USING MC2XML TO MAKE YOUR OWN EPG - tuturial with open discussion

[expatter]

How you merging the Data with the usa -uk -ota .xml files mate.I see you using Notepad++
Whats the best and quickest application to merge the .xml files up. ? Notepad ++ or have you found or know of a possible Auto Gui application that works or might work with some input work.

Thanks for your test file...............It works Great............but I need to duplicate this and add Sports .

mc2xml does the merging for you. The command is -I uk.xml -o guide.xml

Maybe look at the tutorial post again. The only time I use notepad++ is to add one extra (very small) pull that I do. The reason for this is that the software only allows you to combine 2 files at one time and merge them. It might not even be an issue for those people using the Microsoft Legacy (Rovi) service.

[ilan]

I use the -F option for my pull which does away with the channel number and uses only the channel ID. Cheers.

I saw that, but the description lead me to believe it just reverses channel name/channel number order, so I figured it would still be a two-step process.

Site description: -F output channel "name" first (rather than "number name")

[anon2599]

The I option in the software merges the files, although Notepad++ can be used as well. Read the original posts closely.

Well....................it would be very nice to have the ( I option ) in the software ...but its not available in the Gui for me ....is this option a cmd prompt command?

mc2xml does the merging for you. The command is -I uk.xml -o guide.xml

Maybe look at the tutorial post again. The only time I use notepad++ is to add one extra (very small) pull that I do. The reason for this is that the software only allows you to combine 2 files at one time and merge them. It might not even be an issue for those people using the Microsoft Legacy (Rovi) service.

Thanks for this reply ...it really helped.
I hope you can find the time to adjust the 1st post and include all relevant info into this 1st post.
That will be most concise and create far less stupid questions like mine .....cluttering this thread .....and condense for future ...user friendly users.

Thanks for all your time and help.Sir.

Regards,

[expatter]

I saw that, but the description lead me to believe it just reverses channel name/channel number order, so I figured it would still be a two-step process.

Site description: -F output channel "name" first (rather than "number name")

I understood it the same way, too. But when I did my pulls I would have the same channels with different numbers depending on if they were HD and when there were several options like ITV London, Scotland, etc. When I added the -F all of that seemed to go away. So I don't actually totally understand all the guts of the software, but basically fumble through it. As long as I get something that works...

[expatter]

I've been using the same tool for quite sometime now as well it works great.
The way you map channels is the following
IE. ESPN HD Inside the. XML file and ESPN-HD notice the dash inside of kodi. You change the channel name inside the. XML file to match the channel name inside kodi exactly as it shows on your pvr client. So instead of ESPN HD you'd rename it ESPN-HD. Do the same for every channel you want data for.

Again, there are several ways you could do this. So whatever works for you - great. However, when you are working with a 60 MB file, changing data can be frustrating with freezes and crashes. Might be way easier to just change the channel name in the pvr to match what you have in the EPG. But it doesn't matter how you do it, just that you get the guide

As far as the HD channels go - I don't have any guide info for those in my pvr. I simply moved those channels to be directly under the SD version. Eg Science has Science HD right under it in the pvr. So I know that whatever is listed in the guide for Science is the same program info for the HD variant.

[expatter]

Yes thanks expatter for the guide tutorial.

Can get the Uk part done ok via Microsoft servers but Pulling US Data from UK for me for various zip codes I have tried give me following results. Note the guide date year 2015. Don't have a US vpn to try pulling with US ip address but I presume its a location error.

<programme start="20150717150000 +0000" stop="20150717160000 +0000" channel="I46.193753106.microsoft.com

SchedD musnt mind to much about location since its Paid for.

Going to try pulling US .xml with Webgrab+ It has more "free" options than mc2xml but a lot slower.

If I'm barking up wrong tree advise me.

Not sure what to tell you here other than I use zip code 33334 and output the guide data in UTC, so it works fine. As far as more free options, I would think that both Webgrab+ and mc2xml (media center to xml) would offer the same providers. It should just depend on how many providers offer cable/satellite service in any give area (zip code). Does that make sense?

