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vivo.com.br: “String was not recognized as a valid DateTime” for timespan > 5 days – clarotvmais.com.br: “no shows in indexpage!

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cooliobr
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vivo.com.br: “String was not recognized as a valid DateTime” for timespan > 5 days – clarotvmais.com.br: “no shows in indexpage!

Hello WebGrab++ community,

I’m encountering **two distinct issues** with the current Brazilian siteinis (

           WebGrab+Plus/w MDB & REX Postprocess -- version  V5.5.0.0            

                                Jan van Straaten                                
                             Francis De Paemeleere                              

 thanks to Paul Weterings, Mat8861, Blackbear199 and all the contributing users 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

) and would greatly appreciate any updated revisions or workarounds.

---

### 1. **vivo.com.br** – *DateTime parsing error when timespan > 5 days*

When the timespan is set to **6 days or more**, the grabber successfully retrieves the first ~5 days (~110–120 programmes per channel) and then aborts with the following error:

```
Group (0) :
update requested for - 2 - out of - 2 - channels for 7 day(s)
( 1/2 ) VIVO.COM.BR -- chan. (xmltv_id=SBT HD) -- mode Incremental
iiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Unable to update channel SBT HD
Generic syntax exception:
   message:
Current culture: en-GB
time parsing error : String '' was not recognized as a valid DateTime.
nextstartdatetime time scrubbed :
computer date/time format: 13/11/2025 09:13:04
Existing guide data restored!
```

- **With timespan ≤ 5 days**: everything works perfectly.  
- **With timespan ≥ 6 days**: the detail page appears to return an **empty or malformed date string**, causing the parser to fail and revert to cached data.

---

### 2. **clarotvmais.com.br** – *“no shows in indexpage!” for the majority of channels*

Even with a **short timespan (1–2 days)**, **most channels** (dozens of them) are correctly listed in the index but return:

```
no shows in indexpage!
```

No programmes are extracted, despite the channels being properly recognized in the config.  
This makes the EPG source effectively unusable for a large portion of the lineup.

---

### Questions / Requests

1. **For vivo.com.br**:  
   - Is there an updated revision or a known scrub-string/index-variable fix that prevents the empty `DateTime` issue and allows **6–14 day grabs**?  
   - Any patch to handle missing `nextstartdatetime` gracefully?

2. **For clarotvmais.com.br**:  
   - Is there a working siteini revision (or special config) that successfully extracts programmes for **most channels**?  
   - Are there known changes in the site’s structure (e.g., JavaScript rendering, token auth) that break the current .ini?

Any updated `.ini` files, patches, or configuration tips would be **incredibly helpful**.

Thank you in advance for your time and expertise!

Best regards,  

Blackbear199
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for vivo,edit the ini,on the site {xx} line  change maxdays=7 to maxdays=6
its a error in the ini but this will stop webgrab from crashing for now until a proper fix is done.
for claromias can you provide a channel or 2 that gives "no shows in index page" but the site shows epg.
or are you referring to the error 403 in the log?
this is cause by the site geo blocking,it
it returns this in the data..
"message": "This content is blocked in your city.",
so the details page will have to be disabled as we cant work around this.

 

cooliobr
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Joined: 5 years
Last seen: 3 weeks

 

Hi,  

Thank you very much for the quick and helpful response — really appreciate the support!  

### **1. vivo.com.br – Fixed!**  
I edited the `vivo.com.br.ini` as you suggested:  
```ini
site {xx} ... maxdays=6
```  
Now the grabber completes **without crashing**, even with a 7-day timespan (it safely stops at day 6).  
Perfect temporary fix — avoids the `DateTime` parsing error and restores stability.  
Looking forward to the proper long-term update when available.  

---

### **2. clarotvmais.com.br – Clarification on “no shows in indexpage!”**  
Yes, exactly — the issue is **not** the 403 geo-block (I don’t see that in the logs), but the message:  

```
no shows in indexpage!
   Summary for update of SBT
     no changes, no update necessary !
     unchanged shows inspected 0
     total after update 0
```

Even though the channels are correctly detected in the index phase, **no detail pages are loaded or parsed**.  

