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Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:11 am
by ferrellsl
Waynezo wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 10:50 am Yes ferrellsl, Please post instructions. I have medium learning skills :)
OK, the instructions are pretty lengthy so I've put everything into a PDF file that you can download from here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lczi5jllklmaf ... l.pdf?dl=0

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:24 am
by garyan2
Zap2Xml creates a pretty good XMLTV file. It's only missing a few things like HD, SAP, Dolby Digital, some parental ratings, reason(s) for ratings, some crew names, series descriptions, short synopsis, ... minor things that most won't miss. It is hit/miss for program images, though. Sometimes the image will be an episode or character image and not a series image. But all images from Zap2Xml will not work within WMC. I believe the website has restricted image downloads to browsers only.

The hard part for a method like this is finding something that will convert XMLTV to MXF. Using EPG Collector to handle this is possible, but you lose even more information such as CC, premiere?, categories/keywords, language, live, more.... EPG Collector creates the unique series ID based off the program title, so if 2 series have the same title, even a movie with the same title, they will all be considered the same series. I'm not sure how they determine unique IDs for the episodes, so there may be some risk on recording the same repeat episode, but I assume not. I believe EPG Collector can call out to theMovieDB and theTVDB websites to get artwork, but I don't know how much else.

There are also some registry settings that will need to be done if starting from scratch that EPG Collector doesn't do in order to activate the guide in WMC.

So the free path is certainly doable, and you will have a functional system, but there will be some niceties that WMC provides that you won't be able to take advantage of. Like I said, the big challenge is finding a program that will take the XMLTV and create an MXF file. There are only a few out there.

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:25 am
by garyan2
ferrellsl wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:11 am
Waynezo wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 10:50 am Yes ferrellsl, Please post instructions. I have medium learning skills :)
OK, the instructions are pretty lengthy so I've put everything into a PDF file that you can download from here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lczi5jllklmaf ... l.pdf?dl=0
Pretty good. I would suggest that you don't need to create 2 tasks, but can create 1 task with 2 Actions. That way as soon as the zap2xml completes, it will go into the EPG Collector execution.

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:44 am
by ferrellsl
garyan2 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:24 am Zap2Xml creates a pretty good XMLTV file. It's only missing a few things like HD, SAP, Dolby Digital, some parental ratings, reason(s) for ratings, some crew names, series descriptions, short synopsis, ... minor things that most won't miss. It is hit/miss for program images, though. Sometimes the image will be an episode or character image and not a series image. But all images from Zap2Xml will not work within WMC. I believe the website has restricted image downloads to browsers only.

The hard part for a method like this is finding something that will convert XMLTV to MXF. Using EPG Collector to handle this is possible, but you lose even more information such as CC, premiere?, categories/keywords, language, live, more.... EPG Collector creates the unique series ID based off the program title, so if 2 series have the same title, even a movie with the same title, they will all be considered the same series. I'm not sure how they determine unique IDs for the episodes, so there may be some risk on recording the same repeat episode, but I assume not. I believe EPG Collector can call out to theMovieDB and theTVDB websites to get artwork, but I don't know how much else.

There are also some registry settings that will need to be done if starting from scratch that EPG Collector doesn't do in order to activate the guide in WMC.

So the free path is certainly doable, and you will have a functional system, but there will be some niceties that WMC provides that you won't be able to take advantage of. Like I said, the big challenge is finding a program that will take the XMLTV and create an MXF file. There are only a few out there.
You're mistaken on several issues. I get the icons/artwork, HD, SAP, Dolby Digital, series data, ratings, Cast & Crew, closed captioning and extended info by adding the correct switches in my zap2xml batch file. That's what the extra switches are for in my batch file: -j -D -I

And EPG Collector performs the XMLTV to MXF conversion so I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say that the big challenge is finding a program that does this conversion. Not only does it perform the conversion, it also initiates loading the updated MXF file into WMC. So no, I'm not missing any of the "niceties".

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:48 am
by ferrellsl
ferrellsl wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:44 am
garyan2 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:24 am Zap2Xml creates a pretty good XMLTV file. It's only missing a few things like HD, SAP, Dolby Digital, some parental ratings, reason(s) for ratings, some crew names, series descriptions, short synopsis, ... minor things that most won't miss. It is hit/miss for program images, though. Sometimes the image will be an episode or character image and not a series image. But all images from Zap2Xml will not work within WMC. I believe the website has restricted image downloads to browsers only.

