Running OpenVix on a AB-Com PULSe 4K Box - is there a plugin to export the EPG to an M3U file ?

(for an idiot ?)

My skillset for these boxes is just about functional. I've got the box set up with the epg updating every night (with channel icons as well) and with Plex and Emby that's basically enough.

I've created my favourites list and use that with the HD Homerun plugin so I just have to insert the IP address and port into Plex or Emby and it picks everything up and populates the EPG on the software which allows me to watch the content and use the DVR functions.

Jellyfin, my preferred choice, is a different kettle of fish. They've had a problem with Schedules Direct integration for over a year and recently it's basically just broken completely.

I've been trying without success to find a workaround as I run Jellyfin on my Synology DS224+ NAS drive and nothing works. I've tried Threadfin, Stream Master and, more recently, Dispatcharr and all of them appear to want an M3U file up front which I don't know how to get and even if that comes with EPG thumbnails, logos e.t.c..

So I'd very much appreciate it if anyone can tell me if such a plugin exists please, or even give me any clues on how to get a working EPG on Jellyfin without Schedules Direct - I'm not interested in any kind of IPTV either.

Thankyou.

Quote from abu baniaz

I dont know if it does it in the format you want, but there is an export epg plugin.

Thankyou. I'll see if I can find it.

Well I found it, set it up and ran it. I now need to figure out how to get the XML file off the box and on to my NAS just to see if anything can be done with it. It never bloody ends .. lol :)

Well I might have cobbled together a working solution, but I won't know for sure until tomorrow.

(I'm also writing this down as much for myself because I'll probably forget ..)

On the Pulse Box, I've got the EPG Auto download set to 1am every morning. I've also got the EPG export set to export the data to an uncompressed XML file at 2am every morning.

I've got a cron job set up to run at 2:30am every morning to move that exported file to a mounted folder on my NAS drive.

Finally, at 3am Jellyfin is scheduled to refresh the TV Guide as the guide data is set to point to that XML file directly.

It's a bit messy because if you're browsing the TV Guide "live" then there are no thumbnails or screenshots or anything like that, but the thing is, if you actually record something it does seem to insert those thumbnails and appropriate graphics after the fact which I'm quite ok with.

If this whole procedure works then it'll certainly be happy to keep it like that until the Jellyfin devs get around to fixing the Schedules Direct integration (if they ever do..).

I'd still be grateful if anyone has any tips or pointers on improving the solution

Quote from abu baniaz

You have not said how you are downloading EPG. If you are obtaining EPG from the satellite, you are better off doing so after 06:00 as indications are that is when they update the data. If you are downloading it from the internet i.e Rytec EPG. You are better off doing so after 07:30.

I'm just using the EPG Importer plugin in OpenVIX.

I'll take note of those times though and adjust everything accordingly. Thankyou.

Well it didn't quite work this morning but I realised that the box needed to actually be on for EPG Export to actually do what it needed to do, so I set up a test for 9am with the box on and that worked fine.

I manually ran the script to move the exported file to my NAS and then manually updated the TV Guide data in Jellyfin and all seemed good - it even kept the recordings I'd set.

Set up one more test for an EPG Export at 10am, cron job to run the script at 10:15am and Jellyfin to update guide data at 10:30am and everything worked so I've adjusted the times back to daily after 6am so hopefully that should solve the main problem.

My only other possible issue will likely be the ongoing accuracy of the EPG Date for the purposes of series linking things.