More of a suggestion than a feature

[pwborders]

I had a little problem the other day during epg update. It updated some of my capture sources but a couple failed. They are all currently using the exact same zap2it account and lineup. The problem occured when I woke it to watch something and the failed updates started again. I went to the tv guide and it blew up with the width equal zero error.

So I got to thinking about epg updates, at least as far as zap2it is concerned. It seems that is should be possible to download the content from zap2it once, then reuse it for all the identically configured capture sources. It appears that now it redownloads it for each souce, which I can see would be easier, and that is when it usually fails with a timeout error. If the downloaded content could be stored in a file locally with a name relating it to the provider and lineup then the download routine could check first to see if the data already was there and check the date to make sure it was current. At the end of the epg update cycle the data could be deleted so that old data was not reused.

Since many users seem to have multiple tuners and I would bet most have at least 2 of those tuners on the same lineup this could not only speed up the epg update process but lessen the load on zap2its servers significantly. In my case I currently have all six tuners on the same zap2it lineup / account. Once I get around to configuring the MCE remotes ir blaster with hip I will have five on one lineup and one on the other since it will use the cable box and be able to record premium channels.



Just an idea anyway. Keep up the good work and I look forward to the next version.

[kookyman]

I'm adding a responce to this, as I had a similar thought for an attempt to lessen the load on the Zap2it servers. Add an "Update Frequency" option to Config, so that the EPG is only updated every XX Days, as opposed to the current "Every Day At:".

For the average person who wants 7 days of listings, by simply increasing their request to 9, then can download every 2 days and still maintain a 7 day listing at all times.

I don't know how many people take their listings all the way to the max threshold, however if someone wants 4 days of listings, they could set to download 7 days at a time, updating every 3 days. This will reduce the load on the Z2I Servers by 2/3rds (in this example) however it should not affect the quality of the EPG from the users point of view. (And it may speed downloads up because of the reduced load on the servers.) I don't believe TV Schedules change that often within 4 days of broadcast (exceptions are made) or how often Z2I updates their listings within 4 days even in the event of a known change. In the event the user is aware of a known difference between their local EPG and the master or anticipated broadcast schedule, the user still has the option to manual update the EPG.