WisconsinEric

EPG from XMLTVListings

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[this repeats a post I just uploaded on the more major EyeTV Forum discussing the EPG issue]

With more time on my hands than I probably should spend on this (being retired), I decided to preserve the indispensable advice posted here in a single PDF guide (attached). After all, Geniatech could kill this Forum without notice, and I'd hate to lose this information. Sorry, but the "enter your info marked in red" color failed to transfer from NeoOffice to the PDF, but I also used brackets so you'll be able to see it. Please be sure to call any errors to my attention so I can fix them, but I have tested everything and it works. This guide replaces the two really long posts from me above (I don't think the Forum will simply let me delete them).

IMPORTANT: this guide applies just to Macs (I don't know the Windows world), and to using xmltvlistings.com as the North America EPG source (which is what I am doing). Maybe someone will do a similar guide for schedulesdirect.org.

Again, thanks to everyone who has contributed to this Forum! [I have also posted this on the other original Forum thread discussing these issues, which has a lot more people following it. I tried to write this so nonexperts would find it useful].

XMLTVListings EPG with EyeTV-Guide.pdf

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Thanks so much for doing the research/work on this and making it fairly easy. 

On the Update EPG Now script, it didn't like it when I put it where you indicated and I think I ended up putting it where you said not to (or at least nearby). It's working there though.

I just went to the Scripts menu and clicked on "Open Scripts Folder" and then over to "Open EyeTV Scripts Folder" and it opened a folder in the finder. I dropped it in there and I was good to go. (See image)

The path for that folder is /Users/[UserName]/Library/Scripts/Applications/EyeTV/

 

1731954561_ScreenShot2019-03-07at1_40_00PM.png.1b75bf29697a8e1cf2a127c7fa466de0.png

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A few other thoughts.

I don't think this has been mentioned – XML TV Listings limits you to 5 downloads per day. That should be plenty for most people, but could pop up as an issue when you're first setting things up, especially if you require more than one lineup (e.g. broadcast and cable/satellite). I assume after 5 downloads it just does nothing, but I haven't tried to do more than that to see if it emails you a warning or something. 

As for using multiple lineups, in my case broadcast and cable, it seems to work fine. You just have to set up a script and launch agent for each lineup and obviously stagger the times of the downloads. It's probably a good idea to not have any overlapping channels between the multiple lineups though.

As far as I can tell, without the TV Guide data, the "Record All" button no longer shows for series. All it did was simplify making a Smart Guide/Playlist though. I assume it's gone as well when using Schedules Direct, but I haven't tried their data. Can anyone confirm?

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WisconsinEric,

Thanks for your incredible work.  I've tried your scripts and techniques.  It works, but with a major hitch.  When I first manually drag the xml file to the EyeTV app, the application freezes and I see a modified beachball spin. I have to force quit the program.   When I relaunch EyeTV, the listings are updated.  I think the script is working to update, but I'm not seeing any update in the listings within the app.   I do see the updated listings.xml file in the "Scripts" folder that you suggested we create.   If I manually drag that updated .xml file to the EyeTV app, it again freezes with a the spinning beachball. 

I did a fresh install of the EyeTV app into a newly formatted HD and fresh system.  The EyeTV app still freezes with when the XML file is dragged over the app.  

--->BTW, for others trying this, be sure you have backups of your computer.   The EyeTV app was non-functional with a fresh reinstall.  It seems it really wanted to connect to the TV Guide service, even to create the setting for the set top box channel switcher.   It's a good thing I had a TimeMachine backup or I'd be screwed. 

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4 minutes ago, PhillyTV said:

WisconsinEric,

Thanks for your incredible work.  I've tried your scripts and techniques.  It works, but with a major hitch.  When I first manually drag the xml file to the EyeTV app, the application freezes and I see a modified beachball spin. I have to force quit the program.   When I relaunch EyeTV, the listings are updated.  I think the script is working to update, but I'm not seeing any update in the listings within the app.   I do see the updated listings.xml file in the "Scripts" folder that you suggested we create.   If I manually drag that updated .xml file to the EyeTV app, it again freezes with a the spinning beachball. 

I did a fresh install of the EyeTV app into a newly formatted HD and fresh system.  The EyeTV app still freezes with when the XML file is dragged over the app.  

--->BTW, for others trying this, be sure you have backups of your computer.   The EyeTV app was non-functional with a fresh reinstall.  It seems it really wanted to connect to the TV Guide service, even to create the setting for the set top box channel switcher.   It's a good thing I had a TimeMachine backup or I'd be screwed. 