The hard part for a method like this is finding something that will convert XMLTV to MXF. Using EPG Collector to handle this is possible, but you lose even more information such as CC, premiere?, categories/keywords, language, live, more.... EPG Collector creates the unique series ID based off the program title, so if 2 series have the same title, even a movie with the same title, they will all be considered the same series. I'm not sure how they determine unique IDs for the episodes, so there may be some risk on recording the same repeat episode, but I assume not. I believe EPG Collector can call out to theMovieDB and theTVDB websites to get artwork, but I don't know how much else.

There are also some registry settings that will need to be done if starting from scratch that EPG Collector doesn't do in order to activate the guide in WMC.

So the free path is certainly doable, and you will have a functional system, but there will be some niceties that WMC provides that you won't be able to take advantage of. Like I said, the big challenge is finding a program that will take the XMLTV and create an MXF file. There are only a few out there.
You're mistaken on several issues. I get the icons/artwork, HD, SAP, Dolby Digital, series data, ratings, Cast & Crew, closed captioning and extended info by adding the correct switches in my zap2xml batch file. That's what the extra switches are for in my batch file: -j -D -I

And EPG Collector performs the XMLTV to MXF conversion so I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say that the big challenge is finding a program that does this conversion. Not only does it perform the conversion, it also initiates loading the updated MXF file into WMC. So no, I'm not missing any of the "niceties".
And here are some screenshots.

HD: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pdr2v73n209ghko/HD.png?dl=0

Cast & Crew: https://www.dropbox.com/s/iezb8pz9b2tmn ... w.png?dl=0

Series Info: https://www.dropbox.com/s/65ktu38c7oar1 ... s.png?dl=0

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:50 am
by ferrellsl
And a couple more screen shots since posts are limited to 3 URLs:

Dolby Audio: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s3zxk1dpeuqdo ... y.png?dl=0

Closed Captioning: https://www.dropbox.com/s/l0l1m7b1xccps ... n.png?dl=0

Language: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vs25velc6evbg ... e.png?dl=0

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:03 am
by garyan2
ferrellsl wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:44 amYou're mistaken on several issues. I get the icons/artwork, HD, SAP, Dolby Digital, series data, ratings, Cast & Crew, closed captioning and extended info by adding the correct switches in my zap2xml batch file. That's what the extra switches are for in my batch file: -j -D -I

And EPG Collector performs the XMLTV to MXF conversion so I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say that the big challenge is finding a program that does this conversion. Not only does it perform the conversion, it also initiates loading the updated MXF file into WMC. So no, I'm not missing any of the "niceties".
Interesting. I did all that you did as well and didn't get any of that in the MXF file.

Just looked at your image for The Six Million Dollar Man - Love Song for Tanya. I hate to break it to you, but it looks like you are not using the data from the Zap2It XMLTV file. The description from Zap2It should be:
Steve escorts a pretty Soviet gymnast (Cathy Rigby) and her troupe on a tour of the United States.
but your guide says:
Steve is asked to escort a Soviet athlete during her stay in the U.S. Alexsi: Terry Kise....
I think that might be Rovi, which means you are still using the MS provided guide.

You can use the EPG123 client (epg123Client.exe) to see what the guide source is for channel 5.2. That should be able to identify if it is coming from MS/Rovi or EPG Collector.

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:11 am
by garyan2
Just verified that data is from Rovi (tvguide.com). Season 3, Episode 20 of The Six Million Dollar Man description is:
Steve is asked to escort a Soviet athlete during her stay in the U.S. Alexsi: Terry Kiser. Uri Gargon: Kurt Grayson. Andre: Alan Manson. Ivan: Walker Edmiston.

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:26 am
by ferrellsl
garyan2 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:03 am
ferrellsl wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:44 amYou're mistaken on several issues. I get the icons/artwork, HD, SAP, Dolby Digital, series data, ratings, Cast & Crew, closed captioning and extended info by adding the correct switches in my zap2xml batch file. That's what the extra switches are for in my batch file: -j -D -I

And EPG Collector performs the XMLTV to MXF conversion so I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say that the big challenge is finding a program that does this conversion. Not only does it perform the conversion, it also initiates loading the updated MXF file into WMC. So no, I'm not missing any of the "niceties".
Interesting. I did all that you did as well and didn't get any of that in the MXF file.

