[matthuisman]

1) IPTV Merge does not show status updates when merging in background as designed
    If your watching content, you dont want to see a "running merge" or whatever notification

2) You wont see "importing guide from clients" due to #3

3)
Newer versions of IPTV Simple Client have no nice way for me to tell it to refresh its data.
When you do a force merge - it actually disables the IPTV Simple addon and then re-enables it.
Also, when forcing - I show the status. This explains #1
IPTV Simple only shows "Importing guide" when starting up. This explains #2.

However, disable and renable has its own issues and sometimes cause the guide to become stuck etc.

So, the current method is
1) When "setup IPTV Simple" is done - it sets IPTV SImple to refresh its data every 5mins. m3uRefreshIntervalMins = 5
2) when IPTV Merge runs in the background - it creates the new files and then just lets IPTV simple do the refresh itself

The biggest issue with this is the issue your facing.
If the EPG data is all ran out when you do a fresh boot - then the following happens
1) IPTV Simple loads the old epg xml which is all out of date
2) IPTV merge runs and creats fresh data
3) IPTV Simple waits 5mins before refreshing the new data

So, I think if you waited 5mins after a boot - you should see it work.
The code is here: https://ibb.co/1Tpc3tp

The best working way was IPTV SImple version before 20.8.0
That had a way to tell IPTV Simple to reload straight after our merge


However, I forgot I was working on a new solution that should work "the best"
I did need https://github.com/kodi-pvr/pvr.iptvsimple/issues/822 fixed which as been done now.
I had just forgot about it since then

I'll see if I can get it working - that should solve your issues

If you really want to see progress #1 always - maybe I can add a setting to always show it.
I just think if its works correctly - then no need

Actually, I did implement it but it caused issues so reverted:
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid...pid3180711

[matthuisman]

OK, just pushed plugin.program.iptv.merge -> v0.25.8

This does a few things

1) if a merge is detected to be required on boot - we now "FORCE" a merge.
   This will show the notification and reload IPTV Simple the same as "force merge" does.
    This only happens at boot. All other times it just relies on IPTV Simple reloading every 10mins
    A happy middle ground - not sure why i didnt do this originally.

2) Add a new setting "Use HTTP Method"
    This only works when using with Kodi 21 / IPTV Simple client version 21.7.1 or above
   After enabling this, you will need to click "Setup IPTV Simple Client" again.
   This changes IPTV Simple to grab the playlist/epg over HTTP.
   Which enables the addon to first merge if needed before returning the current / new data 
   
   When kodi boots,IPTV Simple will wait for this url to be available and then call it.
   The addon will then merge if needed and return the playlist/epg

I think #1 may be enough to fix your issues, but feel free to try #2

[fbagnato]

Hello matthuisman,

Thanks for your replies and attention to my problems.

I looked at the IPTV Simple settings and it is set to refresh its data every 5 mins.

I then updated IPTV Merge to v0.25.8.

Unfortunately both your proposed fixes didn't work.

I waited the 5 minutes whenever I was testing it to make sure.

I get sporadic entries in the guide but most channels are empty.

I noticed that the settings in IPTV Merge no longer have the setting to run at startup so I couldn't configure that (previously I did not have that setting configure to run IPTV Merge at Startup but I only went into Kodi once a day so the merge would usually occur)

I tried the setting "Use HTTP Method" but again that made no difference, with only a few channels showing the EPG entries.

But, if I did the procedure I was adopting previously as follows I would get a fully populated EPG.

That is:

1. Open Kodi
   
2. Let IPTV Merge fully run
   
3. Kill the Kodi task
   
4. Open Kodi and immediately go to "System/PVR & Live TV/Guide" and select "Updates/Clear Data" (If I leave it too long the Clear Data is unresponsive and doesn't run)
   
5. Wait for "Importing Guide from Clients" to run to populate the EPG
   

I don't know what the problem is or whether IPTV Merge is the problem.

Regards,

fbagnato

[matthuisman]

What version of Kodi are you running?
And what version of IPTV Simple Client?

Also, I found the http method doesnt really work on Android and I suspect not on Mac either.
So maybe disable this and just use the old method.
Remember to do a new "Setup IPTV Simple Client" after this setting is changed

With it back to old method - you should at least see now the "Merging...." notification if it boots and a merge is required?
Can you confirm that?

