UK: Radio Times EPG data chaging it's source.

[bgowland]

Hi steeb,

The actual issue is that the new .dat files generated by MetaBroadcast for Radio Times no longer use 'Film' for the xmltv <category> tag and instead categorise films by their genre. According to the MetaBroadcast site, it is still possible to tell a film from the RT .dat files but requires looking at the 8th (tilde delimited) field of the programme entry. I was wondering if it could be done with a post-processor written in LUA but didn't know where to start - martin123's comment was in agreement.

As it turns out, the response I got back from Alan Birtles on the XMLTV GUI forum is that it's not possible with a post-processor and will need modification of the actual grabber. Unfortunately it looks like he's busy at the moment so no guaranteed time frame.

I'm in the process of knocking together a nasty bit of C# (hack, excuse me just clearing my throat) that will run as a command-line utility to fix the <category> of the xml file produced by XMLTV GUI. I'll post here in the next hour or two. Usual disclaimers - no naked flames, over 18s only and use of a safety net mandatory.

Cheers,
Brian

[steeb]

Hi steeb,

The actual issue is that the new .dat files generated by MetaBroadcast for Radio Times no longer use 'Film' for the xmltv <category> tag and instead categorise films by their genre. According to the MetaBroadcast site, it is still possible to tell a film from the RT .dat files but requires looking at the 8th (tilde delimited) field of the programme entry. I was wondering if it could be done with a post-processor written in LUA but didn't know where to start - martin123's comment was in agreement.

As it turns out, the response I got back from Alan Birtles on the XMLTV GUI forum is that it's not possible with a post-processor and will need modification of the actual grabber. Unfortunately it looks like he's busy at the moment so no guaranteed time frame.

I'm in the process of knocking together a nasty bit of C# (hack, excuse me just clearing my throat) that will run as a command-line utility to fix the <category> of the xml file produced by XMLTV GUI. I'll post here in the next hour or two. Usual disclaimers - no naked flames, over 18s only and use of a safety net mandatory.

Cheers,
Brian

Good evening Brian,

got it. C# (there's a flu going about don't ya know!)

I think everyone is so busy at the moment so hack or not, it would be a worthy one!

Having said that AB is v busy but then often comes up trumps within a few hours, because he got bored with something else and decided to "just have a look"!

How would the c line be called? Just as a pre process bat for NextPVR?

I too so busy at the moment so can't look at 8th tilde entry. Ultimately is this something that could be requested from one other very busy person (sub) to to add into the xml field or is it something a little unusual that MetaBroadcast have done?

cheers most muchly

steeb

[martint123]

As the grabber filters out what it doesn't want, then the post-processors don't get to see the film flag.
I'll have a browse this morning to try to get my head round it a little. But I suspect a non-trivial task or AB would have done it while his tea was cooling down.

@steeb I could never get that channel renaming post processor to work at all - gave up in the end and renamed all my source channel names.

[bgowland]

Ultimately is this something that could be requested from one other very busy person (sub) to to add into the xml field or is it something a little unusual that MetaBroadcast have done?

MetaBroadcast have simply started using a field which was probably always there in the RT .dat files rather than specifying 'Film' as the category. There's a whole bunch of fields in those source files which are either never used or used rarely - no idea what half of them are for.

But I suspect a non-trivial task or AB would have done it while his tea was cooling down.

Actually it would be trivial-ish for the grabber to do it but it's obviously up to Alan when he can find time to take a look (I'm assuming he has a life ).

I got to the point of re-writing the xmltv file last night then my brain started to hurt and I got side-tracked. Hoping to get it finished later on.

Cheers,
Brian