EPG.NorthAmerica - sub3/NextPVR GitHub Wiki

EPG guide data options for North America

Schedules Direct

Without a doubt the best choice for a complete solution is using the integrated Schedules Direct feature. NextPVR is an offically supported Schedules Direct application and sub works closely with the Schedules Direct team to stay current. It is a great long term solution.

Configuration is simple, downloading is fast and updates are fully automated. In addition it provides comprehensive metadata with season and episode number, new and repeat flags, original air date and accurate landscape poster and fanart meta art. Setup instructions are here https://github.com/sub3/NextPVR/wiki/Setup-EPG#schedules-direct

Alternate Soutions

While many users find the $25 yearly for Schedules Direct a bargain, some users prefer to take the extra steps to download XMLTV files from alternate sources. NextPVR has excellent support for XMLTV but this is really only if you have skills in creating the script files and following potentially complex installation directions, which might include installing python, perl or php. If you can't do this yourself then you you will likely have difficulty obtaining additional support on the NextPVR forum or elsewhere. Sub and most of the regular forum members don't use these applications and so you will find trouble getting help users who don't monitor the forums regularly.

As a warning all these solutions are based on obtaining data from web sites which can change at any time. Also links to software do not guarantee the source is safe to use.

Finally be prepared to spend hours implementing, troubleshooting and maintaining these solutions.

Options

OTA EPG Data

The OTA EPG data in North America varies city by city and station by station, but often it is poor or data is missing so it is not really suited for PVR use. The metadata is also incomplete, it is slow to scan and users often find they need to run the process more than once a day.

Of note in North America this is only supported for Windows and with SAT>IP users. It is also not an option for cablecard users.

HDHRGuide

If you have a Silicon Dust HDHR there is a utility available called HDHRGuide to download a 24 XMLTV file for users and a 2 week end file if you have a SiliconDust DVR subscription. Documentation is work-in-progress so post on the NextPVR forum if you need more information.

ZAP2XML

This also was a donationware program that is now abandonware but some users are still using it successfully. Here is a link to to an archive of the original website

https://web.archive.org/web/20200426004001/zap2xml.awardspace.info/

There have been attempts to document this for NextPVR this forum link seems the best https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?tid=55641&highlight=zap2xml but this has not been updated for V5 and instructions were Windows only. There may be recent activity on the forum for user to user support.

GitHub solutions

If you are reading this far rest assured you are not alone in wanting a no cost solution and there are several options available on GitHub, this is not an exhaustive list. I have no idea where you would get support for these.

EPG-Buddy

Not confirmed but the author has posted on the NextPVR forum https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?tid=58945 and he stated it supports tvguide.com. The user manual also has instructions for configuring NextPVR V5

MC2XML

This was a donationware program that is now abandonware but some users are still using it successfully for some of the serveices offered Here is a link to to an archive of the original website.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200426003902/http://mc2xml.awardspace.info/

There is an old wiki link for this http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Configuration.EPGMC2XML fro V4 whether or not it still applies. It will not run on ARM solutions or some x86 Linux solutions.

WebGrab Plus

This is a long term generic XMLTV scaping solution. I leave it to you to review. Depending on your needs you may need to donate.

Tempest EPG Generator

This is a new unproven solution, but it currently is directly supported by the author on the NextPVR forum https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?tid=63586

It takes more configuration then MC2XML, ZAP2XML and solutions like ZAP2EPG but it might be the only solution if other scraping solutions fail after a web site change.