Jump to content

Metadata for "On Now" / "Programs"


markloveskensley

Recommended Posts

markloveskensley

I've looked around but haven't been able to find an answer so please forgive me if it's here and I just overlooked it. My question is - Is it possible to have media posters shown for the "On now" / "Programs"/ and "Upcoming" shows in the Live TV area. I understand that this information can come from the XMLTV or Emby Guide Data provided for the channel. I am using Xteve to map my channels as this is quicker than mapping through Emby. I was just wondering if since the shows appear in the "On Now" section, is there someway to have the metadata automatically pulled. See attached screenshot.

 

Thanks,

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

markloveskensley

It is the one provided by my IPTV Provider. I tried mapping channels w/ Emby Guide Data and it gives me what I want but it takes so long to map one channel at a time . So I thought since the "On Now" section is showing the show that is on, I was hoping maybe there was a way to have Emby pull the posters. I don't even care about it showing the episode / series info or the actual show description. The poster would make it more appealing to the eye.

 

Thanks,

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, we don't use any internet sources for guide data beyond what your guide data provider provides, so it would need to include images. So you're saying it doesn't?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

markloveskensley

I'm not sure. How would I know if it does? I understand how to look at an xmltv file but what line in the file would call the image?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would be hard to read the xml file if you're not familiar with the format, but if emby isn't displaying anything, then it's safe to say it doesn't contain any images.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
coltonyyz

Hey, I was looking for a solution to this issue also actually. In the Home Screen, under "On Now", there are no posters showing. I think at one point, it was showing the channel logo which is better than nothing really, but now nothing shows. I read the responses given, and if I understand correctly, the TV Poster for the current show that's listed at the current time, would need to be pulled from a metadata service or the XML file provided by our providers. If I misunderstood, feel free to correct me.

But, couldn't the same service used in the TV Shows for our media library identify the program using the title of the show/episode to generate the TV series poster, just like it does for TV Shows? This is where I get confused.

The original post doesn't include a screen shot which they forgot to include, but here's one of where I am talking about...

emby-on-now.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, coltonyyz said:

Hey, I was looking for a solution to this issue also actually. In the Home Screen, under "On Now", there are no posters showing. I think at one point, it was showing the channel logo which is better than nothing really, but now nothing shows. I read the responses given, and if I understand correctly, the TV Poster for the current show that's listed at the current time, would need to be pulled from a metadata service or the XML file provided by our providers. If I misunderstood, feel free to correct me.

But, couldn't the same service used in the TV Shows for our media library identify the program using the title of the show/episode to generate the TV series poster, just like it does for TV Shows? This is where I get confused.

The original post doesn't include a screen shot which they forgot to include, but here's one of where I am talking about...

emby-on-now.png

Hi, what did you setup for guide data? Does that guide data include images?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

coltonyyz

I use my provider's guide data. Honestly, I've never really had luck with Emby's guide data. It would be nice to use Emby's because my provider's can be incomplete sometimes, or lacking Channel Logo, or the logos are not unison.

One thing I forgot to mention is that if I click on the 3 dots in the bottom corner, and then click edit metadata, I can see the channel logo. So is there something I did/didn't do, in order for the logo to appear at the very minimum?

emby-on-now-logos.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, coltonyyz said:

 

emby-on-now.png

This info comes strictly from the guide data used. If your guide data provides graphic links for each schedule item you will get the graphics in this section as well as if you drill down to a movie/show from the guide. If some of these channels are from US/CA/UK you could load an Emby Guide source as well as the XML and remap some of the important channels you use quite often to the Emby Guide info. That would give you a richer data experience for any of the remapped channels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, coltonyyz said:

I use my provider's guide data. Honestly, I've never really had luck with Emby's guide data. It would be nice to use Emby's because my provider's can be incomplete sometimes, or lacking Channel Logo, or the logos are not unison.

One thing I forgot to mention is that if I click on the 3 dots in the bottom corner, and then click edit metadata, I can see the channel logo. So is there something I did/didn't do, in order for the logo to appear at the very minimum?

emby-on-now-logos.png

Does your provider's guide data include images?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BillOatman

Two places it can be in the providers file. At the top there is one entry per channel:

Quote

<channel id="Chan01.us">
<display-name lang="en">Channel 1</display-name>
<icon src="http://MyLogos.xyz/logos/Chan1.png"></icon>
</channel>

Then there is 1 entry per program on the channel.

Quote

<programme start="20211017213000 +0000" stop="20211018023000 +0000" channel="Chan01.us">
<title lang="en">A Great Show </title>
<desc lang="en">This is a really great show.</desc>
<icon src="http://MyLogos.xyz/logos/GreatShow.png"></icon>
</programme>

It is very common for the channel entries to have a icon, but sometimes shows will have them as well.

If neither place has the icon defined, your provider does not have one defined.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

coltonyyz

Hey everyone! Thanks for the replies! No, it doesn't appear that my provider supplies images in the programme start section of the XML file. They only supply the channel icon. See below.

That being said, I didn't know if setting up more than one guide data (Emby +  provider xml) if that worked or not. I will go back in and make adjustments.

That said, if Emby see's multiple results for the same channel, which one will it read by default; Emby or provider xml?
 

