Half the posters are missing

[MKANET]

For some reason, nearly half of all my TV show posters are not getting displayed in Plex. It's always been this way for me. All other information is downloaded (detailed EPG episode descriptions and channel logos). The shows with missing posters are actually very popular shows.. so, I know artwork should be available for download.

I already cleared the cache... but, the problem is still there. I can't think of any settings in EPG123 or Plex that would cause only half the posters to display. I'd really appreciate any tips that could help resolve this issue. All the images are being saved to an SSD with plenty of free space.

[StinkyImp]

For some reason, nearly half of all my TV show posters are not getting displayed in Plex.

For years I've used Media Center Master to create all the metadata for my media (TV and Movies) library.

Over the years I've tested it with MediaBrowser, Kodi and currently I use the Plex server to populate the Plex app in my Roku's. I've never experienced missing metadata, including posters and thumbnails, unless they aren't available from the TVDB, TMDB, or IMDB. Even then there's a mechanism to add them manually.

My $0.02, and of course... YMMV.

[Space]

I don't know anything about Plex, but I'm curious as to how Plex is related to EPG123?

Also, I know that Schedules Direct is having issues with season specific images. On WMC, I have episodes from some seasons where the image is fine, but for other seasons the image is missing. You can see this with shows like The Simpsons that tend to have a lot of episodes in the guide from may different seasons. Some seasons the image is there, others it is not.

[MKANET]

@Space I use it for playing/recording my IPTV channels. I use EPG123 for downloading all posters, metadata, etc; which are used in it. I think you might be right.. the missing posters are related to TV shows with seasons.

How do I verify if EPG123 downloaded season-specific posters or not? I'm not sure which log file to look at or if there's a way to look at the image cache directory. This might be a question for @garyan2

[Space]

There is a log file called server.log which you can view in your browser by connecting to the EPG123 HTTP server on the system running EPG123 EXAMPLE: http://<servername>:9009/server.log. Note that it is running on port 9009 by default.

It can also be accessed within the EPG123 install directory.

Note that the file names for the image files will not identify them as far as what show they are for, so it's really just going to show you an error message when it tries to access the image and the file name will be pretty much random characters, the EPG123 HTTP server doesn't know what show that particular image is for.

I don't know how Plex works, or how it downloads the images. EPG123 just gives you the URL for the images, it is WMC that downloads the images (or requests the image via HTTP which in turn is proxied through the EPG123 HTTP server), so I assume you give the image URL to Plex in some way and it attempts to download the images?

Gary will have more information. For instance, I don't know how EPG123 picks the images to use (season images or an overall series image) but as far as I know EPG123 uses season images and I don't know of a way to make it get series images instead.

[garyan2]

There is an option in the configuration GUI to 'Include season and sport event images' if you don't want to use them.

If the option is enabled, EPG123 will grab both the series and the season links as well as any sport event images. It is WMC that decides on what to show for a program. First option is the program image (only movies and sport events for EPG123), second is the season image, and last is the series image. If the program does not have an image, then it will use the season. If the season does not have an image, then it will use the series.

For XMLTV, it will follow the same rules WMC uses on which image links to include.

The season images should be fixed now. SD has been working on them the last week or so and rebuilding all the images.

For a possible reason why the images are not showing... the OS your epg123 proxy server is running on may be limiting the number of connections it can accept/process. For Win7 (and 8 I assume), the limit is max 5 connections at a time and it won't let the service buffer above that. For Win10 the limit is 20. So I don't know how Plex handles populating the images, but if it requests 20 images at the same time before the service can handle them then only 5 will get serviced and the other 15 go nowhere, so no image. To bypass the service, you would need to stop it in the configuration GUI, delete the epg123Server.exe file or rename it, and then build a new MXF/xMLTV to import. The image links will then be directly to SD and you won't have that limitation. The only limitation then will be the maximum image download limit that SD enforces per day.

On another note, though. Using SD provided guide listings on Plex is in violation of their terms of service.

[MKANET]

Hi Garyan2. Thank you so much for chiming in. I'm using Windows 10. I'll go ahead and make sure I'm using the latest version of EPG123 and enable 'Include season and sport event images' if it's not enabled. I'm not sure if this is an important clue or not.. but, it seems like the missing images are at least consistent. If there's no image for a specific show poster, it will never have one in subsequent EPG123 updates. ...which makes me think it might not be the 20 concurrent sockets limit. Also, I had this issue before EPG123 switched to using a service.

