Tvheadend

https://github.com/Rigolo/tv-grab-file

However, a Schedules Direct subscription is only ~$25/yr, and they have excellent guide data. XMLTV utils 0.68 even includes tv_grab_sd_json for using their newer (and better) JSON API.

Robert,

Again appreciate the help. Came across the link you suggested, but couldn't be sure if it worked. I'll try it out. I want to go "no charge" to verify everything works right and then look at subscription options.

Thx again....

Robert Cameron wrote:

https://github.com/Rigolo/tv-grab-file

However, a Schedules Direct subscription is only ~$25/yr, and they have excellent guide data. XMLTV utils 0.68 even includes tv_grab_sd_json for using their newer (and better) JSON API.

Schedules Direct offers a free 7 day trial, as well as a 2 month plan for $6. XMLTV Utils includes 2 Schedules Direct grabbers:

tv_grab_na_dd: This uses the older DataDirect API, and the channels to grab are configured through the website; and,

tv_grab_sd_json: This uses the newer JSON API which I feel is a bit more robust, and the channels are configured through the grabber itself.

Also, if you are going to use tv_grab_file, don't forget to modify the script to properly point to the location of your XMLTV file—as well as ensuring that your Tvheadend user has permissions to the grabber and XMLTV file alike.

I guess I'll have to give Schedules Direct more serious consideration. Thx.

Setting the directory of the xmltv file is no problem (BTW - I am supposed to put the tv_grab_file in /usr/bin, right?).

It's the permissions and owner:group that always get me. I've seen both chmod +x and chmod 0755 suggested (is one better than the other?). For owner:group....What should that be? root:root? osmc:root or osmc:osmc? Or <tvheadend:tvheadend> (whatever that really is?)

Also, how do I make sure the grabber shows up in TVH web interface Configuration/Channel EPG/EPG Grabber/Internal? Or will getting permissions and owner:group right do that for me (after restarting the service)?

Thx again...cheers....

Robert Cameron wrote:

Schedules Direct offers a free 7 day trial, as well as a 2 month plan for $6. XMLTV Utils includes 2 Schedules Direct grabbers:

tv_grab_na_dd: This uses the older DataDirect API, and the channels to grab are configured through the website; and,

tv_grab_sd_json: This uses the newer JSON API which I feel is a bit more robust, and the channels are configured through the grabber itself.

Also, if you are going to use tv_grab_file, don't forget to modify the script to properly point to the location of your XMLTV file—as well as ensuring that your Tvheadend user has permissions to the grabber and XMLTV file alike.

For tv_grab_*, I keep mine in /usr/bin. They are owned by root:root with a mode of 0755.

The permissions I was referring to are those of the XMLTV file itself. If you are going to use tv_grab_file, the file/location of the XMLTV needs to be readable by whatever user is running Tvheadend. On my system, that is hts, and it is run under the group video. For your installation, it may be different.

OK, so it seems to be 3-steps forward, 2 steps back :((

After fixing an issue about not finding an mscorlib.dll (mono seemed to be looking for it a mono/2.0 directory, which didn't exist, but it was located in the mono/4.5 directory...so I made a 2.0 and cp'd it Got to the point of generating/exporting the cookie file and ran mono on the grabber to gen the tvguide.xml file. Did fine to this point. Then it started to do something related to mdb and choked (issues surrounding "Invalid URI: The URI scheme is not valid.", among others....file attached).

I originally installed mono-complete and when I saw how much space it took, I uninstalled and installed the mono-runtime. I read that someone ran into the 2.0/mscorlib.dll missing issue. I wonder if the runtime version is missing pieces for the mdb part (what is that for anyway?)...I also read that someone was able to use the runtime version, but no details of any issues and how they might have been resolved.

As usual, any help greatly appreciated...cheers....

did a mono Robert Cameron wrote:

For tv_grab_*, I keep mine in /usr/bin. They are owned by root:root with a mode of 0755.

