[alphatech69]

I enjoyed reading thru the 39 pages. This board is full of great people willing to help and Tommy always try to please everyone with new features. I would like to use this plugin and quickly installed it on my raspberry Pi on both Openelec and RaspBMC. I'm currently confused on how to do the following:
I have RaspBMC, HDHomeRun Prime.
I would like to setup Schedule Direct for my guide.
I would like the updates of schedule Direct to happen during the night.
I have 1080 HD channels and from a quick setup on one of my RaspBMC these channels where not smooth. ( I noticed it was mentioned in these posts)
Not too familiar yet with the back-end of raspberry but getting there.
Perhaps the help given here could go on the first page as a documentation for a quick reference.
P.S. I have two Raspberry PI, on one of them I could see the HDHomeRun device, select it and see the channels. On the other one, I go to file manager, create a new HDHomerun Device, then open your plugin, select one of the channels I see on the guide, select strm but I do not see the HDHomerun device.

Thanks for your help.

[olsonbri]

Thanks for this plugin. It was so painless to set up. I used mc2xml to generate (?) the xmltv.xml via schedules direct and had it up and running in minutes (v2.0.5, Gotham). Wish I had known about this before, instead of going thru the headache of setting up the whole pvr backend which was SO painful! We never record live tv anyway.

[olsonbri]

Okay, this is driving me nuts. I can't get channel logos to show in the EPG, and can't find any documentation other than it's possible. I've pointed the plugin to a folder with my logos, and tried every possible naming scheme for the icon I can come up with (including/excluding virtual channel number, naming identical to the *.strm file, etc. Any help? Thanks much!

BTW I did have some stuttering issues but after upgrading to the newest build all is grand.

Thank you!

[twinther]

Logo filename should match the title of the channel with spaces and all and end with .png, fx
DR1.png for the Danish "DR1" channel.

Br.
Tommy

[olsonbri]

Thanks twinther. But where do I get the title of the channel? I've tried the file name from the HDHomeRun strm folder, i.e., "4.1 KFOR-DT.strm" and my channel logo would be "4.1 KFOR-DT.jpg".

Is jpg not supported? If not then I'll play with the png format/extension.

I'm greatful just to have this plugin and now I'm thinking I'm too picky to ask for logos. This plugin is the best most effective single plugin I've found for XBMC for my setup.

[Jack]

Not sure if this has been brought up already. I assume it hasn't since it hasn't been fixed yet. I'm running version 2.1.1 of the TV guide on Gotham. The problem I'm having is, when I first initiate a channel from the main EPG the OSD menu works fine by pressing "i" and the video controls do not appear upon mouse movement, but if I press "esc" to take me back to the main EPG and then click the small box of the video to return to it, the video controls return upon mouse movement and the OSD menu no longer works. Any chance of a fix?

[twinther]

When you click the small video you make XBMC switch from "windowed" video to "fullscreen" video.
Instead you want to use the context menu button, which lets the addon switch video size.

Br.
Tommy

---

Thanks twinther. But where do I get the title of the channel? I've tried the file name from the HDHomeRun strm folder, i.e., "4.1 KFOR-DT.strm" and my channel logo would be "4.1 KFOR-DT.jpg".

Is jpg not supported? If not then I'll play with the png format/extension.

I'm greatful just to have this plugin and now I'm thinking I'm too picky to ask for logos. This plugin is the best most effective single plugin I've found for XBMC for my setup.

The channel title is the name you see in the tvguide when no icon is shown.
The addon check for .png, but you can just rename your jpg files to png, XBMC will figure it out and load them anyway.

Br.
Tommy

[Jack]

When you click the small video you make XBMC switch from "windowed" video to "fullscreen" video.
Instead you want to use the context menu button, which lets the addon switch video size.

Ah, right got you. Good! That works. I thought it might have been something on my end like that. Thanks.

