Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Global guide related discussion. All Windows versions.
luv2chill

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#441

Post by luv2chill » Tue Apr 21, 2020 2:40 pm

So is it confirmed that MS/Rovi data is finally kaput? Been a couple of weeks since I've seen someone who's still hanging on report. I'm happily on EPG123/SD but just morbidly curious.

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DavidinCT

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#442

Post by DavidinCT » Tue Apr 21, 2020 7:40 pm

I know people are wondering what more you can get from EPG Collector going a "free method", I really beat on this and trying to see if there is a way for it to work, I can go through more of my settings if interested...

So I have been playing with EPG Collector, a LOT, I am seeing really nice results, if course with a bunch of negative. Keep in mind, I am using Comcast, not OTA, so I am just using the imports option to take in the XMLTV file from Zap2it, and convert it to input to WMC, it's got a lot of options and not the easiest to figure out and a test takes a little while. Thanks to EPG123's Rebuild Database feature, I can nuke the guide and re-try reloading it with different settings without having to re-run setup each time, It's allowed me to get a lot of testing done here.

The good...

-Guide categories work, colored guide everything appears accurate from what I see.
-Images all seem to be accurate for series and movies (with my limited channel selection)...WITH some MAJOR issues
-Descriptions seem to be pretty good over all (generic for news type shows but, series, etc, it seems dead on but, short desc, not extended desc).

The BAD and ugly that I am trying to figure out. ....

- It has all images but, the first time I ran it, it took down over 7gb of images, took something like 4 1/2 hours to do. The 2nd time, it was only about an hour and I think it was an update for the images, STILL takes forever to do a guide update. I think it's taking down every image in my XML file (it lists 200+ channels but, I actually only get about 70), I tried disabling channels I don't get but, it still takes forever AND the worst part, My guide is 5 hours off after downloading all the images? ! ? ! ?
- IF I do not download images, it takes under 5 min to download/update guide and data is as accurate(and the time is correct), with categories working but, no images anywhere...Is there a way to get the best of both worlds ?

TO NOTE above, the config was the same, I just unchecked download all images for the 2nd try but, being 5 hours off baffles me here...

- It did not align channels correctly. So if one my channels (FOR example) was WNBCDT and it lived on channel 1030 (cable), the display name is listed as "1030 WDNBCT" and will show like that in WMC. I needed go channel by channel, list the channel number and rename the channel. I only have about 70 channels that I sub to but, it took a long time to deal with.
- One of the worse here, Data comes from Zap2it, using the Java based converters, it scheduled my recording shows...but, doing it with EPG Collector, none of my shows are scheduled to record.. even after the "mcupdate.exe -PvrSchedule" and a few hours but, Scheduling a show (starting over) works fine.

So it appears for a "free" option it IS possible to get the best of all worlds.... If these bugs can be figured out...
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

adam1991

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#443

Post by adam1991 » Tue Apr 21, 2020 7:48 pm

so you COULD drink red liquid lye...if only it weren't poisonous.

n127

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#444

Post by n127 » Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:31 pm

luv2chill wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 2:40 pm So is it confirmed that MS/Rovi data is finally kaput? Been a couple of weeks since I've seen someone who's still hanging on report. I'm happily on EPG123/SD but just morbidly curious.
Yes, MS/Rovi guide has been discontinued. Last update was on Mar 20, 2020, and it included data until April 2nd.

MCRyan

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#445

Post by MCRyan » Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:24 pm

I'd like to try one of the free options.
Zap2xml site is down (http://zap2xml.awardspace.info). Can someone post the zap2xml installer?

tonywagner

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#446

Post by tonywagner » Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:39 pm

MCRyan wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:24 pm I'd like to try one of the free options.
Zap2xml site is down (http://zap2xml.awardspace.info). Can someone post the zap2xml installer?
Internet Archive Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20200423221 ... pace.info/

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DavidinCT

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#447

Post by DavidinCT » Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:16 pm

tonywagner wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:39 pm
MCRyan wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:24 pm I'd like to try one of the free options.
Zap2xml site is down (http://zap2xml.awardspace.info). Can someone post the zap2xml installer?
Internet Archive Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20200423221 ... pace.info/
You can see the site there but, you cant download the program from there. Tried to upload it to the WMC Add-in Depository, but, it would not allow me to log in...

EDIT: He PMed me, I emailed it to him.
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

tonywagner

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#448

Post by tonywagner » Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:52 pm

DavidinCT wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:16 pmYou can see the site there but, you cant download the program from there. Tried to upload it to the WMC Add-in Depository, but, it would not allow me to log in...

EDIT: He PMed me, I emailed it to him.
Thanks, I was on mobile. Didn't realize the download itself was hosted on a separate server, also apparently down.

