Topic: Every channel is 123 (Read 9351 times)

jachin99 · « **on:** July 25, 2019, 01:16:19 pm »

I don't know what I changed BUT somehow I have made every channel number channel 123 so when I run automatch, I get one station that is number 123. I use an xmltv file to populate my guide. I'm not really sure where to start with this problem but I know I marked all of my HD channels as favorites on my HD Homerun Prime recently. What file or information can I provide to help figure out what my issue is? My channel name is 123STZ for example.

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** July 25, 2019, 01:20:57 pm »

Did you try restoring a backup? MC makes them automatically. File > Library ...

jachin99 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 25, 2019, 02:19:41 pm »

I did. I'm but moving my server to a different PC. Restoring from backup on the new pc gives me unique channels but they still have 123 in front of their names and I lose channel logos. So to get channel logos back and in an attempt to remove 123 I deleted all TV data in jrmc, and deleted my TV guide data in the program I use to generate my xmltv data and started over. Now I have this problem. I still have the original PC working fine with the exception of 123 in front of channel names but they looked to mapped correctly on that one. I hope that makes sense.

Yaobing · « **Reply #3 on:** July 25, 2019, 07:41:00 pm »

Does this happen with only the latest builds?

Yaobing · « **Reply #4 on:** July 25, 2019, 08:22:30 pm »

If restoring from a backup did not give you the right numbers in front of the channel name, then your backup was already messed up. You should restore from an earlier backup.

jachin99 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 25, 2019, 08:53:47 pm »

Alright, my previous problem was on MC 25 .80 32 bit. I noticed it was 32 bit so I uninstalled that, and grabbed .83 64 bit. I then restored from my same backup, and now I have all my channels back BUT I don't have channel logos where I do still have channel logos on the machine from which I created said backup. Also on both machines channel names are preceded by 123 so its 123FOX, 123ABC etc. I hope this is an easier starting point but I would still like to know how I can simply import my guide data and get my channel logos, then remove 123 from every channel. Thanks.

Yaobing · « **Reply #6 on:** July 25, 2019, 10:48:34 pm »

On "Manage TV Channels" window, is "Channel #" column populated correctly?

jachin99 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 26, 2019, 09:19:48 am »

It looks like it is, yes. I see correct channel numbers but the channel names have 123 in front of them.

Yaobing · « **Reply #8 on:** July 26, 2019, 11:32:29 am »

OK, perhaps the following procedure can fix it:

Run "Load Program guide..." (you can find it by right-clicking "Television" in the tree, on the left panel, or going to TV Options, and click it there).

On the resulting window, make sure the correct "Guide Mode" is selected (with checkbox), and make sure the radio control at the bottom is "Run selected profiles now". Click OK.

Wait for the "Loading guide data" window to appear. This is the place where you make channel-to-xmltv ID mapping. Check the checkbox at the bottom "Update channel name with XMLTV data". Click Next and let it finish.

jachin99 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 26, 2019, 11:46:45 am »

I actually edited the 123 out of every channel name. I then ran my guide data import profile, and it looks like MC asked to remap the channels, which I let it do. All of the channel names on the mapping screen had 123 in front of them so I took a screenshot. I also asked the developer of my guide program about what might be causing it. Here is the screenshot

Yaobing · « **Reply #10 on:** July 26, 2019, 11:57:39 am »

Which EPG method do you use? mc2xml, PercData, or external XMLTV file?

Yaobing · « **Reply #11 on:** July 26, 2019, 12:25:31 pm »

Quote from: Yaobing on July 26, 2019, 11:57:39 am

Which EPG method do you use? mc2xml, PercData, or external XMLTV file?

OK, I see you use EPG123. This "123" thing is suspicious

Can you open one of the xml file you get from EPG123 and examine the channels near the top of the file?

