm setting it to run every day at 5:00am (my Mac Mini runs 24/7/365). Tomorrow morning will be its first test.

 

image.jpeg

Edited by dannyg

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Manually you can do:

Step 9: still in the terminal window, type in "open -a EyeTV  /Users/username/scripts/xmltv.xml". be sure to change username to your actual username. This loads the xmldv data into EyeTV. But if you don't have the channels properly set (Step 10) you won't see the results in the "Program Guide". So Step 10 sets the channels up in EyeTV so that you can see the xmltv results.

Step 10:   Go to EyeTV (which should be open). Click on "Channels" the third tab under Library on the left. Then for each channel click on the EPG tab and change it to xmldv. It will ask you to assign a channel and give you the list to choose from. This corresponds with the "lineup" you hopefully correctly choose in Step 3. Note, I tried setting each channel to xmldv before Step 9 and I got a blank list. So step 9 has to come first.

Step 11: Once done for each channel you can go to the EyeTV "Program Guide" and see that it is filled in including titles for each episode and colors to indicate type of program - as we were used to with EPG TV Guide.

Edited by Millstadt Weber
change xmldv to xmltv (spell check keeps interfering)

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Season/episode data might be tricky here. The xml has an <episode-num> tag but it does not look like straight forward value. From what I can tell form the SD website the XML service may not have this data but the JSON service does. Mc2xml looks like it works with both services but I couldn't see how you would access one over the other. I am trying to get on the SD forums to see if I can get some insight form them. 

 

I tired the open -a EyeTV... line in terminal and it didn't work for me. You can also just drag the .xml file onto the EyeTV app icon in the finder and it will populate the epg. 

 

New/Repeat tags. I noticed dannyg was using the "new=true" in his smart guide. Since New and Repeat default to False so if the epg has no tag at all both will be false. I erred on getting some repeats instead of missing some new by setting mine to Repeat=false. That stops the recording of labeled Repeat programs but also records ones where the New/Repeat tag is missing.

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" ... You can also just drag the .xml file onto the EyeTV app icon in the finder and it will populate the epg."

This will only affect channels for which you have changed the EPG dropdown to "xmltv" in Channels, yes?

Incidentally, I noticed even while TVGuide was still operating, the "new" and "repeat" info supplied by stations could be rather quirky.

 

Edited by Earl Noe

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Season/Episode data

This is the xml format that doesn't have the season/episode data

./mc2xml -T username:password

This downloads the Json data that includes this information country code for US is "us" after the -g enter your zip code. In terminal it then asked for which listing. It listed them in terminal you just enter the number and hit return. Will be interested if this holds on redownloads.

./mc2xml -J username:password -c country -g zip code

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Thank you to all for putting together the walkthrough.  I seem to be missing something.  I have followed the directions in previous posts but my Program Guide is still showing the message "This program guide has no data to display".  Do I need to somehow switch the guide service somewhere?  It is still on TV Guide.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Phil

 

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Thanks a LOT to Millstadt Weber procedure. Works - it revived by EyeTv. I was trying Plex and it is not really that easy to use TV replacement.  

I added daily updates using Automator and Calendar. 

Automator: Start Automator and create new Application, In the Application insert as action "Run Shell Script" and paste content of the  getup.sh from one of the posts above.  Save as Application in the scripts folder. You can test it if you select "results" which opens window with script output and run through top right corner run button. You can see if you get same response as when running shell script manually. 

Automatic updates: Follow this web page: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/schedule-automator-tasks-mac-os-x-39132.html  -- except, it is really old, so replace in these instructions "iCal" with "Calendar". Rest is same. In short - you create daily Event (mine is at 4am, I run all 24/7), add Custom Alert in it, as action select Open file, Other, navigate to the Automator application you just created and it should run the Schedule update. 

It is not completely tested (not sure how, actually, will need to wait for few days to check guide is indeed updated), but seems reasonably likely to work. 

 

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Phil, you need to change listing to xml. Click on the "TVGuide" for each channel and select the last (xmlsomething) option. It will pop up window with channel number selection to match channels to programming and it will work. If you have 80 channels, it takes some time. You need to do each channel individually. 

Edited by Honza

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Honza, thanks I have done that.  I have waited about half and hour and I have nothing yet.  I only changed 5 channels for testing but I get nothing in the guide. I have tried turning off the TV Guide service and I now have a screen that tells me to assign an EPG to my channels.  I have done so but still no schedule showing.  I have setup the schedulesdirect account and downloaded the xml file which shows the correct area when downloading.  I have Opened Eyetv with the xml file.  I have to be missing a step that no one has put in the walk throughs.  thanks

Phil

 

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32 minutes ago, PhilSchilling said:

othing yet.  I only changed 5 channels for testing but I get nothing in the guide. I have tried turning off the TV Guide service and I now have a screen that tells me to assign an EPG to my channels.  I have done so but still no schedule showing.  I have setup the schedulesdirect account and downloaded the xml file which shows the correct area when downloading.  I have Opened Eyetv with the xml file.  I have to be missing a step that no one has put in the walk throughs.  thanks

It sounds to me like the downloaded lineup isn't matching the EyeTV lineup.  Take a look at the "xmltv.xml" file and see if the channels match.  Are you running mc2xml with -c and -g parameters or with the -T parameter?

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I am running the mc2xml with the -T.  The lineup is set at schedulesdirect.org.  I tryed the -J with -c and -g and just got a missing user error.  The channels appear to match in the xml file.  Do I need to change anything in the EyeTV program besides the EPG provider for the channels?  thanks

Phil

 

 

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Well, for me all I needed was to change the "EPG" from whatever it was (either "TV Guide" or "ATSC/OpenCable") to "xmltv" and all worked just fine. Just checking - you did run "open -a EyeTV  /Users/username/scripts/xmltv.xml" and it took really long time? It took for me like 2-3 minutes before EyeTV communicated with me. There is, in my case, something like 50k or so records, so it takes forever. That is why I set the updates for 4am... 

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You guys ROCK! Thank you Millstadt Weber for the detailed instructions. I had done a fair bit of research about xmltv but could not put it all together as you did. Perfect! And thank you Honza for the instructions for using Automator and setting up the daily run in Calendar. It all works like a charm. I had set up Channels, HD Homerun, TV-Browser and none compared. This is exactly what I needed.

 

Cheers!

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Phillie14586: Thanks for the -J option. It worked for me. I show option 2 - antenna and after a minute or so of downloading and the spinning wheel in EyeTV to upload the xmldv data the TV shows now show season and episode numbers.

./mc2xml -J username:password -c us -g zip 62260

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schedules direct.org and the mc2xml procedure (with the -J option) to add xmltv data (with season and episode #) to EyeTV is working so well that I just bought the 1 year schedules direct package for $25.  I figure that since geniatech new about the issue at least as early as Jan 19, and hasn't done anything to correct the EPG TV Guide server login, that geniatech isn't going to set it right. But I don't care. I (with the help of all of you) now have an automated working replacement.

 

Thanks again to all of you for helping me to get this to work.

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