Xtream Codes EPG: Setting Up an Electronic Program Guide

An Electronic Program Guide (EPG) turns a list of stream URLs into the familiar TV grid — the show now, the show next, and what is on later. Every IPTV player relies on program data that is separate from the streams themselves, and how that data is delivered decides whether your channels show a schedule or a blank “No information” box.

This guide explains where Xtream Codes portals keep EPG data, how the technical pieces (channel IDs, timestamps, and timezones) fit together, and how to fix the most common alignment problems. It is written for beginners, so we cover the plain-terms mental model first and then the settings to touch.

Why a program guide is separate from your channels

A stream is just a video you can play. It has no idea what is currently on. The EPG is scheduled metadata supplied separately: for each channel, a list of programs with a start time, a stop time, a title, and often a description. Players download this schedule and overlay it on the channel list. That is why you can change a channel’s guide without touching the channel itself, and why supplying the wrong schedule leaves a working channel with no program information.

How EPG data gets to your player

Program data travels as an XMLTV feed: an XML document that lists programs, each tagged with a channel ID, start time, and title. Your player downloads this feed and merges it with your channel list.

Xtream Codes portals commonly expose the feed at a URL like:

https://portal.example.com:8080/xmltv.php?username=YOUR_USER&password=YOUR_PASS

With a native API login, many players fetch and attach the EPG automatically. With an M3U playlist, you usually add the feed URL manually as the guide source.

The matching problem

A feed describes programs for a channel ID. A playlist names each channel with a tvg-id. The player only shows a schedule when the two match:

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="bbc.one.uk" tvg-logo="...",BBC One

<channel id="bbc.one.uk"><display-name>BBC One</display-name></channel>

If tvg-id says bbc.one.uk but the feed calls the channel bbc1, the schedule stays blank. This mismatch is the single most common EPG problem.

How the schedule is timestamped

XMLTV stores every program’s start and stop time as a UTC timestamp with a timezone suffix, in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format. A real entry looks like this:

<programme start="20260731190000 +0000" stop="20260731193000 +0000" channel="bbc.one.uk">
  <title>BBC News</title>
</programme>

The 20260731190000 +0000 value means July 31, 2026 at 19:00:00 UTC. Because UTC is an absolute instant, the same entry shows correct local times no matter what timezone the viewer’s player runs in. When programs appear on screen at the wrong clock time, it is almost always one of two causes: the player is showing events in UTC instead of your local zone, or a third-party feed baked in a different timezone offset when it was generated. Fix the timezone in the player’s EPG settings rather than editing the feed.

Why some channels are blank while others work

Blanks are per-channel, not per-feed. They mean that particular channel’s identifiers do not align:

Situation	Likely cause
The same channels are blank in two players	The provider’s feed genuinely lacks IDs for those channels
Blank only in one player	That player’s EPG source is missing or stale
Channels show but wrong program	tvg-id matches the wrong feed entry (duplicate IDs)

Because matching is done on the channel ID, empty schedules point to either a missing entry or a tvg-id that differs from the feed ID. Fix by mapping the channel to the correct feed entry in the player, or by swapping the playlist for one whose IDs match the feed.

Setup steps

1. Get the guide URL. In a native login, confirm the player loaded EPG automatically. Otherwise find the xmltv.php (or similar) URL your provider documents.
2. Enter it in the player. Players like TiviMate, IPTV Smarters, and OTT Navigator have a guide-source or EPG section separate from the playlist.
3. Assign missing IDs. If channels are blank, many players let you map a channel to a feed entry manually.
4. Refresh. Guides cache; players refresh on a schedule (often every few hours) or on demand. Large public feeds are usually regenerated hourly; most players re-download them at an interval you can set, ranging from 1 to 24 hours. A stale cache is why a schedule can look fine one day and blank the next.

When EPG isn’t provided

Not every provider publishes a feed. Options:

• Check the provider’s support docs or forum for the exact URL.
• Use a public or community-maintained XMLTV feed for free-to-air channels.
• Keep the playlist ID column aligned with whatever feed you use.

Quick troubleshooting

• “No information” everywhere → the feed URL is wrong, or the player hasn’t refreshed.
• Some channels blank → those channel IDs are missing from the feed, or the tvg-id differs from the feed ID.
• Wrong times → the feed is in a different timezone; set your player to the correct zone.

For deeper fixes, see Xtream Codes troubleshooting.

A compact checklist

• The feed URL is the guide source, and your playlist or login is the channel source — they are two settings.
• Programs are keyed by channel ID, so make the playlist tvg-id and the feed ID match.
• XMLTV times are UTC timestamps; set the player to your timezone.
• If one player shows a schedule and another does not, the difference is the player’s guide source and refresh settings, not your account.
• Credentials in the feed URL mean the URL is a secret — treat it like the playlist itself.

Security notes

Like playlist URLs, guide URLs can contain credentials. Keep them private, and rotate your password if one leaks. See Xtream Codes security for the full picture.

Related reading

• Xtream Codes M3U — how the playlist and its tvg-id column work.
• Xtream Codes player — how players fetch and merge the guide.
• Xtream Codes URL explained — the endpoints behind your connection.