How to use EPGTalk Guide Builder

Made by aCiDjEsUs, a Hamtramck kid · EPGTalk.com · free

What it does: it makes your own TV guide file (XMLTV) for your IPTV app — TiviMate, IPTV Smarters, Kodi, Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Channels DVR… You pick your TV providers and the channels you want, press Build, and you get one guide file with full listings and channel logos.

The pages are on the left: Home, Providers, Build guide, Your playlist, What's on now, Use on your TV, Daily update and Settings. Most people only need steps 1 to 4 below.

New here? The first time you open the app, a setup wizard walks you through everything in five short steps: your zip code, your provider, your channels, and the address for your TV box. You can start it again any time: Help → Setup wizard.

Writing too small? View → Large text. Prefer a dark screen? View → Dark look. Prefer Spanish? View → Español.

★ Your Home page

When you open the app you land on Home: it tells you at a glance whether your guide is ready, when the next automatic update runs, the address for your TV box, and what's on right now on your channels.

If something needs you, Home shows it at the top — for example “The automatic update didn't finish” with the reason and a Build now button, or “New version available” with a Download button. The little box at the bottom left of the window shows the same in short.

1 Add your TV provider

  1. Go to Providers and click + Add a provider.
  2. Leave Free listings (Gracenote) selected (United States, Canada, Mexico), pick your country and type your zip / postal code.
  3. Click Find providers and pick yours from the list — cable, satellite or streaming.
    Antenna or HDHomeRun? Pick Local Over the Air Broadcast.
  4. Click Add this provider. It asks if you want to pick channels now — say Yes (see step 2).
More than one provider? Add them all. Their channels are combined into one guide, top to bottom. Each provider card has an on/off switch to leave it out without removing it, and a ⋮ menu to rename, move or remove it.
Used mc2xml before? Click Import old mc2xml files and pick your .dat file — your .chl and .ren come along. Your original files are never changed.

2 Pick your channels

  1. Click Channels on a provider card. You see every channel with its logo, number and name.
  2. Click the tick box to pick a channel (or select several rows and press the space bar).
  3. Use Find a channel to search, and the buttons All / Picked / Main stations / Sub-channels to narrow the list. Tip: Untick all shown first, then tick just your favourites.
  4. Channel settings: click ✎ Rename on a channel (or double-click it). There you can give it your own name, your own channel number (e.g. 2 instead of 2.1), and a time shift (e.g. +3 h for a West Coast feed, so the times are right). Leave a box empty to go back to normal.
  5. Click Save channels.
Match the names in your IPTV app. Your app matches guide channels to your playlist by name. If a channel in your app shows no guide, rename it here to the same name your playlist uses — or pick the guide channel for it inside your app (in TiviMate: long-press the channel → EPG / TV guide).

3 Build your guide

  1. Go to Build guide and press ▶ Build my guide (shortcut: Ctrl+B).
  2. The Steps box ticks off each provider as it finishes. A few seconds later you see ✔ Your guide is ready with the number of channels and shows.
  3. Your guide is saved as guide.xml (and a smaller guide.xml.gz) in the EPGTalk Guide folder — Documents\EPGTalk Guide on Windows, ~/EPGTalk Guide on Linux. Open the folder takes you there.
Changed providers, channels or settings? The app reminds you: “Changes not built yet” — just build again. Curious what happened during a build? Click Show details.

To check it worked, open What's on now: what's on right now on every channel in your guide, with logos.

4 Use it on your TV

The easiest way: let your TV box load the guide straight from this computer over your home network.

  1. Go to Use on your TV and switch sharing ON.
  2. It shows an address like http://192.168.1.20:8765/guide.xml.gz. Click Copy the address.
  3. In TiviMate: Settings → EPG → Add EPG source → type the address.
    In IPTV Smarters and most other apps: look for EPG / TV guide / XMLTV URL in the playlist settings.
Closing the window is fine: while sharing is on, the app keeps running in the background (an EPGTalk icon next to the clock), so your TV box can load the guide any time. Click the icon — or open the app again — to bring the window back; File → Quit stops it completely. In Settings → Running in the background you can also let it start with your computer.
Windows may ask once whether to allow network access — choose Private networks and Allow.
Tip: give this computer a fixed address in your router, so the address never changes.

Other ways: copy guide.xml.gz to a USB stick or a shared folder, or point apps like Plex, Jellyfin, Emby or Kodi straight at the file.

★ The TV guide

Open TV guide for a real guide grid: channels with logos down the side, the times across the top, and a line that shows now.

★ Match your playlist (optional)

If some channels in your IPTV app show no guide, the app can fix your playlist for you: it gives each channel the right guide ID and logo.

