Guides

TV guide (EPG) not working: why it is empty and what to check

In Tivelio, the programme guide comes only from an Xtream account, and only when your provider publishes one. The most common cause of an empty guide is therefore the type of source: a source added as an M3U playlist has no guide in Tivelio. The other causes are on the provider’s side, or in the content types chosen when the account was added.

What you see

  • The TV Guide screen shows Not available and No programme data available for this category.
  • When the account is updated, the app shows Sync failed — account name, and the TV Guide step reads The provider returned no TV guide.
  • When you add the account, TV Guide is missing from the Content types offered.

The causes, most common first

  1. Your source is an M3U playlist. Tivelio reads the guide only from an Xtream account. The guide address that some playlists carry in their first line (url-tvg, x-tvg-url) is not read today, and a playlist has no catch-up either.
  2. Your provider publishes no guide, or its guide address (xmltv.php) does not answer with a real guide. Tivelio checks it when you add the account, and then does not offer TV Guide among the Content types.
  3. TV Guide was unticked in Content types when the account was added. The guide is then never downloaded.
  4. The provider publishes a guide, but not for this channel. The provider must link each channel to its guide (the epg_channel_id field). A channel without that link has no programmes, even when the other channels have theirs.
  5. The guide has not been downloaded again. It is downloaded with the catalogue at each update: by default every 24 hours, or at once with Refresh now. Between two updates, the guide shows what the provider published at the last one.
  6. The guide file is unreadable: cut off, malformed, or an error page instead of a guide. Tivelio then keeps the guide it already had rather than half of the new one, and the TV Guide step of the update shows an error.

What you can check yourself

  • The type of source. Open Accounts and look at your source. If it is an M3U playlist:
    • and its address contains get.php?username=…&password=…, it is an Xtream access in another form. Add it again as a new source, in the Xtream form or by pasting it in the M3U playlist form: Tivelio recognises it and records it as an Xtream account, with the guide and catch-up when your provider offers them;
    • otherwise, ask your provider whether it gives an Xtream access (server address, username, password).
  • The content types. In Accounts, open the account, choose Edit, confirm the form, then tick TV Guide in Content types. If TV Guide is not offered, the provider’s guide did not answer when Tivelio checked it.
  • A fresh download. In Accounts, open the account and choose Refresh now, then open TV Guide again.
  • A single channel without programmes while the others have theirs: that channel is not linked to the guide on the provider’s side.
  • The same account elsewhere. If another app shows, for the same Xtream account, a guide that Tivelio does not show, write to us (see below).

What depends on your provider

Tivelio is a player: it provides no channels, no guide and no subscription. The programmes, their times, the channels covered and how many days ahead the guide goes all come from your provider. Tivelio cannot add a guide that the provider does not publish, link a channel that the provider left without a guide, or correct a guide published with mistakes.

Contact support

Write to support@tivelio.com with the device (for example Android TV, iPhone or Mac), the app version shown in Settings › About, the type of source (Xtream or M3U playlist) and the message you see. Never send us your provider’s password.