Unfortunately, epg will have to be sourced elsewhere.
You can grab the xmltv epg link from Matt huisman’s site (above), but I believe he sources that from http://freepg.tv/, so best to go straight to the source. You then need to link up the channels manually, but once it’s set up, it’s set up.
(The below is assuming you’ve obtained a freepg.tv link)
Okay, so once you have an XMLTV epg .xml link file, you’ll want to get it into TVH. Do do so, you’ll need to set up a cron to download it on a regular basis. SSH into your CE box, then:
crontab -e
then:
00 3 * * * wget -O '/storage/downloads/au_epg.gz' 'http://Full_Link_Given_By_Freepg' && gunzip -c '/storage/downloads/au_epg.gz' > '/storage/.kodi/userdata/au_epg.xml'
It’s set to download once a day at 3am (the second number). If your machine isn’t on 24/7, pick a time (24 hr time 00-23) that it is reliably or replace “00 3 * * *” to @reboot and it’ll run every time the box is turned on.
Save and quit. Then run this once to get your initial XMLTV file:
wget -O '/storage/downloads/au_epg.gz' 'http://Full_Link_Given_By_Freepg' && gunzip -c '/storage/downloads/au_epg.gz' > '/storage/.kodi/userdata/au_epg.xml'
From there, you need to get TVH to see that file. If you go into the TVH server Addon settings, under the XMLTV setting, set “XMLTV Service Type” to file and enter “XMLTV File Location” to:
/storage/.kodi/userdata/au_epg.xml
From within the TVHeadend webui:
Under Configuration->Channel / EPG->EPG Grabber, click “Re-run Internal EPG Grabbers”.
Now, if your services are set to “automatically link EPG data to the channel…”, you should have most or all the channels with EPG data. But sometimes errors happen and things don’t get linked, or get linked to the wrong channel. Once the run is completed (you’ll see it happen in the log pane), you can manually link the EPG channels to the HDHR channels in Configuration->Channel / EPG->EPG Grabber. Remember to save changes.
Note: Getting the EPG loaded and recognized may require a reboot of the box or a restart of the TVH server—disable (don’t uninstall) and then re-enable the Addon.
Just a note that the EPG data from freepg is far more robust than most OTA Epg stuff is.
@zang74 - Thanks once again for documenting all this for me to follow. I will give it a shot over the weekend and let you know how it goes.
Once again many thanks.
Greg
Got my XMLTV epg .xml link file and ran wget and the au_epg.xml file was created. Changed the XMLTV type and set the file location.
Clicked on “re-run internal EPG Grappers” but nothing appears in the TvH log. Rebooted and repeated and still nothing in TvH log and naturally no EPG data.
What could I be missing?
EDIT: Found the Internal XMLTV Grapper Module under EPG Grapper Modules was not enabled. Now getting the following in the TvH log:
2019-06-15 08:23:07.331 spawn: Executing "/storage/.kodi/addons/service.tvheadend42/bin/tv_grab_file"
2019-06-15 08:23:07.416 xmltv: /storage/.kodi/addons/service.tvheadend42/bin/tv_grab_file: grab took 0 seconds
2019-06-15 08:23:07.525 xmltv: /storage/.kodi/addons/service.tvheadend42/bin/tv_grab_file: parse took 0 seconds
2019-06-15 08:23:07.525 xmltv: /storage/.kodi/addons/service.tvheadend42/bin/tv_grab_file: channels tot= 27 new= 0 mod= 0
2019-06-15 08:23:07.525 xmltv: /storage/.kodi/addons/service.tvheadend42/bin/tv_grab_file: brands tot= 0 new= 0 mod= 0
2019-06-15 08:23:07.525 xmltv: /storage/.kodi/addons/service.tvheadend42/bin/tv_grab_file: seasons tot= 0 new= 0 mod= 0
2019-06-15 08:23:07.525 xmltv: /storage/.kodi/addons/service.tvheadend42/bin/tv_grab_file: episodes tot= 684 new= 684 mod= 684
2019-06-15 08:23:07.525 xmltv: /storage/.kodi/addons/service.tvheadend42/bin/tv_grab_file: broadcasts tot= 684 new= 684 mod= 684
But still no EPG Data in Kodi.
