Step-by-step guide for setting up the XMLTV plug-in for UK guide data

[dspreadbury]

I'm in the process of building my first PVR at the moment, and I'm keeping a journal of how it's going on my blog, so that if I ever have to do it again, all the information about what I did will be in one place.

I've not yet got very far (still waiting for my USB-UIRT, for example, so I can't actually hook my new PC up to my Sky Digibox), but I have spent most of today following various tutorials about how to get the XMLTV plug-in working, and I've written up exactly what I did.

I don't know whether this guide will be useful for anybody else, but in the hopes that it will, here's the URL:

http://www.sisko.org/archives/2005/0...load-epg-data/

And if I've got things wrong, please tell me!

[newschapmj1]

This is excellent, it should be pointed to in Sage documentation for UK users.

[robd]

I don't know if it'll be any help but I did a similar thing when I first started with SageTV (2.0) see:
http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=7658 (several posts in)

[dspreadbury]

Thanks! I've updated the guide with some more information gleaned from this forum, and in particular from newchapmj1's guide, which he PMd to me.

[irousso]

That's odd... for some reason the changes I make in the properties file are reverted back to the original after I launch Sage. The strange thing is that Sage server is stopped using services tool. Also Sage is not in sleeping mode... any idea what could be going on here?

[dspreadbury]

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that the only reason the changes are reverted is because Sage is still runing somewhere. Check Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) and stop any processes called SageTV.exe or SageTVService.exe.

[Alig Proudblade]

Im using SageTV 2.2.2 server with a Redrat 3.0 and am having issues setting up the EPG data.

Ive found the Radio Times XMLTV grabber which is a great little program. By using EXEtuner and the utilities supplied with the RedRat, I am able to control the Sky box (without even using Girder).

Im able to import the data into the EPG without too much problem, but the channel numbers on which it imports things bare no resemblance to the Sky channel numbers at all. Is there an easy way round this please guys?

Thanking you in advance,

Chris.

[dspreadbury]

I don't think there's an *easy* way around it: you simply have to remap the numbers in Sage one at a time to match the numbers in the Sky EPG.

[Alig Proudblade]

Doesnt that mean every time I have to do the data import again i.e. each 2 weeks that I will have to do it all again?

Chris.

[dspreadbury]

It's a good idea to import the EPG data every day, but you don't need to remap the channels in Sage every time: once you've done that, it remembers your choices.

[robd]

Apparently, if you're using Alan Birtles XMLTV grabber you can get it to change the channel id's when generating the XML see:
http://www.alanbirtles.dyndns.org/ph...ic.php?p=58#58

I had the same channel numbering problem (I'm on Telewest). I was very unhelpfully going to say that I got around the problem by writing my own XMLTV grabber based on Alans great work which (amongst other things) renumbers the channels.
It looks like Alans grabber does channel renumbering aswell ...

[birty]

you should update the links in your guide to http://www.birtles.org.uk/xmltv as the pipex site will probably go down sometime over the next week

[MadAxeMan]

For any of you UK Sky users that want to avoid the bulk of the channel renumbering work - I'd suggest you use the xmltv plugin from here:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12740

Then you can remap the Sky Satellite channels in the properties file rather than through SageTV itself. Much safer to do it this way incase you ever lose your source info. It also supports many othe options including multiple sources.

Attached are the entries you need for a (presently) up to date Sky listing.

[motobarsteward]

Ok, all the instructions are here, but I can't get it to work. All the epg data is ending up in SageTv ok but the channels are not being re-mapped. I'm using the XMLTV GUI 3.02.01 to do the grabbing from UK_RT. I use the PrgDet post-processeor built into that tool. I then run the command line "xmltv tv_sort --by-channel --output "C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\epgdata.xml" "C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\data.xml"" using version xmltv-0.5.42-win32 of that tool. I'm using the plugin from here http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12740.

I took the text file provided by Mad Ax Man from http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...246#post133246 and pasted it into the xmltv.properties file in the sagetv directory in the place where the template says it should go.

Please put me out of my misery!

[birty]

enable the UK_RT_ALT_RT post processor

[motobarsteward]

My problem was because I'd previously re-mapped a channel. This stopped sage loading the new xml info.

[rickgillyon]

Recently upgraded to RT Grabber v3 (thanks Birty!) and cut out the XMLTV stage, i.e. grab to 1.xml and 2.xml, stuff in SageTV folder, using Nielm's plugin. Not running xmltv against the files at all. Seems to be working a treat.

However, in the last week I've had two SageTV stops (missed House ), and support says that the stops are related to XMLTV. It's a long way around of asking, when using the RT Grabber, is the XMLTV step still required or not? It's quite time-consuming, but I have no idea if it's v3, the lack of xmltv or some other issue causing the stops...

Thanks,
Rick

[moamoa]

having a few problems with the xmltv part...

followed the process outline in the instructions at the start... got the plugin installed and an epgdata.xml in my sage program foder. However, after entering 00000 and picking xmltv, my channel listing are a total mess.

What is the current *best* method of getting XMLTV GUI 3.06 data into sage?

which plugin do I do for sage, and how do i remap correctly?

PS. I have found a bug when you have an album of the same name from two artists.. all the tracks end up on the one album... best place to report this, if it is not already know?

[Mark SS]

I've never used the XMLTV stages mentioned in the guide. Just grab to 1.xml and 2.xml using Birtys grabber and installed neilm's XMLTV plugin as described:

http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...9299#post39299

I've been meaning to switch to Stephanes importer but haven't got round to it yet:

http://www.lmgestion.net/@en-us/4/22/54/article.asp

[moamoa]

Ok, I have tried the second (lmgestion) version. Again, it works perfectly up until the point where i select a channel to view. At this point i either see "No Signal" or another channel altogether. For instance clicking on channel 9 which I have set a BBC FOUR shows More 4, and ITV2 show CBeebies!

Could I have some old remap info floating around that is messing it up?

The frq file looks perfect.
the guide looks perfect.
all looks cool.
But not working!

I attach the frq and some screen shots if that helps