VDR XMLTV2VDR Plugin

In fact, xmltv2vdr also wants to create a pseudo-standard for channel names. Thus, 00001.port.ro should not appear in the xmltv file, but it should for example be renamed to tv1.ro. In fact, it is the grabber that should do it when it grabs the data and prepares for xmltv2vdr.

You can find the channel names that have already been defined here:
http://www.vdr-wiki.de/wiki/index.php/Xmltv2vdr-plugin#Verbindliche_EPG-Senderliste

Here you can find a few explanation about how to adjust the channel names in an xmltv file:
http://www.vdr-portal.de/board17-developer/board20-c-c-scripten/114745-gel%C3%B6st-solved-wie-wert-in-channelids-von-xmltv-datei-f%C3%BCr-xmltv2vdr-%C3%A4ndern-bash-und-xsltproc/?highlight=
But considering that you added a patch in cpp, you might be able to do it even better.

That said, I found this thread while looking at the bugs to see whether the request for enhancement I intended to file was not already available. And since the enhancement I wanted to file is related to this bug, I am going to talk about it here.

In fact, I wanted to ask the xmltv2vdr plugin to be enhanced by the import of a channel map, mapping the standard-ids to the channels, similar to the lines the xmltv2vdr plugin stores in the setup.conf file.

For example:
ard.de;S19.2E-1-1019-10301;S19.2E-1-1101-28106
3sat.de;S19.2E-1-1010-11150;S19.2E-1-1079-28007

This has not to be done in a new separate file; the already existing control file might be enhanced like this. This way, the user does not have anymore to do the mapping in the OSD. The mapping of the control file should only take effect for channels that have not already a defined mapping.

Moreover, I think that if the control file would also support something like:
00001.port.ro;tv1.ro;S19.2E-...
the xmltv2vdr plugin would be more abordable to people without programming knowledge, as they would not have anymore to change the channel ids in the xmltv file.

By the way, the channels for the control file can be found here:
http://channelpedia.yavdr.com/gen/

Finally, I am only a user of the xmltv2vdr plugin. I don't know, whether something similar would be accepted by the authors of the plugin. @Zoolooc:

If you are interested in providing such a patch, you might perhaps start a discussion about it in the vdr-portal:
http://www.vdr-portal.de/

In the meantime, I suppose that the best is to use an xml "control" file containing also an initial mapping; for example with entries like:
<channel>
<bindingID>das-reste.de<bindingID>
<description language="en">General channel of the first german public television.</description>
<description language="de">Allgemeiner Sender des ersten deutschen öffentlichen Fernsehen.</description>
<importedChannelID>ard1</importedChannelID>
<importedChannelID>001.guide</importedChannelID>
<transmittedChannelID provider="ard">S19.2E-1-1019-10301</transmittedChannelID>
<transmittedChannelID>S19.2E-1-1101-28106</transmittedChannelID>
<transmittedChannelID>S13.0E-1-1022-3622</transmittedChannelID>
<transmittedChannelID>S13.0E-200-1800-3622</transmittedChannelID>
<transmittedChannelID provider="Kabel Deutschland">C-41984-1101-28106</transmittedChannelID>
<transmittedChannelID>T-8464-12209-32</transmittedChannelID>
...
</channel>

Of course, xmltv2vdr will only set the mapping if the corresponding channel exists in the channels.conf file. Moreover, if the channel from the channels.conf has already been mapped to some imported data, this will override the mapping of that channel in the control file.

Moreover, I suppose that if the control file also has a field for the URL where the xmltv file is downloaded from and another field with the name of the downloaded xmltv file, it might become even more user friendly, as the separation between importer and grabber would be gone. In fact, all the needed information, apart the epg data would be in the control file.