Just looked at your image for The Six Million Dollar Man - Love Song for Tanya. I hate to break it to you, but it looks like you are not using the data from the Zap2It XMLTV file. The description from Zap2It should be:
Steve escorts a pretty Soviet gymnast (Cathy Rigby) and her troupe on a tour of the United States.
but your guide says:
Steve is asked to escort a Soviet athlete during her stay in the U.S. Alexsi: Terry Kise....
I think that might be Rovi, which means you are still using the MS provided guide.

You can use the EPG123 client (epg123Client.exe) to see what the guide source is for channel 5.2. That should be able to identify if it is coming from MS/Rovi or EPG Collector.
No, I'm not using the Rovi Guide and automatic downloads are disabled. The screen shots I linked were taken immediately after emptying my guide and then doing a new import using zap2xml and EPG Collector. My zap2xml batch looks like this: zap2xml -d 14 -F -j -D -I -u my_email@address.xxx -p my_password

Here's a copy of my EPG Collector.ini file. I removed most of the channels for the purpose of posting.

[GENERAL]
Timeouts=10,300,5,1,50
Option=WmcImport,AutoMapEpg,UseWmcRepeatCheckBroadcast
WMCImportName=testepgwmc

[XMLTVIMPORT]
XmltvImportFile=c:\zap2xml\xmltv.xml,Broadcast,eng,False,ServiceId,False,Mountain Standard Time
XmltvChannelChange=K14RKD,-1,False
XmltvChannelChange=K14RKD2,-1,False
XmltvChannelChange=K14RKD3,-1,False
XmltvChannelChange=K14RKD4,-1,False
XmltvChannelChange=K14RKD5,-1,False
.....
.....
.....
etc...
etc...
XmltvChannelChange=KVPALD,-1,False

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:52 am
by garyan2
Here is a quick check you can do to prove one of us right. Open the XMLTV file and search for "Love Song for Tanya" without quotes. The description for that programme in the XMLTV file will be one of the 2 I showed.

Zap2It (tvlistings.zap2it.com):

Code: Select all

Steve escorts a pretty Soviet gymnast (Cathy Rigby) and her troupe on a tour of the United States.
Rovi (tvguide.com):

Code: Select all

Steve is asked to escort a Soviet athlete during her stay in the U.S. Alexsi: Terry Kiser. Uri Gargon: Kurt Grayson. Andre: Alan Manson. Ivan: Walker Edmiston.
Again, the EPG123 Client will also be able to quickly identify where the guide source is coming from. Or Guide Tool if you have a copy of that, I think.

Another way to tell if it is Rovi or not is in a program details view... If at the bottom it says "English (United States)", then it is still MS/Rovi.

If you didn't delete your mcepg database files in C:\programdata\microsoft\ehome folder, then you never cleared your guide. Your guide information from MS/Rovi is still in the database. If you did not perform a TV Setup again and deny the Program Guide Terms of Service, then you have MS/Rovi data assigned to your tuner channels.

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:57 am
by ferrellsl
garyan2 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:52 am Here is a quick check you can do to prove one of us right. Open the XMLTV file and search for "Love Song for Tanya" without quotes. The description for that programme in the XMLTV file will be one of the 2 I showed.

Zap2It (tvlistings.zap2it.com):

Code: Select all

Steve escorts a pretty Soviet gymnast (Cathy Rigby) and her troupe on a tour of the United States.
Rovi (tvguide.com):

Code: Select all

Steve is asked to escort a Soviet athlete during her stay in the U.S. Alexsi: Terry Kiser. Uri Gargon: Kurt Grayson. Andre: Alan Manson. Ivan: Walker Edmiston.
Again, the EPG123 Client will also be able to quickly identify where the guide source is coming from. Or Guide Tool if you have a copy of that, I think.

Another way to tell if it is Rovi or not is in a program details view... If at the bottom it says "English (United States)", then it is still MS/Rovi.

