New XMLTV Import Tool

[brewston]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

To correct this, just open the categories editor in the Importer, and change the display name "Film" into "Movie" for the "Movie" main category and do the import again (and also force the EPG Update in Sage).

I tried that, and in 'my tv' -> movies I saw a whole load of 'no data' entries :-(

Edit : I played around and fixed it (kinda) :

The importer Movie category has display name 'film' and keyword 'film', SageMC Movie Category is 'Movie'. All films show as category Movie/Film as you said, but at least they show up in SageMC search and webserver search


Tim

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by brewston

The importer Movie category has display name 'film' and keyword 'film', SageMC Movie Category is 'Movie'. All films show as category Movie/Film as you said, but at least they show up in SageMC search and webserver search

As I said in my previous post, you need to change the display name of the movie category from "Film" to "Movie" (the keyword should be "film" because this what you have in your XMLTV file). This is because SageTV sees the movie coming as "Film/xxxx", that it change it to "Movie/Film" (pushing category name to the right).

Once you have changed the display name for the movie category, your movies will be listed as "Movie/xxxx".

This will be fixed in upcoming version of SageTV.

Note: also the WebServer Plugin only recognize "Movie" / "News" / "Sport events" as categories. I will see with Nielm if he can change the WebServer to use the real category name to better accomodate localisation.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[brewston]

Stephane

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Once you have changed the display name for the movie category, your movies will be listed as "Movie/xxxx".

Thats working too. But I see them all as Movie - First Run. I'm not seeing any genre. Doesn't really matter, its OK as it is

Thanks for your patience

Tim

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by brewston

I'm not seeing any genre. Doesn't really matter, its OK as it is

You are supposed to create those genres (well sub-categories) within the categories editor in the Importer.

Suppose that your XMLTV files have these categories:

Film, Science Fiction
Film, Sc.Fiction
Film, SciFi

First you put the keyword "film" for the movie category. Then you add a sub-categorie to the movie one (right click on the movie node in the tree), and name this sub categorie "Science Fiction", choose "Science Fiction" for the display name and add use these keywords : "science fiction,sc.fiction,scifi".

Repeat this untill you finally handled all your movie categories. Then you can proceed the same for "Series" category. And it is advised that you use the same sub-categories. This way within SageTV you'll be able to view all "Science Fiction" genre wether it is a series or a movie.

And each time your guide is updated go take a look in the Windows Event Viewer and the Importer will tell you exactly what new categories cannot be matched to your own categories : this way you can improve your categories filters as time goes by.

Or you can simply ignore this completely this is really not required at all.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[rtengvad]

Hi Stephane

Thanks for the new version with the new catagory editor. That is a huge improvement!

One question though. What is now the link between the catagory handling options in the wizard (and on the front ui) and the catagory editor?

rtengvad

[StephaneM]

Hello,

Originally Posted by rtengvad

One question though. What is now the link between the catagory handling options in the wizard (and on the front ui) and the catagory editor?

As soon as you use the categories editor, the "old" categories handling is unused (one exception though : for Zap2it data, the "movie" keyword of the old categories handling is still used to inject this keyword for giving more chances for the categories editor for identifying movies).

The "old" categories handling was just a way to identify internally movies and series (Sport and News were added later to support epg colors in SageTV but wasn't really needed). It was also used to "force" the main categories of show to be "Movie" / "News" / "Sport event".

The new categories editor replace all that as soon as you enable its filters (that is putting some keywords on a category). So it helps the Importer to correctly identify movies and series internally but it does not force anymore the main categories of the shows; instead you can choose precisely the main categories display name (though your are still required to have a "Movie" / "Series" categories, that's why you cannot delete the predefined categories in the Importer : it is strongly suggested that you use them )

Regards,
Stéphane.

[shanizar]

I've used your tool for beyond tv and it has worked great!

But now I wanted to try out sage tv but I haven't been able to get it to work. My problem is choosing XMLTV as a source... It's probably me being stupid but when I choose the "Use US, Canada or XMLTV Guide data with this source!" I can only choose "Cable or Satellite" or "Local Broadcast". And none of those options give me the XMLTV option anywhere I can see...