Fortunately the script hasn't been updated since Dec. 2018, so everyone who has downloaded a copy within the last year-plus will have the latest version to offer.

rfrancis073

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#449

Post by rfrancis073 » Fri May 08, 2020 1:39 am

I lost WMC guide on my HDHomerun Connect Duo and am interested in trying the Zap2XML method but cannot find the installer anywhere (at least on the first few pages of Google searches).

Anyone want to share? :D

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DavidinCT

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#450

Post by DavidinCT » Fri May 08, 2020 4:58 pm

For those asking for Zap2XML, Here is the latest/last installer...

So I don't have to send it to the 10 people who PMed me for it... :lol:
Attachments
zap2xml-install.zip
(3.56 MiB) Downloaded 256 times
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

tonywagner

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#451

Post by tonywagner » Sat May 09, 2020 11:57 pm

MCRyan wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:24 pm I'd like to try one of the free options.
Zap2xml site is down (http://zap2xml.awardspace.info). Can someone post the zap2xml installer?
rfrancis073 wrote: Fri May 08, 2020 1:39 am I lost WMC guide on my HDHomerun Connect Duo and am interested in trying the Zap2XML method but cannot find the installer anywhere (at least on the first few pages of Google searches).

Anyone want to share? :D
Just a warning: please don't abuse Zap2It / TV Guide. You've apparently been living without the free WMC guide for over a month already, please don't set up a recurring scrape of a site just to populate a guide you will rarely use!

If you must use zap2xml, please be responsible -- omit the "-D" option (which adds a lot of overhead for minimal extra data), skip any images, use "-S 3" to prevent flooding, and "-N 1" to rely mostly on the cache. And of course, schedule the script to run no more than once daily.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200423221 ... pace.info/

filibertov

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#452

Post by filibertov » Fri May 29, 2020 3:54 pm

Hi. So, I just downloaded the zap2xml-install file today 5/29/2020 from post #450. But I am only getting a 1KB xmltv.xml file. Can anyone tell me why? The cache folder is full.
When I run the command zap2xml.exe -u xxx -p xxx this is what I get. I have also tried with the -o option and it writes the same file.

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE tv SYSTEM "xmltv.dtd">

<tv source-info-url="http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/" source-info-name="zap2it.com" generator-info-name="zap2xml" generator-info-url="zap2xml@gmail.com">
</tv>

prsa01

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#453

Post by prsa01 » Fri May 29, 2020 4:24 pm

Did you setup your channels & favorites with those credentials? That's the first step.

Once the zap2it site displays what you want to capture you can move onto the zap2xml setup.

Part 2 of this how-to is zap2xml setup. There is also discussion of the switches in the thread'

https://sourceforge.net/p/epgcollector/ ... 5e3a54134/

filibertov

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#454

Post by filibertov » Fri May 29, 2020 5:00 pm

So, now I feel foolish. I have had the zap2it for years. I had a replaytv and had been trying to get it to work. This was many years ago. Anyway, back then in my tests I had put in a show as a favorite. It was the only thing on my favorites and had no upcoming listings. So, that is why nothing was being downloaded. I deleted it. And now everything downloaded. Thanks prsa01, your post helped me figure it out.

drewcu

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#455

Post by drewcu » Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:53 pm

Zap2XML was working great for months, but lately is throwing a lot of 400 Bad Requests rendering the data useless. Have tried with and without VPN from multiple locations. Even tried a Virtual Machine. Also used different logins in Zap2it and multiple Retries in my command.

Also tried executing the batch file at different times of the day... last time I could get it to work all the way through was 6/7. Get errors sporadically even though tvlistings.zap2it.com seems fine.

Anyone else experience the same "400 Bad Requests"? Could be time to find a new EPG provider unfortunately...

mmortal03

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#456

Post by mmortal03 » Mon Jan 18, 2021 11:30 am

tonywagner wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 1:02 pm
mmortal03 wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:10 pm I tried EPG Collector for the first time the other day to see if I could pull the OTA PSIP guide info (it comes directly from the OTA program streams). I haven't gotten to the step of having it import into WMC, but I think there's an option for that in there, rather than the XML file? Like garyan2's table says, EPG Collector is definitely not the easiest or most intuitive, but I'm willing to learn how to use it.
I ran EPG Collector for awhile with WMC, pulling OTA PSIP guide data. It worked, and it usually had at least 24 hours guide data on the channels that I watched/recorded, so I just had it do a daily collection around 6 AM or so. Let me know if you need any pointers.
Happy New Year to everyone. I don't recall if it was ever mentioned here, but for Americans who just need basic guide information, instead of trying to get the EPG guide information injected into WMC using various programs, if you use an HDHomeRun tuner (and probably others), a free alternative to WMC is NextPVR. It looks like it can pull the basic guide data from the ATSC signal. When first configuring it, you just have to make sure that you have the HDHomeRun ATSC devices selected and *not* the HDHR ones, and set "BDA Compatibility Mode" in HDHomeRun Setup to "MediaPortal" (not "NextPVR"). Then it will be able to pull the basic guide data. At least, it's working for me.

