Can you please direct me to where you show how to make your own epg for stalker? It says to go to post #5 but I can't seem to find it. I'm very frustrated being without a guide and only channel logos on my stalker client. I'm using an invidia shield, Kodi's built in stalker client but no guide at all. Please show me/ us here how you did it to get a guide working. I'm willing to learn as I too was ticked at how bad ********** got at the end. Plus now there's not even that to use. Thank you

If you look at the upper right of each post, in the black stripe, there is a numerical designation. For example, yours is carries #11. Expatter is referring to his post that carries the #5 designation. It is his second post in this thread.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ilan

What technique do you use to map the channels to the data?

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I use 2 text files when I run the mc2xml. Way back in the beginning and we were all working together to put the first EPG together, there was was a consolidated effort with Dara and Psyc0n pretty much taking the lead. Basically, you set up a text file for the channels you want to pull from the provider and call it anything.chl (eg - uk.chl or us.chl) and another one to rename what you pull to match what the channels are listed as with NFPS (eg - uk.ren or us.ren). When you do this you don't get the provider's entire lineup, but only the channels that you use with NFPS. It renames them from provider (Directv, Dish, terrestrial, etc) to what they are called in your pvr. Natch, you can rename the channels within KODI by using the channel manager and simply retyping the names (if you want to).

I don't have time ATM but will come back and do a basic tutorial and include links and samples. I can post my next pull to pastebin or something similar so you can see the results. It will not have any kids, music, porn, sports or Spanish info as that is not my interest. If I can squeeze it in today, I will. If not, then tomorrow.

Cheers.

Thanks, Expatter. I appreciate your information, insights and kind gestures. After a bit of reading, I started my X.chl and X.ren files, but wouldn't mind seeing yours when you have time. I'm sure there are better, easier ways of creating the files that come with time and experience. I wasn't here during the EPG development days, and all of the files associated with those days are no longer accessible.

I'll be damned, though, the blasted 1-hour-off problem surfaced with my guide in PVR Stalker client. If I pull using my time zone as a referent, I get a guide that is 1 hour off. If I download a guide with UTC as the referent, I get a guide that is 1 hour off. What I ended up doing was replacing all of the +0000 offsets with -0100 offsets in the final xml file. It works, but I do wish I could do a straight pull without having to finagle.

Ok Ilan good to find this. I'm looking at this mc2xml on the web. What are the sources of the data for say UK and US? Windows media and the other one I mentioned in the other post Ilan? This is the way to go. Looks serious! I have maybe 150 English channels only and I have machines hostings tons of BS software services for Alexa. I dont need the porn or kids shows even, I could install mc2xml on that and pull my own. I see TVMedia XMLTV service for US?

m2xml shows the data sources. You can get data from pay services (better, more thorough) or free services.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ilan

Thanks, Expatter. I appreciate your information, insights and kind gestures. After a bit of reading, I started my X.chl and X.ren files, but wouldn't mind seeing yours when you have time. I'm sure there are better, easier ways of creating the files that come with time and experience. I wasn't here during the EPG development days, and all of the files associated with those days are no longer accessible.

I'll be damned, though, the blasted 1-hour-off problem surfaced with my guide in PVR Stalker client. If I pull using my time zone as a referent, I get a guide that is 1 hour off. If I download a guide with UTC as the referent, I get a guide that is 1 hour off. What I ended up doing was replacing all of the +0000 offsets with -0100 offsets in the final xml file. It works, but I do wish I could do a straight pull without having to finagle.

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The EPG being off was fixed for me when I added the -U -u into the command line. What I do is typically like this: mc2xml -D uk.dat -C uk.chl -R uk.ren -d 200 -F -u -U -a -o uk.xml

mc2xml -D us.dat -c us.chl -r us.ren -d 200 -F -u -U -a -I uk.xml -o guide.xml

I have an additional bit in my command line structure as I have a sub to schedules direct. But the

Code:

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http://mc2xml.awardspace.info/

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site where you download mc2xml explains all the handles and how to use everything.

Once the files are downloaded in UTC, there is no time offset in the pvr anymore. Using -U -u downloads the date/time in UTC and seems to have fixed the problem for me. And it drove me nuts for about 6 weeks before I figured it out!

I'm on the East Coast using EST and the guide is perfect for me. Out of the channels I select, only Esquire, C-Span 3 and Newsmax seem to be empty for me. But I don't pull kids or music channels. I have extra channels like HALL for Hallmark as I have another IPTV Service that has this channel.
I'm typing up a tutorial now. I just have to finish something else first.

Great job, Ex! I will tinker with the command line options tomorrow to see if I can get the time issue sorted. (I wasn't using the UTF-8 option.) Hopefully, you gave me a heads up and it won't take "6 weeks" to get the bugs whacked :). This kind of stuff can drive a body bonkers!