I've already run the importer btw, and created the lineup there, just can
t find it anywhere is sagetv

[StephaneM]

Hello,

Originally Posted by shanizar

when I choose the "Use US, Canada or XMLTV Guide data with this source!" I can only choose "Cable or Satellite" or "Local Broadcast". And none of those options give me the XMLTV option anywhere I can see...

This is the expected behavior, SageTV does this as it would do for its native program guide data. You can choose either "Cable / Satellite" or "Local Broadcast", "Local Broadcast" is recommended as it will not ask your your Zip / Postal code, as this is not used with XMLTV. After choosing the type of broadcast, you'll then be able to choose the XMLTV Lineups created with the Importer.

But for your lineup to correctly show up in SageTV, you had to install the Importer when SageTV was not running at all. So if you do not see your lineups, shut down SageTV completely and uninstall and install the XMLTV Importer.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[sjgore]

Hi Stéphane,

I've just tried installing version 2.2 in Vista Ultimate, and it won't install. It says I need the .NET framework version 1.1.4322.

Vista comes with .NET framework 1.1, 2.0, and 3.0 installed. Is there a way I can force it to install?

Steve.

[troll5501]

That said really nothing happen when the DST is changing the Importer before and after the DST change submits the same data, as the hour shift is based on the date of the show not on the date of the import : that's why in SageTV when you view the program guide the airing time of the show should be correct for the next week even when if DST will change then. Beyond TV does not : you will see show begin early late, and this will fix when the DST change, but this is a BTV issue.

Regards,
Stéphane.

Does the Importer use the Windows or Java timezone data to determine daylight saving start/end dates, or is it compiled into the program? I'm having problems with today's time change in the US for DST (3 weeks earlier starting in 2007). I am using the "use daylight saving times" option in the Importer. All shows are shifted 1 hour, and this was also happening before today but only for shows on 3/11 and after. So I suspect that the Importer may be introducing an incorrect time shift.

Here are the details on my system and the data for one particular show that airs at 7:00PM EDT:

Importer v2.2
XMLTV: timezone offset 0
Importer: timezone offset 0
Local System Time: US/Eastern (EDT) offset is -0400 as of today for DST
Sage 6.0.19 is set for TimeZone "EDT Eastern Standard Time (America/New_York)"
Windows XP DST patch is installed
JRE 1.6 time zone data version: tzdata2007c

For a particular show that I know the correct start time is 7PM EDT, here are the details.

correct start should be: 200703141900 EDT local time after -0400 offset
correct end should be: 200703142130 EDT local time after -0400 offset

xmltv epg.xml data:

start: 20070314230000 +0000
end: 20070315013000 +0000

From Episodes0.xml generated by the Importer:

With DST checkbox checked in Importer:

start: 200703142200 -becomes-> 18:00 EDT in Sage guide **wrong**
end: 200703150030 -becomes-> 20:30 EDT in Sage guide **wrong**

With DST checkbox unchecked in Importer:

start: 200703142300 -becomes-> 19:00 EDT in Sage guide **correct**
end: 200703150130 -becomes-> 21:30 EDT in Sage guide **correct**

Can anyone explain if I've misconfigured this or is this a bug? I finally unchecked the DST checkbox in the Importer as a workaround. Everything was fine until today's time change.

Thanks!

[sjgore]

Hi Stéphane,

I've just tried installing version 2.2 in Vista Ultimate, and it won't install. It says I need the .NET framework version 1.1.4322.

Vista comes with .NET framework 1.1, 2.0, and 3.0 installed. Is there a way I can force it to install?

Steve.

After searching a few Windows forums, I've discovered that Vista only comes with .NET 2.0 and 3.0. The reason that I thought Vista came with 1.1 is because there is a 1.1 directory in the .NET folder.

Anyway, I installed .NET 1.1 and SP1, and installed the SageTV XMLTV Importer. Everything appeared to be running okay until I hit the 'Import' button at the end of the wizard, and got a message about a .NET security policy not allowing access to the registry.

Any ideas?

Steve.

[popechild]

Originally Posted by troll5501

Does the Importer use the Windows or Java timezone data to determine daylight saving start/end dates, or is it compiled into the program? I'm having problems with today's time change in the US for DST (3 weeks earlier starting in 2007). I am using the "use daylight saving times" option in the Importer. All shows are shifted 1 hour, and this was also happening before today but only for shows on 3/11 and after. So I suspect that the Importer may be introducing an incorrect time shift.

