v1.6.4.0 Release

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JohnF

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#21

Post by JohnF » Wed Apr 21, 2021 1:28 pm

garyan2 wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:43 pm That is the error 1.6.4.x was to avoid. I just did a massive download and an update for 6 lineups, to include your 2 lineups @JohnF, and didn't have any problem. I'm not sure of the interaction, but v1.6.4.0 may have cached a generic description for some series/program and is causing it to request them again. Try to update again, and if it is still there, clear the cache and try again. Should be okay at that point.

Code: Select all

[4/19/2021 7:35:48 AM] [ INFO] Generated .mxf file contains 2133 services, 21442 series, 7103 seasons, 80546 programs, 817042 schedule entries, and 93963 people with 29704 image links.
So 1.6.4.1 will ensure that an empty response for generic descriptions will not flag an error, but 1.6.4.1 should prevent asking for a description for a paid programming or special program.
Clearing the cache did clear the error. Significant number of "unavailable" descriptions though 65-80%?

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garyan2

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#22

Post by garyan2 » Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:46 am

I don't know where your math is coming from, but I seriously doubt you have 21442 series with only 7103 seasons and 80546 programs. Was this with 1.6.4.0 or 1.6.4.1? I just ran your lineups with all stations selected and only got 10374 series. Of course, this is with the version I am working on right now.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

Space

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#23

Post by Space » Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:55 am

I'm still running 1.6.3.0 and not getting any errors in the log, is this expected?

Perhaps the old API is still available for a limited time?

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garyan2

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#24

Post by garyan2 » Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:45 am

Right. Old API version is still live. I jumped the gun because I saw errors here, not realizing I was calling the test server and not the production server. The rush to update wasn't necessary, but the changeover is imminent.

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- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

JohnF

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#25

Post by JohnF » Fri Apr 23, 2021 1:21 pm

garyan2 wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:46 am I don't know where your math is coming from, but I seriously doubt you have 21442 series with only 7103 seasons and 80546 programs. Was this with 1.6.4.0 or 1.6.4.1? I just ran your lineups with all stations selected and only got 10374 series. Of course, this is with the version I am working on right now.
I was working from memory, but here's what it was based on.

This is from the trace log of 1.6.4.1 immediately after clearing the cache (Opened configuration GUI, pressed "Clear Cache" then pressed "Save & Execute".

I just cleared the cache so there were 0 in cache so the count should only reflect "unavailable" entries? Maybe I'm misunderstanding "Found 6808 cached/unavailable series descriptions."

6808/9728 =~70%

Does 6808 mean we found 6808 we didn't have, or does it mean 6808 were "unavailable" and couldn't be found? I'm just a little confused... my lack of caffeine maybe? Adding to my confusion is that we downloaded 2420 descriptions (6808+2420=9228, 500 shy of the 9728 processed)
Entering BuildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions() for 9728 series.
[4/21/2021 8:18:08 AM] [ INFO] Found 6808 cached/unavailable series descriptions.
[4/21/2021 8:18:09 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved 500 generic program descriptions. (0:00:00:00.5781229 / 200.967 KB)
[4/21/2021 8:18:09 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved 500 generic program descriptions. (0:00:00:00.5937480 / 202.369 KB)
[4/21/2021 8:18:09 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved 420 generic program descriptions. (0:00:00:00.5156367 / 160.402 KB)
[4/21/2021 8:18:09 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved 500 generic program descriptions. (0:00:00:00.5625106 / 172.884 KB)
[4/21/2021 8:18:09 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved 500 generic program descriptions. (0:00:00:01.2187596 / 185.412 KB)
[4/21/2021 8:18:09 AM] [ INFO] Processed 9728 series descriptions.

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garyan2

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#26

Post by garyan2 » Fri Apr 23, 2021 5:49 pm

I had a pretty long submission describing what is going on with generic descriptions, the differences between the current SD API and the upcoming update, and what EPG123 did prior to 1.6.4 and does now... but got distracted for a bit and when I went to submit it, my login had timed-out and I lost everything. Rather than do all that again, here's the short of it.