Thanks. I am using 10.11.6 (last version of El Capitan) on a 2010 Mac Mini server, so Mojave could be the issue. Does the automated update as outlined in the xmltv guide work? As for the fresh reinstall, you'd have to redo the xmltv channel by channel naming again, since I'm guessing EyeTV will revert back to its TVGuide default and just look for that. My other thought is that if you have a large number of channels, it make take quite a while to load the file. I am in a cable-less rural area using an antenna with about 2 dozen channels, and the drag and drop load was almost instantaneous for me. You'd have to see if others have experienced this problem - comments, anyone? I know that the person I got the idea from, Earl Noe (on this Forum thread), was successfully using the drag and drop 7-day download all the time (saved having to set up the automation). Earl, any insight into PhillyTV's problem?

PS I saved the following from a different EyeTV Forum from last September about someone's solution to problems using EyeTV with Mojave; you might see if this fixes the problem; I didn't save the name of the person who posted this:  "

 Posted September 28, 2018

Solution: GoTo System Preferences > Security & Privacy and click on the Privacy tab, scroll down to the Camera item in the sidebar and saw EyeTV listed there but unchecked, now please set to “Allow apps below to access your camera”. #Problem #fixed."

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One possibility is that Mojave is natively 64-bit, and is running 32-bit applications like EyeTV in a 32-bit compatibility mode, perhaps using a 32-bit virtual machine.  That it, it may be simulating a 32-bit machine, which would inherently be a lot slower.  Try using a lineup with only a few channels and wait a really long time before assuming the machine is frozen.  If it eventually finishes, you know it is some efficiency issue and you can try to address that.

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So, basically , we are all doomed on the next go around with a new OS,, where our 32 bit EyeTv will not work with our hardware? (have been getting the "Not Optimized" popup for a long time now, since Mojave debut. All this work to fix the missing of TV guide is interim,, especially if they do not go ahead with a 64bit EyeTV program.  I hope someone can give me some hope. I love the simplicity of EyeTv hardware and software.

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5 hours ago, WisconsinEric said:

Thanks. I am using 10.11.6 (last version of El Capitan) on a 2010 Mac Mini server, so Mojave could be the issue. Does the automated update as outlined in the xmltv guide work? As for the fresh reinstall, you'd have to redo the xmltv channel by channel naming again, since I'm guessing EyeTV will revert back to its TVGuide default and just look for that. My other thought is that if you have a large number of channels, it make take quite a while to load the file. I am in a cable-less rural area using an antenna with about 2 dozen channels, and the drag and drop load was almost instantaneous for me. You'd have to see if others have experienced this problem - comments, anyone? I know that the person I got the idea from, Earl Noe (on this Forum thread), was successfully using the drag and drop 7-day download all the time (saved having to set up the automation). Earl, any insight into PhillyTV's problem?

PS I saved the following from a different EyeTV Forum from last September about someone's solution to problems using EyeTV with Mojave; you might see if this fixes the problem; I didn't save the name of the person who posted this:  "

 Posted September 28, 2018

Solution: GoTo System Preferences > Security & Privacy and click on the Privacy tab, scroll down to the Camera item in the sidebar and saw EyeTV listed there but unchecked, now please set to “Allow apps below to access your camera”. #Problem #fixed."

I just reduced the number of channels in the xml file, per your suggestion.  That worked. Thank you!

I’m going to see if I can use Keyboard Maestro to run the script you developed on a daily basis. The launch daemon technique you also developed is cool.  I’m going to try this easier technique first and graduate to your methodology afterwards.  Thanks again for your expertise and insight.

 

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Another way of automating the process to run it on a daily basic is to use an EyeTV Triggered (Apple-)Script.

on RecordingDone(recordingID)
    tell application "EyeTV"
        set myid to (recordingID as integer)
        set mytitle to get the title of recording id myid
    end tell
    if mytitle contains "UPDATE_EPG_NOW" then
        do shell script "Users/Bill/getEPG.sh"
    end if
end RecordingDone

Then schedule a one minute manual recording with title "UPDATE_EPG_NOW" that repeats every day.

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Thanks for putting this together! I should point out that although it doesn't provide the EPG data embedded into EyeTV, TitanTV is a free service, and offers a "record" option that integrates nicely with EyeTV. The trick is that the channel names *must* match what TitanTV specifies. I copied my existing TVGuide channel listing, and then renamed to the TitanTV channel names. When I click on the "record" button in TitanTV (web browser), it downloads a schedule file that is automatically opened by EyeTV and the recording is scheduled. If you don't have the channel name correct, EyeTV will warn you that it can't find a channel named "blah". You can use this to go back and rename the channel within EyeTV.