[Jack]

Been using it for a bit now and have found quite a few short comings. I have a few suggestions to polish up the experience a bit, would be good if you could implement them when you get a chance since this seems to be one of the few XMLTV compatible EPGs for XBMC.

1. Add "Showing Now" string in the OSD program guide when currently displayed show matches current date and time, and display "Showing Later" when the show date and time is in advance of the current time, and of course finally if the user scrolls behind the show of the current date and time, display "Already Shown"/"Aired" or something along those lines. This helps when scrolling through the OSD as it's easy to loose track of what's been shown, what's upcoming and what's currently airing without it.

2. Fix program reminders. Currently you can only set reminders when a channel is not playing as the context menu key used is also the same as the key used to bring a minimized channel full screen again. Also there should be an option to "remind once" or "set series remind", at present when you set a reminder for a show it reminds for all instances of it. I think it would be best to scrap the use of the "c" key to set reminders and do it automatically by working out if the user has selected a program that is ahead of the currently playing show time slot on the EPG and prompting them to set a reminder.

3. Add reminder functionality to the OSD. When the user views a show ahead of the currently playing one on the OSD program guide and selects it there should be a prompt to ask if they wish to set a reminder.

4. Also you should assign the home key to return to the currently showing program on the OSD program guide as is already the case with the main EPG.

Less crucially I think coloring the currently playing show in the main EPG would also be a nice extra visual cue showing what's currently airing in addition to the line bar already present on the EPG. A display of the current date and time would also be good in the OSD menu. A fix for the channel mouse click OSD issue would be good as well but again not crucial. All of these features are found in the TVCatchup EPG addon if you want to have a look at their plugin to get some idea on how to implement these suggestions:http://plugins.tvcatchup.com/~xbmc/addon...2.1.45.zip Thanks in advance.

[simon_rb]

Hi,
Has anybody got this working with channels from offsidestreams/streamtvbox? Created an XML file for it?

Kind Regards
Simon

[olsonbri]

When you click the small video you make XBMC switch from "windowed" video to "fullscreen" video.
Instead you want to use the context menu button, which lets the addon switch video size.

Br.
Tommy

---

Thanks twinther. But where do I get the title of the channel? I've tried the file name from the HDHomeRun strm folder, i.e., "4.1 KFOR-DT.strm" and my channel logo would be "4.1 KFOR-DT.jpg".

Is jpg not supported? If not then I'll play with the png format/extension.

I'm greatful just to have this plugin and now I'm thinking I'm too picky to ask for logos. This plugin is the best most effective single plugin I've found for XBMC for my setup.

The channel title is the name you see in the tvguide when no icon is shown.
The addon check for .png, but you can just rename your jpg files to png, XBMC will figure it out and load them anyway.

Br.
Tommy

Renaming the jpg to png extension didn't solve it I tried with & without the virtual channel number in the logo name too.

[Jack]

When you click the small video you make XBMC switch from "windowed" video to "fullscreen" video.
Instead you want to use the context menu button, which lets the addon switch video size.

Br.
Tommy

---

Thanks twinther. But where do I get the title of the channel? I've tried the file name from the HDHomeRun strm folder, i.e., "4.1 KFOR-DT.strm" and my channel logo would be "4.1 KFOR-DT.jpg".

Is jpg not supported? If not then I'll play with the png format/extension.

I'm greatful just to have this plugin and now I'm thinking I'm too picky to ask for logos. This plugin is the best most effective single plugin I've found for XBMC for my setup.

The channel title is the name you see in the tvguide when no icon is shown.
The addon check for .png, but you can just rename your jpg files to png, XBMC will figure it out and load them anyway.

Br.
Tommy

Renaming the jpg to png extension didn't solve it I tried with & without the virtual channel number in the logo name too.