The permissions I was referring to are those of the XMLTV file itself. If you are going to use tv_grab_file, the file/location of the XMLTV needs to be readable by whatever user is running Tvheadend. On my system, that is hts, and it is run under the group video. For your installation, it may be different.

stepher ru wrote:

OK, so it seems to be 3-steps forward, 2 steps back :((

After fixing an issue about not finding an mscorlib.dll (mono seemed to be looking for it a mono/2.0 directory, which didn't exist, but it was located in the mono/4.5 directory...so I made a 2.0 and cp'd it Got to the point of generating/exporting the cookie file and ran mono on the grabber to gen the tvguide.xml file. Did fine to this point. Then it started to do something related to mdb and choked (issues surrounding "Invalid URI: The URI scheme is not valid.", among others....file attached).

I originally installed mono-complete and when I saw how much space it took, I uninstalled and installed the mono-runtime. I read that someone ran into the 2.0/mscorlib.dll missing issue. I wonder if the runtime version is missing pieces for the mdb part (what is that for anyway?)...I also read that someone was able to use the runtime version, but no details of any issues and how they might have been resolved.

As usual, any help greatly appreciated...cheers....

I think we've diverged here. If you are talking about some random C#/.Net program for getting your XMLTV files, I'm afraid you're on your own. There are xmltv-utils, mc2xml, zap2xml and others; but none of those are C#/.Net that I'm aware of ...

Still trying to understand this stuff so I'll have to take your word about "diverged"

The tv_grab_file you suggested listed WebGrap+Plus.exe (so I guess it is a binary file) as the program to use to do the grabbing. That led me down the path to mono (which I believe provides a Windows "wrapper" for using WebGrab+Plus.exe on Linux). I did get it to load up tvguide.xml with channel info but, as I mentioned below, apparently there's stuff still missing.

Have I made it more complicated than I should have?

I loaded both xmltv-utils and mc2xm a few days ago and couldn't get either of those up and running. Maybe I need to go back to them?

Robert Cameron wrote:

stepher ru wrote:

OK, so it seems to be 3-steps forward, 2 steps back :((

After fixing an issue about not finding an mscorlib.dll (mono seemed to be looking for it a mono/2.0 directory, which didn't exist, but it was located in the mono/4.5 directory...so I made a 2.0 and cp'd it Got to the point of generating/exporting the cookie file and ran mono on the grabber to gen the tvguide.xml file. Did fine to this point. Then it started to do something related to mdb and choked (issues surrounding "Invalid URI: The URI scheme is not valid.", among others....file attached).

I originally installed mono-complete and when I saw how much space it took, I uninstalled and installed the mono-runtime. I read that someone ran into the 2.0/mscorlib.dll missing issue. I wonder if the runtime version is missing pieces for the mdb part (what is that for anyway?)...I also read that someone was able to use the runtime version, but no details of any issues and how they might have been resolved.

As usual, any help greatly appreciated...cheers....

I think we've diverged here. If you are talking about some random C#/.Net program for getting your XMLTV files, I'm afraid you're on your own. There are xmltv-utils, mc2xml, zap2xml and others; but none of those are C#/.Net that I'm aware of ...

stepher ru wrote:

Still trying to understand this stuff so I'll have to take your word about "diverged"

The tv_grab_file you suggested listed WebGrap+Plus.exe (so I guess it is a binary file) as the program to use to do the grabbing. That led me down the path to mono (which I believe provides a Windows "wrapper" for using WebGrab+Plus.exe on Linux). I did get it to load up tvguide.xml with channel info but, as I mentioned below, apparently there's stuff still missing.

I don't know where you read that from, but it wasn't from me. The GitHub repo for the tv_grab_file I posted makes no mention of any other grabber. It only contains a brief README and the script itself.

WRT tv_grab_file: This script is generally best used when you are using a grabber that can output XMLTV, but does not respond to the basic commands that all tv_grab_* grabbers must. However, it seems in your case you do not yet even have a grabber. So, before you create a workflow around tv_grab_file, perhaps first you ought to re-assess what it is you need.

Apologies...you're right. The link you provided was a different tv_grab_file. Like I said, in trying to sort things out I did a bunch of searches but cannot tell you how I got to where I am today :((

I do disagree with the fact that I don't have a grabber. As far as the program got to, WebGrab+Plus actually populated (in what appears to be xml format) my tvguide.xml file with info about the channels. However, without a full understanding (and a program that "choked" on me), it's unclear if I have all, or even the right, information in the file.

