This page is for a programme guide that stays empty, covers some channels and not others, stops early, or shows the wrong times. The guide screen never shows an empty grid without a reason: it says which case it is, in one sentence. Each of those sentences is a heading below, with why it happens and what fixes it. It is also the page the app’s Setting up the guide code opens.
The basics, in short
The guide is an XMLTV file, one per playlist. An Xtream Codes login brings its own: there is nothing to do. An M3U playlist has none until you give it the XMLTV address, which providers usually publish beside the playlist link — send the same playlist again from your phone with the guide address under Add a programme guide or a name, and the television adds the guide to the playlist it already has.
Where each playlist’s guide comes from
The exact rules, in the order the app applies them:
- An address you give always wins — the XMLTV EPG URL (optional) field, or Add a programme guide or a name on the phone page.
- An Xtream login without one uses
xmltv.phpon the same server, with the same username and password. That is true whether you typed the three fields or sent aget.phplink that Lumen·TV turned into them. - An M3U playlist without one has no guide. Lumen·TV does not read a guide address written inside the M3U
itself — the
url-tvg=orx-tvg-url=attribute on its first line. If your playlist carries one, copy it and give it as an address. - A Stalker portal has no guide in Lumen·TV. It serves its programmes through the portal’s own interface rather than as XMLTV, and the app does not read it.
The guide is read once the playlist has loaded, for the channels that playlist shows, and kept for six hours; then it is read again.
What the guide screen says
This playlist has no guide address.
This playlist has no guide address. — Add an XMLTV address to it in Settings → Playlists.
Why. An M3U playlist that was given no XMLTV address (rule 3 above), including one whose address is written only inside the file.
Fix. There is no field to edit a playlist on the television. In Settings → Playlists → Add another, scan the code and send the same playlist address again, this time with the XMLTV address under Add a programme guide or a name. The television recognises the playlist it has and keeps the guide address with it; nothing else changes.
This portal does not publish an XMLTV guide.
This portal does not publish an XMLTV guide. — Stalker portals serve their guide through the portal itself, which Lumen does not read yet.
Why. The playlist is a Stalker portal (rule 4). Nothing in the app reads its guide, and no field would help, so the screen says so rather than sending you to one.
The guide could not be loaded.
The guide could not be loaded. — The address answered with an error or could not be reached.
Why. The guide address answered with an error, or nothing answered: a mistyped address, a provider whose guide
server is down, or, for an Xtream login, a provider that does not serve xmltv.php.
Fix. Press Try again. Then open the address in a browser on a computer: a guide downloads as a large XML
file whose first lines contain tv and programme tags. An error page there is the provider’s to fix. For an Xtream
login whose provider publishes the guide elsewhere, give that address (rule 1).
The guide loaded, but it contains no programmes.
The guide loaded, but it contains no programmes. — The address may point at the playlist rather than at an XMLTV guide.
Why. Most often the M3U link given twice — once as the playlist, once as the guide. Otherwise a guide file that is really empty on the provider’s side.
Fix. Check that the guide address is the XMLTV link, not the M3U link. Send the playlist again with the right one.
These channels carry no guide ids.
These channels carry no guide ids. — The playlist gives no tvg-id, so nothing in the guide can be matched to a channel.
Why. The guide may be full, but the playlist does not say which guide entry belongs to which channel (see matching).
Fix. Only a playlist that carries tvg-id attributes can be matched. Ask your provider for one.
The guide holds N programmes, none of them for these channels.
The guide holds N programmes, none of them for these channels. — The guide and the playlist name their channels differently — the tvg-id in one does not appear in the other.
Why. Both sides are fine on their own and do not agree: typically a guide from a different source than the playlist, or a guide for another country’s channels.
Fix. Use the guide your playlist’s provider publishes for that playlist. There is no way to set or correct a channel’s guide identifier in the app; the fix is in the playlist or the guide.
The provider’s guide stops on … at …: it has nothing from now on.
The provider’s guide stops on … at …: it has nothing from now on. — The provider no longer updates it. Lumen reads it again every six hours and shows it as soon as it has programmes.
Why. The guide file loaded, but its last programme ends at that date and time. The provider has stopped updating it, or updates it late.
Fix. Nothing on the television: it is read again every six hours and fills in as soon as the provider publishes. Tell your provider the date the screen gives.
“No guide for this playlist” and “The guide has nothing for this channel.”
The short lines under a channel in the live preview and the channel list. No guide for this playlist is the first case above, said in a few words. The guide has nothing for this channel. means the guide loaded but holds nothing for that channel — no identifier on it, or no programmes under its identifier — while other channels may be fine. The same preview says Loading the guide… while it is being read, and The guide could not be loaded. as above.
How channels are matched to programmes
Each channel names its guide entry with an identifier. In an M3U it is the tvg-id attribute:
#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="news.example" tvg-name="Example News" group-title="News",Example News
http://provider.example/live/news.m3u8and the XMLTV file lists programmes against the same identifier:
<programme channel="news.example" start="20261021210000 +0200" stop="20261021213000 +0200">
<title>Evening news</title>
</programme>An Xtream subscription does the same with its own epg_channel_id field, which your provider fills in.
The match is exact. A channel with no identifier, or with one the guide does not contain, has no programmes, which is why one playlist can have a full guide on most channels and nothing on a few: those few are named differently in the guide. Only the provider (or you, for a playlist you maintain yourself) can change that.
Times
Programme times written with an offset (20261021210000 +0200) are placed correctly wherever you are. Times written
without one (20261021210000) are read as UTC, which is what XMLTV says they mean. If your provider leaves the offset
off and means local time, every programme lands shifted by your offset from UTC — an hour or two early or late,
everywhere — and there is no setting to correct that in the app. Tell your provider; it is a fault in their file.
Using the guide
Open Guide from the bar at the top of the browse screens. The grid shows six hours at a time: the channels down the left, the line of now across them, programmes already over dimmed. ‹ Earlier and Later › move it, the day chips jump to a day, and it never goes before now or more than seven days ahead — as many days as your provider publishes, up to seven. The button at the top, which reads All channels until you change it, narrows the grid to one group.
OK on a programme watches the channel. On Android TV and Google TV, holding OK schedules a recording of it; the schedule is in Settings → Recordings. A phone or a tablet does not record. Over a live channel, the banner shows what is on now and next, from the same guide.
What the guide does not do
Said plainly, so nobody goes looking for a setting that is not there:
- Several guide sources for one playlist, merged into one grid. One per playlist.
- A time offset per guide.
- Descriptions inside the timeline, and reminders.
- Setting a channel’s guide identifier by hand.
- A button to re-read only the guide. It is re-read every six hours, Try again reads it when it failed, and Refresh in Settings → Playlists reads the playlist again from your provider.
If one of these matters to you, write to us: what people ask for is what moves the order things are built in.
More about the guide on the main site: IPTV player with EPG.