[fbagnato]

Hello matthuisman,

Kodi is version 21.0 (21.0.1).
IPTV Simple Client is version 21.8.4

Also, I found the http method doesnt really work on Android and I suspect not on Mac either.
So maybe disable this and just use the old method.
Remember to do a new "Setup IPTV Simple Client" after this setting is changed

Done......

With it back to old method - you should at least see now the "Merging...." notification if it boots and a merge is required?
Can you confirm that?

Once I performed the "new "Setup IPTV Simple Client" after this setting is changed" it ran a merge.

I then waited 5 minutes and checked the EPG and it was mostly populated with entries (I expect some channels do not support an EPG even though they are added sources).

I think you may have fixed it!

I will check it several times without performing my workaround and post again with the results (it will be in a couple of days at least to give it proper testing).

Thanks again for your help matthuisman.

Regards,

fbagnato

[matthuisman]

no need to wait 5 mins.

We are trying to fix the issue of:
After kodi has exited for long, when booting kodi - the merge isnt ran immediately.
After my latest change - should be no need to wait 5mins after boot.
And you should also see the notification that merge is happening.
This is ONLY if a merge is needed the first time kodi boots.
Otherwise, the old data will just be loaded and then start refreshing every 5mins

[fbagnato]

Hello matthuisman,

Well, bad news.

I checked Kodi again some hours later and the EPG was virtually empty.

I don't know if a merge happened on the startup. The setting of 12 hours would not have expired so I am thinking it wouldn't have run.

It seems that if a merge isn't run followed by a "Importing Guide from Clients" then the EPG is not populated.

I don't see anywhere in the IPTV Merge options to run the merge upon every boot but in older versions of IPTV Merge that option was available.

I am wondering that if the option was available I could turn it on and maybe the problem would be resolved.

If I toggle off "Merge every X hours" does that mean that the merge will not run at all unless it is manually triggered or does that mean that the merge will run at every startup?

Regards,

fbagnato

[fbagnato]

Hello matthuisman,

Don't know what is going on.

I went into Kodi again and this time the EPG is populated.

I think I need to continue testing it.

Regards,

fbagnato

[fbagnato]

Hello matthuisman,

I've been snowed under so I haven't a chance to thoroughly test it.

I will look into it when I get a chance.

With the few tests I have done it definitely seems better since you made the changes to the latest version of IPTV Merge.

Regards,

fbagnato

[fbagnato]

Hello matthuisman,

I have been testing the EPG problem for some days.

These are the runs and the results of the tests:

• 8/5/24 7:00PM - EPG populated OK
  
• 9/5/24 3:00AM - Frozen on "Scanning TV shows using TMDb TV Shows: 0%" but EPG populated OK
  
• 9/5/24 12:00PM - TV section blank. Killed Kodi then restarted - EPG populated OK
  
• 10/5/24 3:00AM - No Entries in EPG
  
• 10/5/24 1:40PM - TV section blank. Killed Kodi then restarted - No Entries in EPG
  
• 11/5/24 2:40AM - TV section blank. Killed Kodi then restarted - EPG partially populated
  
• 11/5/24 5:40PM - EPG populated OK
  
• 11/5/24 12:40PM - TV section blank. Killed Kodi then restarted - EPG populated OK
  

The retrieval of the EPG is definitely better since your last update to IPTV Merge. Before I had to do the workaround previously detailed to get a populated EPG.

Besides one run (10/5/24 3:00AM - No Entries in EPG) it seems the problem to address is why the TV section ends up blank whilst the guide downloads.

I think if we could have that resolved I can test it more to see if there are any other problems with the EPG population.

Due to my experience level of a basic end user of Kodi I also don't know if the TV section ending up blank is due to IPTV Merge or another addon or Kodi itself.

It seems to happen following the "Importing Guide from Clients" is run. Is this IPTV Merge, another addon (such as IPTV Simple) or from Kodi itself?

Let me know if I can provide any other information for you.

Regards,

fbagnato

[matthuisman]

There won't be any updates my side unfortunately. Its the best I can do without big hacks. You must just need to deal with it or find another solution. Thanks for testing

[fbagnato]

Hello matthuisman,

No problem, I will just live with it.

As I said, it is a LOT better since your last update so I don't need to invoke the workaround as frequently.

Regards,

fbagnato

[matthuisman]

It seems that kodis PVR db just sometimes gets stuck and won't load new epg until it gets cleaned. I could try clearing it via the add-on which should make it more reliable.

[fbagnato]

Hello matthuisman,

Sounds good.

Regards,

fbagnato

[M8R!X]

Interesting, thanks.