[MKANET]

I just upgraded from V1.7.1.0 to V1.7.1.1... I noticed that my setting changed from "Use linked images from Schedules Direct" to "Use local images from .\logos folder. I've always been using "Use linked images from Schedules Direct" I'm not sure what kind of impact it would have on performance and reliability if I make this change. Also, would it make any difference to this missing Posters issue?

If I understand this setting correctly, instead of using URLs that are pointed directly to SD, it will point to localhost URLs instead in EPG123's cached logos folder? Maybe using local URLs is better in case SD changes the location URL of their images?

[garyan2]

You can change it back to using the linked images. The only real difference to using the SD logos and the local is that the local images will have the transparent surrounding pixels cropped out so the logo will actually look bigger wherever they are displayed.

A good example would be for like getTV below. The left is straight from SD, the right is cropped, both are stretched to same container size.

cropped.PNG (9.09 KiB) Viewed 4363 times

And you are correct. Won't have any impact on posters.

[MKANET]

Thanks Gary! Got it!

[Space]

Just a followup regarding the season images for "The Simpsons". I just checked and it looks like ALL seasons now have unique images for each season, nice!

Except for one thing... most of the seasons have images for "I Simpson" which is apparently the Italian version of The Simpsons... There are about 5 seasons where the image says "The Simpsons", all others say "I Simpson".

I spot checked a bunch of other series as well and I didn't find even one missing image, so that's good, but I did find other instances of foreign language images being used, for instance "2 Filles Fauchées" instead of "2 Broke Girls", "Alle unter einem Dach" instead of "Family Matters", and "Due uomini e mezzo" instead of "Two and a Half Men" (this one also has the French version, "Mon Oncle Charlie" on some seasons in addition to the Italian and English ones).

This is just spot checking for about 15 minutes, I'm sure there are many other examples...

[garyan2]

Yah, I let them know a week or two ago. I saw 2 Broke Girls in French and Home Improvement in German. We were doing a lot of other things at the same time so he may have missed that observation.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[MKANET]

Hi Gary,

EPG123 seemed to run perfectly and completed successfully last night. However, I have a very similar result to last night; except my PC didn't crash. ...Just no poster images at all available from the EPG123 service. xTeVe doesn't even have a chance since the image URL isn't available (see below).

XMLTV file that EPG123 creates looks perfect.. with entries such a:

Code: Select all

  <programme start="20220312060000 +0000" stop="20220312063000 +0000" channel="EPG123.46737.schedulesdirect.org">
    <title>Viral Outdoors</title>
    <sub-title>Viral Outdoors with special guest Shawn Fergeson</sub-title>
    <desc>[REPEAT] Original air date: 2/1/2022
#19 The internet's best hunting, fishing, and all around outdoor viral videos. Brought to you all in one show with special guest Shawn Fergeson.</desc>
    <date>20220201</date>
    <category>Sports</category>
    <category>Outdoors</category>
    <language>en</language>
    <icon src="http://HTPC:9009/image/5d66d5a7c39f5082205983c79070bbebf544031befdcebd302e6b0560c6f9451.jpg" width="240" height="360" />
    <icon src="http://HTPC:9009/image/84070698fbb28319a38e6409e457ee279edc6f242d18dcf7d1e251d81e87e69a.jpg" width="270" height="360" />
    <icon src="http://HTPC:9009/image/ee1fce6619981ac9427e71c0589f267439d83c002e7d5c250d9437fd0358e9b7.jpg" width="360" height="270" />
    <icon src="http://HTPC:9009/image/91a5bcdb140fd5a99b0fdbf546224d26aa9815e1d5111c8996b56ab414439772.jpg" width="480" height="270" />
    <sport>Outdoors</sport>
    <episode-num system="dd_progid">EP03393703.0019</episode-num>
    <episode-num system="xmltv_ns">.18.0/1</episode-num>
    <video>
      <quality>HDTV</quality>
    </video>
    <previously-shown></previously-shown>
  </programme>

However, when I use my web browser to visit a URL like:
http://HTPC:9009/image/91a5bcdb140fd5a9 ... 439772.jpg

...my web browser responds with: This page isn’t working right now. If the problem continues, contact the site owner.
HTTP ERROR 429

It seems like everything is working; except the EPG123 server's image links don't actually work. The HTTP 429 error means... Too Many Requests response status code indicates the user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time ("rate limiting"). However, the same message appears no matter what link I try... even if I wait a long time before trying again. I don't have a firewall enabled currently on this PC. Same thing happens if I visit:
localhost:9009/image/91a5bc....

