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EPG for NA OTA/zap2it

Added by Edward Crosby over 7 years ago

So, I am running into an issue where parts of getting EPG to work is flaky when trying to pull from zap2it. I've been using this guide:

https://github.com/rocky4546/script.xmltv.tvheadend/wiki/Guide:-How-to-Setup-XMLTV-for-TVHeadEnd

Here are the issues I am running into:

1. When putting the tv_grab_file in /usr/bin (confirming it is executable and root has ownership), it doesn't appear instantly when I go into Configuration>Channel/EPG>EPG Grabber Modules in the TVHeadend console. This is even after server reboots.
2. Because issue 1 is inconsistent, when I finally get it to appear and it does pull down the EPG, the schedule only appears for a few days and then nothing is seen in the EPG tab.

The tv_grab_file seems to be from an old project. It hasn't been updated in 2 yrs. Could this be a problem?
Is there a better, more consistent method for pulling EPG from zap2it for North America OTA?

By the way, I made some changes to the steps in the wiki guide I referenced above.
In step 4 I ran this command instead since it originally cried:

./zap2xml.pl -u myzap2itusername -p myzap2itpassword -D -S 3

Also, in the tv_grab_file I changed this entry to point to my .xml file:

if (( $# < 1 ))
then
#  cat ~/.xmltv/tv_grab_file.xmltv
  cat /home/ed/xmltv/xmltv.xml
  exit 0
fi

Any thoughts, tips, and assistance would be greatly appreciated.


Replies (121)

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by jim dods over 6 years ago

Ok, I am not running this through Kodi (although i have tried it thru Kodi, and I AM able to pull all the channels in). I am running it standalone on a RasPi, creating a xmltv file, and then use a grabber file for TVheadend. So i dont have those files.

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by edit4ever ! over 6 years ago

In that case - can you share your settings.xml file? Or did that not get created in the way you installed?

If not - then we'll need to create one to tell the system how to access TVH channels list.

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by jim dods over 6 years ago

That is have, and have added the channel list here..

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by edit4ever ! over 6 years ago

OK - you didn't use Kodi to setup the settings.xml file - the device setting is wrong (as it is based on the lineup being OTA, cable, satellite, digital cable, etc)

In the settings.xml file change the device to "L" for digital rebuild or "X" for digital cable and see if one of those picks up the rest of the stations.

By leaving the device setting as the default "-" you're only getting the analog equivalent channels (less than 100)

Let me know how it goes!

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by jim dods over 6 years ago

Thank you sir. It looks like putting X on there works!

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by edit4ever ! over 6 years ago

Glad you got it working - I probably should have pointed out those instructions on the wiki page:

https://github.com/edit4ever/script.module.zap2epg/wiki/6.-Settings.xml

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by Brad Lewis over 6 years ago

For the guide to work does it need to be run as something other than root? I installed tvheadend on a debian lxc without another user installed but keep getting errors in running the script. When trying to run the manual procedure I get errors related to symlink access denied since the xmltv resides in the root home folder.

https://github.com/rocky4546/script.xmltv.tvheadend/wiki/Guide:-How-to-Setup-XMLTV-for-TVHeadEnd

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by edit4ever ! over 6 years ago

@Brad Lewis - two questions...

First, are you at least able to generate the xmltv.xml file? (seems like the answer to this is yes - and it will be created in the same folder that the zap2epg is run from.

Second - if you are doing this manually (not using the kodi addon) then you may want to use the TVheadend internal xmltv grabber instead of the zap2epg grabber. Just set it up to point to the xmltv.xml file and set up your own cron on the system to run the zap2epg.py script each day to update the xmltv.xml file.

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by Brad Lewis over 6 years ago

I am able to generate the xmltv.xml file. I dont know that I have the zap2epg grabber installed? I got as far in the process as softlink the xmltv folder but the user hts does not have access to the root home folder so the only grabbers that show up are xml_northamerica and the like aside from the one I had installed as part of this process. Which internal xml grabber would I want to use and where is the xmltv file normally stored? Or is this something that I should just create and run from a service account in the container?

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by edit4ever ! over 6 years ago

The built in xmltv grabber for tvheadend can point any folder you want...in this case, you have it pointing to ~/.xmltv/xmltv.xml

Usually it's just easy to set that up through the kodi interface - but I get the feeling that you don't have kodi setup on this debian install? Otherwise you would have likely just installed my whole addon.

My experience on systems other than LibreELEC is limited - so someone else may have to chime in here...but if you install the zap2epg addon in that same folder - ~/.xmltv/ - zap2epg should be able to generate the xmltv.xml file there and then tvh will read it.

A little more information on what you are trying to setup may help. Is this being setup as just a backend system that will be accessed from other frontend systems? Is it a standalone setup - RPi or other? Do you plan to use Kodi as your interface for playback?

If I get an idea of what you're trying to configure, I can probably provide a clearer set of setup steps.

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by Johan Du Preez almost 6 years ago

How can i run this on tvheadend without using kodi is there a way ? the wiki doesnt explain a lot

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by edit4ever ! almost 6 years ago

If you want to run a similar grabber without kodi - I would suggest you use zap2xml

http://zap2xml.awardspace.info/

It should give you all the options you are looking for.

