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XMLTV troubleshooting

Find an invisible space in a TV guide identifier

A trailing space makes two otherwise similar strings different join keys.

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A trailing space makes two otherwise similar strings different join keys.

Reproduce the condition

The XMLTV sample below is a small synthetic file. It carries no active media source or account data.

<tv>
  <channel id="news.example"><display-name>Example News</display-name></channel>
  <programme start="20250715180000 +0000" stop="20250715190000 +0000" channel="news.example "><title>Evening test</title></programme>
</tv>

What the local check found

Reproducible check against the packaged fixture and parser.
Expected signalObserved signal
Programme channel does not match an IDProgramme channel does not match an ID

What to do next

Inspect both strings with whitespace visible. If you own the source, remove accidental whitespace from both fields and regenerate the file.

What to share if the problem continues

  • The exact parser result and version of the importer or player.
  • A minimal redacted sample with dates, IDs or segment names retained as needed.
  • The output after checking the source export separately from the viewer app.

Sources and further reading