BTW - How is the data that’s downloaded from freepg.tv matched to the correct channels that I have enabled. Service Name, Channel Name or…
Your network should have looked something like this
[click for full sized image]
Note, in particular, the Generic Aus pre-defined mux for DVT transmissions.
You never showed that you got this set up correctly … or else I misunderstood.
Yes, I did set this to Generic Aus pre-defined, but after to close that window and it creates the muxes that setting is not there if you re-open that window.
OK, that explains why I thought it was not done.
Your pic also shows that Skip startup scan is enabled.
You should disable this and save.
As there are a lot of muxes to be dealt with, the scanning could take some time.
Ensure that both tuners (TV Adapters) have the OTA network (or whatever name you used) listed in the entry box and that each tuner is individually enabled. The scan will be quicker with both tuners working.
Already done, thanks.
Yep that is also done too.
My thought is it’s a driver issue of some sort, that’s why I asked a few questions up if anyone has TvH Server running on an N2 with HDHR.
I have the tvh server running on a Tanix 3 905W and connected to a HDHomerun Quattro and the clients on other devices including a second Tanix.
I have it also running on a Tanix TX92, but it does not mean it will run on an N2 as they have different kernels for a start.
The log shows it’s finding the channels within the xml file. Those channels then need to be linked to TVH services. If it’s not doing it automatically (I believe “automatically link EPG…” is on by default), then the XML channel listings need to be linked up with your TVH channels manually. This can be done on the Channels tab, or within EPG grabber. Once they’re linked up, rerunning the grabber will then get the episode data. That way, only identified and linked channels will get episode info (saves TVH from caching vast amounts of data for channels in the XML file that are unused in TVH).
Have got the XML file linked up correctly and I’m getting EPG data for some of the channels.
My problem is where I live I can pick up channels to the north and south of me which are classed as different regions by freepg.tv. While there maybe channels is my region with the same EPG as say a region north of me I have no way of knowing which ones are the same as the channel names are different.
Hope this makes sense.
Not quite sure what it is you’re expressing here. If the channel names are different, aren’t they different channels? Network channels should be the same all around (barring timezone differences), so Seven or Nine should have the same EPG in each region, no?
Mostly yes. However Seven and Nine might be called Seven and Nine in one region and Prime Central Coast and Win Newcastle in another area. And mostly there EPG’s are the same but not always.
Make sense?
Yes, it’s much clearer now.
Freepg does let you sign up for multiple regions (provided you “don’t go overboard”). Would that help?
Tvheadend can handle multiple epg sources (it’s a bit of extra work, but not terribly difficult)
Yes, I have already downloaded the URL for the other regions. Do we merge them or is there another approach.
Merging them might cause identification issues—if you’ve got two channels titled “seven” but from different regions in the same xml, how do you tell which is which?
Setting up new grabber scripts for Tvheadend are the better option. But I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to do it that wouldn’t get overwritten every time TVH service gets updated.
Let me think over the latter a bit longer.
In the meantime, if you do wish to merge, the script listed here should work:
download the script, uncompress it and toss it in your userdata share.
You’d also need to create another cronjob for the second xml file.
01 3 * * * wget -O '/storage/downloads/au_epg2.gz' 'http://2nd_Full_Link_Given_By_Freepg' && gunzip -c '/storage/downloads/au_epg2.gz' > '/storage/.kodi/userdata/au_epg2.xml'
or, if you’re doing it after a reboot, replace ‘01 3 * * *’ with ‘@reboot sleep 60 &&’
Then set up a cron to merge the two xml files:
02 3 * * * /usr/bin/python2 '/storage/.kodi/userdata/xml_merge.py' '/storage/.kodi/userdata/au_epg.xml' '/storage/.kodi/userdata/au_epg2.xml' > '/storage/.kodi/userdata/au_epg_merged.xml'
Again, if you’re preferring the after reboot instead of late at night, replace the ‘02 3 * * *’ with ‘@reboot sleep 120 &&’
Then within the TVH add-on, change the xml file location to:
'/storage/.kodi/userdata/au_epg_merged.xml'
Again though, there may be conflicts between channel names. Your mileage may vary.
If that server is running, it might cause any other access to the tuners to be locked out.
When I test a second server on the LAN I disable a tuner in the primary server so the test server has exclusive use of it.
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