To set up the guide initially, I did a pull of the provider's entire lineup. This gives the channel IDs for you to use in you ???.chl and ???.ren files.
These are just text files with a different extension that works with the software (mc2xml). Use notepad (or similar) and do 'save as' and then 'text file' but change the file extension to 'chl' and then OK.

mc2xml.exe will bring up the interface to use the software to pick a provider.

For those wanting totally free, use the microsoft legacy option.
Enter Postal/Zip code and Country Code. I use 33334 and US and then
The default pull is for 2 weeks. The choices then are 0. Digital Terrestrial Lineup (TER) which is what I use for the Miami locals.
Then I use USA, DIRECTV (SAT) for the remaining US channels.

After the first run, open the mc2xml.xml file in a text editor. The free notepad ++ works well for this. You can download a portable version of this application.
After the file is opened, I go down to the part of the file where the <programme start="blah, blah, blah> info starts and delete all the following info to the end. Then save as uschannels.xml. This gives you the channel IDs for Directv to use in your us.chl and us.ren files. Open a new text file and copy the IDs for the channels you want to show in your pvr/guide and add them on individual lines and save the file as us.chl.

My text files are called:
ota.chl
ota.ren
us.chl
us.ren
freesat.chl
freesat.ren
uk.chl
uk.ren

us.chl contents
AETV
E
REELZ
COMEDY
LIFE
LMN
COOK
FOOD
DFC
DLC
DIY
HGTV
HISTORY
VICEHD
SYFY
FX
FXX
OXYGEN
WE
AMC
BRAVO
TCM
IFC
TNT
TBS
TRUTV
TVLAND
HALL
HMMHD
IONDHD
USA
SPIKETV
TLC
DLC
OVATION
DEST
AHC
CHILLER
BBCA
NGCHD
NGWILD
ID
DSC
APL
NASA
CNN
HLN
FNC
CNBC
MSNBC
WGNA
NEWSMX
CSPAN
CSPAN2
CSPAN3
WEATH
WN
HBO
HBO2
HBOSIG
HBOP
HB2P
HBOF
HBOCHD
HBOZHD
MAX
MAXP
ACMAXHD
5MAXHD
THMAXHD
SHOW
SHOWP
SHO2
SHOCSE
SHOWX
SHOWBHD
NEXTHD
TMC
TMCXHD
STZENC
STZENWS
STZENAC
STARZ
STARZP
STZE
STRZCIH
STZCHD
STZIB
STZKHD
SONYHD
WABC
WCBS
WNBC
WNYW
FREFMHD

us.ren contents
(please see post #21 - sorry about that)

Provider: I use BSkyB - England (United Kingdom)

uk.chl contents
LONLIVE
BBC1
BBC2
BBC4
ITV1HDL
ITV2HD
ITV3HD
ITV4HD
ITVENC
ITVBEUK
FXUK
C4HD
MORE4
E4
SKY1
SKYLIVI
SKYAT
SKYART1
SKY2
ALIBI
GOODFD
WATCHUK
GOLD
DAVE
QUEST
CHALL
CBSRELT
CBSACVM
CBSDRMA
PICKTV
REALLY
CH5HD
5USA
5ST
FXUK
HOME
TRAVEL
DMAX
DITURBO
DISSCI
EDEN
CIHD
SCINDRR
SCINGRE
SCINDIS
SCINFAM
SCINAAA
SCINCOM
SCINCRT
SCINSFH
SCININD
SCINPRE
SCINSEH
MOVIE24
FILM4UK
DRAMAUK
YESTDAY
HORROR
TRUMOV1
TRUMOV2
SKYNEWS
BBCNEWS
EUNEWS
CCTVNWS
RUSTOD
RTUKHD
FR24POR
ALJAZEN
BBCWS
CNNEUVM

