TV Guide not updating

[John10044 4]

This shouldn't really matter to anyone, but I found a way to speed up the loading of the xml EPG.  Using the instructions on page 16 the load takes about 42 seconds to load & parse the EPG from xmltvlistings.com on my system.  No one really cares about the time it takes because this typically happens while you are sleeping, but I found I could eliminate the 30-second wait command by changing this:  

#!/bin/bash

cd /Users/[yourusername]/Scripts/

curl https://www.xmltvlistings.com/xmltv/get/[your API key]/[your lineup ID]/14 > xmltv.xml

#pause 30 seconds as cushion for download to complete

sleep 30s

#load EPG into EyeTV

open -a EyeTV xmltv.xml  

 

To this:  

#!/bin/bash

cd /Users/[yourusername]/Scripts/

#get your EPG & transfer it to EyeTV:

curl https://www.xmltvlistings.com/xmltv/get/[your API key]/[your lineup ID]/14 && open -a EyeTV xmltv.xml  

 

The new load takes under 12 seconds (using my small program lineup over a 70 Mbps connection on a 2012 Mac mini).  The download actually takes about 3 seconds on my system, so the remaining 9 seconds is EyeTV parsing the results.  Of course none of this improvement matters unless you request the EPG manually from within EyeTV, but there ya go.  Things ya do when you're bored, lol. 

[WisconsinEric 33]

It is not necessary to use EyeTV's built in EPG. There are 2 alternative EPGs: xmltvlistings.com (which I use, see next paragraph) and schedulesdirect.org. Both are proven to work well with EyeTV, both produce 2-week listings for the channel lineup of your choice, and at a lower cost than EyeTVEPGPremium.  On screen they look just like TV Guide. It is not necessary to upgrade to EyeTV's latest build (#7528) to use them, they work perfectly with earlier builds. There has been a lot of discussion about them on various parts of this forum since TV Guide disappeared from EyeTV in the US in February.

About 6 months ago I worked out and posted a step-by-step guide to installing the EPG for xmltvlistings.com. There have been a few suggestions for improvement, especially in the past 2 weeks, so I've updated it and the revised Guide is posted here. Most of this is other people's work, which I simply collated and organized for convenience; be sure to see the Credits at the end of the Guide. Since various threads here have discussed EPGs, I'll post this in a couple of other relevant threads as well.

XMLTVListings EPG with EyeTV-Guide.pdf

[John10044 4]

Thanks for the update Eric!

If the document Eric posted isn't available to you, it's probably because you didn't log on.  If you can't get a eyetvforum account because you can't get the verification email (I couldn't using a comcast.com account), then try using a mail.com address to sign up here.  That worked for me.

As far as any other suggestions:

The instructions say XML listings work with at least build 7524, which is what Eric tested on.  I tested on 7520, so I suspect the instructions will work on any build of EyeTV 3.6.9.  YMMV.

If you go to your dashboard at xmltvlistings.com, you will see a support note about complaints from EyeTV users saying stations are in the wrong order.  That is not an xmltvlistings.com issue.  The problem can be fixed in EyeTV by going to the "Channels" screen and dragging each station to the order you would like it displayed.  EyeTV will automatically remember the new order until you 'rescan' or 'auto tune' your channels again (something you only do when a TV station in your area is new, or changes frequency -- a very rare event).

If you don't like the yearly auto-renew of your xmltvlistings.com subscription (the default), then you can change that under "Manage Subscription" on the xmltvlistings.com dashboard page.

Enjoy!   😁👍

[BobMN1 2]

Thank you, John10044. I had never been able to sign up for this Forum (using gmail). I just tried an alternate email and it worked! That's strange.

I would second Eric's comment that "It is not necessary to use EyeTV's built in EPG". We have been using SchedulesDirect with EyeTV for many years. We have a nightly script that uses a little program called "mc2xml" to download the XML file from SchedulesDirect. It works great.

I was trying to stick with EyeTV on OSX and we do still use it but I finally tried Channels DVR when they added a capability for using TVEverywhere as a Source. So far I like it a lot. (there's no OSX viewing app yet but the new app called IINA is a fantastic OSX media viewer and it's very configurable)

But I'll keep looking for that 64-bit version of EyeTV and hopefully it will support HDHomeRun devices.

