Zap2it Closing Down

[cpa]

And we can get a zipfile containing the listings with the following:

api.digitalhomeservices.yahoo.com/V0_1/tribune?mode=schedule&provider=KY16673&device=&country=us

The zip file contains a flat text file (like the above format) and looks like it contains all necessary data. I'm working on matching the fields to the corresponding xmltv fields. This will seriously minimize the the amount of required hits and bandwidth. Once you have your provider ID, it's 2 hits for 2 weeks of data in a file thats less than 2MB.

It was all working until the schedule api. I got back a 0 byte file inside a zip file. That was after 3 attempts which finally downloaded the zip file.

[sub]

If we can get a solid confirmation as to what UUID we can legitimately use, then I think that will be the solution.

Its unlikely a UUID will ever exist that can legally be used for this purpose, but with any luck, the UUID that people end up using will not be cancelled, or they'll find a way to extract one from other software they own.

By the way, what is the appropriate XML format to import guide info into GBPVR?

The xmltv file format is described here: http://xmltv.org/wiki/xmltvfileformat.html

[flyswatta]

Just got it to work. For some reason "country" has a space in it - "cou ntry". Didn't like the "%20" that defaults from your link.

I didn't actually post it as a link, just as text. I think it's a bug in the forum software...

api.digitalhomeservices.yahoo.com/V0_1/tribune?mode=schedule&provider=ECHOST&device=&country=us

versus

api.digitalhomeservices.yahoo.com/V0_1/tribune?mode=schedule&provider=ECHOST&device=&country=us

It still puts a space in country, but it works. Wierd.

[jksmurf]

I'm sure when zap2it disappears, then one the hundreds of thousands of users of mythtv/gbpvr/mediaportal/etc will make a decent US grabber for xmltv.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned tvxb ...works well here.

k.

[soccerdad]

I also got the zipfile to download. It took about 5 tries to get a file with any data in it though. I was able to open it in Excel without issue. Great find whurlston. It needs to be converted, but at least you don't need user IDs. I looked on their forum and they get it from zap2it. I downloaded Yahoo Go for TV, but don't have a tuner in that box so I couldn't get to the EPG setup.

[sub]

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned tvxb ...works well here.

tvxb doesnt really solve the problem though. Its just another glorified xmltv grabber. I'd much rather see a utility making use of the couple of data services mention in this thread (api.digitalhomeservices.yahoo.com and the TitanTV SOAP interface) to produce xmltv files directly rather than web page scraping.

[whurlston]

Just got it to work. For some reason "country" has a space in it - "cou ntry". Didn't like the "%20" that defaults from your link.

This file I downloaded has 6/23 through 7/6 in a zip file and is in a "|" delimited file. I don't have documentation on the fields, but some are obvious.

Generally, I still think titantv is our best option, and I have been able to download an XML file using an unauthorized UUID. I think someone else is attempting to write a conversion utility to convert titantv's XML to work in GBPVR, and I'd be willing to help. If we can get a solid confirmation as to what UUID we can legitimately use, then I think that will be the solution.

By the way, what is the appropriate XML format to import guide info into GBPVR?

http://xmltv.org/wiki/xmltvfileformat.html

I agree that Titan seems like the best option. I'm just looking for alternatives (all eggs in one basket so to speak).

It was all working until the schedule api. I got back a 0 byte file inside a zip file. That was after 3 attempts which finally downloaded the zip file.

Not all providers are available as I said. You may try again later just to make sure.

[whurlston]

I also got the zipfile to download. It took about 5 tries to get a file with any data in it though. I was able to open it in Excel without issue. Great find whurlston. It needs to be converted, but at least you don't need user IDs. I looked on their forum and they get it from zap2it. I downloaded Yahoo Go for TV, but don't have a tuner in that box so I couldn't get to the EPG setup.

Yahoo Go for TV is how I found this. I did a packet capture to see how they were pulling the data. This is the exact process the program goes through when setting up the epg and downloading the data. This is the data that it downloads.

[HTPCGB]

I'm having trouble getting the XmlWriter to write EndElement tags if there are sub-elements. ie:

Code:

<Element1>
  <sub-element>Data</sub-element>
</Element1>

It will not write the </Element1> tag.

I recommend using the XML DOM as detailed here. It takes care of writing all the appropriate tags.

[User]

Took two tries but I got a 6.6 meg zip file from:
http://api.digitalhomeservices.yahoo.com...country=us
for Directv LosAngeles and it has local channel listings in it.
Looks to me like a good source of data. I'll poke around on their site and see how they permit the data to be used.