Here are the details on my system and the data for one particular show that airs at 7:00PM EDT:

Importer v2.2
XMLTV: timezone offset 0
Importer: timezone offset 0
Local System Time: US/Eastern (EDT) offset is -0400 as of today for DST
Sage 6.0.19 is set for TimeZone "EDT Eastern Standard Time (America/New_York)"
Windows XP DST patch is installed
JRE 1.6 time zone data version: tzdata2007c

For a particular show that I know the correct start time is 7PM EDT, here are the details.

correct start should be: 200703141900 EDT local time after -0400 offset
correct end should be: 200703142130 EDT local time after -0400 offset

xmltv epg.xml data:

start: 20070314230000 +0000
end: 20070315013000 +0000

From Episodes0.xml generated by the Importer:

With DST checkbox checked in Importer:

start: 200703142200 -becomes-> 18:00 EDT in Sage guide **wrong**
end: 200703150030 -becomes-> 20:30 EDT in Sage guide **wrong**

With DST checkbox unchecked in Importer:

start: 200703142300 -becomes-> 19:00 EDT in Sage guide **correct**
end: 200703150130 -becomes-> 21:30 EDT in Sage guide **correct**

Can anyone explain if I've misconfigured this or is this a bug? I finally unchecked the DST checkbox in the Importer as a workaround. Everything was fine until today's time change.

Thanks!

Same problem. Same workaround.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by troll5501

Does the Importer use the Windows or Java timezone data to determine daylight saving start/end dates

It use Windows timezone info to know if it must appy correction or not.

start: 20070314230000 +0000
end: 20070315013000 +0000

As the start and stop time in XMLTV are already in UTC : you do not have to check the DST check box in the Importer (SageTV will do the UTC -> Local Time conversion, whereas the Importer jobs is to make Local Time -> UTC conversion if needed). The Time Offset and DST settings are only here in the Importer if the XMLTV data is in local time (And of course you can adjust them to suit any particular situations)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Hello Steve,

Originally Posted by sjgore

Anyway, I installed .NET 1.1 and SP1, and installed the SageTV XMLTV Importer. Everything appeared to be running okay until I hit the 'Import' button at the end of the wizard, and got a message about a .NET security policy not allowing access to the registry.

Honestly I don't know. I do not have Vista yet (but will soon have it : renewed MSDN, and will build a brand new PC for testing).

The registry thing is strange because the XMLTV Importer for SageTV doesn't have to look in the registry (whereas the BTV one does).

However, you may try to stop using the Wizard and use the classical UI. Here you'll be able to change :

* Settings Directory
* SageTV Directory

I would change those two directories for C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\LM Gestion\SageTV XMLTV Importer (this is what I'll certainly do when I'll test for Vista)

When you have changed those, you'll also need to edit the xmltv.propreties file (C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV) while SageTV is completly shut down to change the ThirdPartyGuideDataPath to C:\\Documents and Settings\\All Users\\Application Data\\LM Gestion\\SageTV XMLTV Importer\\3rdPartyGuideData

But I don't know if this will work at all...

Regards,
Stéphane.

[troll5501]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

As the start and stop time in XMLTV are already in UTC : you do not have to check the DST check box in the Importer (SageTV will do the UTC -> Local Time conversion, whereas the Importer jobs is to make Local Time -> UTC conversion if needed). The Time Offset and DST settings are only here in the Importer if the XMLTV data is in local time (And of course you can adjust them to suit any particular situations)

Regards,
Stéphane.

Thanks for clarifying this. I'll keep the DST checkbox unchecked, and leave everything else as-is.

Why would someone use an offset in XMLTV and also in the Importer? It seems like an unnecessary UTC -> Local Time -> UTC conversion, and a easy way to introduce problems.

Back when DST ended in October 2006, I had similar issues and that is when I changed my XMLTV offset to +0000 and did the same in the Importer. Unfortunately I left the DST checkbox enabled.

Thanks for your help!

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by troll5501

Why would someone use an offset in XMLTV and also in the Importer? It seems like an unnecessary UTC -> Local Time -> UTC conversion, and a easy way to introduce problems.