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On 2/20/2019 at 10:15 PM, WisconsinEric said:

cd /Users/[yourusername]/Scripts/

I have run aground pretty quickly. I created a folder Scripts in my home folder and saved the program file as a plain text file named getepg in it, but when I enter cd /Users/earlnoe /Scripts/ into Terminal, it responds no such Directory or file.

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In the following, I am writing % for the prompt in the terminal window.  Try this:

% cd ~/Scripts

Note that ~ is an alias for the home folder.  You could also try this

% cd ~ ; ls

which will list the files and subfolders of your home folder, or this

% cd

% find . -name getepg

which will search for a getepg file starting at your current folder (which will be your home folder after the cd).

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error

2 hours ago, Earl Noe said:

I have run aground pretty quickly. I created a folder Scripts in my home folder and saved the program file as a plain text file named getepg in it, but when I enter cd /Users/earlnoe /Scripts/ into Terminal, it responds no such Directory or file.

Hmm . . . first step is to find out where the folder and getepg really are. Do this visually or as Unixguy said. My first suspicion: important to note: file/folder names are case sensitive. In other words, (for example) looking for "scripts" will be fruitless if the folder is named "Scripts". Been there, done that (I suspect all programmers have made that mistake). So first find where the folder is; do it visually so you can check the name. If it is where it is supposed to be, the problem almost has to be a previously unnoticed spelling error or case difference (or sometimes an errant space is the problem, they are hard to spot). I don't think the following is the issue, but note that there is ALSO a Scripts folder in username/library; you don't want that one. Anyway, keep at it, I know it works (it has for me for a month now without a single problem), and I'll keep my notification turned out for further developments.

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15 hours ago, WisconsinEric said:

I'll keep my notification turned out for further developments.

Chrome has also taken this time to go haywire, so I can't tell if my reply is actually getting posted or not. Mail has also not shown any notifications, either, so I'll risk repeating. If I name the file getepg, I get this in Terminal:

macmini:Scripts earlnoe$ cd /Users/earlnoe/Scripts/

macmini:Scripts earlnoe$ chmod 755 getepg

chmod: getepg: No such file or directory

macmini:Scripts earlnoe$ 

 

If I change the filename to getepg.txt, Terminal seems to find it:

macmini:Scripts earlnoe$ cd /Users/earlnoe/Scripts/

macmini:Scripts earlnoe$ chmod 755 getepg.txt

macmini:Scripts earlnoe$ 

But if I try the command ./getepg,text, I get

macmini:Scripts earlnoe$ cd /Users/earlnoe/Scripts/

macmini:Scripts earlnoe$ chmod 755 getepg.txt

macmini:Scripts earlnoe$ ./getepg.txt

cd: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

macmini:Scripts earlnoe$ 

I see notifications was turned off. Chrome has gone nuts, and makes me log in to every site and mail account every time I quit the browser, and forgets settings.

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6 minutes ago, WisconsinEric said:

^ Did you try it without the file type in your last step above?  $ ./getepg

That returns "/getepg: No such file or directory"

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33 minutes ago, WisconsinEric said:

^ Visually is the file actually there? (i.e., using the GUI, not relying on Terminal)

Yes, it shows in the Finder window of my home folder. I can drag it out onto the Desktop, and drag it back into Scripts. Getinfo tells me it is a text file, and I can toggle the .txt extension on or off with the checkbox in Getinfo.

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3 hours ago, Earl Noe said:

That returns "/getepg: No such file or directory"

/getepg is an entirely different location than ./getepg

The first is in the "/" directory (the directory above /Users)

The second is in the "." directory (i.e., the current directory).

If the missing dot was just a typo in your post (and not the source of the error), then please disregard this. 

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11 minutes ago, UnixGuy said:

If the missing dot was just a typo in your post (and not the source of the error), then please disregard this.

I tried it again and got this:

> cd /Users/earlnoe/Scripts/

> chmod 755 getepg.txt

> ./getepg

> 

So it appears the dot was really missing.

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Thanks again to UnixGuy for assistance. Those little typos will getcha every time. Before posting that guide you are using, I had spent 15 minutes trying to figure out why the commands wouldn't work, and finally noticed "Scripts" in one place and "scripts" in another. Grrrrr . . . .

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