An Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) delivers schedule metadata, channel logos, and program synopses to your IPTV player. If your EPG displays "No Information" or incorrect timings, the cause is usually: 1) Stale XMLTV cache; 2) London GMT/BST time offset mismatch; or 3) Low device flash storage preventing guide extraction.
1. What is EPG and How Does XMLTV Work?
The Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) is an essential component of modern television viewing. Behind the scenes, an EPG is an XML-formatted document (commonly referred to as an XMLTV file) containing a catalogue of television channels, unique channel IDs, start/stop UTC timestamps, program titles, and episode descriptions.
When you launch your IPTV player, it downloads this XMLTV file from your provider's server, parses thousands of schedule lines into a local SQLite database, and matches channel IDs (e.g. BBC1.uk) to the corresponding video stream in your playlist.
2. Top 4 Reasons TV Guides Disappear
1. Expired Cache Data
If your device is left on standby without closing the app, the local EPG database expires after 48–72 hours, resulting in blank "No Information" slots.
2. Low Device Storage Space
Parsing 7 days of TV listings for hundreds of channels creates an uncompressed temporary database of 150 MB to 400 MB. If your Firestick has less than 300 MB free, parsing fails silently.
3. Mismatched Channel tvg-id
If the broadcaster alters a channel name or the provider reorganizes category bouquets without updating the XMLTV index, the guide fails to map.
4. Incorrect System Time
If your TV clock resets to 1970 or loses network time synchronisation, your player will look for guide listings in the wrong decade.
3. Fixing UK Timezone Offsets (GMT vs BST)
A frequent annoyance for UK viewers is seeing accurate program descriptions that start an hour earlier or later than the actual broadcast. This occurs when the XMLTV source records timestamps in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) while the UK is observing British Summer Time (BST, UTC+1).
To rectify this in TiviMate:
- Navigate to Settings > EPG > EPG Sources > [Your StreamQ EPG].
- Select Time Offset.
- Adjust by
+1:00hour (during BST in summer) or0:00(during GMT in winter). - Save and return to the TV guide grid to verify program alignment.
4. Clearing Cache and Forcing Manual EPG Refresh
To force a completely clean guide synchronisation:
- In your player settings, locate the Clear EPG or Clear Guide Cache option.
- Click Clear and wait for the confirmation prompt.
- Click Update EPG or Reload TV Guide.
- Allow 60 to 120 seconds for the XMLTV file to download and rebuild.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does EPG data consume broadband bandwidth continuously? ↓
No. EPG files download once every 12 to 24 hours. The download is typically 10–25 megabytes compressed, consuming negligible monthly data.
Why do some international channels not have guide info? ↓
EPG accuracy is highest for major UK and European terrestrial channels. Niche or international regional feeds often lack standardized XMLTV metadata from origin broadcasters.