[Jennifer 0]

Eric, could you send me:  EPGs: xmltvlistings.com  ?  This link seems to have been deactivated. I'm trying to do a workaround for TVGuide.

Thank you!!

Jennifer

[Jennifer 0]

Could someone send me the XML listing instructions for updating the EPG:  EPGs: xmltvlistings.com  ?  This link seems to have been deactivated. I'm trying to do a workaround for TVGuide.

Thank you!!

Jennifer

[WisconsinEric 33]

Jennifer - go to the 4th post above this one, my September 4th post. The link there IS still active, I just clicked on it and the instructions came up. Maybe there was an EyeTV Forum hiccup on your previous December 10th post, because I did not get notification of it and should have since I follow this thread (and I got an e-mail notification of your current post). Post again if the link still doesn't work. Note the comment from John10044 about having to log in to an EyeTV Forum account to access attached files. Good luck.

– Eric

[John10044 4]

Yes -- Jennifer (& anyone else that can't download the instructions in Eric's post), anyone can read these posts, but only logged in users can download attachments.  If you can't get a eyetvforum account because you can't get the verification email (I couldn't using a comcast.com account), then try using a mail.com address to sign up here.  That worked for me.

[floraolivias 0]

I need a guide about the TiviMate TV app...

[eyetvuser 1]

Hi,

I am on OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitain), running eyeTV v3.6.9 (7520) with mc2xml (file size 1023832 which i think is v1.6)

(Thanks to everyone here for helping me get mc2xml working with SchedulesDirect)

Everything working well until Oct 1, 2020, when mc2xml stopped working.  i.e. mc2xml at shell prompt returns to shell prompt in <1 second with no error message, indeed no output of any kind with any combination of command line options.   I've tried a bunch of stuff to try to figure out why it stopped working... but no luck.  I've confirmed my SchedulesDirect account is still working.

Anyone else had this silent failure of mc2xml as of Oct 1, 2020?

As far as I know I've made no changes to my OS X 10.11.6 system (a MacMini).

So, I looked for the mc2xml website... but the website everyone points to (and is provided by google search for mc2xml) mc2xml.awardspace.info/ auto redirects to a web archive copy dated 2020-04-26.  Luckily download button on that web archive page still worked.  Downloaded mc2xml v1.7.2 (file size 1617936)

But unfortunately this version of mc2xml doesn't work on OS X <10.12 (Catalina) - see error below - this version relies on a POSIX function clock-gettime which I understand here Apple only added to OS X 10.12 

$ ./mc2xml -c <country> -g <postcode> -J <userid>:<password>
Loading ..... : mc2xml v1.7.2 (c) <mc2xml@gmail.com>
Reminder .... : Redistribution prohibited. For personal use only.
Reminder .... : If this software is useful, please donate!
Connecting .. : schedulesdirect.org
dyld: lazy symbol binding failed: Symbol not found: _clock_gettime
  Referenced from: /Users/admin/Library/Script Libraries/./mc2xml_v1.7.2
  Expected in: /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

dyld: Symbol not found: _clock_gettime
  Referenced from: /Users/admin/Library/Script Libraries/./mc2xml_v1.7.2
  Expected in: /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

Trace/BPT trap: 5

From what I understand the only option is to recompile mc2xml on OS X 10.11.6 - which I think is impossible since I can't find the source code anywhere (GitHub, SourceForce etc.)

Anyone have thoughts on how to proceed? 

FWIW I *really* don't want to have to upgrade OS X

 

[Inigo 1]

34 minutes ago, eyetvuser said:

Hi,

I am on OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitain), running eyeTV v3.6.9 (7520) with mc2xml (file size 1023832 which i think is v1.6)

...

Everything working well until Oct 1, 2020, when mc2xml stopped working.  i.e. mc2xml at shell prompt returns to shell prompt in <1 second with no error message, indeed no output of any kind with any combination of command line options.   I've tried a bunch of stuff to try to figure out why it stopped working... but no luck.  I've confirmed my SchedulesDirect account is still working.

Anyone else had this silent failure of mc2xml as of Oct 1, 2020?

Thanks for sharing your issue. I am experiencing an identical failure on a mac mini running macOS 10.12.6 Sierra (and eyeTV3.6.9 (7520)). I have made no changes to my configuration for quite some time, so I am completely baffled as to the cause. My plan for later today is to do some troubleshooting to figure out more and will update if I figure out anything.