ALSO: There is a forum elsewhere for Media Center users, so this may have already been addressed and answered. I haven't been back there in a couple of months. There's a link to it on the awardspace site (if I'm not mistaken)

[expatter]

Hi everyone i just tried the file it works Thank you very much expatter for the tutorial, I'm going to tinker with it over the weekend and see if i can make it work, I'm not very good at technical stuff like this but i will follow your instructions and see if i can manage it without banging my head on the wall lol. Thanks again for taking the time to help us out

Just don't get overwhelmed. Take a deep breath first and relax. You may have to read the info a few times before it begins to make sense. I had to read it several times myself. And I still go back to awardspace.info to look at the options for using the software.

Of course, this stuff would be easier to understand for folks that are used to working in a command prompt environment. I go back to the DOS days, so there is that, lol. But just take your time, read it a couple of times. Take a break. Go back to it again another day and then it won't seem so intimidating.

[expatter]

This is an evolving thread, as we learn techniques for crafting a guide. I note that Expatter didn't run into one of the issues that created a headache for me. His pulled names are simpler and easier to rename, at least the ones that he posted

If you are pulling from the Microsoft source (Rovi, technically, now), the display name ends up being something like 202 CNN. Our service uses the display name CNN US. The only way I could accomplish the transformation in the REN file was to do this

202:
CNN:CNN US

It necessitated a two-step process. You would think you could accomplish the transformation in one step, i.e.,

202 CNN:CNN US

But m2xml does not like the space between 202 and CNN, so (at least for me) I had to eliminate the 202 first via

202:

And then I could handle renaming CNN to CNN US via

CNN:CNN US

I'm not sure if this is the only way or the easiest way, but it does work.

This will make sense to you when you begin creating your REN text file and you are using the Rovi source for your data. If you find a simpler method for doing this, please post your strategy for all to learn.

Necessity IS the Motherhood of Invention!

Hey Ilan,

I just printed out a Microsoft pull for Directv and had a look at the channel IDs. It's about the same as SD in that there are several ways to call IDs.
e.g. <channel id="I204.28460808.microsoft.com">
<display-name>204 HLN</display-name>
<display-name>204</display-name>
<display-name>HLN</display-name>
<display-name>Satellite</display-name>
</channel>

So~ you can set up your .chl and .ren files by using either 204, HLN or I204.28460808.microsoft.com and you will (in theory) get the same results.

N'est pas?

[viper8690]

Hi Guys,

Great info! This pretty much answers the questions that I had. The only question I still have is whether anyone knows how to get a full list of the channels that are coming from NFPS. I wasn't able to find a temp file in the Kodi userdata which has this. I'm guessing that it is probably in 1 of the .db sqlite files but I could be wrong. It would be easier for me to try to create a fuzzy mapping script in case of changes/additions to the channel listing from NFPS.

My goal is to create something automated that I don't need to follow-up on too much. If I am able to accomplish this, I will do something similar to Psyc0n where I can just provide a url for people to use. However, I have to dig into this more before I can get a feel whether I have the time/effort to do so.

I mentioned in another post that I have a week off from work so I want to focus on this and see what I can come up with.

[ilan]

Hey Ilan,

I just printed out a Microsoft pull for Directv and had a look at the channel IDs. It's about the same as SD in that there are several ways to call IDs.
e.g. <channel id="I204.28460808.microsoft.com">
<display-name>204 HLN</display-name>
<display-name>204</display-name>
<display-name>HLN</display-name>
<display-name>Satellite</display-name>
</channel>

So~ you can set up your .chl and .ren files by using either 204, HLN or I204.28460808.microsoft.com and you will (in theory) get the same results.

N'est pas?

I will take another look tomorrow. When I originally was setting up the .chl and .ren files, it didn't seem like I could map that easily. I'll reasses tomorrow to determine where the problem was (or appeared to be).

I've been adding 10 or 15 more channels each day. The madness to my method works, but maybe I can simplify it.

Oui!