XMLTV guide does not extend far enough ahead
The guide runs out within hours, so viewers lose programme information partway through the day.
What it means
The latest stop time anywhere in the guide is less than twelve hours ahead of the current time, so the schedule runs out within the same day it was loaded.
Why it matters
Clients cache the guide and refresh periodically. If coverage is short, viewers hit the end of the data before the next refresh and the guide goes blank. Scheduled recordings for later in the day cannot be set at all.
How to fix it
- Generate at least 24 to 48 hours ahead, and ideally several days.
- Check the generation job is actually running — coverage that shrinks day by day means the guide is stale, not short.
Check your own stream
The free EPG checker runs this check on every analysis and links each finding straight back here.
Open the EPG checker →Frequently asked questions
- What does "XMLTV guide does not extend far enough ahead" mean?
- The latest stop time anywhere in the guide is less than twelve hours ahead of the current time, so the schedule runs out within the same day it was loaded.
- Why does it matter?
- Clients cache the guide and refresh periodically. If coverage is short, viewers hit the end of the data before the next refresh and the guide goes blank. Scheduled recordings for later in the day cannot be set at all.
- How do I fix it?
- 1. Generate at least 24 to 48 hours ahead, and ideally several days. 2. Check the generation job is actually running — coverage that shrinks day by day means the guide is stale, not short.
- How do I test my XMLTV guide for this?
- The free XMLTV EPG checker reports this per channel, with the hours of forward coverage and the timezone handling that usually explain it.
- What is the first thing to try?
- Generate at least 24 to 48 hours ahead, and ideally several days.
Related Programme guides checks
- XMLTV timestamps have no UTC offsetTimestamps without an explicit offset are ambiguous, and are the usual cause of a guide that appears shifted by whole hours.
- XMLTV guide has holes in a channel scheduleConsecutive programmes do not join up, leaving blank stretches in the guide.
- The guide is not well-formed XMLThe document could not be parsed as XML, so nothing else could be checked.
- The document has no <tv> root elementThe XML parsed, but its root is not <tv>, so it is not an XMLTV guide.
- Guide declares no channelsWithout <channel> elements there is nothing for a playlist to match against.
- Guide contains no programmesChannels are declared but there is no schedule, so viewers see an empty guide.