Try removing the spaces from your channel names or removing special characters. I think it's something to do with numbers followed by a space and then letters since it seems to work fine with channel names like "Discovery Channel". I had the same problem when my channel names were formatted like: "100 CNN" but when I renamed them to just "CNN" etc, logos worked. I take it it's an xml file your using, I'm using mc2xml to grab my listings if you add the -F argument or check "chan name first" in the GUI when you first set it up that will give you just the channel name without any numbers before it. You can also specify a .ren file to rename your channels as well, just make sure they don't have any numbers and spaces before letters and it should work. So in short, channels named like this: "KFOR-DT" with a logo named like this: "KFOR-DT.png" will work for logos, but channels named like this "4.1 KFOR-DT" with a logo named like this "4.1 KFOR-DT.png" won't.

[olsonbri]

When you click the small video you make XBMC switch from "windowed" video to "fullscreen" video.
Instead you want to use the context menu button, which lets the addon switch video size.

Br.
Tommy

---

The channel title is the name you see in the tvguide when no icon is shown.
The addon check for .png, but you can just rename your jpg files to png, XBMC will figure it out and load them anyway.

Br.
Tommy

Renaming the jpg to png extension didn't solve it I tried with & without the virtual channel number in the logo name too.

Try removing the spaces from your channel names or removing special characters. I think it's something to do with numbers followed by a space and then letters since it seems to work fine with channel names like "Discovery Channel". I had the same problem when my channel names were formatted like: "100 CNN" but when I renamed them to just "CNN" etc, logos worked. I take it it's an xml file your using, I'm using mc2xml to grab my listings if you add the -F argument or check "chan name first" in the GUI when you first set it up that will give you just the channel name without any numbers before it. You can also specify a .ren file to rename your channels as well, just make sure they don't have any numbers and spaces before letters and it should work. So in short, channels named like this: "KFOR-DT" with a logo named like this: "KFOR-DT.png" will work for logos, but channels named like this "4.1 KFOR-DT" with a logo named like this "4.1 KFOR-DT.png" won't.

Thanks Jack. I'll try this. I'm not familiar with where to add the -F argument in my xml. But I definetly have the channel numbers in front of the channel name.

On another note, I can't seem to easily be able to switch between channels. If I go back to the EPG, it puts the current channel as preview in the lower right screen as expected. If I select another channel, it responds by streaming only to the preview window in the corner. The only way I can get it back to full screen is to [stop] the current channel, and the proceed to select the new channel. Any ideas? Thanks! --Bri

[Jack]

Renaming the jpg to png extension didn't solve it I tried with & without the virtual channel number in the logo name too.

Try removing the spaces from your channel names or removing special characters. I think it's something to do with numbers followed by a space and then letters since it seems to work fine with channel names like "Discovery Channel". I had the same problem when my channel names were formatted like: "100 CNN" but when I renamed them to just "CNN" etc, logos worked. I take it it's an xml file your using, I'm using mc2xml to grab my listings if you add the -F argument or check "chan name first" in the GUI when you first set it up that will give you just the channel name without any numbers before it. You can also specify a .ren file to rename your channels as well, just make sure they don't have any numbers and spaces before letters and it should work. So in short, channels named like this: "KFOR-DT" with a logo named like this: "KFOR-DT.png" will work for logos, but channels named like this "4.1 KFOR-DT" with a logo named like this "4.1 KFOR-DT.png" won't.

Thanks Jack. I'll try this. I'm not familiar with where to add the -F argument in my xml. But I definetly have the channel numbers in front of the channel name.

On another note, I can't seem to easily be able to switch between channels. If I go back to the EPG, it puts the current channel as preview in the lower right screen as expected. If I select another channel, it responds by streaming only to the preview window in the corner. The only way I can get it back to full screen is to [stop] the current channel, and the proceed to select the new channel. Any ideas? Thanks! --Bri

Are you using mc2xml to grab your listings? When I was talking about adding the -F argument I was talking about in a .bat file which you can use to automate the mc2xml process instead of using the GUI, but you can also do it via the GUI. If you download mc2xml from here: http://mc2xml.hosterbox.net/. Run it and check the "-F chan name first" checkbox as I said before, select the country you want listings from enter your zip code and choose a listings provider. That will give you your channels without the numbers before them.