It should look like this:

<tv source-info-name="Rovi" generator-info-name="mc2xml" generator-info-url="mailto:mc2xml@gmail.com">
   <channel id="I1.269577223.microsoft.com">
      <display-name>1 On D</display-name>
      <display-name>1</display-name>
      <display-name>On D</display-name>
      <display-name>XFINITY On Demand</display-name>
   </channel>
   <channel id="I2.28458170.microsoft.com">
      <display-name>2 WBBM</display-name>
      <display-name>2</display-name>
      <display-name>WBBM</display-name>
      <display-name>CBS</display-name>
   </channel>

...

What is the first <display-name> entry for each channel?

jachin99 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 26, 2019, 01:40:04 pm »

I opened up my xmltv file, and here is a sample from the very top

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<tv date="7/26/2019 5:02:54 AM" source-info-url="http://schedulesdirect.org" source-info-name="Schedules Direct" generator-info-name="EPG123" generator-info-url="http://epg123.garyan2.net">
  <channel id="EPG123.34323.schedulesdirect.org">
    <display-name>WHRODT4</display-name>
    <display-name>WHRODT4 (WHRO-DT4)</display-name>
    <display-name>CREATE</display-name>
  </channel>
  <channel id="EPG123.59366.schedulesdirect.org">
    <display-name>HBOSPHD</display-name>
    <display-name>HBO Signature HD (Pacific)</display-name>
  </channel>

I asked Gary, who created EPG123 if his program might prepend channels somewhere with 123, and he said no, and suspected JRiver, "is using the unique ID of the channel and trying to determine channel number from it"

To be clear this is likely a case of user error, and I don't have any channel mapping issues. I would like to know more about how the guide works in general from this though. My only current issue is channel logos not showing.

Yaobing · « **Reply #13 on:** July 26, 2019, 01:53:42 pm »

Quote from: jachin99 on July 26, 2019, 01:40:04 pm

I asked Gary, who created EPG123 if his program might prepend channels somewhere with 123, and he said no, and suspected JRiver, "is using the unique ID of the channel and trying to determine channel number from it"

He is right!

I have to make some changes. The trouble is their data do not contain channel number. Further more their XMLTV ID all start with "EPG123." That piece of redundant info threw my scheme off.

Yaobing · « **Reply #14 on:** July 26, 2019, 02:16:10 pm »

Did you set up your channels using EPG123 in the very beginning? How come you got correct channel numbers in the first place?

garyan2 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 26, 2019, 02:39:15 pm »

Quote from: Yaobing on July 26, 2019, 12:25:31 pm

OK, I see you use EPG123. This "123" thing is suspicious

Can you open one of the xml file you get from EPG123 and examine the channels near the top of the file?

It should look like this:

<tv source-info-name="Rovi" generator-info-name="mc2xml" generator-info-url="mailto:mc2xml@gmail.com">
   <channel id="I1.269577223.microsoft.com">
      <display-name>1 On D</display-name>
      <display-name>1</display-name>
      <display-name>On D</display-name>
      <display-name>XFINITY On Demand</display-name>
   </channel>
   <channel id="I2.28458170.microsoft.com">
      <display-name>2 WBBM</display-name>
      <display-name>2</display-name>
      <display-name>WBBM</display-name>
      <display-name>CBS</display-name>
   </channel>

...

What is the first <display-name> entry for each channel?

There is an option in EPG123 configuration of the XMLTV generation to include channel numbers and channel logos. Using your example, it would look like:

   <channel id="EPG123.269577223.schedulesdirect.com">
      <display-name>On D</display-name>
      <display-name>XFINITY On Demand</display-name>
      <display-name>1 On D</display-name>
      <display-name>1</display-name>
      <icon ... />
   </channel>
   <channel id="EPG123.28458170.schedulesdirect.com">
      <display-name>WBBM</display-name>
      <display-name>CBS</display-name>
      <display-name>2 WBBM</display-name>
      <display-name>2</display-name>
      <icon ... />
   </channel>

Note that the display-name order for EPG123 is those with the channel number are last for no reason other than that is how I programmed it. If that is not an issue, then once configured correctly, everything should be fine.