#### Test channels (100% reproducible):  
```xml
<channel update="i" site="clarotvmais.com.br" site_id="184" xmltv_id="SBT">SBT</channel>
<channel update="i" site="clarotvmais.com.br" site_id="185" xmltv_id="REDE TV! HD">REDE TV! HD</channel>
```

Both appear in the index, but return **zero programmes** — while on the actual ClaroTV+ website/app, full EPG is visible for these channels (SBT and RedeTV).  

No 403, no “blocked in your city” — just an empty index scrape.  
Possibly the EPG is now loaded via **JavaScript/API token** that the current .ini isn’t capturing?

---

Would it be possible to get an **updated revision** of `clarotvmais.com.br.ini` that handles the new structure?  
Happy to test any beta version or provide full debug logs if needed.

Thanks again for the vivo fix — already a big win!  

Best regards,  

if you need a vps in Brazil i can manage it to you

Blackbear199
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claromias works for me so you may be being blocked.
upload your webgrab config,dont forget to remove your license info.

 

cooliobr
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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<settings>
  <!-- for detailed info about the settings see http://webgrabplus.com/documentation/configuration/webgrabconfigxml 
  and http://webgrabplus.com/sites/default/files/downloads/Misc/Documented_Con... -->
  <filename>arquivo.xml</filename>
  <mode></mode>
  <postprocess grab="y" run="y">rex</postprocess>
  <!-- <user-agent>Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/79.0.3945.130 Safari/537.36 Edg/79.0.309.71</user-agent> -->
  <user-agent>Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 10; K) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/114.0.0.0 Mobile Safari/537.36</user-agent>
  <decryptkey site="nowonline.com.br">xxx</decryptkey>
  <decryptkey site="clarotvmais.com.br">xxx</decryptkey>
  <decryptkey site="vivo.com.br">xxx</decryptkey>
  <decryptkey site="clarotv.com.br">xxx</decryptkey>
  <license wg-username="xxx" registered-email="xxx@xxx.xxx.br" password="xxx">elnfln f</license>
  <logging>on</logging>
  <retry time-out="10">4</retry>
  <timespan>15</timespan>
  <update>i</update>
  <!--
            Replace the next dummy channel entry with the channels you want.
                        You can look into the installed siteini.pack folder on your computer
  
            For the latest version,
            see http://webgrabplus.com/epg-channels for the available sites/channels
  -->
<!--<channel update="i" offset="-3" site="mi.tv" site_id="br##br_f25d26e3-5ba7-4e27-8dc5-773775e39b24" xmltv_id="HBO Signature HD">HBO Signature HD</channel>-->
<!--
<channel update="i" site="vivo.com.br" site_id="LCH6356" xmltv_id="SONY Movies">SONY Movies</channel>
<channel update="i" site="vivo.com.br" site_id="LCH5553" xmltv_id="Terra Viva">Terra Viva</channel> -->

<channel update="i" site="clarotvmais.com.br" site_id="184" xmltv_id="SBT">SBT</channel>
<channel update="i" site="clarotvmais.com.br" site_id="185" xmltv_id="REDE TV! HD">REDE TV! HD</channel>

</settings>

Blackbear199
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Last seen: 4 months

are u using a vps?
site are know to block these as they use a known ip pool.
if the site returns anything,even a simple message like "i dont like you" webgrab considers that a response and wont throw a error even tough it contains no epg data and why you would get no shows in index page error.

 

cooliobr
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i have made tests in 2 different server, only some channels i got ptoblem, in different places is same channels. i can try in my local machine

mat8861
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cooliobr wrote:

i have made tests in 2 different server, only some channels i got ptoblem, in different places is same channels. i can try in my local machine

remove these from config

<decryptkey site="nowonline.com.br">xxx</decryptkey>
  <decryptkey site="clarotvmais.com.br">xxx</decryptkey>
  <decryptkey site="vivo.com.br">xxx</decryptkey>
  <decryptkey site="clarotv.com.br">xxx</decryptkey>

Then there is a new siteini and new channel list, use those. Clarotv had same revision causing problem, fixed.

cooliobr
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Last seen: 3 weeks

Thanks guys, fixed.

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