New XMLTV Import Tool

[jimbobuk]

after some quick reading through more of the earlier pages of this thread i saw mention of the xmltv.XMLTVInputPlugin sage properties entry rather than as mentioned in your HOWTO just XMLTVInputPlugin.

Having changed this i'm getting somewhere with 00000 zip code..

Please could you change this part of your guide I should have not bothered changing that, i was a little worried that somehow it'd try to use the old xmltv setup, rather than the new one so followed your guide and changed it.

And in the time taken to finish this post, its done, let me set channels and now got some data.. all seems well...

I'll have to re-read over this later, but am a little confused as to how the new options are going to work for me.. whether i'll have issues with shows recording or not as it tries to get more ids to sage... i guess my old set favourites wont work, unless they're not even there anymore.. time to poke around.

Cheers

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by jimbobuk

for using XMLTV are old and just say to do

select tuner
enter TRIAL as your access code
enter 00000 as your zip code
select XMLTV

This is old stuff, disregard it completely (on my web site the info about this is accurate however).

The only options i have are

Use US, Canada, or XMLTV Guide Data with this source
Use tvtv Services Guide Data with this Source
Do Not Use Program Guide Data with this source

I presume option i) is the preferred option

Correct.

on selecting that i just get

Cable or Satellite
Local Broadcast (over-the-air)

Again this is correct, you can choose either one, I recommend however to choose "Local Broadcast", because it doesn't matter and it will skip one step.

Right after choosing this option, you should see the lineups you created in my Importer, if this is not the case, then you can review the FAQ (the most common error being not running Java 1.5 or newer) on my Web site, or return here for help.

I have the xmltv.properties file .../... The .old files are possibly from when i installed your tool and gave it the full oldschool path of c:\program files\frey technologies\sagetv

All that seems perfectly fine.

this created another folder sagetv inside the current one, so i first moved files and then worried it may not link up properly i uninstalled and reinstalled giving the path c:\program files\frey technologies

I'm not sure I understand, but if you have the class file in the right place, as long as the xmltv.properties is pointing to the right folder, then all should be Ok.

1) During Setup XMLTV Importer has to copy files to the SageTV directory. This are the class file, the xmltv.properties file and modifying the sage.properties

2) During Import, SageTV XMLTV Importer will never do anything in SageTV folder so it doesn't matter where SageTV is located on the disk

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by jimbobuk

after some quick reading through more of the earlier pages of this thread i saw mention of the xmltv.XMLTVInputPlugin sage properties entry rather than as mentioned in your HOWTO just XMLTVInputPlugin.

Indeed you're right the FAQ is wrong about this. I'll update it.

I'll have to re-read over this later, but am a little confused as to how the new options are going to work for me.. whether i'll have issues with shows recording or not as it tries to get more ids to sage... i guess my old set favourites wont work, unless they're not even there anymore.. time to poke around.

When you change the XMLTV plugin it won't affect favorites: that is they will still record. However, as the episode ID will change, it will record episodes you have already recorded / watched.

For the Importer options you should be fine with : "episode title or description"

Regards,
Stéphane.

[jimbobuk]

thanks, to be honest it would always just record everything in the favourites regardless of whether it had recorded it before.. Now with your tool and the lookup table in theory it shouldn't do this anymore?

My favourites look good, recordings seem to be queued up as i'd hope.

I didn't see anything in your HOWTO about sagetv setup.. i went the satelite and 00000 route in the end, didn't realise it would have worked if i'd have just gone through the other option.. the naming of it seems to suggest its the one to choose for XMLTV.

Thanks for the quick reply.. as i said i'll try to look into how it behaves with it over the next few days, i'm interested to see if i could get it recording more intelligently though, that'd be great.

Cheers

[Nick_W]

Hi StephaneM,

I'm using this in the UK with Radio Times data. This data doesn't include the category 'Series', so I need another way to check for that, such as checking for the word 'Episode' in the description.

Do you, or anyone else, know a way of categorising UK programs as series?

TIA,

Nick.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Nick_W

I'm using this in the UK with Radio Times data. This data doesn't include the category 'Series', so I need another way to check for that, such as checking for the word 'Episode' in the description.

Use the category editor for this and use any needed exclude / include keywords to recreate the "Series" category.

If your series does have an episode title or number, then you can stop bothering about this, the Importer will figure all alone that he is dealing with series (except well you will not have a "Series" category but it's purely cosmetic at this stage)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Nick_W]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Use the category editor for this and use any needed exclude / include keywords to recreate the "Series" category.

That's what I mean, there is no category for series at all, even by another name.

Originally Posted by StephaneM

If your series does have an episode title or number, then you can stop bothering about this, the Importer will figure all alone that he is dealing with series (except well you will not have a "Series" category but it's purely cosmetic at this stage).

I see what you mean, but it would be nice to be able to have a series category from the RT data, but using, say, the fact that if it has an episode number it must be a series.

I then wanted your importer to categorise the program as a series, but I can see now that that function is not available.

Thanks anyway,

Nick.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Nick_W

That's what I mean, there is no category for series at all, even by another name.