If we can get the APIs for SchedulesDirect and eyeTV, my neighbor is a software developer and says that programming a JSON grab in python would be easy to do (for him).

[eyetvuser 1]

OK appears v1.6 of mc2xml has an expiry date of 2020-09-30 and others too are having a hard time getting v1.7.2 to work - see here.

So... I went looking for a Mac equivalent of the windows "runasdate"... but although it appears this program has existed the download button on the blog post describing it now points at virus laden website (spoof request to upgrade Adobe Flash).   (Anyone have a Mac equivalent  of runasdate that works?)

So my hack for now... that does enable me to get the latest schedules after Sept 30, 2020 is as follows...

AppleScript applet triggered by Launchd/LaunchControl to run daily...

# AppleScript Applet triggered daily by Laucnhd/LaunchControl
tell application "EyeTV 3.6.9 (7528)" to quit
set MyScript to "sh " & quoted form of "/Users/admin/Library/Script Libraries/LoadEyeTVSchedule.sh"
set TheResult to do shell script MyScript user name "<user name>" password "<password>" with administrator privileges

 

The shell script "LoadEyeTVSchedule.sh" that is run with admin privileges (i.e. as root via sudo) by this AppleScript is as follows...

cd "/Users/admin/Library/Script Libraries"
date 093023302020 # Set system date to before Oct 1, 2020 - must be run as root
./mc2xml_v1.6 -c <countrycode> -g <zip-postal code> -J <SchedulesDirect user id>:<password>
ntpdate -vu time.apple.com # Set date back to correct date time - must be run as root
open -a "/Applications/EyeTV 3.6.9 (7528).app" xmltv.xml

Note:

• I use SchedulesDirect, if you use other services you'd need to adjust the mc2xml command accordingly
• Running with administrator privileges is required for the date and ntpd commands to work...

 

Hope this helps anyone else running into this problem.

Aside: Yes I know I could likely optimize this solution... happy for suggestions... FWIW this is the quickest way to automate elevating a shell script I could come up with

Does anyone have a less hacky solution? 

I'd be happy with: 

1. Getting a version of mc2xml to work with the current system date on OS X 10.11.6 (best), or
2. A version of "RunAsDate" that works on OS X 10.11.6 so we don't have to change the system date, but only the date that mc2xml "sees".

[WisconsinEric 33]

If you decide you don't want to fuss any more with the hack, you could switch to using xmltvlistings.com. I posted a step-by-step guide to using this service, which uses an API posted by the service itself. It costs a few bucks less, renews automatically every year if you want, and has worked flawlessly for me since I switched 19 months ago. You can find the guide by scrolling back through this very long thread. Since I haven't used schedulesdirect, I'm afraid I can't help you with your problem otherwise, sorry.

[Inigo 1]

8 minutes ago, WisconsinEric said:

If you decide you don't want to fuss any more with the hack, you could switch to using xmltvlistings.com. I posted a step-by-step guide to using this service, which uses an API posted by the service itself. It costs a few bucks less, renews automatically every year if you want, and has worked flawlessly for me since I switched 19 months ago. You can find the guide by scrolling back through this very long thread. Since I haven't used schedulesdirect, I'm afraid I can't help you with your problem otherwise, sorry.

Did xmltvlisitings add episode numbers? With your directions, xmltvlisitings was easy to set up, but not having the episode numbers made the guide much less useful.

[EYEMISSELGATO 12]

I was one of the original people that used SchedulesDirect and helped with the guide, but since it quit I have used the Geniatech TV Guide, now that it is back. It works fine. You will have to update to the latest EyeTV 3 to use it. A lot easier than the setups we devised when TV Guide was not working. You can get it from the guide preferences in EyeTV 3, and by the way, it works in EyeTV 4, too. 

[eyetvuser 1]

45 minutes ago, WisconsinEric said:

If you decide you don't want to fuss any more with the hack, you could switch to using xmltvlistings.com. I posted a step-by-step guide to using this service, which uses an API posted by the service itself. It costs a few bucks less, renews automatically every year if you want, and has worked flawlessly for me since I switched 19 months ago. You can find the guide by scrolling back through this very long thread. Since I haven't used schedulesdirect, I'm afraid I can't help you with your problem otherwise, sorry.