uk.ren contents
LONLIVE:London Live
BBC1:BBC ONE
BBC2:BBC TWO
BBC4:BBC Four
ITV1HDL:ITV
ITV2HD:ITV 2
ITV3HD:ITV 3
ITV4HD:ITV 4
I123.89887.schedulesdirect.org:ITV Encore
ITVBEUK:ITV Be
C4HD:Channel 4
MORE4:More 4
E4:E4
I140.75804.schedulesdirect.org:4 Seven
SKY1:SKY One
SKYLIVI:SKY Living
SKYAT:SKY Atlantic
SKYART1:SKY Arts
SKY2:SKY Two
ALIBI:Alibi
GOODFD:Good Food
WATCHUK:Watch
GOLDE:Gold
DAVE:Dave
COMCN:Comedy Central Europe
I204.24671.schedulesdirect.org:Universal Channel
I113.68052.schedulesdirect.org:Universal Channel
5USA:5 USA
5ST:5 Star
QUEST:Quest
YESTDAY:Yesterday
CHALL:Challenge
CBSRELT:CBS Reality
CBSACVM:CBS Action
CBSDRMA:CBS Drama
PICKTV:Pick
REALLY:Really
CH5HD:Channel 5
FXUK:FOX
HOME:Home
TRAVEL:Travel Channel UK
DMAXE:Dmax
INVDISC:
DITURBO:Discovery Turbo
DISSCI:Science Channel
EDEN:Eden
CIHD:Crime & Investigation Network
SCINDRR:SKY Movies Drama
SCINGRE:SKY Modern Greats
SCINDIS:SKY Disney
SCINFAM:SKY Family
SCINAAA:SKY Action & Adventure
SCINCOM:SKY Comedy
SCINCRT:SKY Crime & Thriller
SCINSFH:SKY Scifi & Horror
SCINSEH:SKY Select
SCINPRE:SKY Premiere
MOVIE24:Movies 24
FILM4UK:Film 4
DRAMAUK:Drama
HORROR:Horror Channel
TRUMOV1:True Movies 1
TRUMOV2:True Movies 2
SKYNEWS:SKY News
BBCNEWS:BBC News
CNBCEU:CNBC US
EUNEWS:Euronews
CCTVNWS:CCTV News
RUSTOD:RT International
RTUKHD:RT UK
FR24POR:France 24
ALJAZEN:Al Jazeera
BBCWS:BBC World News
CNNEUVM:CNN International

I had a few channels missing data, so I also used Freeview for that. Missing channels were 5 Star, 5 USA and True Drama (which is actually True Entertainment +1). They are hit and miss for me. But you can always use an addon for those channels (i.e. Ivue, Mayfair, Renegades, etc.)

Freesat - England (United Kingdom)

freesat.chl contents
I131.52336.schedulesdirect.org
I129.52335.schedulesdirect.org
I142.57747.schedulesdirect.org

freesat.ren contents
I131.52336.schedulesdirect.org:5 Star
I129.52335.schedulesdirect.org:5 USA
I142.57747.schedulesdirect.org:True Entertainment

Again, the reason some of the channels are listed as xxxxxxxxxxx.schedulesdirect.org is because that was the only way to get some of the channels to populate guide data. Have no idea why this is. But once I added the info this way, it pulled the data and populated the EPG. (I don't claim to have figured everything out...)

Putting it all together.
I will list what I do for using Schedules Direct. Yours will be slightly different for using Microsoft Legacy.

mc2xml (-J user/password) -D ota.dat -C ota.chl -R ota.ren -d 200 -a -U -u -F -o ota.xml
mc2xml (-J user/password) -D us.dat -C us.chl -R us.ren -d 200 -a -U -u -F -I ota.xml -o us.xml
mc2xml (-J user/password) -D freesat.dat -C freesat.chl -R freesat.ren -d 200 -a -U -u -F -o freesat.xml
mc2xml (-J user/password) -D uk.dat -C uk.chl -R uk.ren -d 200 -a -U -u -F -I us.xml -o guide.xml This is how you can merge 2 files

NOT EVERYONE WILL HAVE TO DO THIS, JUST DEPENDS ON HOW COMPLETE THE DATA FROM YOUR PULL IS!
After this is done, open freesat.xml and go down to where <channel id="blah, blah, blah", and highlight all the info down to the end of the page where it says </tv> then move up one line (ends with </programme>) copy the highlighted text. Close the file and open guide.xml in notepad++ and go to line 5, where <channel id="blah, blah, blah" is and insert a carriage return. Go down 1 line and paste the data in memory.
Resave the file (guide.xml)

I do it this way because you can only include (merge)1 file in your output file. I tried it by adding the following options: -I ota.xml -I freesat.xml -o epg.xml and it didn't work for me.

(200 is hours, so 8.3 days is what I get. You can change this number to whatever you want to pull. If you leave it blank you will get 2 weeks and the file will be large and not all equipment will be able to load it. It all depends on your hardware.

You can only make 6 changes to your lineup per day. So if you decide to try out different providers and see the difference in their data, be aware of this.

When you go to hxxp:awardspace.info to download mc2xml.exe, I suggest you take the time to read the info there. It will give you everything you need to know about how to use the software. And reading is a powerful tool...

I'm sure that Ilan will be very helpful with those of you using Microsoft Legacy.

I will do my pull now and then upload it to pastebin, then come back and give a link to download my version of epg. It will have 8 days of data and be around 50 MB. Those whose hardware can handle it will have a rather full epg for the next week.

Cheers.