To set up an EPG, paste your provider’s XMLTV URL into IPTV Pro under Settings then Guide. If you connected with Xtream Codes the guide loads automatically. An empty guide almost always means the channel IDs in your playlist do not match the IDs in the guide file.
Why the guide is a separate thing
Your playlist says which channels exist and where to fetch them. The guide says what is on those channels and when. They are two different files from two potentially different sources, which is exactly why channels can work perfectly while the grid stays blank.
Adding an XMLTV URL
In your player, open its guide or EPG settings and paste the URL. Compressed sources ending .xml.gz are supported and are worth preferring — a week of guide data for a large provider can be tens of megabytes uncompressed.
The first load fetches the full window and writes it to disk. After that most players refresh in the background every few hours, so reopening the app shows the cached grid immediately rather than blocking on a download.
Why the guide is empty
In order of how often it turns out to be the cause:
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Every channel is blank | No EPG source, or the URL is dead | Re-check the URL, or message us |
| Some channels have data, most do not | tvg-id values do not match the guide’s channel IDs | Use Settings → Guide → Match channels to map by name |
| Programmes are there but at the wrong times | Time zone offset in the guide file | Set the guide time offset in Settings → Guide |
| Only today has data | Provider only publishes a short window | Nothing to fix locally — message us |
| Guide loads then empties after a day | Refresh is failing, often an expired token in the URL | Message us for fresh details |
Matching channels by name
The tvg-id attribute in your playlist is supposed to correspond to a channel ID in the guide file. Providers are frequently inconsistent about this, so most players can fall back to matching on channel name instead. Look for a “match channels” option in your player’s guide settings. On an IPTV Pro line this is rarely needed — we map the guide to the channels before you receive it.
Guide depth on small devices
Seven days is the default and is fine on a desktop, a modern Roku or an NVIDIA Shield. On a 1 GB Firestick, a Samsung or LG television or a Chromecast with Google TV, reduce it to three days. A full week of guide data is the most common single cause of an app being terminated for memory on those devices.
Frequently asked questions
What is XMLTV?
XMLTV is the standard file format for programme guide data. One file describes a set of channels and the programmes on them over a period, and virtually every IPTV player understands it.
Where do I get an EPG URL?
You do not need one on an IPTV Pro line — guide data is included and already mapped. The question matters if you are using a line from somewhere else.
Can I use more than one EPG source?
Most players merge multiple sources, which is useful if you run a second line alongside your IPTV Pro one. Where two sources describe the same channel, the first matching source usually wins.
Why do programme times look an hour out?
A time zone mismatch between the guide file and your device, most often around daylight saving changes. Set the guide time offset in Settings → Guide.
Does a bigger EPG slow the app down?
Only at load. Parsing happens in the background and the result is cached, so a large guide costs a longer first fetch rather than a permanently slower app — except on memory-limited devices, where reducing guide depth genuinely helps.