Enhanced Web Admin

[nurowolf]

I applied all the XP patches as NORMAR suggested - including the Net 1.1 SP1.

Now it appears that Web Admin is working.

Why is it that it is always something really simple - but it takes us for ever to find it. :confused:

Oh well - all happy in the land of HTPC now.

Thanks for the help - I can go back to checking what my wife is upto on the TV while I am out of town.

[normanr]

I think it's just SP1 that was required, but you're never bad off with a fully patched system!

[gkreis]

I have a couple of suggestions for tweaks.

- If you search by a genre and no hits occur in the time frame in the grid being displayed, it is just blank. I'd like to see it move to first item it finds, from the current point forward. As you click the left or right arrows, it should do the same thing. Run till it hits something in that genre.

- I'd like to see 'favorite' searches of something that lets me do a kind of search and save it for easy use later. For instance, I'd like to search my public broadcast stations, but only during a certain hour range. This way I could avoid hitting the Barneys and Sesame Streets. So if I could say channel 8 and 16, from 5pm to 6am and then save that search with a name I choose, it would be really handy. I'd also like to see this search work in either the TV Guide grid or the Search tab. This way, I could view the listings as I prefer. Perhaps the search/filter favorites I create would appear in a drop down list?

- Here is a really challenging idea. How about making the IMDB link search IMDB by title AND by the name of one of the actors in the movie. I don't know if IMDB supports this, but stealing an actors name from the description or credits, combined with the title might give a higher percentage of unique hits. Now if this works, here is my next idea... ;-) Have the numeric rating of votes from IMDB appear next to the movie title where the IMDB link would appear. Also, include the vote count so we can tell if it is solid. This could be a link, so it takes me to IMDB. If there was no unique hit, then just leave it as the current IMDB link so I know it wasn't a unique hit.

Now I can see that the above idea is 'costly' on performance. Maybe the idea of 'favorite' searchs could help. It would let me not only pick channels, but also genre and enable this IMDB feature. So it could be turned on only during a search/filter so it doesn't affect normal use.

[gb-pvruser]

Is there an option to start a manual recording?

[gkreis]

I am finding that the Episode Search grid is just too daunting. If you get a large hit list <grin>, then you get lost in it. You might check 5 items for recording, press "Record" and pray they work. If there is a conflict you are clueless of the reason.

What about a tree display. I presume .NET has one of those that could work in a browser window. Something AJAXey? It would group the search results by channel or genre. Within in that by title. If there are multiple airings, they would appear under the title. Maybe you could use flyover boxes to show the descriptions of the episodes. But here is a cool feature. It would ALREADY know the conflicts. As the search is done, see if the airing would conflict and if so, with what. Show the conflict as an icon on the airing listing - a fly over box could tell me the conflict. If I see there are multiple airings, I could choose the one without conflict.

Comments?

[UncleJohnsBand]

Is there an option to start a manual recording?

Not yet....it is on the books.

[UncleJohnsBand]

I have a couple of suggestions for tweaks.

- If you search by a genre and no hits occur in the time frame in the grid being displayed, it is just blank. I'd like to see it move to first item it finds, from the current point forward. As you click the left or right arrows, it should do the same thing. Run till it hits something in that genre.

This would be a huge resource hog since you could search the entire EPG to find a hit....or not find a hit. I would recommend using the episode search for this type of searching....that is what it was designed for. The guide is designed to show information in a particular timeframe.

- I'd like to see 'favorite' searches of something that lets me do a kind of search and save it for easy use later. For instance, I'd like to search my public broadcast stations, but only during a certain hour range. This way I could avoid hitting the Barneys and Sesame Streets. So if I could say channel 8 and 16, from 5pm to 6am and then save that search with a name I choose, it would be really handy. I'd also like to see this search work in either the TV Guide grid or the Search tab. This way, I could view the listings as I prefer. Perhaps the search/filter favorites I create would appear in a drop down list?

This type of search request is on the wiki to-do list. I will add this as another reference.

- Here is a really challenging idea. How about making the IMDB link search IMDB by title AND by the name of one of the actors in the movie. I don't know if IMDB supports this, but stealing an actors name from the description or credits, combined with the title might give a higher percentage of unique hits. Now if this works, here is my next idea... ;-) Have the numeric rating of votes from IMDB appear next to the movie title where the IMDB link would appear. Also, include the vote count so we can tell if it is solid. This could be a link, so it takes me to IMDB. If there was no unique hit, then just leave it as the current IMDB link so I know it wasn't a unique hit.

That would just be amazing..... I am not really sure how you would devine an actors name from the text in the description...that would certainly be a powerful algorithm. If you are a Zap2it user you can get the actor information....with links to IMDB for the actors, writers, etc via the usage of ZapTools. You will also get the Star rating for the show via ZapTools.

Now I can see that the above idea is 'costly' on performance. Maybe the idea of 'favorite' searchs could help. It would let me not only pick channels, but also genre and enable this IMDB feature. So it could be turned on only during a search/filter so it doesn't affect normal use.

Favorite Searches is doabale....it is on the list and will get worked on.

normanr and I put together a bunch of changes for build 26 which will be released with the .NET 2.0 version of GBPVR. It is currently being tested. Once that comes out I/we will pick back up on some of these outstanding requests.

In the meantime if anyone has suggestions post them here and I'll be sure to catalog them.

[UncleJohnsBand]

I am finding that the Episode Search grid is just too daunting. If you get a large hit list <grin>, then you get lost in it. You might check 5 items for recording, press "Record" and pray they work. If there is a conflict you are clueless of the reason.

What about a tree display. I presume .NET has one of those that could work in a browser window. Something AJAXey? It would group the search results by channel or genre. Within in that by title. If there are multiple airings, they would appear under the title. Maybe you could use flyover boxes to show the descriptions of the episodes. But here is a cool feature. It would ALREADY know the conflicts. As the search is done, see if the airing would conflict and if so, with what. Show the conflict as an icon on the airing listing - a fly over box could tell me the conflict. If I see there are multiple airings, I could choose the one without conflict.

Comments?

Good idea....I will add this to the list.....perhaps some sort of tree display is doable. I will say that the upcomming build 36 release includes a check for failed recordings. If you do a search in the episode search and there are failures it will load the show info into a drop-down box at the top of the grid so you know which shows failed.

Varient color coding has also been implemented with build 36 to visually show the difference between a show pending to record, currently recording, error, conflict and deleted.

[UncleJohnsBand]

The 97.07 release of GBPVR is out. It contains the latest build of the EWA. Build #36.

This release runs ASP.Net 2.0 so you will need the .Net Framework 2.0 installed. There is a link in the download of the new GBPVR release.

Changes Include:

Build 36: 2006-05-14

• Modified Subtitle display in guide to be more easily discernable from the show Title.
  
• Added ability to see the show/movie original air date/release date - Available only to ZapTools users.
  
• Added ability to see Star Rating (if availbale) for movies - Available only to ZapTools users.
  
• Added color coding to Guide and Search displays for Recorded, In-Progress, Conflict, Failed and Pending status.
  
• Added Post-Record check in Details page to determine if recording actually got scheduled and display message if scheduled recording is not found.
  
• Added Post-Record check in Search Results page to determine if recording(s) actually got scheduled and display list of failed recordings if any occurred.

[Jim_]

I love the Advanced WebAdmin, thanks for your efforts!
Any chance of supporting Zap2It (xmltv.xml) files with ZapTools?