So, am I at least right in understanding that mc2xml, xmltv-utils and zap2xml are grabbers that load up my tvguide.xml file with channel info (and actually serve a similar function as WebGrab+Plus)?

Prob'ly a good time to step back and take a bigger perspective on what the flow of the programs/scripts and what they are supposed to do and how I can make use of them.

As usual thx for the guidance (and your patience with me

Robert Cameron wrote:

stepher ru wrote:

Still trying to understand this stuff so I'll have to take your word about "diverged"

The tv_grab_file you suggested listed WebGrap+Plus.exe (so I guess it is a binary file) as the program to use to do the grabbing. That led me down the path to mono (which I believe provides a Windows "wrapper" for using WebGrab+Plus.exe on Linux). I did get it to load up tvguide.xml with channel info but, as I mentioned below, apparently there's stuff still missing.

I don't know where you read that from, but it wasn't from me. The GitHub repo for the tv_grab_file I posted makes no mention of any other grabber. It only contains a brief README and the script itself.

WRT tv_grab_file: This script is generally best used when you are using a grabber that can output XMLTV, but does not respond to the basic commands that all tv_grab_* grabbers must. However, it seems in your case you do not yet even have a grabber. So, before you create a workflow around tv_grab_file, perhaps first you ought to re-assess what it is you need.

I think you've misunderstood what a grabber actually is.

The "grabber", connects to a service/website, looks up channel/program information for a specific carrier/channel/timespan/country/&c, and then downloads that information to your computer.

XMLTV is a format that many grabbers adhere to. Similarly, the XMLTV project also publishes a number of grabbers that also output their information in the XMLTV format.

All of the grabbers published by the XMLTV project (in general, they are all named tv_grab_*) all respond to certain arguments/parameters/configurations in the same manner. In Tvheadend, when it starts up, it looks for programs in your $PATH that generally start with @tv_grab_*@and respond to the proper commands; it will then make these available to you as EPG modules. However, you almost always need to configure these grabbers outside of TVH, and almost always as the user that TVH also runs as.

If your grabber does not output directly to XMLTV, or is not recognized by TVH, there are a few other options for getting your guide data into the program. The most popular of those options is with xmltv.sock, which is a socket that listens for XMLTV data.

Wanted to circle back around on this.....

1st, yes, I do understand what a grabber does. What I needed to do was figure out how all the pieces worked/fit together from the grabber to the xml file to OSMC. Once I had that down, I figured out changes (typically directory pointers) I needed to make to get it working.

So far, it all looks good. Just did an update test to see what shows up in the xml file, and I found Program, Episode, description, etc. all sitting in the file. The system I'm working from is upstairs and the RPI 3/OSMC system is downstairs so it'll be a bit till I can verify OSMC is seeing what it's supposed to see. However, I'm fairly confident at this point.

Anyways, thx bunches for the help and insight. I truly appreciate it.

1 last question...I edited "[Solved]" into the title of my 1st posting. Is there a button somewhere that I missed that would do this automatically?

Cheers....

Robert Cameron wrote:

I think you've misunderstood what a grabber actually is.

The "grabber", connects to a service/website, looks up channel/program information for a specific carrier/channel/timespan/country/&c, and then downloads that information to your computer.

XMLTV is a format that many grabbers adhere to. Similarly, the XMLTV project also publishes a number of grabbers that also output their information in the XMLTV format.

All of the grabbers published by the XMLTV project (in general, they are all named tv_grab_*) all respond to certain arguments/parameters/configurations in the same manner. In Tvheadend, when it starts up, it looks for programs in your $PATH that generally start with @tv_grab_*@and respond to the proper commands; it will then make these available to you as EPG modules. However, you almost always need to configure these grabbers outside of TVH, and almost always as the user that TVH also runs as.

If your grabber does not output directly to XMLTV, or is not recognized by TVH, there are a few other options for getting your guide data into the program. The most popular of those options is with xmltv.sock, which is a socket that listens for XMLTV data.