Yaobing · « **Reply #16 on:** July 26, 2019, 02:57:58 pm »

Thanks Gary!

I will need to make some changes so that the ordering of "display-name" entries does not matter. We have always assumed that entries with a channel number would go first, which is too much to assume.

garyan2 · « **Reply #17 on:** July 26, 2019, 03:31:12 pm »

Just another thing to consider since you're diving into it. I am probably the only one that does this, but I list ALL channels that a station resides on, so if WBBM is on channel 2 and channel 1002, then my XMLTV will look like:

<channel id="EPG123.28458170.schedulesdirect.com">
<display-name>WBBM</display-name>
<display-name>CBS</display-name>
<display-name>2 WBBM</display-name>
<display-name>2</display-name>
<display-name>1002 WBBM</display-name>
<display-name>1002</display-name>
<icon ... />
</channel>

This is one of the reasons I do not include the channel number in the unique ID. I didn't want to duplicate the same channel guide listings just because the provider uses 2+ channel numbers for the exact same content and video streams. That is a lot of wasted bytes that the consuming program has to ingest.

Since I am the only one that does this, users typically have to do some manual mapping. I know emby and plex can't handle multiple channel numbers, it doesn't sound like JRiver does, and I don't believe NextPVR does either... never checked.

jachin99 · « **Reply #18 on:** July 29, 2019, 11:04:29 am »

Have any of these changes have made it into a beta build of MC yet.

Yaobing · « **Reply #19 on:** July 29, 2019, 02:25:38 pm »

Not yet. I am still working on it.

jachin99 · « **Reply #20 on:** July 29, 2019, 04:26:07 pm »

Alright, thanks.

jachin99 · « **Reply #21 on:** July 30, 2019, 10:46:15 am »

In the mean time, I figured out just copying the channel logos that EPG123 collects into the tv logos directory in JRiver works. MC matched them all up to the channels on its own.

Yaobing · « **Reply #22 on:** July 30, 2019, 10:56:20 am »

This will be in an upcoming build.
Changed: Improved XMLTV channel parsing so different xmltv files can be accommodated. This should fix the EPG123 channel number issue.

In the meantime here is a sneak preview (64-bit):

MC sneak preview for fixing of EPG123 channel number issue.

Make sure you already have MC25.0.83 64-bit version installed before copying the .exe downloaded from the link above.

Also make sure you configure EPG123 so it does output channel numbers.

jachin99 · « **Reply #23 on:** July 30, 2019, 04:56:43 pm »

Thanks yaobling. I still need to finish building my libraries and make sure there aren't any other bugs in my current build. Then I'll grab that file and try it out.

jachin99 · « **Reply #24 on:** July 31, 2019, 10:02:44 am »

Quote from: garyan2 on July 26, 2019, 03:31:12 pm

Just another thing to consider since you're diving into it. I am probably the only one that does this, but I list ALL channels that a station resides on, so if WBBM is on channel 2 and channel 1002, then my XMLTV will look like:

<channel id="EPG123.28458170.schedulesdirect.com">
<display-name>WBBM</display-name>
<display-name>CBS</display-name>
<display-name>2 WBBM</display-name>
<display-name>2</display-name>
<display-name>1002 WBBM</display-name>
<display-name>1002</display-name>
<icon ... />
</channel>

This is one of the reasons I do not include the channel number in the unique ID. I didn't want to duplicate the same channel guide listings just because the provider uses 2+ channel numbers for the exact same content and video streams. That is a lot of wasted bytes that the consuming program has to ingest.

Since I am the only one that does this, users typically have to do some manual mapping. I know emby and plex can't handle multiple channel numbers, it doesn't sound like JRiver does, and I don't believe NextPVR does either... never checked.

