EPG Plugin confusion

[cmsdloma]

Hi everyone.

I'm a noob with OpenVIX on my new VU+ 4K SE box, and really enjoying it, but still getting set up. I am IT savvy, but there are some things I still don't really understand and I don't know where to start.

My box has both terrestrial and satellite tuners, and I have also managed to set up IPTV channels. I managed to convert the famous Suls plugin from Python 2 to Python 3 and get it to work with the provider's URLs, and I organised the channels into bouquets how I want. I also have the EPG working for most IP channels.

Now I notice there is EPGImporter and I have seen CrossEPG somewhere in the menus/plugins and I saw XMLTV mentioned too. What are the difference between these? Which ones should I use for terrestrial/satellite and IPTV services? Can/should I be using more than one? Do they interfere with each other? I think I want to continue with the EPG derived from the XML file from the IPTV provider for my IP channels, and for FreeSat I think I want to pull the EPG over the air. I saw some guides, but I am confused with the different plugins.

With the EPG seemingly working, I can see all program Titles and Descriptions on most channels. However, the AutoTimer feature never turns up any results with any program name on any [IP] channel. I fiddled with the expert AutoTimer settings, and found that only when I tell it to search description (rather than title), then it returns results. I looked into the XML of the EPG and saw <title> and <description> elements correctly set. I read about people compiling the EPGImporter, but I don't know what to do.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Dave

[abu baniaz]

CrossEPG has two functions/modes. One obtains the EPG from the data stream on the satellite, another downloads it from the interweb, this is usually the EPG hosted by the Rytec team.

EPG Importer/XMLTV importer are the same plugin. Name changed some time ago. They defacto mode is to download the Rytec EPG. However, you can add providers that host the EPG. Some IPTV providers also host the EPG data and add a provider that you can select in PG importer.

If your IPTV provider has a provder for EPG importer, bets you use that for satellite and IPTV.

The Rytec team do not correlate the service references for UK Terestrial services. Mere zapping/selecting/viewing a terrestrial service will absorb the EPG data.

[cmsdloma]

Many thanks! I'm sticking with the EPG provided to me.

I cannot get "EPG Search" to work; it always gives me no results / blank screen. Also any Auto Timer I create does not find any matches (when I check using Preview). No error or crash occurs, it just never finds/matches anything. The EPG XML looked fine. How can I fix/investigate this?

Cheers.

[adm]

Many thanks! I'm sticking with the EPG provided to me.

I cannot get "EPG Search" to work; it always gives me no results / blank screen. Also any Auto Timer I create does not find any matches (when I check using Preview). No error or crash occurs, it just never finds/matches anything. The EPG XML looked fine. How can I fix/investigate this?

Cheers.

Are these problems with broadcast channels where the EPG comes over the air?

For EPG search try going to the grid EPG and highlighting a program such as "the news" and press yellow for epg search. Does it give some finds? Then press yellow again for new search and you should get a text screen to enter your own search key words.

Go to the grid EPG and highlight a programs such as "the news" and press yellow for epg search. From the results screen press MENU and you should get a setup option.

Autotimers

Menu -> Timers -> Autotimers -> press MENU and and a new menu should appear where one of the options is setup. Check for the number of days to look ahead.

When configuring an Autotimer it will take a few minutes until it actually searches so check perhaps after 5 minutes to see if any timers have been set by the autotimer.

[Willo3092]

I don't think autotimer works on IPTV if that's what you're trying to do?

[cmsdloma]

Many thanks for the quick replies...


Are these problems with broadcast channels where the EPG comes over the air?

Ah, no, my IPTV channels; though they are added in Bouquets and accessible through the normal OpenVIX screens.


For EPG search try going to the grid EPG and highlighting a program such as "the news" and press yellow for epg search. Does it give some finds? Then press yellow again for new search and you should get a text screen to enter your own search key words. Go to the grid EPG and highlight a programs such as "the news" and press yellow for epg search.


Ahh, I see, now the EPG Search vs. New Search options make sense. I played with this just now, and EPG Search works on the selected item, but it returns results from the configured Satellite providers (Astra), and does not return any results from the IPTV EPG records.


From the results screen press MENU and you should get a setup option.

Got it, thanks! Search scope is set to "All Services", match partial and case-insensitive.



Autotimers
Menu -> Timers -> Autotimers -> press MENU and and a new menu should appear where one of the options is setup. Check for the number of days to look ahead.
When configuring an Autotimer it will take a few minutes until it actually searches so check perhaps after 5 minutes to see if any timers have been set by the autotimer.


Gotcha, but it's only matching satellite services.

My box is a VU+ 4K SE with DVB-T and DVB-S tuners. I only have the satellite feeds connected, and obviously the Ethernet. The questions asked (and reply from Willo) suggest to me that the EPG search and Autotimer indeed don't work for the IPTV channels, but only for the tuners. Initially the results I'm seeing when I press EPG Search (yellow) on a selected item in the grid would seem to confirm this, as all results come from satellite channels where it shows the elevation/provider.

BUT, the very first Autotimer I set up a week ago for the wife DOES work on an IPTV channel. That one for some reason created real Timers and did record, and I can watch them back. But all Autotimers I tried since don't find anything. I recall that when I was trying to get the first one to work, I edited the title and description in the search, set it to "match description", case insensitive, and it worked. But when I try the same settings on new Autotimers, it finds nothing. I have even tried common shows on multiple channels but still not working.

