XMLTV describes television listings: channels, programme times, titles and optional descriptive details. It does not contain the live television pictures. A working guide therefore does not prove that a stream is playable, and a playing channel does not prove that its schedule data is present. Treat guide import and video access as separate parts of the setup.
Channels and programmes have different jobs
Channel records identify stations. Programme records refer to those identifiers and describe scheduled airings. A guide can contain many days of entries for one station or only a short window for another. The player must connect those records to your channel list.
Metadata can be incomplete
Descriptions, artwork, ratings and episode information are optional or source dependent. A missing synopsis is not necessarily a failed import. Focus first on whether the intended channel has the right programme at the right time, then investigate missing detail.
A guide is a schedule rather than a recording
A programme listed yesterday is not automatically available to replay. Catch-up or recording requires separate support and authorization. An EPG can help navigate those features when they exist, but the XMLTV file itself does not create them.
A practical sequence
- Load the guide source separately from the playlist where required.
- Associate guide channel identifiers with the intended stations.
- Test schedule accuracy independently of video playback.
An example
A television channel can play at 20:00 while its guide is blank because the XMLTV channel key was never mapped. The video URL and schedule are separate resources.
Questions about this topic
Does XMLTV include video files?
No. It is a listings-data format.
Does yesterday’s listing guarantee catch-up?
No. Replay availability is a separate service and player capability.