You can also specify a .ren file to rename the channels if you want, and a .chl file to choose what channels you want listings from if you only want certain channels, but you will have to create a .bat file to do this. Most of how to do this is on the mc2xml website link I just gave you. Not sure about the other problem with the full screening of the channels, try pressing c or tab to return to full screen.

Here's an example if needed of the contents of a .bat file that grabs U.S listings for the zip code 17122, renames certain channels as specified in the file "usa.ren" and only grabs listings for the channels specified in the file "usa.chl", you'll also notice the -F argument at the start, again that just does the same thing as checking the "-F chan name first" check box on the GUI:

Code:

mc2xml.exe -c US -F -g 17112 -R usa.ren -D usa.dat -C usa.chl  -o usa.xml

But if you don't only want to grab listings for certain channels (e.g. you want the listings for every channel the listing provider supplies) and don't need to rename your channels and all you want is channel names without numbers before them just do as I said above before and use the GUI and check the "-F chan name first" checkbox.

[olsonbri]

Try removing the spaces from your channel names or removing special characters. I think it's something to do with numbers followed by a space and then letters since it seems to work fine with channel names like "Discovery Channel". I had the same problem when my channel names were formatted like: "100 CNN" but when I renamed them to just "CNN" etc, logos worked. I take it it's an xml file your using, I'm using mc2xml to grab my listings if you add the -F argument or check "chan name first" in the GUI when you first set it up that will give you just the channel name without any numbers before it. You can also specify a .ren file to rename your channels as well, just make sure they don't have any numbers and spaces before letters and it should work. So in short, channels named like this: "KFOR-DT" with a logo named like this: "KFOR-DT.png" will work for logos, but channels named like this "4.1 KFOR-DT" with a logo named like this "4.1 KFOR-DT.png" won't.

Thanks Jack. I'll try this. I'm not familiar with where to add the -F argument in my xml. But I definetly have the channel numbers in front of the channel name. I'll play with your info and see where i get :!!

On another note, I can't seem to easily be able to switch between channels. If I go back to the EPG, it puts the current channel as preview in the lower right screen as expected. If I select another channel, it responds by streaming only to the preview window in the corner. The only way I can get it back to full screen is to [stop] the current channel, and the proceed to select the new channel. Any ideas? Thanks! --Bri

Are you using mc2xml to grab your listings? When I was talking about adding the -F argument I was talking about in a .bat file which you can use to automate the mc2xml process instead of using the GUI, but you can also do it via the GUI. If you download mc2xml from here: http://mc2xml.hosterbox.net/. Run it and check the "-F chan name first" checkbox as I said before, select the country you want listings from enter your zip code and choose a listings provider. That will give you your channels without the numbers before them.

You can also specify a .ren file to rename the channels if you want, and a .chl file to choose what channels you want listings from if you only want certain channels, but you will have to create a .bat file to do this. Most of how to do this is on the mc2xml website link I just gave you. Not sure about the other problem with the full screening of the channels, try pressing c or tab to return to full screen.

Here's an example if needed of the contents of a .bat file that grabs U.S listings for the zip code 17122, renames certain channels as specified in the file "usa.ren" and only grabs listings for the channels specified in the file "usa.chl", you'll also notice the -F argument at the start, again that just does the same thing as checking the "-F chan name first" check box on the GUI:

Code:

mc2xml.exe -c US -F -g 17112 -R usa.ren -D usa.dat -C usa.chl  -o usa.xml

But if you don't only want to grab listings for certain channels (e.g. you want the listings for every channel the listing provider supplies) and don't need to rename your channels and all you want is channel names without numbers before them just do as I said above before and use the GUI and check the "-F chan name first" checkbox.

Ohhhh I get it. Thanks for the clarification and sorry I was so clueless. I had forgotten all about the options after running mc2xml.exe. I'll play with your info and see where I get :!!