Sometimes you can recreate what is missing. For instance let say that some of your series does have a "drama" category. You can use that keyword to make the program also a "Series". If other shows that are not series, also have a "drama" category, you'll have to find another keyword to exclude them. For instance a movie, may have "film / drama", the use "film" as an exclude keyword for "Series".

I see what you mean, but it would be nice to be able to have a series category from the RT data, but using, say, the fact that if it has an episode number it must be a series.

It's not always true though. You can have episode number and/or title for educationnal programs or magazines...

I then wanted your importer to categorise the program as a series, but I can see now that that function is not available.

The only reliable way is to use the keywords filter on the categories provided by the data supplier.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Nick_W]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Sometimes you can recreate what is missing. For instance let say that some of your series does have a "drama" category. You can use that keyword to make the program also a "Series". If other shows that are not series, also have a "drama" category, you'll have to find another keyword to exclude them. For instance a movie, may have "film / drama", the use "film" as an exclude keyword for "Series".

Ah, now I see

I will investigate!

Thanks again.

[kasperke]

Stephane, i imported the xlmtv.xlm from tvxb program and i get these 2 listings ( see attached zip), i then imported it the xlmtv.xlm to sagetv with your importer, and i get the listing but i can not see the details of a show or airing. I don't know what to do with the second listing from tvxb (see also the same attached zip).
Do you have any idea how to get it in sage tv?

I first tried it with JXMLTV wich have i think better listings for the flamisch part of belgium but i can not get it to work with your importer. i downloaded jxmltv-1.0.2 but i get that your importer can not find xmltv.dtd ..and yes i can see it in the listings of jxmltv, so i have no idea why it will not import.

Maybe because i have to buy the jxmltv program..there are 2 versions on his website.

any suggestions?
Thanks in advance

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by kasperke

i then imported it the xlmtv.xlm to sagetv with your importer, and i get the listing but i can not see the details of a show or airing.

Seems normal, there is not so much details for the show in the XMLTV file.

I don't know what to do with the second listing from tvxb (see also the same attached zip).

You don't have to do anything with the ChannelInfo.xml it is only a channel list surely for another application that may need it.

i get that your importer can not find xmltv.dtd

You have to download the DTD file, see the FAQ.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Nick_W]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

No, there is no way to disable the star rating.

I will add some advanced options at some point (they will be hidden though), because I don't want to have the Importer overloaded with options, my point is to sort of offer a really simple to use Importer.

Regards,
Stéphane.

Hi,

Did you ever get round to adding this as a hidden option? I could do with it as well.

Regards,

Nick.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Nick_W

Did you ever get round to adding this as a hidden option? I could do with it as well.

Yes, a long time ago, it is item n°6 in the FAQ (also you must put the file in C:\Documents And Settings\All Users\Application Data\LM Gestion\SageTV XMLTV Importer or C:\ProgramData\LM Gestion\SageTV XMLTV Importer for Windows Vista)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Nick_W]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Yes, a long time ago, it is item n°6 in the FAQ (also you must put the file in C:\Documents And Settings\All Users\Application Data\LM Gestion\SageTV XMLTV Importer or C:\ProgramData\LM Gestion\SageTV XMLTV Importer for Windows Vista)

Regards,
Stéphane.

Thanks.

[dooferlad]

I seem to have a bug where if I put more than one keyword in the box of words to match (coma separated of course) and hit test, it only shows a filter match of the fist item.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by dooferlad

I seem to have a bug where if I put more than one keyword in the box of words to match (coma separated of course) and hit test, it only shows a filter match of the fist item.

Remove any space before or after the coma (spaces are not removed, so I guess this is your issue)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[dooferlad]

That got it. I guess that translates to an enhancement request :-)

[Helheim]

Is there anyway to combine two XMLTV files into one lineup? The wizard only lets you select one.

Thanks.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Helheim

Is there anyway to combine two XMLTV files into one lineup? The wizard only lets you select one.

The Wizard only let you configure one XMLTV file. You can proceed with the Wizard and then use the classical interface to add another XMLTV file (check the "don't show this wizard" check box on the first wizard step, then close the Wizard and launch the XMLTV Importer again).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[jmonier]

I've tried everything I can think of to keep episode numbers out of the show description. Here is my path to the advanced settings:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\LM Gestion\SageTV XMLTV Importer\advanced_settings.xml

And here is the contents of that file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Settings>

<Settings>
<!-- Set it to True if you want to use the EPGID provided by Zap2it, Warning import time will be very long (default False)-->
<use_zap2it_epgid value="False" />

<!-- Set it to False for not adding star ratings in show title (default True)-->
<star_rating_decoration value="True" />

<!-- Set it to True to add (HD) in the show title for HD programs (default False)-->
<hd_decoration value="False" />

<!-- Set it to False to not add episode numbers in the episode title (default True)-->
<episodenum_decoration value="False" />

<!-- Set it to False to not add (VO) for shows that are not in your native language (default False)-->
<vo_decoration value="True" />

</Settings>

</Settings>

I am using the donator version and I went through an automatic update that was successful otherwise.

Have I missed something obvious? Or are there some other steps in the process?