Yaobing, is there a way I can merge these duplicates in JRiver so they appear as one grid cell? Right now I'm getting 2 epg entries for these channels. I just grabbed build .86. Is there any reason to rerun Live TV setup after this change? Thanks.

Yaobing · « **Reply #25 on:** July 31, 2019, 03:38:21 pm »

Quote from: jachin99 on July 31, 2019, 10:02:44 am

Yaobing, is there a way I can merge these duplicates in JRiver so they appear as one grid cell? Right now I'm getting 2 epg entries for these channels. I just grabbed build .86. Is there any reason to rerun Live TV setup after this change? Thanks.

Are you talking about duplicates like Channel 2 vs. Channel 1002?

You only need one channel in MC. For example in my area, channel 2 and channel 1002, and channel 189 all carry the same programs (local CBS affiliate), where channel 2 is SD, and channels 189 and 1002 are HD. There is no reason to use all three channels. What I do is I hide channels 2 and 1002. This way only channel 189 appears in MC's guide.

jachin99 · « **Reply #26 on:** August 01, 2019, 11:30:54 am »

Yes, that is what I'm asking about. When I try to hide one of the channels, MC hides both I assume because it is pulling it all from the same channel ID. I don't see a way around this issue with epg123 in its current form but I can ask Gary. Can you think of anything I can do in MC to remove the duplicates without just trying to hide one.

Yaobing · « **Reply #27 on:** August 01, 2019, 12:45:45 pm »

Quote from: jachin99 on August 01, 2019, 11:30:54 am

Yes, that is what I'm asking about. When I try to hide one of the channels, MC hides both I assume because it is pulling it all from the same channel ID.

That should not happen. When you hide a channel (on "Manage TV Channels"), the channel will not be used in EPG displays, but it remains in your database. The reason we recommend hiding a channel instead of deleting it is that if you ever need to re-scan channels, the deleted channels will come back. So we would rather keep them and just not display them.

Quote

I don't see a way around this issue with epg123 in its current form but I can ask Gary. Can you think of anything I can do in MC to remove the duplicates without just trying to hide one.

It should not be a matter of EPG123, or any other EPG source.

jachin99 · « **Reply #28 on:** August 01, 2019, 03:31:38 pm »

I'm not sure why but hiding any duplicate channel results in that channel's match also being hidden in JRiver 25.86. Is there something I can do to troubleshoot it?

Yaobing · « **Reply #29 on:** August 01, 2019, 04:13:47 pm »

This is really strange. I have not experienced such problems before. There is not much logging in this area, so logging will not help.

You can try creating a smartlist of your TV channels. Here is how:

Rules:

Media Type is "TV"

Modify Result:

Limit database to Main

After creating the list, you can display any column you like. Try showing "Keywords" column. Hidden channels have the word "Hidden" in the field.

jachin99 · « **Reply #30 on:** August 01, 2019, 07:28:50 pm »

I was thinking of a similar solution as a last resort. It looks like epg123 is delivering those two channel numbers in one channel ID. Is there a way you could get jriver to ignore just one configurable channel number in situations like these? Is that what it should already do?

garyan2 · « **Reply #31 on:** August 02, 2019, 12:26:39 am »

I was curious and installed JRiver on my laptop. I tried to duplicate what you are seeing, but failed to do so. Everything is working as I would expect... hiding a channel that shares a channel ID with another does not cause that channel to hide as well.

Is there something you are doing that I am not?

Yaobing · « **Reply #32 on:** August 02, 2019, 08:16:30 am »

Quote from: jachin99 on August 01, 2019, 07:28:50 pm

I was thinking of a similar solution as a last resort.

The smartlist idea was not a solution, just a diagnostic method. In the smartlist you can edit Keywords field and manually put the word "Hidden" in a channel that you want to hide. This way you can tell whether and how it works. After putting "Hidden" in Keywords for a channel, you can go to "Manage Channels..." and see that a checkmark should have been placed in "Hidden" column for that channel. And that channel should not appear in the Guide any more.