The 6808 is the number of cached generic descriptions, even though you cleared the cache. For a lot of the programs that are downloaded in the previous step, their descriptions are the same as the generic series descriptions and it is not necessary to query the generic series description just to receive the same information. So with 1.6.4, any program downloaded that is a generic program, paid programming, specials, and other types will satisfy the needed information for a generic series description.

I can't explain the missing log entry for downloading the 500 generic program descriptions, but I can tell you that the 500 requested were received. If it wasn't, or the response contained less than 500, then EPG123 would have logged that the number processed did not match the number requested. There would have been an entry "Problem occurred during BuildGenericSerisInfoDescription(). Did not process all series descriptions." followed by "Processed 9228 series descriptions" rather than 9728.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

JohnF

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#27

Post by JohnF » Sat Apr 24, 2021 1:19 pm

garyan2 wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 5:49 pm I had a pretty long submission describing what is going on with generic descriptions, the differences between the current SD API and the upcoming update, and what EPG123 did prior to 1.6.4 and does now... but got distracted for a bit and when I went to submit it, my login had timed-out and I lost everything. Rather than do all that again, here's the short of it.

The 6808 is the number of cached generic descriptions, even though you cleared the cache. For a lot of the programs that are downloaded in the previous step, their descriptions are the same as the generic series descriptions and it is not necessary to query the generic series description just to receive the same information. So with 1.6.4, any program downloaded that is a generic program, paid programming, specials, and other types will satisfy the needed information for a generic series description.

I can't explain the missing log entry for downloading the 500 generic program descriptions, but I can tell you that the 500 requested were received. If it wasn't, or the response contained less than 500, then EPG123 would have logged that the number processed did not match the number requested. There would have been an entry "Problem occurred during BuildGenericSerisInfoDescription(). Did not process all series descriptions." followed by "Processed 9228 series descriptions" rather than 9728.
I figured I was mis-interpreting the meanings of the numbers. Exact details aren't really critical to me, it was really just an observation to share in case it illuminated some other surprise in this new API code stuff. I used to develop large real-time control systems in the nuclear manufacturing industry, back then I appreciated the observations others... Especially our QA team lol.

I have to say I've been using EPG123 for several years now and it is far more reliable and you are far more responsive than the folks who used to maintain the default (now defunct) WMC program guide.

Thank you for all your lost weekends on this project!

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#28

Post by JohnF » Sat Apr 24, 2021 1:26 pm

One other caveat, my WMC library is huge about 9000+ shows occupying 50TB across 6+ disks, and I've 295 series in my schedule. Many of those are on "hiatus"/"No up coming recordings" in the current schedule. I suspect my "pack rat" approach is stretching some boundary points in the WMC Architecture.

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#29

Post by mustpushbuttons » Mon Apr 26, 2021 7:44 pm

Space wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:55 am I'm still running 1.6.3.0 and not getting any errors in the log, is this expected?

Perhaps the old API is still available for a limited time?
HA! I'm still running 1.6.1.2. Cable card.

What exactly is the reason to upgrade/ if not on fire why risk anything?

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#30

Post by Space » Mon Apr 26, 2021 11:22 pm

mustpushbuttons wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 7:44 pm
Space wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:55 am I'm still running 1.6.3.0 and not getting any errors in the log, is this expected?

Perhaps the old API is still available for a limited time?
HA! I'm still running 1.6.1.2. Cable card.

What exactly is the reason to upgrade/ if not on fire why risk anything?
Apparently there will be a Schedules Direct API change coming that will require an updated version of EPG123 in order to avoid getting errors and losing the ability to download series descriptions.

I believe what this means is that if you don't update (after the new API is implemented and the old one goes away) the description of a series that is displayed when you view an episode of that series that does not yet have episode specific information will just be blank. Also when searching for a series (for instance using the find premieres function) the series will not have a description of what it is about, although if you go to a specific episode of that series, it may have a description of that one single episode.

mustpushbuttons

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#31

Post by mustpushbuttons » Tue Apr 27, 2021 12:44 am

Space wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 11:22 pm
mustpushbuttons wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 7:44 pm
Space wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:55 am I'm still running 1.6.3.0 and not getting any errors in the log, is this expected?