Reading the forums, I turned on debug logging and looked at the log file, but there was nothing particularly obvious in there; it's just as if there were no matches.

I really appreciate your help, thanks in advance.

[cmsdloma]

Hi again,

I still need a bit of guidance, please.

My EPGSearch and AutoTimer plugins are both broken. I uninstalled them and reinstalled them from the menus, and I always get the pop-up error dialog saying that some plugins are unavailable; errors like "Can't find module 'Screen'". They look to me like they are in Python2, and this VU+ Box (OpenVIX 6.0) has only Python3.

Have I done something wrong to break it? Does it mean that EPGSearch and AutoTimer are borked in OpenVIX 6?
Also how to I force it to update the plugins? (That's what I was trying to do when I uninstalled and reinstalled them).

Thanks!
Dave

[adm]

Hi again,

I still need a bit of guidance, please.

My EPGSearch and AutoTimer plugins are both broken. I uninstalled them and reinstalled them from the menus, and I always get the pop-up error dialog saying that some plugins are unavailable; errors like "Can't find module 'Screen'". They look to me like they are in Python2, and this VU+ Box (OpenVIX 6.0) has only Python3.

Have I done something wrong to break it? Does it mean that EPGSearch and AutoTimer are borked in OpenVIX 6?
Also how to I force it to update the plugins? (That's what I was trying to do when I uninstalled and reinstalled them).

Thanks!
Dave


EPGSearch and AutoTimer are part of the openvix 6.0 and 6.1 builds and from version 6.0.001 onwards are python 3 builds. Both EPGSearch and AutoTimer work (for broadcast TV) on my boxes in both 6.0.xxx and 6.1.003)

Try a update to version 6.1 which should put back working versions

menu -> setup -> vix -> image manager -> press yellow to download (select openvix and version 6.1.003)
once downloaded highlight the 6.1.003 file and press blue to flash (update) it.

Also, before you do this menu -> setup -> vix -> backup manager and press green for a new backup. When you update to 6.1.003 you will be given the option to restore settings - it is this backup file that is used to do this. The backup may/will be automatically created when you flash 6.1.003 but just to be safe I also create the manual backup.

[cmsdloma]

Thanks adm!

I flashed to 6.1, and after eventually getting all set up again (it broke my NFS mounts; automount now hangs unless you add options soft,nolock) the plugins don't give errors anymore.

Now that my Sky is dead, I swapped the inputs over and tuned the VU+ box again. Now I can see that the EPGSearch plugin works on the EPG off the back of terrestrial DVB-T channels. This means that while it's working, it confirms I cannot search the EPG downloaded for the IPTV channels.

I know this was mentioned earlier. But is there any reason why EPGSearch and AutoTimer don't work on the IPTV streams? I don't use any app - the streams are added in Bouquets in the normal Enigma way. Any way to hack the plugins to make them see the IPTV EPG? Or is this where I need to use CrossEPG. Still a bit confused about that.

Cheers.

[twol]

Thanks adm!

I flashed to 6.1, and after eventually getting all set up again (it broke my NFS mounts; automount now hangs unless you add options soft,nolock) the plugins don't give errors anymore.

Now that my Sky is dead, I swapped the inputs over and tuned the VU+ box again. Now I can see that the EPGSearch plugin works on the EPG off the back of terrestrial DVB-T channels. This means that while it's working, it confirms I cannot search the EPG downloaded for the IPTV channels.

I know this was mentioned earlier. But is there any reason why EPGSearch and AutoTimer don't work on the IPTV streams? I don't use any app - the streams are added in Bouquets in the normal Enigma way. Any way to hack the plugins to make them see the IPTV EPG? Or is this where I need to use CrossEPG. Still a bit confused about that.

Cheers.
IPTV - depends on the provider, but many provide an epg through Epgimport and if you are using SULs then you should be able to do that - means an entry is added to EpgImport ......when you go into EpgImport and look at sources, if Suls has added an entry you may need to tick it to add

[cmsdloma]

Yes, I converted Suls from Python2 to Python3, and put it on a schedule to run overnight, before EPGImport. EPGImport settings are configured with the Suls source ticked. It works and I see the EPG entries for the IPTV channels.

The issue is that EPGSearch and AutoTimers always turn up no results at all when searching.

@Willo3092 mentioned that they don't work with IPTV services.

[mtester270]

It is possible but code of autotimer must be modified, i do it in diffrent image so you can wait or do it your self.

[cmsdloma]

I'm willing to have a go, and contribute to this project. Where do I go to get the AutoTimer / EPGSearch code?

I once found the Python plugin directory (now I've lost it) and I recall they were compiled Python (.pyc) files so I couldn't see the code. Tried to find the open source project page but professor Google turned up empty.

@mtester270, anybody ... can you give me some pointers please? :)

[mtester270]

Source could be differ by image, if you got .pyc or .pyo you can simply decompile it (uncompyle6 (https://github.com/rocky/python-uncompyle6/))

Source from pli is here: autotimer (https://github.com/OpenPLi/enigma2-plugins/tree/master/autotimer)

If you dont know any kind of a programming you should give up and kindly please some developper to do it for you (not me).

GL&HF

[ccs]

Source could be differ by image, if you got .pyc or .pyo you can simply decompile it (uncompyle6 (https://github.com/rocky/python-uncompyle6/))

:confused: Not the easiest solution !

Source for ViX autotimer is also on github. https://github.com/oe-alliance/enigma2-plugins/tree/master/autotimer

I'd wait and see if there's any reaction.