xmltv-splitter

tool to filter an XMLTV EPG file by specific channels. Ideal for use with TVHeadend, Plex, or any XMLTV-compatible app

XMLTV Splitter is a lightweight Python script that filters large XMLTV EPG files down to only the channels you care about — by name or from a remote source.

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✅ Features

• Filter EPG data for specific channels by display name
• Accepts input from a local file or remote URL
• Automatically removes broken stop="19700101..." entries
• Fixes common character encoding issues (Latin-1 interpreted as UTF-8)
• Outputs clean, valid XMLTV for use with TVHeadend, Plex, etc.

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📦 Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• lxml library

Install via pip:

pip install lxml

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🚀 Usage

From a local file:

python3 xmltv-splitter.py \
  --input epg.xml \
  --output epg_filtered.xml \
  --channels RTL,ProSieben,ProSieben Maxx

From a remote URL:

python3 xmltv-splitter.py \
  --url-extern https://example.com/guide.xml \
  --output epg_filtered.xml \
  --channels RTL,ProSieben

Import to TVHeadend EPG XMLTV Grabber

cat epg_filtered.xml | socat - UNIX-CONNECT:/etc/tvheadend/epggrab/xmltv.sock

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📂 Arguments

Option	Description
--input	Path to local XMLTV input file (optional if --url-extern)
--url-extern	URL to download XMLTV file (optional if --input used)
--output	Path to save the filtered XMLTV result
--channels	Comma-separated list of display names to include

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🧹 Post-processing

Filtered XMLTV output will:

• Contain only matching <channel> and <programme> entries
• Remove broken stop-times (1970-01-01)
• Normalize character encodings (fix Günther → Günther)

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📜 License

MIT License. Use at your own risk.

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💡 Contributions

Feel free to submit pull requests or open issues!