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Revised: May 13, 2015
OL-15762-03
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We prepared this material with specific expectations of you. |
Note This material pertains to multiple releases of Cisco DMS.
Electronic program guide (EPG) data is not required for Cisco Cast to work. You can enable or disable the EPG for Cisco DMS. You are not required to subscribe to any EPG data service.
Tip To have and use an EPG without entering into a subscription contract, you can create and upload a CSV file that contains program descriptions that you have entered.
Note When you negotiate a subscription contract to receive EPG data in any format, tell your data provider that you will use its EPG data with Cisco Cast. Knowing this, your provider can ensure that your license grants you sufficient permissions so that you are not in violation of its terms.
We support the XMLTV and TMS data formats for subscriptions to electronic program guide (EPG) data.
XMLTV is an emerging, open-source format for EPG data, based in part on RFC 2838 and maintained by the XMLTV Project. An EPG data file that complies with this format contains structured records that describe the attributes of episodes and channels individually.
Cisco DMS supports EPG data subscriptions that retrieve a single GZIP-compressed XMLTV file from an ftp server. Many subscription providers compile and deliver EPG data in this way, including these providers based in the United States:
Tribune Media Services (TMS; http://tms.tribune.com/products/k-epgs.html) sells subscriptions to EPG data in several proprietary data formats that it controls. Cisco DMS supports only one of these data formats. Specifically:
Other EPG subscription products from TMS use data formats that we do not support. If you are already a TMS customer, check whether your preexisting subscription contract already authorizes you to obtain and use EPG data in the supported format.
Note ● To learn more about the supported TMS data format or to negotiate the commercial contract for a subscription, contact Amy Mann, the director of new media sales at Tribune Media Services. Her toll-free telephone number is 800 833-9581, ext. 2333, and her email address is aamann@tribune.com. To ensure that your contract includes sufficient permissions, be sure to say that you intend to use TMS data for Cisco Cast.
You use elements on the EPG Providers page to define the settings for your EPG data subscriptions, view a summary of all subscriptions that you have defined and, optionally, choose whether to edit, delete, or synchronize a subscription.
Step 1 Click the EPG Providers tab.
Step 2 Do one of the following:
a. In the EPG Provider Name column, identify the subscription to be edited; then, click the corresponding arrow (
) in the Actions column.
The Actions menu expands so that you can see and choose among its options.
A dialog box opens, in which you can define or edit the attributes for this subscription.
Step 3 Choose the options or enter the values that meet your requirements, as described in Table 26-1.
Step 4 Do one of the following:
– If you are defining a new subscription, click Add Provider.
– If you are editing a subscription that you defined previously, click Update Provider.
Step 5 Stop. You have completed this procedure.
Step 1 Click the EPG Providers tab.
Step 2 In the EPG Provider Name column, identify the subscription to be deleted; then, click the corresponding arrow (
) in the Actions column.
The Actions menu expands so that you can see and choose among its options.
Step 4 Click Yes to delete the subscription.
OR
Click No to retain the subscription.
Step 5 Stop. You have completed this procedure.
Step 1 Click the EPG Providers tab.
Step 2 Examine entries in the EPG Provider Name column.
a. Identify the subscription whose TV channel schedules and program descriptions should be synchronized to your EPG.
b. Click the corresponding arrow (
) in the Actions column.
The Actions menu expands so that you can see and choose among its options.
The Performing EPG Synchronization dialog box opens. It shows a progress indicator () that spins until synchronization has finished. This dialog box closes itself automatically upon completion, unless you dismiss it manually before that.
Step 4 (Optional) Would you like to dismiss the dialog box? If so, click Run in Background.
Synchronization finishes in the background so that you can continue your work.
Step 5 Stop. You have completed this procedure.
A DMP 4310G does not always render yellow highlighting correctly in the electronic program guide (EPG) listings for Cisco Cast.
As you navigate through EPG program listings, yellow highlights on screen should always indicate which listing is the current focus of your navigation. However, this highlighting can become offset from your true focus. Before the EPG reaches this state, all of the following must be true simultaneously.
To recover from this state, press any valid button. Alternatively, double-press the same arrow button or other control that you previously invoked in error. The yellow highlight is then restored to your true focus.