Bug: no channels when lineup field is empty

[vdrover 42]

Over the last week or so, I've noticed that some channels in my EPG Guide were not showing any program data. As the week continued, this problem spread to more, and eventually all of my channels. 

So I started digging in today to find the problem.

First, I verified that my non-EMBY EPG sources were working as expected. To avoid throttling issues with remote EPG providers, I actually use a cron job (Ubuntu) to grab new EPG data only once per day and store the EPG files locally on my server. Emby is configured to use the these local files and not a remote service. I reviewed these local sources: the timestamps were for today at 2:00AM (when my cron runs) and were up to date with program data. So that's not the source of the problem. 

Then I reviewed my HomeRun and M3U file. Both appeared to be operating normally.

Then I went to the Emby Live TV settings. I noticed that the channels tab was empty. A quick google search showed a few similar problems over the years. I then checked my logs and found "Error LiveTvManager: Error refreshing channels for service". Clearly the issue was am EPG error. But besides the cron described above, all my EPGs are from Emby. 

I started checking each one, and 3 (of 6 total) had missing lineups as shown in attached screenshot.

Once i re-selected the lineups, the EPG updated normally, and all was well with the world, including the channel display on the Channels tab.

So, I think there are one or two interrelated bugs/UI issues here.

1. I rarely have to touch Emby's settings these days. Every now and then, I restart the server. But basically, the selected lineups disappeared without any user interaction. I am running Emby 4.7.14.0, which was a docker-based auto-update back in August. How could a possible restart affect the lineup selection? I don't know how to troubleshoot this, but I think it is a bug.
2. Why does the lack of the ability to update the EPG prevent the display of my channels? The channels are specified in the M3U files. I get that the channels need to talk to the EPG for mapping, but why would that prevent the channels from being displayed at all? It looks like the channels tab UI is set to show nothing if the channel mapping is not available. If you can detect a lack of channel mappings, could you not use some simple logic to display a helpful message? If database includes 1 or more mapped channels, but epg is not currently returning any channel data, show a message like: "EPG error. Please review the selected lineups in the EPG Sources". In this case, the previously selected channels in the database could be displayed, but "greyed out". I think that would be a better experience for users, and would also reduce support requests as the fix is really, really easy if you knwo what to look for.

Edited December 29, 2023 by vdrover

[Luke 37066]

Quote

I rarely have to touch Emby's settings these days. Every now and then, I restart the server. But basically, the selected lineups disappeared without any user interaction. I am running Emby 4.7.14.0, which was a docker-based auto-update back in August. How could a possible restart affect the lineup selection? I don't know how to troubleshoot this, but I think it is a bug.

Unfortunately its' due to a change made by our guide data provider. Some users may have to do a one-time reconfiguring of their lineups.

[Luke 37066]

Quote

Why does the lack of the ability to update the EPG prevent the display of my channels?

Hi, yes we are looking into improving this. Thanks.