  1. Build your guide first, then go to Your playlist.
  2. Click Load a file… (your .m3u) or Load from a web address… (the playlist link from your IPTV provider).
  3. Every live channel is matched by name: ✔ Matched, ? Check (a best guess — select it and click Accept the suggestions shown), or ✖ No guide (double-click it to pick the guide channel yourself). Movies and series are skipped.
  4. Click Save fixed playlist. Use that file in your IPTV app instead of the old one — or tick Share it on the TV address too and load it from your TV box.
Your playlist stays private. Playlist links usually contain your IPTV login, so the playlist is only read on this computer: its address is hidden, never logged and never sent anywhere. With Make it again with every build ticked, the fixed playlist is refreshed every time the guide is built.

5 Daily update

  1. Go to Daily update, type a time (like 4:30 AM) and click Turn on daily update.
  2. From then on the computer builds a fresh guide every day at that time — even when the app is closed. (The computer must be on.)
  3. If an automatic update ever fails, Home tells you why the next time you open the app.

6 Settings explained

SettingWhat it means
Save the guide asWhere your guide file goes. The default is fine for most people.
Days of listingsHow far ahead the guide goes. 7 is a good choice; more days = bigger file.
Compressed copy (.gz)Also saves a much smaller guide.xml.gz. Most IPTV apps read it.
Network namesShows “NBC (WDIV)” instead of the call sign “WDIVDT” for channels you haven't renamed.
UTF-8 textAccents and symbols come out right. Leave it on.
Channel name first“FOX 2” rather than “2 FOX”.
Times in UTCOnly if your app shows the wrong times.
[NEW] / [LIVE]Adds “ [NEW]” or “ [LIVE]” to show titles.
More guidesPaste the address of any other XMLTV guide (.xml or .xml.gz): it's downloaded with every build and merged into yours.
Ready-made EPGTalk guidesAdds free EPGTalk guides into your file: a channel for every sports team, free streaming channels (Pluto, Samsung TV Plus, Plex, Tubi), or 140+ US local markets.
Schedules DirectOnly if you have a (paid) Schedules Direct account: more countries. Type your login, press Save and test, then add providers with “My Schedules Direct account”. It's saved on this computer only.
LanguageEnglish or Español. The app opens again in the language you pick.
Look and text sizeLight or dark (the dark look is “Midnight”, with a live clock and show progress bars), and Normal / Large / Extra large text.
Clock12-hour (9:45 PM) or 24-hour (21:45) times everywhere in the app.
Back up / RestoreSaves your providers, channels, your own names and settings in one file — to keep them safe or move to a new computer. Restore brings them back (your current setup is saved first, just in case).
Running in the backgroundWhat closing the window does: keep sharing your guide in the background (default), or quit. And whether the app starts with your computer.
New versionsThe app checks EPGTalk.com once a day. When a new version is out, Home shows it with an Update now button: it downloads, checks and installs the update, then opens again by itself.

7 If something goes wrong

Windows says “Windows protected your PC” when installing

Click More info → Run anyway. It appears because the program is free and not signed with a paid certificate — it's safe.

Home says “The automatic update didn't finish”

The notice shows the reason. Often the internet was down at that moment, or a provider renamed its lineup. Press Build now; if it fails again, open Providers → Channels for that provider, or click Open the log and send the last lines to support.

A channel shows no guide in my IPTV app

Your app matches channels by name. Make sure the channel is ticked (Providers → Channels) and build again. The easiest fix: open Your playlist, load your playlist and save the fixed one — every channel gets its guide ID. Or rename the channel to the exact name your playlist uses, or choose the guide channel for it inside your app.

“Changes not built yet”

You changed providers, channels or settings since the last build. Press Build my guide.

“Some picked channels aren't in their lineup any more”

Your provider removed or renamed those channels. Open Channels for that provider and tick the new ones.

Some channels have no logo

Logos come with the listings, and not every channel has one. They're downloaded once and kept on your computer; new ones appear by themselves.

My TV box can't load the guide address

Check that the app is open with sharing ON, that the TV box and this computer are on the same home network, and (Windows) that network access was allowed — Windows Settings → Privacy & security → Windows Security → Firewall → Allow an app → tick EPGTalk-Builder for Private networks.

Schedules Direct: “exceeded the number of lineup changes”

Schedules Direct allows only a few lineup adds/removes per day. Wait about 24 hours and it resets. This app never removes lineups and always asks before adding one.

Moving to a new computer

On the old computer: Settings → Back up my settings… and save the file (e.g. on a USB stick). On the new one: install the app, then Settings → Restore from a backup… and press Build my guide.

How do I update to a newer version?

Easiest: when Home says a new version is available, click Update now (Linux asks for your password once). By hand: Windows — run the new EPGTalk-Builder-Setup.exe; Linux — install the new .deb the same way as the first time. Your providers and settings always stay.

I use mc2xml in my own scripts / batch files

The engine is included as mc2xml.exe (Windows, in the program folder and in the portable zip) and as the mc2xml command (Linux). It's a drop-in replacement for the old mc2xml — same options. See the full mc2xml guide in the portable zip.

Still stuck? Write to support@epgtalk.com with a screenshot or the last lines of the log (File → Open the log). 🙂
Ready-made guides (US, UK, Canada, Mexico, 140+ local markets, every sports team) are free at EPGTalk.com.