If you didn't delete your mcepg database files in C:\programdata\microsoft\ehome folder, then you never cleared your guide. Your guide information from MS/Rovi is still in the database. If you did not perform a TV Setup again and deny the Program Guide Terms of Service, then you have MS/Rovi data assigned to your tuner channels.
Hmmmm....none of those strings are showing up in my XMLTV.XML file nor in my MXF file. Let me erase the database files in the ehome folder and then do another EPG Collector update and see what happens.

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:01 am
by garyan2
It doesn't have to be that program. Choose any that are in your guide right now and do the same thing. I think you might find it difficult to delete the database files without killing some processes first.

EDIT: when I say "same thing", I mean compare the programme description in the XMLTV file with what you see in the WMC guide. If they are exactly the same, then you have Zap2It in the guide. If not, then it is still Rovi.

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:48 am
by ferrellsl
garyan2 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:01 am It doesn't have to be that program. Choose any that are in your guide right now and do the same thing. I think you might find it difficult to delete the database files without killing some processes first.

EDIT: when I say "same thing", I mean compare the programme description in the XMLTV file with what you see in the WMC guide. If they are exactly the same, then you have Zap2It in the guide. If not, then it is still Rovi.
OK, I did a clean install of WMC 8.8.4 from the ground up and made sure that there wasn't even an ehome directory when I started the clean install. After installation I had an empty guide and I made sure that auto downloads were disabled. I then closed WMC and I immediately ran the EPG Collector app. Then I reopened WMC and the empty slots were filled.

Here's a shot of the empty guide:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jijs3vmizzdh0 ... a.png?dl=0

After running EPG Collector, I get this:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8xvj6ds3nrbzm ... e.png?dl=0

and I'm getting the HD, Dolby, CC, Cast & Crew, etc.....

The only thing that I can come up with in regard to some episode descriptions being different from what you're getting is that maybe there are lineup differences based on your user account at Zap2It. My lineup was created using the OTA listings for zip code 85208.

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:59 am
by ferrellsl
ferrellsl wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:48 am
garyan2 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:01 am It doesn't have to be that program. Choose any that are in your guide right now and do the same thing. I think you might find it difficult to delete the database files without killing some processes first.

EDIT: when I say "same thing", I mean compare the programme description in the XMLTV file with what you see in the WMC guide. If they are exactly the same, then you have Zap2It in the guide. If not, then it is still Rovi.
OK, I did a clean install of WMC 8.8.4 from the ground up and made sure that there wasn't even an ehome directory when I started the clean install. After installation I had an empty guide and I made sure that auto downloads were disabled. I then closed WMC and I immediately ran the EPG Collector app. Then I reopened WMC and the empty slots were filled.

Here's a shot of the empty guide:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jijs3vmizzdh0 ... a.png?dl=0

After running EPG Collector, I get this:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8xvj6ds3nrbzm ... e.png?dl=0

and I'm getting the HD, Dolby, CC, Cast & Crew, etc.....

The only thing that I can come up with in regard to some episode descriptions being different from what you're getting is that maybe there are lineup differences based on your user account at Zap2It. My lineup was created using the OTA listings for zip code 85208.

None of my detail listings say anything about English (United States). They all look like this:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9brjx6519ftiq ... A.png?dl=0

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:02 am
by garyan2
When you performed TV Setup, did you deny the program guide terms of service? If not, you got MS/Rovi. Comparing your Supergirl episode...

Here is what Zap2It says:
zap2it.PNG
Zap2it
EDIT: having problems attaching more than 1 image inline.

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:06 am
by garyan2
Here is Rovi:
Rovi.PNG

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:07 am
by garyan2
Here is where it is important to deny the Program Guide ToS (I do not agree):
denyProgramToS.png

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:14 am
by garyan2
Here is a screen capture of a purely MS/Rovi guide for area code 90210. No EPG Collector and no EPG123.
Rovi_90210.png

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:16 am
by garyan2
The program details is where I am talking about the language. At the bottom you see "English (United States)" which is Rovi... they use the "en-us" language code.
ProgramDetails.png

Re: Microsoft ending EPG for WMC in January

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:26 am
by garyan2
Actually, what you can do is perform a TV Setup using zip code 00000 and accept the Program Guide ToS. This will have WMC create the proper registry settings so that you will then be able to see the guide once complete.