Perhaps the old API is still available for a limited time?
HA! I'm still running 1.6.1.2. Cable card.

What exactly is the reason to upgrade/ if not on fire why risk anything?
Apparently there will be a Schedules Direct API change coming that will require an updated version of EPG123 in order to avoid getting errors and losing the ability to download series descriptions.

I believe what this means is that if you don't update (after the new API is implemented and the old one goes away) the description of a series that is displayed when you view an episode of that series that does not yet have episode specific information will just be blank. Also when searching for a series (for instance using the find premieres function) the series will not have a description of what it is about, although if you go to a specific episode of that series, it may have a description of that one single episode.
Ahhh ok thank you for that info - much appreciated

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#32

Post by garyan2 » Tue Apr 27, 2021 1:21 am

Space wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 11:22 pmI believe what this means is that if you don't update (after the new API is implemented and the old one goes away) the description of a series that is displayed when you view an episode of that series that does not yet have episode specific information will just be blank. Also when searching for a series (for instance using the find premieres function) the series will not have a description of what it is about, although if you go to a specific episode of that series, it may have a description of that one single episode.
Almost. All the programs in the guide will still have a description (even if it is the same as the generic series description). What the new version will do is properly use the generic description interface of the SD API, which EPG123 has not been doing since day 1. The API interface for generic descriptions requires a valid EP{seriesId}{4-digit number} but I have been using EP{seriesId}0000 id which is not valid. Once SD updates the API, which will now do a sanity check on the request, it will be rejected and has the potential of causing EPG123 to generate an error due to an empty return. Note that this will only happen when all series IDs requested are invalid, but we will see how it actually plays out when the update happens.

The only time a user will ever see a generic series description from the above requests/responses, is when they do a category search and the results has more than 1 find for a given program (gives the More option). Then if you go to the Synopsis page of the program description, you will see it. Also, users that choose to create the UI+ support file will be able to see the generic description for all series.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

mogulman

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#33

Post by mogulman » Wed May 12, 2021 4:54 am

I'm on 1.6.4.2. Went to Media Center and the guide was missing. Tried running EPG123 and this happened:

[5/11/2021 8:42:44 PM] Beginning epg123 client execution. version 1.6.4.2
[5/11/2021 8:42:44 PM] ===============================================================================
[5/11/2021 8:42:44 PM] [ INFO] Beginning epg123 client execution. 2021-05-12 02:42:44Z
[5/11/2021 8:42:44 PM] [ INFO] Import: True , Match: False , NoLogo: False , Force: False , ShowProgress: False , NoGC: False , NoVerify: False , Verbose: False
[5/11/2021 8:42:45 PM] [ERROR] There are no devices/tuners configured in the database store. Perform WMC TV Setup prior to importing guide listings. Aborting Import.
[5/11/2021 8:42:45 PM] [ERROR] Failed to import .mxf file. Exiting.

The run before this seemed to work fine in the log. No errors. I ended up restoring from a backup on 4/11, but this is the 3rd or 4th time something funky like this has happened in the last few months after running for a long time without any issues.

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#34

Post by mogulman » Wed May 12, 2021 4:55 am

Also, if this happens is there a better way to get the guide back, rather than restoring an older backup?

jefro

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#35

Post by jefro » Thu Aug 26, 2021 12:39 am

Any idea why movie artwork shows up one day then missing for days? Should that stay in a database or can I select it to only update on change?

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IT Troll

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#36

Post by IT Troll » Fri Aug 27, 2021 8:51 am

jefro wrote: Thu Aug 26, 2021 12:39 am Any idea why movie artwork shows up one day then missing for days? Should that stay in a database or can I select it to only update on change?
There is an issue with authentication tokens which is affecting some images. See this thread for more on the changes that are being worked on.
https://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vi ... 99&t=13667
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

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