I'm looking to find if there is a way to control when the EPG is updated. The reason this comes up is that during prime viewing time, my Pluto TV guide data seems to be running out. It would be great if I could sync the EPG update (set for every three hours) such that it updates nearer the time I would most likely be watching live tv. This would be around 6:00pm-7:00pm.
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For Custom Channels using XMLTV guide data (like your Pluto channels), you can set it up to refresh the guide every 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours.
Otherwise, the main guide download happens daily between 8 and 11 in the morning; this cannot be changed.
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You can do it using a task/cron job.
I did the same thing with Pluto to get it to sync on schedule.
The problem with the maddox Pluto for Channels is it slips forward in time and doesn't refresh exactly every three hours. It wakes, refreshes, then sleeps for three hours. Slipping forward each time by the time it takes to grab the epg. Channels DVR resfreshes that source every three hours, but is unreliable as I found.
I have both of them set to refresh using task manager which keeps them in sync and on schedule..
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9am - 11am unless it's changed recently.
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Thanks @chDVRuser ! This is exactly the 'problem' I'm having. Can you give me specifics on how you're able to get things better aligned in regards to Pluto for Channels? I am running on a Linux server so cron would be the way to go for me. Just not sure what you're putting in the cron job.
It was simple once I figured out how much Pluto for Channels 3hr refreshes drift.
Here's my timeline and script commands.
Of course you need to change the ip_address:port in 2a & 2b to match your Channels DVR server.
1] 02:00 05:00 08:00 11:00 14:00 17:00 20:00 23:00 Pluto 4 Channels m3u&xml 3hr from 02:00
2a] 02:24 05:24 08:24 11:24 14:24 17:24 20:24 23:24 Pluto Custom Channel m3u 3hr from 02:24
2b] 02:25 05:25 08:25 11:25 14:25 17:25 20:25 23:25 Pluto Custom Channel xml 3hr from 02:25
EPG 14:00 17:00 20:00 23:00 02:00 05:00 08:00 11:00 12hrs Guide data up to
Pluto for Channels drifts forward ~18:06/week, restart it once/week on Saturday morning
Using Synology Task Schedular to keep it on 3hr schedule with these user defined scripts
1] Saturdays 05:00 'docker restart pluto-for-channels'
2a] every 3 hrs 02:24 'curl -s -XPOST http://192.168.1.3:8189/providers/m3u/sources/Pluto/refresh'
2b] every 3 hrs 02:25 'curl -s -XPUT http://192.168.1.3:8189/dvr/lineups/XMLTV-Pluto'
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Of course, this is my experience, your timing may differ.
I wanted to make sure the time difference between line 1] and 2a] & 2b] were greater than that weekly drift.
This is perfect. Thanks for taking the time to write this up. The urls for the refreshes are exactly what I needed! I
So I've started to try this out. Found an oddity though. When I go to http://192.168.0.25:8089/providers/m3u/sources/Pluto/refresh I get a '404 Not Found' . My source is named 'Pluto' just like yours including case if that matters. Same thing happens when I try the dvr lineups command as well.
My Channels DVR is running on port 8089. My Pluto for Channels docker is running on port 9998 . Both on the same machine at 192.168.0.25 .
Any idea what's going wrong?
Why are you trying to view them?
You need to use these curl commands in your cron jobs
curl -s -XPOST http://192.168.0.25:8089/providers/m3u/sources/Pluto/refresh
curl -s -XPUT http://192.168.0.25:8089/dvr/lineups/XMLTV-Pluto
When it's working properly you will see the results in your DVR log.
2021/07/14 11:24:01.686731 [M3U] Refreshed lineup for Pluto with 320 channels
2021/07/14 11:25:01.563425 [DVR] Fetched guide data for XMLTV-Pluto in 0s
2021/07/14 11:25:17.242688 [DVR] Indexed 2709 airings into XMLTV-Pluto (136 channels over 25h45m0s) + 19 skipped [14s index]
2021/07/14 11:25:17.356537 [DVR] pruned 414 replaced airings in 0s.
2021/07/14 11:25:17.395474 [IDX] Pruned 332 expired groups from XMLTV-Pluto in 38.702042ms.```
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Apologies. Things are working great now. All the best to you!
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