Zap2it Closing Down

[bdgbill]

Holy Crap! :eek:

I just saw the news about this on Slashdot.

I appreciate all the people offering to help but IMHO trying to pull this data off of websites is going to be a constant hassle. They change the structure of those sites all the time. This will lead to missed shows, constant installing of new versions of the data grabber plugin etc.

As Sub said, hopefully some other company will step in to fill the void with a similar service.

What was the "constant abuse" Zap2it was speaking about? How can a free tv guide service be abused?

I would happily spend $25 / $30 a year to keep the zap2it feed.

[Braklet]

ATSC does carry some show info, but usually only for the current show and the next show, usually to as "now/next".

Yeah, thats a pretty good point. You're unlikely to get a complete set of data like you currently get with zap2it, so things like duplicate checking etc may not be possible (lack of show identifier codes etc).

The ATSC tuner in my Samsung TV pulls up a EPG data stream with a LOT more info than that in my cheaper tuner. There are also some minor banner ads, which leads me to believe that Samsung partnered with TV Guide to display a usable guide.

I don't think the free PVR projects will get access to this, but back door access may be possible.

I'm sorry to see labs.zap2it.com go, I really enjoyed the show ID codes more than just about anything else.

[sub]

let me get this straight - the effort here is to write some kind of parser that will parse web page(s) into XML info of EPG?
But:
1) What about the source provider "not liking" this (see 2)

This does concern me a little and I'm doing this as a "quick fix" until I or someone else can come up with a better solution.

2) What happens when the source provider decides to change the format/look/etc of the pages?

I plan on keeping an eye on it and should be able to update the app before it breaks.

Yahoo is unlikely to even notice this activity occurring, but if they do, and try to stop the hundreds/thounsands of requests that come through in quick succession as the grabber trawls their site, then you may need to look solutions to lighten the load on their server, like p2p solutions so no one PC is responsible for getting all the data.

Instead of p2p, another idea along the same lines is using a usenet news group like "alt.tv" for making this data available to others.

The client app that produces xmltv files for use in GB-PVR would first check the users ISP's "alt.tv" newsgroup for chunks applicable to them, downloading any that are useful. If it has gaps, then scrape at least a bit more data from tv.yahoo.com or where ever, before constructing a new chunk and posting to alt.tv. (include a text signature in the post so that you know they've authentic)

Sorry, I know these are outside the scope of a simple grabber, but something for you guys to think about if the need arises in the future

[firemanpine]

these sites may be of some use for grabbing information
http://tv.entertainment.excite.com/index.html
http://couchville.com/guide

[djphatjive]

This discussion only affects the free data service zap2it was offering. SageTV and BeyondTV will continue to get listings from zap2it, and pay thousands of dollars per month for the pleasure. I'm obviously not in a position to do that for you guys.

I dont think it'll mean too much. An alternative will be found pretty quickly. Zap2it was a nice easy/efficient way to get TV listings, but people will get by without it, just like they did before the zap2it service existed.

I say good bye to them. God about once a week I get a program that records only a half hour instead of an hour because of there crappy listings. Or I get the wrong show. I for one am saying good riddance.

[djphatjive]

I heard a rumour about this a few days ago. Its certainly a pity, though I'm sure some alternative data source will pop up - almost certainly some xmltv utility.

xmltv has been pretty much neglected in the US for many years, since zap2it entered the scene. 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.

For the first year or so of GB-PVR's life, the zap2it service didnt exist and everyone used xmltv. It sounds like we'll be going back to something like that. Of course the fact that a couple of years back the US xmltv grabber was changed to use this same zap2it interfaces doesnt help get the ball rolling with a solution...

what about this site?

http://www.epgstream.net/FreeEPG/tabid/54/Default.aspx

[madcat]

If you're using the zap2it EPG source, then you're in the same boat.

Yeah, well, we're in a dipper s*&t. The Yahoo/TIVO thingy doesn't seem to be covering us (Canadians). zap2It did.

Zap2It - when they say they will stop serving free EPG - do they mean only the XML download? or also their interactive web version? because if it's the first option, and the web-version will still be active, so why "parse" Yahoo and not Zap2It directly?

[Pioneer4x4]

I say good bye to them. God about once a week I get a program that records only a half hour instead of an hour because of there crappy listings. Or I get the wrong show. I for one am saying good riddance.

I rarely had any problems with zap2it's listings. And most of those I attribute to networks piddling with start/end times. I was/am very pleased with zap2it's info and I have emailed them several times in the past thanking them, before this decision was made. Oh well, worse case GBPVR's scheduling will still beat the hell out of a VCR, and I will just have to preview each day's recordings and compare to TitanTV, or some other source. Too bad we can't download data from TitanTV, since they are partnered with Hauppauge, we are already permitted to schedule from their web site.

[madcat]

Instead of p2p, another idea along the same lines is using a usenet news group like "alt.tv" for making this data available to others.

The client app that produces xmltv files for use in GB-PVR would first check the users ISP's "alt.tv" newsgroup for chunks applicable to them, downloading any that are useful. If it has gaps, then scrape at least a bit more data from tv.yahoo.com or where ever, before constructing a new chunk and posting to alt.tv. (include a text signature in the post so that you know they've authentic)

Sorry, I know these are outside the scope of a simple grabber, but some to think about if the need arises in the future

Why is this better than every one pulls their own data? less traffic for big Yahoo!?

[sub]

Zap2It - when they say they will stop serving free EPG - do they mean only the XML download? or also their interactive web version? because if it's the first option, and the web-version will still be active, so why "parse" Yahoo and not Zap2It directly?

Yes, as far as I know the zap2it website will still exist, and may be what people end up using. That is up to whoever ends up developing a grabber though. Hopefully they'll think of you guys north of the border.