How the TV guide works
The TV guide (also called EPG) is the schedule of what is on each live channel and when. Your customers see it as "now and next" on every channel and as a full guide grid in their player.
Guide ids
Every channel finds its schedule through a guide id. The editor shows it as Guide id in the channel list and in the channel panel. Example: Northlight Two carries the id NorthlightTwo.uk.
A guide source is a long list of programmes, filed under those ids. A channel shows a guide when two things are true:
- The channel has the right guide id.
- One of your guide sources carries programmes for that id.
When one of the two is missing, the channel's guide is blank. Almost every guide problem comes down to one of these two points.
Where it lives
Open Live TV and click the TV guide tab. At the top of the tab you find three buttons:
- Guide: your channel list with the Guide id column. Click a channel to open its panel on the right with Now, Up next and Browse guide.
- Live sports: turns event and PPV channels into a real sports guide. More in Live sports.
- Guide sources: the guides you use and the guide file your customers receive.
Where the guide data comes from
| Source | What it is |
|---|---|
| Built-in country guides | Free guides M3UTool hosts for about 180 countries. You switch them on per country. |
| Your own XMLTV | A guide link from your provider or anyone else, added on top. |
| Dummy guide | A placeholder guide named after the channel, for channels no guide covers. |
| Your own events | Programmes you write yourself, once, every day or on chosen weekdays. |
| Live sports | Real fixtures written onto your event channels. |
All of them end up in the same guide. Your customers' players cannot tell them apart.
What happens automatically
- The country guides are read again about twice a day, so the coming days are always there.
- About once an hour, M3UTool switches on the country guides your channels' guide ids come from, and switches off countries none of your channels use.
- When a refresh brings new channels, they can bring your provider's guide ids with them (Import provider guide id (new only) in Auto refresh), and Playlist automation can map them to a guide straight after.
- A channel whose guide id has no programmes left is flagged as No guide data. M3UTool never removes its id for you. More in Channels without guide data.
What you decide
- Which country guides you use, and whether you add your provider's guide.
- Which guide a channel uses when several guides carry it.
- What a channel with no guide at all shows: a placeholder or your own events.
- How much detail and how many days your guide file carries.
Where your customers see it
- The M3UTool apps and the web player show now and next on every channel and a full guide grid.
- Other players (TiviMate, Smarters and others) get the guide with the Xtream login, or from the TV guide link you give with the M3U link. More in Give a customer their links.
Note: A player loads the guide on its own schedule. After you change a guide id, ask the customer to refresh the guide in the player if it does not change within a few hours.