Hi Eric.... yes I saw that and downloaded your most useful guide (thank-you)...

And I had the impression from reading all that mc2xml with SchedulesDirect still has a few fields that xmltvlistings doesn't - from memory series number and episode number.  Is that still true?

(Of course SchedulesDirect has some problems compared with the old EyeTV EPG for North America... specifically around marking episodes as "new", and having the series number as part of other fields rather than separated out and testable in SmartGuides) 

[eyetvuser 1]

16 minutes ago, EYEMISSELGATO said:

I was one of the original people that used SchedulesDirect and helped with the guide, but since it quit I have used the Geniatech TV Guide, now that it is back. It works fine. You will have to update to the latest EyeTV 3 to use it. A lot easier than the setups we devised when TV Guide was not working. You can get it from the guide preferences in EyeTV 3, and by the way, it works in EyeTV 4, too. 

Hi,

Yes... I discovered that too when I upgraded today... and that's what I'll do once my schedulesdirect subscription ends next year... 🙂

 

[geedee 5]

The only issue with Geniatech's revamped version is that it doesn't accurately denote reruns vs new episodes. Otherwise, I'm glad to have it back.

 

[DC Rackerby 6]

3 hours ago, Inigo said:

Thanks for sharing your issue. I am experiencing an identical failure on a mac mini running macOS 10.12.6 Sierra (and eyeTV3.6.9 (7520)). I have made no changes to my configuration for quite some time, so I am completely baffled as to the cause.

mc2xml v1.7.2 works under macOS 10.12.6 Sierra.

I just got it here.

Note that you will have to "chmod +x mc2xml" to make it executable.

[Inigo 1]

3 hours ago, DC Rackerby said:

mc2xml v1.7.2 works under macOS 10.12.6 Sierra.

I just got it here.

Note that you will have to "chmod +x mc2xml" to make it executable.

Thanks. That did the trick. And thanks to WayBackMachine for having mc2xml.

[tomw 1]

i just implemented xmltvlistings.com per WisconsinEric's instructions, thanx:-)

but setting the guide service preference to 'none' seems to remove the titantv.com remote scheduling...any1 have any insight into this issue? also note that "atsc program guide will be used when available" doesn't:-\

 

 

Edited November 30, 2020 by tomw
attach files only works on edit:-\

[WisconsinEric 33]

It was my impression that titantv and xmltvlistings are both EPG's. So I'd assume you have to use one or the other, you can't use both. But I am not familiar with TitanTV. Given what you did, you'd now have to set up remote scheduling using xmltvlistings when it appears in the EPG displayed in the EyeTV application. Perhaps someone familiar with TitanTV can be of more help.

[tomw 1]

no, titantv remote scheduling has always been baked into eyetv, and i don't see anywhere to change it, nor do i see any remote scheduling available thru xmltvlistings.

in any case, i have verified that reverting eyetv's guide service to eyetvepgpremium from none (2nd image) restores titantv remote scheduling, with no loss of xmltvlistings:-) and updating manually gives this msg:

Quote

EyeTVEPGPremium is currently not used by any channel, so no update was necessary.

so it's all good:-)

i highly recommend titantv...i've used their .tvpi files since before eyetv, when i used crontab to run applescripts to record from a samsung firewire tuner using VirtualDVHS.app;-) and eyetv automatically opens any .tvpi file downloaded from titantv.com schedules...

[MZB 1]

On 10/18/2020 at 11:00 PM, Inigo said:

Thanks. That did the trick. And thanks to WayBackMachine for having mc2xml.

I second those thanks -- mc2xml v1.7.2 did the trick for me too on Sierra.

Anyone know if it works with High Sierra?  I'm using a 2011 Mac Mini so High Sierra is the end of the line, but I've been afraid to update past Sierra now that everything is working.

[Inigo 1]

7 hours ago, MZB said:

I second those thanks -- mc2xml v1.7.2 did the trick for me too on Sierra.

Anyone know if it works with High Sierra?  I'm using a 2011 Mac Mini so High Sierra is the end of the line, but I've been afraid to update past Sierra now that everything is working.

Also using with OS 10.12.6 Sierra on a 2011 Mac Mini, and since it's working well, I haven't tried High Sierra