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by Johan Du Preez almost 6 years ago

unfortunately that doesn't work as it is still referring back to the old link that zap2it used

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by edit4ever ! almost 6 years ago

If you look at the second reply on page three of this thread - I started to share a way to run it as a standalone. In this case - you should download the updated zap2epg.py file from my github - but the settings.xml should work fine.

https://github.com/edit4ever/script.module.zap2epg

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by K Shea almost 6 years ago

Johan Du Preez wrote:

unfortunately that doesn't work as it is still referring back to the old link that zap2it used

Have you downloaded the most recent version from http://zap2xml.awardspace.info/ ?
It works fine for me. The hints from https://freetoairamerica.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/some-hints-for-getting-free-to-air-satellite-channels-into-the-electronic-program-guide-in-kodi-or-xbmc-or-another-frontend/ were helpful to me in getting it working.

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by Johan Du Preez almost 6 years ago

edit4ever ! wrote:

If you look at the second reply on page three of this thread - I started to share a way to run it as a standalone. In this case - you should download the updated zap2epg.py file from my github - but the settings.xml should work fine.

https://github.com/edit4ever/script.module.zap2epg

just downloaded new files to make sure,

if i run your script i get this,

hts@Docker:~/zap2$ ./zap2epg.py
./zap2epg.py: line 17: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 18: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 19: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 20: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 21: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 22: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 23: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 24: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 25: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 26: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 27: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 28: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 29: import: command not found
from: can't read /var/mail/os.path
./zap2epg.py: line 31: import: command not found
from: can't read /var/mail/collections
./zap2epg.py: line 33: import: command not found
./zap2epg.py: line 36: syntax error near unexpected token `('
./zap2epg.py: line 36: `def mainRun(userdata):'

and if i run the setup like it shows in the wiki that Edward Crosby posted i get this,

./install.sh

  1. Checking for files to install
    Found all needed files for installation
  1. Determine if xmltv-util is installed
    xmltv-util package found
  1. establishing the softlink to the tvheadend user home folder
    Softlink /home/hts/.xmltv already exists, skipping
  1. Installing usr/bin/tv_grab_file
    WARNING: Found /usr/bin/tv_grab_file already present
    Replace /usr/bin/tv_grab_file? [N|y]n
    Not updating /usr/bin/tv_grab_file
    /usr/bin/tv_grab_file not deployed, skipping
    Checking to see if TVHeadend knows about the grabber file
    [sudo] password for hts:
    Found, TVHeadend has grabber file listed
  1. Deploying .zap2xmlrc file
    Obtain zap2it login information
    zap2it.com email: *****
    zap2it password:

Testing zap2it login
ERROR: Login failed, recieved message
000

unless their is a bunch of stuff im missing,

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by edit4ever ! almost 6 years ago

You seem to have both zap2epg and zap2xml references above. They are not the same and are not compatible with each other.

I would start over clean with one or the other and go from there. It would be best if you provided some information on your setup, what OS, what zipcode and what lineup are you trying to download?

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by Johan Du Preez almost 6 years ago

K Shea wrote:

Johan Du Preez wrote:

unfortunately that doesn't work as it is still referring back to the old link that zap2it used

Have you downloaded the most recent version from http://zap2xml.awardspace.info/ ?
It works fine for me. The hints from https://freetoairamerica.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/some-hints-for-getting-free-to-air-satellite-channels-into-the-electronic-program-guide-in-kodi-or-xbmc-or-another-frontend/ were helpful to me in getting it working.

Yeah downloaded the new stuff from awardspace and if i run it i get the following

C:\Users\Johan-PC\Downloads\New folder (2)>zap2xml.exe -u ** -p **
zap2xml (2018-12-01)
Command line: C:\Users\Johan-PC\Downloads\New folder (2)\zap2xml.exe -u ** -p **
Logging in as "********" (Mon Dec 10 17:12:21 2018)
[Attempt 1] Can't connect to tvlistings.zap2it.com:443 (Bad hostname)

LWP::Protocol::https::Socket: Bad hostname 'tvlistings.zap2it.com' at LWP/Protocol/http.pm line 47.

[Attempt 2] Can't connect to tvlistings.zap2it.com:443 (Bad hostname)

LWP::Protocol::https::Socket: Bad hostname 'tvlistings.zap2it.com' at LWP/Protocol/http.pm line 47.

[Attempt 3] Can't connect to tvlistings.zap2it.com:443 (Bad hostname)

LWP::Protocol::https::Socket: Bad hostname 'tvlistings.zap2it.com' at LWP/Protocol/http.pm line 47.

Failed to login within 3 retries.

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by Johan Du Preez almost 6 years ago

edit4ever ! wrote:

You seem to have both zap2epg and zap2xml references above. They are not the same and are not compatible with each other.

I would start over clean with one or the other and go from there. It would be best if you provided some information on your setup, what OS, what zipcode and what lineup are you trying to download?

I did 2 different tests,

My setup is ubuntu server fresh install with just tvheadend, i used your settings file just as is that u posted on page 3.

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by edit4ever ! almost 6 years ago

The failure to import notices for zap2epg have to do with python libraries that are missing on your install. These libraries are included in the kodi builds i use - so I'm not sure what you need to do to add the missing libraries to your ubunbtu system. Perhaps you don't have python 2.7 installed?

As I said, it's not really meant to run as a standalone program.

For the zap2xml error - I would email the author at with your issue.

RE: EPG for NA OTA/zap2it - Added by G Kazaroth almost 6 years ago

If you want to use zap2it on Ubuntu without Kodi, I recommend looking at
https://github.com/rocky4546/script.xmltv.tvheadend
It has the setup and was tested on Ubuntu.

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