epg123 was written to purge Rovi Guide Data from WMC and replace it with 20 or 21 days of guide data from Schedules Direct / Gracenote. It has now advance such that it will create an xmltv file for use with any program that will accept it.
Is it possible to use xmltv in Plex or does it already have the same information from Schedules Direct via json?
Thanks!
When you set up a DVR you can choose to use XMLTV
Okay. I thought I saw that someplace before. Apparently it cannot be added later? Is it worth it? Iām not sure where Plex guide data originates, how ārichā it is or how many days out it goes.
If I start over, will my recording schedule be preserved?
BTW, I have a second HDHR Connect Quatro coming today as I found that 4 tuners was barely enough so Iām adding 4 more. Iāll need to set this new tuner up anyhow.
Thanks again!
You will have to delete the DVR and add it back selecting the XMLTV option. Guide data comes from Gracenote. Recordings already scheduled will not be deleted when you remove the DVR so no worries about setting up the recordings again if you switch the guide used to the XMLTV.
What is the upside and downside to using xmltv data?
Thanks.
I have never tried to use an XMLTV file personally. I understand an upside is users can add channels from different markets that they receive but the Gracenote provided channels by zip are not accurate or doesnāt provide all the channels. Disadvantage from what I recall is categories of content, such as Sports I believe, donāt always work as they do with Gracenote EPG data.
Hi, Hope you donāt mind my jumping in, but when you add a 2nd DVR, is there any way to specify the guide source it should use? I donāt see any way to set it, and it seems to want to use the guide source from the first DVR. Would the only way to be to reinstall the first DVR specifying to use a XMLTV file, then either manually or via a external (to Plex) program compose a joint XMLTV file?
I will just give it a whirl and see what happens. IDK how many days Plex has but epg123 pulls all 20 to 21 days available from SchedulesDirectā¦
Gracenote provides aprroximately 14 days of guide data.
A second tuner device when added to a DVR configuration used the same EPG selected for the first tuner.
They have more and Schedules Direct pulls it all. Of course the further out you go from right now the fuzzier the data isā¦ Iāll do a comparison of the accuracy / richness of the two, Gracenote > Schedules Direct > epg123 > xmltv file > PlexDVR, and report back.
So Iāve noticed a few questions about pro/cons of using your own xmltv file, as well as what to do if you have 2 tunners, and have a few suggestions to share.
So first of, I use a free perl script called zap2xml which pulls data from zap2it
My main reason for using this it that the guide data provided by plex was missing a number of channels.
Also iāve heard a number of reports on the forum that if you live in an area with two different channels broadcasting on the same channel number ( for example 2.1) that plex mixes up the guide data. It appears that sometime it works and other times it doesnāt. Based on my understanding it is to to the improper use of the channel id tag in the xmltv file. The issue has been reported in a number of posts, so iām sure it will eventually be fixedā¦so that could be one reason to use your own xmltv file.
With the xmltv file generated by zap2xml, plex was displaying the unique channel id instead of the channel number in the new grid layout which you can see here Having issues with Grid view layout but all of the guide data worked flawlessly. This being said, iām just finishing some tesing, but the issue mentioned in my above post might be fixed with the newest betaā¦i reported it wasnāt working, but it looks like after deleting my tuner, then rebooting and resetting up the tunner that it may be working properly.
Another reason I use zap2xml, is that it has an option to combine it with another xmltv file. so with my postal code a few channels were missing in my lineup, so i created a 2nd account and pull guide data from buffalo just across the boarder to get the missing channelsā¦but you could do the same to combine any two sources of guide dataā¦like antenna for 2 different regions like i do, or antenna and cable tv. then in plex it will list all channels in one source and you just link it with the channel of whichever tunner you need.
so if you donāt want to use zap2xml there is another way to combine two xmltv files. personnally i use plex media server on ubuntu, so there is a tv grabber called tv_grab_combiner which lets you combine two xmltv files. if you go this route, you can create your two xmltv files and create a cron job (scheduled task) to combine the two, then point plex to that.
other than that, if you use youāre own xmltv files, you have more flexibility over number of days of guide data to keep, caching channel data or not caching certain days, time shifting. There are a number of great use casesā¦but it takes a bit of know how to set it up.
if anyone is interested in how i setup zap2xml with plex on ubuntu let me know and i can make a short guide.
Thanks for the detailed information! I have a case similar to yours, antenna and cable sources. Rather than mess with xmltv merging like you have done, I found it easier to get a raspberry pi setup as a Plex server that has only the 2nd source (DVR) defined on it. That way Plex can get the guide itself for both sources. A bit of a nuisance switching back and forth between the servers from my client, but I was getting a headache with xmltv 
Plus it balances the load a little for both recording and playback on my fairly underpowered main server.
If only Plex could handle having a guide defined for each DVR and do the merging itself ā¦
epg123 will download the xmltv file and put it where Plex can pick it up very easily. Iād say give it a try. You can tryout Schedules Direct Guide service for free for 7 days I believe or get two months for real cheap.
How did you get on TJB? Iām doing exactly the same as you but the latest version of epg123 does not export the āchannel idā correctly as its in an epg123-style format? So when I attempt an import it just fails?
I re-did my DVR set up and told Plex to use the xmltv file created by epg123 but upon looking at the guide, Iām not sure it took properly as I only show two days of guide data. I think I need to try again.
Are you in the UK? What settings did you use?
Iāve just given up for tonight, Iāve just switched it to āover the air guideā for now to see how that works as I didnāt know it was there 
At least Iāve kind of got my āEmmerdaleā problem sorted sort of by bodging the recording settings! 
I am on the other side of the pondā¦ WAY on the other side, almost to the next pond.
Anyhow, I looked today and my guide is out to 14 days so either the epg123 xmltv guide didnāt take and I have Plex Guide or Plex truncates the 21 days in epg123 to a mere 14 days. IDK how to check where my guide came from.
@johnm_ColaSC @BigWheel where to find this information?
Thanks!
What settings are you using in epg123? Iād like to try the same or similar so I can at least get Plex to accept the XML. At the moment it just rejects the XML as if itās formatted wrong?
Cheers TJB, Iāve just gone in and just blindly followed your settings to see if Plex would at least try and pick things up, but I still get āinvalid or missing fileā. It does think about it for about 5 seconds or so before it comes back with the error.
Iāve double checked the path (c:\epg123\epg123.xml) loads of times so it canāt be that.
( Also, Iāve just found it, my Emmerdale fix didnāt work at all 
)!
Iām worried the XMLTV file format may be wrong, (see image) as Iād have expected the Channel ID to be the name or no. of the channel, not an EPG123 reference number?
