Setting up the programme guide (EPG)
A programme guide turns a wall of channel names into television you can plan around — what is on now, what is next, what starts at nine. The data behind it is XMLTV, a separate file from your channel list, and almost every guide problem comes from the two not lining up.
Find out where your guide data lives
If you connect over Xtream Codes, the guide usually arrives automatically — the server carries it. If you use a plain M3U playlist, you generally need a second link, an XMLTV URL, which your provider lists separately. It often ends in .xml or .xml.gz.
Add the XMLTV link
In Tivsy, open the source and add the guide URL beneath it. Compressed files are handled without unpacking them yourself. The first download can be large — a full week for a thousand channels is a lot of text — so do it on Wi-Fi.
Let the channels match up
Guide data identifies channels by an id, not by name, and the player pairs each channel to its listings using the tvg-id in your playlist. When those ids are right, the guide fills in by itself. When a provider leaves them out, some channels stay blank however good the data is.
Check the clock, not the data
If every programme is right but an hour or two out, the guide is fine and the time zone is not. XMLTV timestamps carry an offset; a file built for one country and read in another lands shifted. Correct the offset for the source rather than searching for a different guide.
Common questions
Why is my EPG empty?
Either no guide source is attached, or the guide has no entries for your channels' ids. Open a major channel first: those are the best-labelled, so if the guide works anywhere it works there.
Why do only some channels show programmes?
Because the guide covers those and not the rest, or the missing ones have no tvg-id in the playlist. This is a property of the data you were given, not of the player.
Everything is shifted by exactly one hour. What is wrong?
A time zone mismatch, usually daylight saving. The listings are correct; the offset used to read them is not.
How often does the guide refresh?
Tivsy refreshes in the background and on demand. Providers typically publish a few days ahead and update daily, so a guide that ends after tomorrow is a limit of the source.
A guide that fills in correctly but plays badly is a different problem — that one is about connection and format.