<channel id="abc9kmbc.us">
<display-name>USA ABC 9 KMBC KANSAS CITY</display-name>
<icon src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/KMBC-TV_%28television_station%29_logo.png" />
</channel>

<programme start="20211020020100 +0000" stop="20211020030000 +0000" channel="abc9kmbc.us" >
<title>Queens</title>
<desc>Follows a fractured girl group living in the shadows of their once prominent hip-hop dynasty.</desc>
</programme>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

coltonyyz

Right... so in setup, in the dropdown to select the provider, one of the option is something like "use this for all tuners". If a user sets up their provider's xml and apply that setting to "all" and they ALSO setup Emby guide data and apply that to "all", what happens when it tried to read the data? Which one will it use?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's where you can use the channel management screen in server setup to click on a channel and select the guide data source.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

coltonyyz

Yeah I realize I will have the ability to fine tune it by going to each channel and manually selecting a guide data provider (Emby or Provider in my scenario here), but if I don't do anything, and I set each guide data sets up and choose Apply this to all tuners, what does Emby do/which provider will it pick by default?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Typically if your m3u file is like most you will have an entry for CNN that uses guide info "cnn.us" or similar that points to your XML file.

What you can do is load the XML file with it enabled for that m3u tuner.
Now you can add Emby Guide data either for your area if trying to match local channels or you can add either or both of the the sat feeds such as DirecTV National or Dish National.
However when adding this unselect any tuners. Yes you read that right.  It's going to appear to not be used for anything. That will keep it from trying to auto map based on channel number.

Now bring up a DirecTV channel guide https://www.directv.com/idpassets/pdfs/channel_lineups/DIRECTV_English_Channel_Lineup.pdf in another browser tab.
So now you can manually remap individual channels.  As an example if you wanted to setup guide data for HBO East you find that on the DirecTV pdf (CTRL-F works for search) and find it's channel 202. You will often see both an SD and HD guide for channels so you want the HD like this
image.png.8af2b8bc72d60916d08059ee8f71c75c.png

That's a pretty easy one that sticks out nicely.  Where the pdf comes in real handy is with the trickier ones.

Suppose you wanted to map STARZ ENCORE West so you search that is the guide and see it's channel 536 and you can select it in Emby.
image.png.bee12da8183ada9de29651c761c89a0f.png

Without looking it up/cross referencing it first you have close to zero chance knowing it's 536 from the drop down list.

This work absolutely great and allows you to start with the basic guide data your provider gives you and then you can start to remap the important channels for you to get the rich Emby Guide info for them.  Most people have about 20 channels they actually watch regardless of how many channels they have available so don't feel compelled to sit down and map them all.  Do your favorites first and you might be satisfied with just them.

Word of caution.  After you have started manually mapping your channels DO NOT remove the tuner and add it back again unless you want to start over mapping things. :)
Ask me how I know. :)

The exception to that rule is if you have the Backup Configuration Plugin installed and doing backups.  In this case you can do a restore like this:
image.png.173c594d0d248911fd19563c718b5ef5.png

So if you have the backup plugin do a simple test after mapping a couple channels.  Kick off a backup from the Scheduled task menu.  Remove your m3u tuner so it's gone.  Then go into the backup plugin, select the backup you just did. Select none up top to uncheck everything then scroll to the bottom and only select  Live TV Settings and restore.

Now check you channel mappings.

Anyway those are some of the better tips I can think of that you may want to try.
Carlo

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

coltonyyz

This is great! I didn't think to pull up the PDF version. And when you're trying to do Canada US and UK, my god it was difficult.

One thing I noticed, you'd be going to the list searching for your channel using your mouse wheel,and all of a sudden it will jump to the top with a bottom. Then you have to start all over again.

I don't know if this is a bug or what is triggering that to happen but I found I should scroll select a channel so that it remembers that channel and then continue to scroll but don't forget to keep selecting randomly. At least this way you don't have to start over from the top or the bottom.

This tip is very helpful. It wasn't an answer to my question, but I'll take it!  Haha. Thank you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a tip.  If you use a cross reference page like I mentioned and already know the channels number don't use the wheel but instead type the channel number!
So you change the guide to DirecTV for example then type the channel number vs scrolling the list.
I should have mentioned that above with the other tips.  Huge time saver!

For working with UK channels I've had really good luck using E1 postal code and choosing Sky Q sat lineup.
Likewise for Canadian channels I use I've had good luck with Bell East lineup.
But I suppose it depends on the specific channels your trying to map.

As a general rule most channels you find in M3Us (non specific city/region) for US are typically East coast feeds so a guide from that area is likely the first to check.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never read about this anywhere but was flipping back and forth tabs and got confused on which tab I was in.  Thought I was typing a number in after CTR-F (search page) but instead was on the channel picker on the wrong tab and I saw it jumping as I typed the numbers.

At that point I tried typing and actual channel number and was blown away.  It's such a great feature but I never knew you could do that. It's really nice when you know the channel number you want to select.  I use this all the time now.

Every once in a while when helping someone remotely with Live TV and showing them a few channel maps to get them started I get asked how I got to the channel so fast (they assume it's mouse because they can't see my side). I always get the same reaction.  "That's cool" or similar.

I wonder how many people know you can do this?
@Luke is this somewhat new or has it always supported typing the channel for quick selection?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Luke is that kind of a new implementation?
I ask because in all the years I've been using Emby I only recently found this.

So I'm wondering if I've been missing out on this goodness or not?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...