tonywagner

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#457

Post by tonywagner » Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:17 pm

mmortal03 wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 11:30 amHappy New Year to everyone. I don't recall if it was ever mentioned here, but for Americans who just need basic guide information, instead of trying to get the EPG guide information injected into WMC using various programs, if you use an HDHomeRun tuner (and probably others), a free alternative to WMC is NextPVR. It looks like it can pull the basic guide data from the ATSC signal. When first configuring it, you just have to make sure that you have the HDHomeRun ATSC devices selected and *not* the HDHR ones, and set "BDA Compatibility Mode" in HDHomeRun Setup to "MediaPortal" (not "NextPVR"). Then it will be able to pull the basic guide data. At least, it's working for me.
Thanks for sharing! I haven't used NextPVR but it looks like a pretty solid WMC replacement, at least visually.

I wound up switching to a TVHeadend server running on a Raspberry Pi, and it too can collect and use EIT program data. I recall that MythTV had that ability as well.

mmortal03

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#458

Post by mmortal03 » Fri Jan 29, 2021 5:45 pm

tonywagner wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:17 pm
mmortal03 wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 11:30 amHappy New Year to everyone. I don't recall if it was ever mentioned here, but for Americans who just need basic guide information, instead of trying to get the EPG guide information injected into WMC using various programs, if you use an HDHomeRun tuner (and probably others), a free alternative to WMC is NextPVR. It looks like it can pull the basic guide data from the ATSC signal. When first configuring it, you just have to make sure that you have the HDHomeRun ATSC devices selected and *not* the HDHR ones, and set "BDA Compatibility Mode" in HDHomeRun Setup to "MediaPortal" (not "NextPVR"). Then it will be able to pull the basic guide data. At least, it's working for me.
Thanks for sharing! I haven't used NextPVR but it looks like a pretty solid WMC replacement, at least visually.

I wound up switching to a TVHeadend server running on a Raspberry Pi, and it too can collect and use EIT program data. I recall that MythTV had that ability as well.
TVHeadend is another one that I came across but haven't tested out yet. One thing I learned about NextPVR after further testing is that, at least in my situation, there's a bug where it only pulls a fixed, three hour chunk of EIT program data with the HDHomeRun Connect (HDHR4-2US), so you can't get even a full day on my setup, even though more EIT data seems to be there. Hopefully the NextPVR developer can fix that issue.

mmortal03

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#459

Post by mmortal03 » Tue Feb 02, 2021 4:31 am

tonywagner wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:17 pm
mmortal03 wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 11:30 amHappy New Year to everyone. I don't recall if it was ever mentioned here, but for Americans who just need basic guide information, instead of trying to get the EPG guide information injected into WMC using various programs, if you use an HDHomeRun tuner (and probably others), a free alternative to WMC is NextPVR. It looks like it can pull the basic guide data from the ATSC signal. When first configuring it, you just have to make sure that you have the HDHomeRun ATSC devices selected and *not* the HDHR ones, and set "BDA Compatibility Mode" in HDHomeRun Setup to "MediaPortal" (not "NextPVR"). Then it will be able to pull the basic guide data. At least, it's working for me.
Thanks for sharing! I haven't used NextPVR but it looks like a pretty solid WMC replacement, at least visually.

I wound up switching to a TVHeadend server running on a Raspberry Pi, and it too can collect and use EIT program data. I recall that MythTV had that ability as well.
I'm still testing out NextPVR, and thought I'd report back that its ability to pull the EPG data from the ATSC stream on a HDHomeRun tuner can, depending on your situation, still have bugs, as I was only getting a three hour chunk of EPG data, and depending on when you scanned it could almost all be in the past, so this wasn't practical! I reported the bug to the dev, and hopefully he'll be able to find a fix.

However, this evening, I decided to give EPG Collector a further look and was able to produce an XMLTV file with 12+ hours of EPG data, and was able to import that into NextPVR, so it looks like I'll be able to just have EPG Collector run on a regular basis and pass that into NextPVR.

eobf737

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#460

Post by eobf737 » Wed Mar 03, 2021 6:17 pm

I have a WMC.mxf file that is readable in notepad or wordpad but doesn't install into WMC with epg123 or using ehome\loadmxf.

Guide keeps show no data available.

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