[mythtv-users] MythNews - failed to retrieve news

Tue Mar 24 03:01:45 UTC 2009

B Gates wrote:
>> When I try to view G4 TVs RSS feeds in MythNews, I get the error message of "failed to retrieve news".  I think it happens in all RSS feeds, not just G4 TVs.  
>>
>> In the mythfrontend log I get:
>> MythNews: NewsEngine: failed to set content from xmlfile
>> MythNews: NewsEngine: failed to set content from xmlfile
>> MythNews: NewsEngine: failed to set content from xmlfile
>> HttpComms::done() - NetworkOperation Error on Finish: No server set to connect to (1): url: 'file:/'
>>
>> I am running Fedora 10 with the latest updates and mythtv-0.21-203 (the latest from ATRPMS).
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>   

> Looks like they have changed their URLs slightly. You just need to
> remove the www  from the front of the URL. So for example change  :-
> http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/podcasts/5/Attack_of_the_Show_Daily_Video_Podcast.xml
> to
> http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/podcasts/5/Attack_of_the_Show_Daily_Video_Podcast.xml
>
> You can either edit the URLs from the MythNews screen or find and edit
> the news-sites.xml file and reselect the feed in MythNews's setting
> page. (Note editing the URLs in MythNews will _not_ update
> news-sites.xml it only updates the copy in the database)
>
> If you are feeling in a generous mood you could look on the g4tv.com
> website and add/edit the news-sites.xml file with any new/changed feeds
> and post the changes or email them to me and I will update the version
> in svn so everyone can benefit :-)
>
> Paul H.

Just updating the URL does not solve the problem (for me).

I deselected all of the G4TV.com news feeds in the settings page.  I then went to the G4TV.com website and updated the news-sites.xml file.  Finally, I reselected the G4TV.com news feeds in the settings page.  I still get the "failed to retrieve news" error message.

I looked in the .mythtv/MythNews/ folder and there is a file created for each of the news feeds.  Inside to file is nothing but garbage.  For example

<html>
<head>
<title>g4tv.com</title><meta name="keywords" content="g4tv.com"><meta name="description" content="g4tv.com"><meta name="robots" content="INDEX, FOLLOW"><meta name="revisit-after" content="10"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<frameset rows="100%,*" frameborder="no" border="0" framespacing="0">
<frame src="http://searchportal.information.com?epl=00760065UlsNZ0sAVVETVRBeHhEVDlAGVQBbAwVQWAITWWddVVgABVMICkNXWwxRCw1WBAtWXFNSQxUbVA4M">
</frameset>
<noframes>
<a href="http://searchportal.information.com?epl=00760065UlsNZ0sAVVETVRBeHhEVDlAGVQBbAwVQWAITWWddVVgABVMICkNXWwxRCw1WBAtWXFNSQxUbVA4M">Click here to go to g4tv.com</a>.
</noframes>
</html>

If I do a wget of the xml (news feed file), 

wget http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/podcasts/5/Attack_of_the_Show_Daily_Video_Podcast.xml

I get a good copy of the xml file.  I then replace the corrupted xml file with the good copy from the wget command.  Now the news feeds show up a expected.  I can select the video and it will download and play without any problems.

I can go to the G4TV.com website and create an updated news-sites.xml for all of the current podcasts.  Is this needed?  Who would I send the file to?

thanks