mc2xml problems

[n_wellman]

I wanted to reach out to all of you GB-PVR users to see if you can find the answer to my issue. I have spent a couple days now trying to narrow down the possible solution, but have been unsuccessful so far. My problem is this; mc2xml finds all of the channel information for my area successfully, but it is much more than I actually receive on my satellite. As a US military member stationed in Germany our AFN Satellite service here has only 11 different channels as opposed to the 93 that mc2xml finds and downloads. So I have been trying unsuccessfully to implement the -C and -R codes to narrow down the xmltv.xml file to only the channels I need and also to rename them to something useful. As I said before, mc2xml is working well, I just cant get the updateEPG.bat file to correct the channel listings. Here is what I have:

In my C:\Program Files\Devnz\GBPVR\EPG directory I have the following files:
mc2xml application
mc2xml.chl channel file
mc2xml.ren rename file

In my C:\Program Files\Devnz\GBPVR main directory, I created the updateEPG.bat file and its contents are as follows
C:
cd "C:\Program Files\Devnz\GBPVR\EPG"
mc2xml -C mc2xml.chl -R mc2xml.ren

I really would like to narrow my listings down so that the Search Guide feature doesn't find so much useless information. Thanks in advance for your help.

Nick

[imagn]

I have a .chl in my folder and this is how i have it set up, and it only gets the channels i have specified. I unfortunately do not use the renaming part so i am not sure how that works. My guess is that you do not need to specify your ren file in the actual execution, i think the program will use it if one exists, this goes for the .chl file as well. This only applies if you have them set up as the defaults.

see my example this only includes the .chl issue
( i have my channel file set up as mc2xml.chl).

mc2xml -D mc2xml.dat -f -c us -g 20852 -a

as you can see i do not specify my actual .chl, you do however have to use the .dat file in your execusion of the epg download.

In your example you do not specify a .dat file or a postal code/city (in this case it should be set up for germany). I would try ad both of those and see what you get and if your .chl and .ren files are named as the default try leave them out of the command line. if not add them in and see what happens

[n_wellman]

imagn,
Thanks for the suggestions. I am using the windows version of the file, and immediately upon downloading the file, the first time you open the .exe, a little configuration panel opens that allows you to enter your zip and country code. This then creates the .dat file in the same directory, along with the .xml file. I went through that process and then created the updateEPG.bat file as I listed before. I got all of these instructions directly off of the mc2xml website under "Using with GB-PVR". I tried your process anyway to see what would happen and there was no change to my results, which leads me to believe that I am not formatting the .chl and .ren files correctly. I have attached them as well as the.xml file for you and anyone else to look at to see if you can spot where I am going wrong. Thanks again.

Nick

[imagn]

In you channel file, my suggesiton is to remove the names of the channels, i just use numbers. Or just use the names. I dont think you can use both together and in the example on mc2xmls site it shows either or

On this logic i would remove the either the number or the name of the channel you are truing to change and see what work, the example again only uses one or the other

[dennit]

In you channel file, my suggesiton is to remove the names of the channels, i just use numbers. Or just use the names. I dont think you can use both together and in the example on mc2xmls site it shows either or

For the channel file, it will keep the listings for any channel that matches the text on a single line. Do this:
1) remove the -C and -R channel and rename options, and download the XML file.
2) look in the XML file and near the top you will find a list of channels, with multiple names for each channel. The names will be in the <display-name> tags. Some of the names may be numbers, some may be long id's, some simple names
3) Copy the exact name from one <display-name> line for each channel into the CHL file. In the CHL file use one line for each name you copied. Use enough of the name so that it only matches the one channel you want. It doesn't hurt to use both numbers and names, or names only, or numbers only, so long as you put them on separate lines - if a channel matches any line, it gets retrieved, so there's no need to have more than one line per channel you want, but it won't hurt you. I sometimes use both the number and the name since I like to recall which number goes with which name. If you put them both on the same line, and it fails to match, that line does nothing. If you put them on separate lines, you may get two matches, but that won't hurt, as long as it doesn't match something you don't want.

As to the -R rename file, this can be troublesome. It changes the name before GBPVR gets it. GBPVR uses the name from the XML file to match previously defined channels. I prefer not to rename with MC2XML, and to change the display name inside GBPVR's gbpvr.db3 database. You can display any name you want. I suppose it's OK to change the names with -R, but there might be problems with spaces in the names when GBPVR tries to match to defined channels. I think the channel file is matched first to limit the data, then the rename is done.

[HarryH3]

Here's my .chl file. I use it to have the EPG display only the channels that we actually watch and want to record from:

2-5
9
11
12
16
23-42
49-60
64-66
69-71
73

The numbers are channel numbers. A dash means display the range (I.e., 2-5 means display channels 2,3,4 & 5) Any channels not in the list don't make it into the EPG. I think you should be able to build a similar list with only those 11 channels that you can actually receive.