The service is definitely up, and, displays the page below:

Code: Select all

Status
Uptime: 00 days, 08 hours, 25 minutes, 45 seconds
Registry watcher running: True
Number of cached images: 0
Download limit exceeded: True
Number of token refreshes: 0
Valid token: True

Configuration
Automatic token refresh: True
Image cache enabled: True
Image retention: 30 days after last request

Stats
Requests received by service (55):
Logo requests: 0
Image requests: 53
Conditional requests: 0
File requests: 2

Requests sent to Schedules Direct (53):
Image requests: 53
Conditional requests: 0

Responses to clients (55):
Images downloaded from Schedules Direct: 0 (0 bytes)
Images provided by service cache: 0 (0 bytes)
Station logos provided by service: 0 (0 bytes)
Files provided by service: 2 (119,890 bytes)
304 Not Modified: 0
401 Unauthorized: 0
404 Not Found: 0
429 Too Many Requests: 53
502 Bad Gateway: 0
Other (see log): 0

Logs
View EPG123 Log
View Service Log

EPG123 Server v1.7.1.0

Below, is the link to download my server.log and trace.log:
https://api.onedrive.com/v1.0/shares/u! ... ot/content

[garyan2]

SD is still saying you have exceeded your download limit. On the server status page...

Download limit exceeded: True

The service responds to the client with a HTTP status 429 rather than the json return from SD with a 5002 error code.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[MKANET]

Thanks for the clarification Gary. So, how do I fix this issue? I can't get a single image to display from any of the links in epg123.xmltv. The only reason why I'm using EPG123 is to get the SD posters to be available in the xmltv file that EPG123 produces; not even considering xteve or other xmltv consuming clients.

[garyan2]

If it has been longer than 24 hours since you were able to download images, you should probably submit a ticket with Schedules Direct to look into it.

Everything is working as it should with epg123, it is just SD is responding that you have exceeded your limit and not providing the images for download.

Are you going through a VPN? They may block that as well since your download authorization is currently tied to your IP address.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[MKANET]

If it has been longer than 24 hours since you were able to download images, you should probably submit a ticket with Schedules Direct to look into it.

Everything is working as it should with epg123, it is just SD is responding that you have exceeded your limit and not providing the images for download.

Are you going through a VPN? They may block that as well since your download authorization is currently tied to your IP address.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

It's been 2 days in a row since I've been trying. Same exact results both times. I'm not using a VPN, VM, or any firewalls.. its just a regular Windows 10 PC that has full access to the Internet with no firewall. It looks like the only SD images that downloaded and became available were the channel logos (which explains the 53 image requests in the log).

Unfortunately, I have no idea how EPG123 works. I'm assuming neither does Schedules Direct support. I wouldn't even know how to debug EPG123 if Schedules Direct asks me troubleshooting questions specifically about EPG123. All I know is that EPG123 is on a regular Windows 10 PC that has full access to the Internet. Is there anything you can do to provide the debug info to SD? I wouldn't know where to even begin if I tried to contact SD about EPG123.

[garyan2]

Logos are not rate limited by SD, only the program images.

Go to https://schedulesdirect.org, login, and submit a ticket. If they need any info from me for epg123, they know where to reach me. We interact quite a bit to debug their code.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[MKANET]

Logos are not rate limited by SD, only the program images.

Go to https://schedulesdirect.org, login, and submit a ticket. If they need any info from me for epg123, they know where to reach me. We interact quite a bit to debug their code.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Thank you! I'll do that!

[MKANET]

Hi Gary,

I just ran EPG123 manually "Execute and Exit" to see what's actually going on each step of the way. After it was all done (20 or so minutes later), there were no errors/issues in the trace.log or the service log. I could see in the log that all images and metadata were downloaded.. just like all my previous logs.

The only way I can trigger:

Download limit exceeded: True

is only AFTER everything is already downloaded from SD. For example, if an xmltv consuming client tries to access cached links like below (after the EPG123 download has completed).. that'll change Download limit exceeded: False to Download limit exceeded: True; and, increase the 429 Too Many Requests: XX counter by one.

Code: Select all

http://MYSERVERHOSTNAME:9009/image/2ac52c109f20f3e8ab89faedc0ae53f948d9772b131e19a74bdec5937200cb5c.jpg

In other words, it doesn't appear this issue has to do with exceeding SchedulesDirect service limits since no errors occur during the actual SD data download.

Please see my trace.log below:
trace.log

PS: I'm still waiting to hear back from SD support. However, they'll probably not see any issues on their end if the above is true.