How One Tech Journalist Automated Free Over-the-Air TV Guides on Jellyfin Without Paying SiliconDust

Integrating live television into a home media server can dramatically transform a cord-cutter’s entertainment setup, but the path from raw signal to a polished viewing experience often comes with unexpected hurdles. While mainstream commercial platforms like Plex handle local broadcast integration seamlessly, alternative open-source solutions frequently demand a bit of technical resourcefulness. For longtime tech journalist Brian Burgess, setting up live TV via a network tuner on Jellyfin revealed a frustrating gap in the platform’s native features: while the software easily recognized broadcast stations, it lacked a traditional, automated channel guide out of the box.

Faced with a $35-per-year subscription fee demanded by SiliconDust for its comprehensive electronic program guide (EPG), Burgess opted to bypass the cost entirely. By combining a physical HD antenna, a network tuner, a custom PowerShell script, and Windows Task Scheduler, he engineered a completely free, automated workaround that keeps his over-the-air channel listings fresh without spending a dime.

The journey began with the physical installation of the broadcast hardware. Burgess attached an HD antenna to a SiliconDust HDHomeRun network tuner, strategically positioning the hardware combination within his home to maximize signal reception. Because placing the unit directly next to his primary router was impractical, he relied on a Wi-Fi extender equipped with an open Ethernet port to bridge the tuner to his home network. Despite the slight compromise in network topology, the setup secured a robust signal, pulling in the maximum number of available local channels from his rural location.

Once the physical hardware was operational, Burgess configured the tuner box by logging into its interface, installing the latest firmware, and performing an initial channel scan. Navigating to the Live TV section of his Jellyfin media server dashboard, the platform immediately recognized the network tuner and successfully registered the available broadcast stations. However, the interface remained barebones, lacking the vital television guide data necessary to browse upcoming broadcasts smoothly.

SiliconDust offers a complimentary, two-day XMLTV channel guide specifically for its HDHomeRun hardware tier, providing a minimalist alternative to its paid 14-day subscription service. To bridge the gap, Burgess utilized a PowerShell script to query the tuner’s API, retrieve the raw listing data, and save it locally as an XML document on the server’s drive. Pointing Jellyfin toward this local file under its live television configurations successfully populated the interface with basic schedule data.

Maintaining that data, however, presented a secondary challenge. The free XMLTV file retrieved by the script only contains two days’ worth of broadcast schedules. Without regular updates, the guide quickly becomes obsolete, leaving missing entries and inaccurate program details when attempting to view or record live television. Initially, Burgess managed the process manually, periodically running the script from the server’s dashboard and triggering Jellyfin to refresh its guide data.

Relying on manual intervention quickly proved inefficient. Remembering to execute the script every couple of days became tedious, frequently resulting in outdated listings precisely when a quick check of the daily schedule was needed. Because his Jellyfin server operates continuously on a Windows machine, Burgess sought a permanent, hands-off solution to handle the routine maintenance.

By leveraging the native Windows Task Scheduler, Burgess automated the entire pipeline. He established a daily routine instructing PowerShell to execute the saved retrieval script every evening at 10:00 PM. Simultaneously, he configured Jellyfin’s internal scheduled tasks to check and apply the updated XML guide file at midnight. This staggered approach ensures that fresh broadcast metadata is seamlessly ingested and waiting for users every morning without requiring human oversight.

For Burgess, the two-day window provided by the free SiliconDust data feed is more than sufficient for casual viewing habits. Because he rarely records live broadcasts or watches traditional linear television extensively, paying an annual fee for an extended 14-day guide simply did not justify the expense. By investing a small amount of technical effort into scripting and automation, he successfully replicated the convenience of a commercial streaming subscription using entirely free, over-the-air resources.