[dennit]

Here's my .chl file. ....
The numbers are channel numbers.

This works well, but he should be aware that the "channel numbers" in the .chl file are not usually the same as the "channel numbers" in GBPVR. (I'll also comment that for some strange reason, I've occasionally seen the first line of the .CHL file get ignored - If the first channel listed doesn't appear, that's usually the reason.)

As long as I'm here, another issue to be aware of is that for a variety of reasons the rename -R file in MC2XML may have no effect on GBPVR, or it may have unintended effects, causing new channels to appear, wrong names, etc. depending on when the renaming is done, and which of the various <display-name>s in the XML file is changed.

[n_wellman]

Alright everyone, I have tried all of your suggestions to no avail. First of all I got rid of the .ren file at dennits suggestion. Then, when I did my mc2xml.chl file, I went into the first xmltv.xml file downloaded, and copied the channel id (everything in between the " ") directly over to the .chl file, saved it and then tried running the updateEPG.bat file. When that didn't work, I moved on to using just the channel number and ran the .bat file, and then then each of the display-names (everything in between the > <) in succession. I must be missing something.

I pasted the first few lines from the xmltv.xml file into this message, so take a look and see what you think. This is the information that comes in when I run the mc2xml app with no additional command line parameters. After this first channel, there are more channels up to 118, and of course all of the schedule information to follow, I only pasted the first few channels for the sake of keeping it short.

Am I doing this correctly? And by that I mean from step one. I have even tried deleting all of the old files downloading a new mc2xml application and starting from scratch following the instructions step by step on the mc2xml website. Any new ideas??

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE tv SYSTEM "xmltv.dtd">

<tv source-info-name="Zap2it" generator-info-name="mc2xml" generator-info-url="mailto:mc2xml@gmail.com">
<channel id="I1.42843108.microsoft.com">
<display-name>1 AFNSP</display-name>
<display-name>1</display-name>
<display-name>AFNSP</display-name>
<display-name>AFN Sports</display-name>
<display-name>Satellite</display-name>
</channel>

[dennit]

Alright everyone, I have tried all of your suggestions to no avail. First of all I got rid of the .ren file at dennits suggestion.

GBPVR picks up the channel names when you first pointed to your XML EPG file, and each time it finds a new channel in there. Just be aware that if you renamed them before you pointed to that file, when you stopped, it will add "new" channels if the old renamed names have disappeared.

Then, when I did my mc2xml.chl file, I went into the first xmltv.xml file downloaded, and copied the channel id (see below) directly over to the .chl file, saved it and then tried running the updateEPG.bat file.

You wanted to copy the contents of <display-name>, not channel ID
(Edit: Even the channel id should have worked)

When that didn't work, I moved on to using just the channel number

That should have worked - if you used "1" for AFNSP, etc.

and ran the .bat file, and then then each of the display-names in succession. I must be missing something.

Look at the resulting XML file - what's in there? If you used the correct .chl file, the only channels listed should be those in the.chl file. Are they in there?

I pasted the first few lines from the xmltv.xml file into this message, so take a look and see what you think.

Looks good to me. That's exactly what you should see in the raw file, with no rename or channel files no -R or -C options used.

This is the information that comes in when I run the mc2xml app with no additional command line parameters. After this first channel, there are more channels up to 118, and of course all of the schedule information to follow, I only pasted the first few channels for the sake of keeping it short.

What happens when you run mc2xml with the -C option pointing to your .chl file? Are all the channels in the XMLTV.XML file or less than all?

[n_wellman]

GBPVR picks up the channel names when you first pointed to your XML EPG file, and each time it finds a new channel in there. Just be aware that if you renamed them before you pointed to that file, when you stopped, it will add "new" channels if the old renamed names have disappeared.

I have yet to get any renaming to work correctly, so this shouldn't be an issue. How do I edit the channel names in the gbpvr.db3 database? I couldn't open this file.

You wanted to copy the contents of <display-name>, not channel ID
(Edit: Even the channel id should have worked)

I tried each of the different parts: channel id, channel number, display-name and none of them works, do I need to put special characters around them or something?

That should have worked - if you used "1" for AFNSP, etc.

I did, and it didn't work.

Look at the resulting XML file - what's in there? If you used the correct .chl file, the only channels listed should be those in the.chl file. Are they in there?

After running the updateEPG.bat with the -C command, there is no change to the xml, it is still way too big.

Could you paste a sample of exactly what your .chl and UpdateEPG.bat file looks like so I can compare? At this point, I am prepared to just use it as is, though it is a lot of extra information. Thanks!