Well it all depends on the grabber, for some grabber time is only given in local time, so the Importer has to offer a feature for converting local time to UTC (Historically I was only providing the "Time Offset" field, then I added the DST option for a "set and forget it" feature)

For instance in countries not as big as the USA (only one time zone in the country), the TV Web Sites list the programs with local time. It's easier for the grabber to not convert time to UTC. Also some grabber can make mistakes with the time zone for DST, eg: for france the switch is GMT +1 to GMT +2 and some grabber may still write GMT +1 when in DST. That's why the Importer doesn't read the "GMT +" part of the air date, it assumes that either the time is given in local time or UTC time and expects that you'll put the time offset / dst accordingly.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[cortechs]

Hello,

The formula 1 season as just started over and SageTV is already messing with my head.

The event span over 3 days like so:
1st day: 2 time slots, one for each practice session
2nd day: 2 time slots, 3rd practice + 1 Qualification run
3d day: The Race

So, here is the deal:
My EPG is giving me identical Titles and Descriptions for every single airings. Moreover, the EPXXXXX data is also identical for all airings.

What I've done is creating the following Favorite: [Title:Formule 1], 1st & future airings, all channels.
This will be true for the all season regardless of the time schedule. But the catch is that like it is right now, it won't record anything but the first show due to the identical data the EPG gives me. That leaves me without the 2nd, 3rd, Qualification and the Race airings.

So, is there a way to change the EPXXXXX thing to something different for each event?

BTW I just find out about the sub-categories in your importer and it rocks !!! Keep up the good work !!!

Regards,

Cortechs.

****update****
I've also open a similar threat in the "SageTV Software" section to see if there was another way of doing that within SageTV.
**** end******

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by cortechs

My EPG is giving me identical Titles and Descriptions for every single airings. Moreover, the EPXXXXX data is also identical for all airings.../...So, is there a way to change the EPXXXXX thing to something different for each event?

No, there is no way to change the EPGID from within the Importer. So you'll have to use manual recordings.

Those shows will be the most difficult case to hande as they are "special events" and doesn't even follow some airing rules, so even with the upcoming advanced airing editor of the Importer there is nothing to expect for thoses. It's just a shame that the description doesn't even have the race name or stage...

Regards,
Stéphane.

[cortechs]

Well, thanks anyway, I'll deal with it for now...

Cortechs.


****update*****
I've seen from other posts (and this FAQ confirms it) to have SageTV record all airings including re-runs by using the EPGID "SH" instead of "EP". So I was wondering if it is doable, if you have some free spare time, to assign a category (using your category manager) in order to change that "EP" in "SH" ?
*****end*****

[StephaneM]

to have SageTV record all airings including re-runs by using the EPGID "SH" instead of "EP". So I was wondering if it is doable, if you have some free spare time, to assign a category (using your category manager) in order to change that "EP" in "SH"?

The Importer assigns these prefixs:

* EP : for programs with episodes
* MV : for movies
* SH : for shows that doesn't have any episodes

Sports shows should be tagged with "SH", but if the Importer find one show in a series with an ep. title (or description / air date not equals to show already processed depending on the detection method you use) then the Importer will use the "EP" prefix instead.

It will not be doable to force "SH" on a category, because it's not reliable. The only way to do it is to do it by show. And in your case I'm not even sure : if you got an "EP" prefix then somehow the Importer figured at least two different episodes. For instance with my data the "Formule 1" is correctly titled "Australia GP - 2007 World championship" and there is two airings one live during the night and one rerun in the afternoon. In this case a "SH" prefix would have recorded both the live event and the rerun, in SageTV you cannot cancel a specific favorite episode from recording (unless you set it as "watched") however you can easily set a manual recording for a missed favorite.

Not all situations can be handled automatically, wether you can do something about it in the Importer or in SageTV, you will still have to do something and check from time to time that all is Ok.

There are some situations that will benefits for the upcoming airing editor, for instance those shows that you know for sure are all 1st run (like news) or some magazine that are always 1st run on saturday (and following airings are reruns of that one until next saturday). The advanced editor will be able to deal with those because there are rules. When there is no rule : manual recording is still the best option.

Regards,
Stéphane.