EPG stopped working, Bladerunner 3 not binning

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › EPG stopped working, Bladerunner 3 not binning - Vista Media Center

ctrent

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#19844 3-Mar-2008 16:03

I've been happily using the tried and tested EPG download process as described in http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=34&TopicId=16290&page_no=1 for the best part of 3 months, with no issues.

Then on 20th of Feb it all fell apart! after some investigation the error occurs at the Bladerunner stage of binning the XML file, whereas previously there was no issue, now I get the bladerunner "Whoops" error with the detail describing null strings in the XML. I'm using this site for the XML "http://epg.pvr.geek.nz/epg/listings-sky.xml.gz".

I had a copy of an old XML download from Jan so I tried to bin that with Bladerunner and it still worked fine (as you'd expect as nothing else has changed - note: windows updates are switched off, system has been stable for over a month) which suggests the file format being downloaded has changed or indeed the interaction with the channelinfo file etc.

I had a look at the file header for any obvious null strings but all looked similar to the Jan xml I had apart from a version number which suggests some sort of update??

I'm certainly no XML guru so maybe it's something obvious? I would have thought anyone else using this setup would also be having issues? let me know if yours is still working fine? or even better let me know if you have any ideas on how i can fix this?!

Thanks.

RustyGonad

495 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#114353 3-Mar-2008 17:03

Have you tried using the combined Sky/Freeview file from the same source?

Other thing is as you suggested one of the Channels has been renamed in which case you will need to update your ChannelInfo.xml file. Maybe have a look at Sky 1 as a good place to start.

Mines still going....

ctrent

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#114390 3-Mar-2008 19:52

Good call Rusty, I tried the -all file and she's all go again. Cheers.

hads

392 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#114625 4-Mar-2008 17:50

It appears that Sky started sending some EPG data with empty titles.

The script being used to generate the XMLTV files has been updated to exclude these programs as it violates the XMLTV DTD.

I can't test as I don't have a Windows box but this may fix the problem - it stopped some warnings on my box here.

hads

nicegear.co.nz - VoIP, DVB and other Linux compatible hardware

bot

17 posts

Geek

#114640 4-Mar-2008 18:56

I had the same problem as ctrent, and using the -all file did the trick so that BladeRunner was able to process the files ok.

Then I had some weirdness with Vista MC only showing data for some of the channels, which prompted me to start looking at the content of today's listings xml file.

There seem to be some anomalies there, where programmes appear for the wrong channel, or are shown for two channels at once.

For example, these programmes are shown for movie-greats.sky.co.nz *and* tv1.freeviewnz.tv at the same time (though they do not appear in an obvious sequence):

<title lang="eng">Planes, Trains And Automobiles</title>

</programme>

<title lang="eng">The English Patient</title>

</programme>

<title lang="eng">Planes, Trains And Automobiles</title>

</programme>

<title lang="eng">The English Patient</title>

</programme>

Also, this entry looks unlikely, although doesn't seem a complete duplicate (there is a Te Karere on tv1, but at a different time):

<title lang="eng">Te Karere</title>

</programme>

Whilst I was rummaging through the file looking at these I noticed that Vista MC's TV guide had sorted itself out, and seemed to look ok, but I was left wondering about these anomalies.

I am posting this here in case it's useful for the gents who kindly make the data available.

hads

392 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#114642 4-Mar-2008 19:06

Seems odd, I just downloaded the file myself and can't see those entries anymore.

nicegear.co.nz - VoIP, DVB and other Linux compatible hardware

bot

17 posts

Geek

#114724 4-Mar-2008 22:51

I just had a look and can see that the file I received has been replaced (which doesn't seem to have the problems.

I downloaded the first at 15:19, as shown in my wget.log:

15:19:07 (168.27 KB/s) - `listings-all.xml.gz' saved [1248900/1248900]

The document element of the first file is:

I downloaded the second file manually at about 10pm, and here is its document element:

I can post or mail the dodgy file if its of any use.

HTH.

hads

392 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#114726 4-Mar-2008 23:03

The listings file is uploaded very close to 3:19, it's possible that you managed to get some odd corrupted version of the file as it was being replaced on the server. If your cron job is around that time I'd recommend moving it to an hour either side of 3 o'clock.

nicegear.co.nz - VoIP, DVB and other Linux compatible hardware

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bot

17 posts

Geek

#114727 4-Mar-2008 23:24

Fair enough. I'll change the job time to run later.

Thanks.