Quote

It looks like epg123 is delivering those two channel numbers in one channel ID. Is there a way you could get jriver to ignore just one configurable channel number in situations like these? Is that what it should already do?

That is the way it should be. You are allowed to map the same XMLTV ID to multiple channels. If a channel is hidden, I believe we do not update the guide data for that channel, even if an ID is mapped to it (but of course the guide data previously downloaded will remain for a few days until they expire). This is actually a useful feature. For example, I have both CableCARD tuners and ATSC over-the-air tuners. So my OTA channel "2-1 CBS2" is equivalent to "189 WBBM" on cable. I can just map the same ID to "2-1 CBS2" and do not need to download xmltv guide for "over-the-air" lineup. That can same some unnecessary network activities.

Yaobing · « **Reply #33 on:** August 02, 2019, 08:48:56 am »

Here are a couple of screenshots:

jachin99 · « **Reply #34 on:** August 02, 2019, 08:56:09 am »

I just reset all of my TV settings, and reran live TV setup. Now I only get two channels again. I can restore from backup but that will leave me with duplicate channels.

Maybe the library is corrupted and I should start over again? I stored tags in sidecar files so if I deleted my library and started over, I'm thinking there is a way to setup auto import, and restore my library, and series information from the sidecar tags. Is that correct? From your screenshots above it looks like I am hiding my channels correctly.

Yaobing · « **Reply #35 on:** August 02, 2019, 09:34:12 am »

Sidecars can be used for audio, image, and video files. In particular it is useful for video files as most audio and image types allow saving tags internally. With sidecars intact, your metadata should be safe. You can open a sidecar file in Notepad and examine what data are in it.

jachin99 · « **Reply #36 on:** August 02, 2019, 10:28:58 am »

I tried to setup TV in a brand new library and once again only got two channels. This each channel having 123 problem started around the time I marked all my HD channels as favorites. It seems both MC and epg123 are functioning as intended for each of you so hopefully this is some wires thing with channels being marked as favorites. We will see I guess.

Yaobing · « **Reply #37 on:** August 02, 2019, 10:36:20 am »

Can you email me a copy of your latest EPG123 XML file for testing?

jachin99 · « **Reply #38 on:** August 02, 2019, 11:20:16 am »

Yes but Ill need your email address. I don't see it listed in your profile. Thanks.

Matt · « **Reply #39 on:** August 02, 2019, 11:25:39 am »

yaobing at jriver

jachin99 · « **Reply #40 on:** August 02, 2019, 12:12:52 pm »

It should be sent now. Thanks again.

Yaobing · « **Reply #41 on:** August 02, 2019, 12:55:01 pm »

Got it.

The reason you only got two channels is that your xmltv file does not include channel numbers. We depend on xmltv-supplied channel number to set up channels. One of your channels has a name that begins with a number "5". We took that as the channel number (incorrectly). For the rest of the channels the channel number is empty and our last-ditch effort to get an channel number ended up getting "123", as before. Therefore we only end up getting two channels: channel 123, and channel 5.

As Gary mentioned before, you should be able to configure EPG123 so that channel numbers are included. Once you do that, MC should be able to get the correct channel number.

When you already have a set of channels, then it does not matter. MC would be able to map correct XMLTV channel ID to each MC channel.

jachin99 · « **Reply #42 on:** August 02, 2019, 02:19:57 pm »

I have always used WMC with the MXF so I never noticed how I could click the generate xmltv file, and it would bring up new options. I'm trying this out now.

jachin99 · « **Reply #43 on:** August 02, 2019, 02:33:30 pm »

It looks like that did the trick!!! I get the correct the channel numbers, I get every channel, and Logos are completely automated. Thanks for the help.

Yaobing · « **Reply #44 on:** August 02, 2019, 02:38:40 pm »

Good to know! And you are welcome!

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Author Topic: Every channel is 123 (Read 9351 times)