# Time zone offset **URL:** \ **Category:** Dev/API Corner\ **Tags:** plugin-dev\ **Created:** [July 14, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768 "2014-07-14T01:12:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidvr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@davidvr](https://forums.plex.tv/u/davidvr)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/1 "2014-07-14T01:12:42Z")
I can’t seem to figure out inside a channel how to find the local Timezone or timezone offset. Can anyone else share how to accomplish converting a Utc time stamp to local time? ---
**Author:** ![mikedm139](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mikedm139/32/96909_2.png) [@mikedm139](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mikedm139)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/2 "2014-07-14T20:58:42Z")
I'm pretty sure that the framework method Datetime.FromTimestamp() takes a UTC timestamp and mixes it with local timezone info to return a datetime object. You can then use python's built-in datetime methods to extract .date(), .time() or other info as necessary and they should all take local timezone into consideration. ---
**Author:** ![davidvr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@davidvr](https://forums.plex.tv/u/davidvr)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/3 "2014-07-14T21:06:27Z")
I had hoped the same thing, but it seems to preserve the UTC timezone.  Here is the code I have so far ( in the code for now I am assuming a 6 hour offset)  ``` unixtimestarted = Datetime.TimestampFromDatetime(Datetime.ParseDate(airingData['startTime'])) timezoneoffset = 6 * 60 * 60 displayeddate = str(Datetime.FromTimestamp(Datetime.TimestampFromDatetime(Datetime.ParseDate(airingData['startTime'])) -timezoneoffset)) ``` ---
**Author:** ![mikedm139](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mikedm139/32/96909_2.png) [@mikedm139](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mikedm139)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/4 "2014-07-14T21:15:25Z")
Why are you using Datetime.ParseDate() prior to Datetime.FromTimestamp()? I wouldn't be surprised if that's throwing a wrench into the timezone handling. ---
**Author:** ![davidvr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@davidvr](https://forums.plex.tv/u/davidvr)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/5 "2014-07-14T21:31:10Z")
The original date I am getting is a string that looks like 2014-07-16T23:30Z which I would need to convert to a Datetime object first right?  ---
**Author:** ![mikedm139](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mikedm139/32/96909_2.png) [@mikedm139](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mikedm139)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/6 "2014-07-14T23:27:32Z")
Ah. I was envisioning the wrong type of timestamp. Try: ``` startdate = Datetime.ParseDate(airingData['startTime']) timestarted = startdate.time() datestarted = startdate.date() ``` ---
**Author:** ![davidvr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@davidvr](https://forums.plex.tv/u/davidvr)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/7 "2014-07-15T01:07:19Z")
It still does not give a local timestamp: here is my source data: 'startTime': '2014-07-15T20:00Z' Here is the output of the code: 2014-07-14 20:02:48,876 (109f07000) :  INFO (\_\_init\_\_:948) - \*\*\*TabloTV: startdate: datetime.datetime(2014, 7, 15, 20, 0, tzinfo=tzutc()) 2014-07-14 20:02:48,876 (109f07000) :  INFO (\_\_init\_\_:948) - \*\*\*TabloTV: time: datetime.time(20, 0) 2014-07-14 20:02:48,876 (109f07000) :  INFO (\_\_init\_\_:948) - \*\*\*TabloTV: date: datetime.date(2014, 7, 15)   This should be 3 PM local time  ---
**Author:** ![mikedm139](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mikedm139/32/96909_2.png) [@mikedm139](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mikedm139)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/8 "2014-07-15T19:14:23Z")
I guess I was wrong about the Framework taking local timezones into account. Here's a suggestion which \_should\_ avoid requiring any hard-coded TZ info. ``` local = Datetime.ParseDate('2014-07-16T23:30Z') - (Datetime.UTCNow() - Datetime.Now()) ``` ---
**Author:** ![dane22](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/dane22/32/4389_2.png) [@dane22](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dane22)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/9 "2014-07-15T19:31:19Z")
> I guess I was wrong about the Framework taking local timezones into account. > > Here's a suggestion which \_should\_ avoid requiring any hard-coded TZ info. > > ``` > local = Datetime.ParseDate('2014-07-16T23:30Z') - (Datetime.UTCNow() - Datetime.Now()) > ``` Not sure here, and haven't tested, but will above work for timezones on both sides on GMT? /T ---
**Author:** ![dane22](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/dane22/32/4389_2.png) [@dane22](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dane22)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/10 "2014-07-15T19:34:04Z")
And maybe better with : [https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html#tzinfo-objects](https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html#tzinfo-objects) tzinfo.fromutc(_self_, _dt_) /T ---
**Author:** ![mikedm139](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mikedm139/32/96909_2.png) [@mikedm139](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mikedm139)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/11 "2014-07-15T20:28:36Z")
> Not sure here, and haven't tested, but will above work for timezones on both sides on GMT? > > /T I _think_ so. > And maybe better with : > > [https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html#tzinfo-objects](https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html#tzinfo-objects) > > tzinfo.fromutc(_self_, _dt_) > > /T or that. ---
**Author:** ![dane22](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/dane22/32/4389_2.png) [@dane22](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dane22)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/12 "2014-07-15T20:46:52Z")
> I _think_ so. LOL, and good enough for me... (If it ain't broken...don't fix it) /T ---
**Author:** ![davidvr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@davidvr](https://forums.plex.tv/u/davidvr)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/13 "2014-07-15T21:58:21Z")
I'll try those examples later tonight, but I think I have tried basically the same thing. I found part of the issue, Datetime.Now() returns a naive object and has no tzinfo so Datetime.Now and Datetime.UTCnow() both return the same time. Any ideas how to get an Aware Datetime object?  See: [https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html](https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html) ---
**Author:** ![davidvr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@davidvr](https://forums.plex.tv/u/davidvr)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/14 "2014-07-19T21:46:45Z")
Ok, In case anyone else ever has this issue, This appears to work:    datetime = Datetime.Now()     timezoneoffset = int((datetime - datetime.utcnow()).total\_seconds()) ---
**Author:** ![mikedm139](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mikedm139/32/96909_2.png) [@mikedm139](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mikedm139)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/15 "2014-07-19T23:33:19Z")
Thanks for posting your findings. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 2:28am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/time-zone-offset/70768/16 "2019-12-21T02:28:44Z")
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