Good Evening
My name is Chris and I am new to Channels DVR, I have some basic technical skills and have in mind a bigger solution I would like to build, but will not overfill this topic.
I signed up for a 1 month membership to see if I can get this to work for what I have in mind.
I have decided to bring this down to the most basic by creating a 2 channel m3u and xml. I have python installed and using that to create a web server (testing only) to host the xml but no matter what I do I cannot get Channels DVR to read epg data from the xml only from the M3U. I will post some code but also try to ensure I don't violate any basic forum rules and will mask any personal info and for stream links just use XXXXX
I used a working Pluto m3u and xml as a template the history entry is from a iptv and the Pluto is public so I don t think I am violating any rules if I am I apologize
Here is my xml:
<tv>
<channel id="History">
<display-name>History CH</display-name>
<desc>This is from the XMLTV file.</desc>
<icon src="https://logo.iptveditor.com/history.png"/>
</channel>
<channel id="Trending-now">
<display-name>Trending Now</display-name>
<desc>This is from the XMLTV file.</desc>
<icon src="https://images.pluto.tv/channels/673247127d5da5000817b4d6/colorLogoPNG_1732662634386.png"/>
</channel>
<programme start="20250116120000 -0500" stop="20250116123000 -0500" channel="cars-1">
<title lang="en">Operation Repo</title>
<desc lang="en">Matt and Froy navigate dangerous situations while repossessing cars.</desc>
<category lang="en">Drama</category>
<tvc-guide-title>Operation Repo</tvc-guide-title>
<tvc-guide-description>Matt and Froy navigate dangerous situations while repossessing cars.</tvc-guide-description>
<group-title>Drama</group-title>
</programme>
<programme start="20250116123000 -0500" stop="20250116130000 -0500" channel="trending-now">
<title lang="en">Pluto TV Trending Now</title>
<desc lang="en">The buzziest and most popular movies on Pluto TV.</desc>
<category lang="en">Drama</category>
<tvc-guide-title>Pluto TV Trending Now</tvc-guide-title>
<tvc-guide-description>The buzziest and most popular movies on Pluto TV.</tvc-guide-description>
<group-title>Drama</group-title>
</programme>
</tv>
Here is my M3U:
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:0 channel-id="History" channel-number="0" tvg-logo="https://logo.iptveditor.com/history.png" tvc-guide-title="Hist" tvc-guide-description="This is from the M3U" group-title="Drama", History
http://xxxxxxxxxxxx
#EXTINF:0 channel-id="Trending-now" channel-number="1" tvg-logo="https://images.pluto.tv/channels/673247127d5da5000817b4d6/colorLogoPNG_1732662634386.png" tvc-guide-art="https://images.pluto.tv/channels/673247127d5da5000817b4d6/featuredImage.jpg?fill=blur&fit=fill&fm=jpg&h=562&q=75&w=1000" tvc-guide-title="Pluto TV Trending Now" tvc-guide-description="The buzziest and most popular movies on Pluto TV can now be found in one place: Pluto TV Trending Now. From recent Hollywood hits to the titles everyone is talking about, there’s always a film you’ll be excited to see whenever you tune in." group-title="Movies", Pluto TV Trending Now
https://cfd-v4-service-channel-stitcher-use1-1.prd.pluto.tv/stitch/hls/channel/673247127d5da5000817b4d6/master.m3u8?advertisingId=&appName=web&appVersion=unknown&appStoreUrl=&architecture=&buildVersion=&clientTime=0&deviceDNT=0&deviceId=b20768aa-d431-11ef-8330-66e5e3415b5a&deviceMake=Chrome&deviceModel=web&deviceType=web&deviceVersion=unknown&includeExtendedEvents=false&sid=4b3dcf7f-f62c-4443-9bf5-59e12d8896a7&userId=&serverSideAds=true
Here is my Channels DVR log
2025/01/17 16:59:57.815928 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2024.12.10.0055 (windows-x86_64 pid:12876) in C:\ProgramData\ChannelsDVR\data
2025/01/17 16:59:57.904573 [SYS] Started HTTP Server on 8089
2025/01/17 16:59:58.329137 [M3U] Refreshed lineup for Plutoworking with 2 channels
2025/01/17 16:59:58.595133 [DBG] Scheduling wake timer for scheduled recording in 23h58m30s
2025/01/17 16:59:58.976470 [DVR] Recording engine started in Y:\Recordings
2025/01/17 16:59:59.318944 [SYS] Bonjour service running for dvr-plexserver.local. [192.168.50.35]
2025/01/17 17:00:01.055207 [SYS] Created database snapshot: backup-20250117.215959
2025/01/17 17:00:08.599288 [IDX] Pruned 0 expired airings from XMLTV-Plutoworking in 661.2µs.
2025/01/17 17:00:08.599288 [DBG] Scheduling wake timer for guide data in 16h26m21.4007114s
2025/01/17 17:00:14.030947 [M3U] Refreshed lineup for Plutoworking with 2 channels
2025/01/17 17:00:16.832061 [DVR] Fetched guide data for XMLTV-Plutoworking in 56ms
2025/01/17 17:00:16.858370 [DVR] Indexed 0 airings into XMLTV-Plutoworking (0 channels over 0s) + 0 skipped [12ms index]
2025/01/17 17:00:17.100888 [DVR] Indexed 2 channels (672 airings + 0 replaced) with placeholders [235ms index]
2025/01/17 17:00:17.100888 [IDX] Pruned 0 expired groups from XMLTV-Plutoworking in 0s.
2025/01/17 17:00:17.104375 [DBG] Scheduling wake timer for guide data in 16h6m12.895625s
2025/01/17 17:00:17.104375 [DBG] Scheduling wake timer for scheduled recording in 23h58m30s
I am also trying to get each channel to be recognized in the Apple TVOS app under Drama and Movies again that's a part of the bigger solution but cannot get that to work either. Again what you see here does work and populates the epg and time slots but it bis pulling from m3u the reason I know this is that "tvc-guide-description="This is from the M3U" and of course reversed that in the xml which is exactly what I see when I click on the channel (I know very simplistic but helps me to determine where the data is coming from)
If I reverse it by putting the epg based data in the xml and removing it from the m3u which you would think would work no data is displayed other than the channel id's and all time slots are blank effictively killing the dvr function, not to mention that the correct way is for the epg data to come from the xml not the m3u
Just so you know all the tags are there but when I post the page removes them not sure how to make them show correctly excuse my noob-ness
Any kind of help or advice would be so greatly appreciated!!
~Chris