Only showing one hour of EPG data

[xilex]

Not sure what's going on there. Senior staff should know more. In my setup, in NextPVR under Misc2, I have it autoupdate the EPG there. In Emby, under Scheduled Tasks, I have it refresh the guide after NextPVR has updated.

[sub]

I have a very similar setup as xilex - I'm using NextPVR with Emby, and zap2it for the EPG. Something weird has been happening for the last few weeks that I haven't been able to figure out. NextPVR doesn't want to auto update with listings beyond about 4pm on 1/1/18. I have a Task Scheduler job set to run the UpdateEPG.bat file automatically at 4:10am, and then NextPVR is set to update the EPG at 4:30am. Task Scheduler shows that UpdateEPG.bat was run, and I've witnessed that Task Scheduler does run the batch file, so I know that's being done right. Running the UpdateEPG.bat file takes anywhere from 1 minute to 10 minutes. However, when I run the UpdateEPG from NextPVR, it only takes 10 seconds and doesn't actually do anything (no command line window, as UpdateEPG.bat is supposed to do), though the NextPVR logs do show that it ran. The only way to get the EPG in NextPVR to actually update beyond 1/1/18 is to manually run the UpdateEPG.bat file, then run UpdateEPG through the settings in NextPVR - sometimes 2 or 3 times before it finally "takes."

Do you have any recommendations? Please help when you can. And happy new year.

Edit: Added logs, and UpdateEPG.bat script:

Code:

C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts\zap2xml.exe -o C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts\epg.xml -z -u USERNAME -p PASSWORD -d 14 -I -D -W -A "new live" -E "amp apos quot lt gt"

As far as I can tell from your logs, the nextpvr side of things is living up to it's end of the bargain. It's running UpdateEPG.bat every night at about 4:30am, waiting for it to complete, then loading the listings found in C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts\epg.xml. As you point out though, your UpdateEPG.bat is completing very quickly though, so you've either got a problem in your UpdateEPG.bat, or something like firewall software blocking zap2xml from doing it's thing. (recording service runs as a different user account, so possibly something user account specific etc)

If you look in nrecord.log, and search for "Running UpdateEPG.bat" you'll see it successfully running each night.

[Graham]

I have a Task Scheduler job set to run the UpdateEPG.bat file automatically at 4:10am, and then NextPVR is set to update the EPG at 4:30am. Task Scheduler shows that UpdateEPG.bat was run, and I've witnessed that Task Scheduler does run the batch file, so I know that's being done right.

The NextPVR Recording Service does the EPG update automatically at the time specified in NextPVR Settings --> Misc2. This is a two step process ... Step 1. is to run the Update EPG.bat file if it is present in the Scripts folder ... Step 2 is to update the EPG data in the NextPVR database using the method specified for each channel in NextPVR Settings --> Channels.

There is no need to set a Task Scheduler task to run the batch file.

Note that NextPVR runs the batch file in the user System account. This may cause difficulties with, for example, relative folder names. It is recommended to use full folder names in the batch file ... (e.g. beginning C:\...)

[deanhatescoffee]

Thanks for your replies. I let the update run overnight at 4:30am, as normal. It did what it's been doing - not updating the EPG properly. It looks like there are a few things happening here.

The UpdateEPG.bat file seems to only work from NextPVR *sometimes*. For instance, the EPG.xml file was updated this morning at 4:34am - that lines up with what's shown in NRecord.log, although the EPG only had TV shows through 4pm today (but that's probably a different issue). So I went into NextPVR, then Settings, then Channels, then Update EPG, checked the guide, but no update beyond 4pm. I did that about 5 times, but the EPG never updated. I exited NextPVR, manually ran UpdateEPG.bat (which took about 10 minutes), went back into NextPVR and checked the guide, but it was still empty after 4pm. Finally, I went to NextPVR Settings, then Channels, then Update EPG, and that brought the guide up to date for the next week.

After the guide was finally updated in NextPVR, I checked EPG.xml to see when it was last updated - which was 4:12pm, the same time that I ran the manual UpdateEPG.bat, a few minutes prior to running the Update EPG via NextPVR's Settings. So it seems that NextPVR might be *sometimes* actually running UpdateEPG.bat and updating EPG.xml, but not consistently. I think I noticed this a long time ago which is why I created a task via Task Scheduler to run UpdateEPG.bat prior to NextPVR running it - it seemed that NextPVR wasn't really running UpdateEPG.bat at all, but rather just pulling info from the existing EPG.xml file. This most recent test proves that.

So it's working for now, but I'm not confident that this isn't going to continue to be an issue again tomorrow, and I know that I shouldn't have it set up this way. Any recommendations? Could it be a security/permissions issue? I can't think of anything else. My profile is the only one on this PC, so it's an administrator account - permissions shouldn't be an issue but who knows (I sure don't!).

Attached are updated logs; a screenshot of the non-updated EPG; and the EPG.xml files from this morning's auto-update, this afternoon's manual update, and the EPG.xml after the last time I manually ran the Update in NextPVR (which is the same as the manual afternoon update but included for reference).

[mvallevand]

Thanks for your replies. I let the update run overnight at 4:30am, as normal. It did what it's been doing - not updating the EPG properly. It looks like there are a few things happening here.

NextPVR works fine. Most people have problem in North America have to figure out how to set up zap2xml properly and there are several posts on the forum on how to do that if you search or save yourself (and the forum responders) the hassle and just use the built-in Schedules Direct support for a cup of coffee a month.

Martin

[sub]

After the guide was finally updated in NextPVR, I checked EPG.xml to see when it was last updated - which was 4:12pm, the same time that I ran the manual UpdateEPG.bat, a few minutes prior to running the Update EPG via NextPVR's Settings. So it seems that NextPVR might be *sometimes* actually running UpdateEPG.bat and updating EPG.xml, but not consistently. I think I noticed this a long time ago which is why I created a task via Task Scheduler to run UpdateEPG.bat prior to NextPVR running it - it seemed that NextPVR wasn't really running UpdateEPG.bat at all, but rather just pulling info from the existing EPG.xml file. This most recent test proves that.

Honestly - after having been through this many times with other users in the past, NextPVR is doing everything correctly, and your problem lies in the UpdateEPG.bat file. Take my word for it, NextPVR is running your batch file, waiting for it to complete, then reading the listings in from your epg.xml file. Your problem is that you're failing to update your epg.xml with whatever commands you're running. ie, you're missing some subtleties about how zap2xml works.

From memory zap2xml uses a .zap2xmlrc file, which holds the number of days of listings it's going to download. It's most likely a case of the current path is different when run the different ways, so zap2xml isn't finding it's .zap2xmlrc file, so using different defaults for the number of days etc. I'd look if zap2xml has a parameter you can specify on the command line to explicitly tell it where the config file is (and make sure it's in a place that can be accessed by all user accounts), or explicitly add a "cd ......." command line at the start of your batch file (so that you're getting a predictable path regardless of where it is run from).

Also, keep in mind the recording service runs as a different user account, so the overnight EPG update will be as a different user account. You need to keep this in mind for the location of the zap2xml config file, to ensure the config file is able to be accessed.

[deanhatescoffee]

Thanks for the replies. I'll do some more tinkering and will post back if I find a solution.

[sub]

Some people have also found it useful to capture the output from the commands in their batch files, to some other temporary file, so they can see what zap2xml etc are saying when run. This would probably give you valuable insights into why zap2xml is doing what it's doing.