EPGExtra - new tool adds date, ratings, repeat, CC, Stereo to program descriptions.

[ubu]

EPGExtra adds extra information to the GBPVR program description that is displayed when using any of the GBPVR program guides. The following additional items are added:

• Movies - Year Released, Star Rating and MPAA Rating before the description.
  
• Regular shows - First Aired Date and Repeat Flag before the description.
  
• All programs - Closed Captions and Stereo after the description.

For instance:[INDENT] (1998 *** PG-13) A lawyer (Fred Smith) divorces his aristocratic wife (Honoria Glossop) who
then wins a fortune at the roulette wheel in Monte Carlo. (Stereo)

(2003 |R|) Stan divorces Irma who finds she has won the lottery. (CC, Stereo)
[/INDENT]The existing data downloaded from Zap2it by the GBPVR EPG update is used to feed EPGExtra, so no additional programs are required and installation is extremely simple. It has been tested with GBPVR 97.7 (both SQLite and MS Access) but should work with earlier releases. A Zap2it account and .Net 2.0 is required.

EPGExtra replaces the EPGMovieDate utility which is still available for .Net 1.1 users. Both EPGExtra and EPGMovieDate can be downloaded from the wiki.

[ydekmekji]

Does this rely on zapimport at all?

[kaiger]

Aweseome. It works great. Would it be possible to specify an optional "first run" identifier that could maybe be added to the show title? This would allow season recordings to only get the new episodes if desired.

[dreamscape]

something i've been wishing about for a while!

does |R| symbolize a "repeat"?

[UncleJohnsBand]

Interesting....this new tool does almost the same thing as ZapTools except it adds the info directly to the description itself....this tool is similar to I-xmltv that was recently written.

These tools do work.....the only thing that I don't like about them, as compared to Zaptools, is that you must pre-configure what you want to see....ZapTools (which does only benefit the Enhanced Web Admin) pulls in most everything and then you can turn on/off the display options at will via the Web Admin....The Web Admin is coded to recognize the ZapTools extneded data and then display it (or not) based on the configuration settings.

Zaptools does not benefit GBPVR native guide in anyway so these other tools do help with that aspect.

It does however give you more flexability in the Web Admin.

[Jim_]

I think it’s great, because the differences between our utilities give people options to choose from.
Everyone has their personal vision, and one or two of the three should come very close to what they’re looking for.

My I-xmltv utility was originally, and is still centered around downloading a single "portable" EPG file that all my systems and guides can use. The utilities you guys have are based on the native GBPVR Zap2It download <very simple for the user> and enhancing it. Depending on the users need, and the features they are looking for, it’s a win-win for everyone.

I just need to resist the urge to add more stuff! I knew I shouldn’t have started coding again, its just too addictive.
But here are some ideas for everyone working on this stuff.
“Paid Programming” Does anyone really record this stuff?
I’ve been looking into a way to populate those fields with useful information, like Zap2It subscription status, the last EPG update date, and channel lineup change notification.

Jim

[UncleJohnsBand]

I agree Jim....variety is great.....just trying to make people aware that there are similar tools since posts are indicating that they have been looking for something like this....

I think we need to Advertise the Wiki.....that is one of its main purposes is to catalog what is available for use and to provide the description and instructions on how to use the tool.

I think sometimes things are being developed in the forums and never make it out to the Wiki for public access.

If you are an author it is really easy to get access....just sent a private message to blader_se and he will get you all setup.

[ubu]

Does this rely on zapimport at all?

No, it doesn't. While EPGMovieDate relied on reading the zappdb database to get the extra info, for this new version I decided to avoid dependency on any other software. For simplicity of installation (and speed of execution), EPGExtra reads the extra fields directly from the Zap2it xml file created by GBPVR when it updates the EPG. So you just need one line in PostUpdateEPG.bat to run EPGExtra. The zapimport line is no longer needed.

something i've been wishing about for a while!
does |R| symbolize a "repeat"?

Yes it does. Zap2it seems a bit haphazard in determining which programs to flag as repeats but, if it does flag them, EPGExtra will display the |R| symbol.

Aweseome. It works great. Would it be possible to specify an optional "first run" identifier that could maybe be added to the show title? This would allow season recordings to only get the new episodes if desired.

I tried to do this but the current Zap2it download doesn't really support it. If it thinks a show is a repeat, it flags it as such - period. So if you flag all programs that are not repeats as |F| (for first run) most of the programs in the EPG (including paid programming, the nightly news, etc.) will be flagged as such, which is not too helpful. I decided to just flag the repeats and let the user decide if a non-flagged program is likely to be a first run based on date and show time (ie. If the date is 2006 and it's running in prime time on a major network and its not flagged as a repeat, chances are its a first run. If the date is 2003 and it's running at 3am, it probably isn't first run but the station has not provided the "repeat" info to Zap2it).

To get season recordings of new episodes only, you might try the Enhanced Web Admin utility (the zapdb database it uses captures a lot of additional program info so it may take a different approach) or the XRecord plugin which has a feature to eliminate duplicate recordings. I haven't tried either of them myself, so I'm just guessing.

[David]

For digital OTA programming is there information available to identify HD broadcasts? I didn't see that listed above. It would be nice to know from the guide.

[ubu]

I think it’s great, because the differences between our utilities give people options to choose from.
Everyone has their personal vision, and one or two of the three should come very close to what they’re looking for.

My I-xmltv utility was originally, and is still centered around downloading a single "portable" EPG file that all my systems and guides can use. The utilities you guys have are based on the native GBPVR Zap2It download <very simple for the user> and enhancing it. Depending on the users need, and the features they are looking for, it’s a win-win for everyone.

There seems to be two broad categories of GBPVR users:

• People who like to tinker, tweak and optimize their system to provide the greatest functionality and the highest quality possible. These people tend to have a high comfort level with the technology.
  
• People who want to use GBPVR as a "black box" software product that will satisfy most of their needs with the least amount of intervention on their part. These people tend to glaze over when confonted with requirements to edit xml files, pass parameters to programs and download additional pieces of third party software ("Just google it. It's readily available." ).

I-xmltv has a very broad scope (It beats; it sweeps; it cleans!) solving a number of different problems with one toolset and offering a high level of configurability. By the same token, installing and configuring it calls for a certain amount of technical understanding and a willingness to commit to a "process" of getting it to work. The fact that I-xmltv is only available via download from a forum thread rather than on the GBPVR wiki suggest that it is aimed more at the "hobbyist" than the mainstream user.

EPGExtra, on the other hand, is designed to do one thing and do it well with the least amount of user effort during installation. It only works for Zap2it users and it offers far fewer options than I-xmltv. However users can download it from the wiki and have it up and running quickly without knowing too much about its inner workings.

I wrote the original EPGMovieDate utility for myself, because not being able to see a movie's release date really bugged me. Then I thought it might be useful to others so I stuck it on the wiki. I've added other fields over the months and was about to release a new version when 97.7 was released so I decided to make a .Net 2.0 version with SQLite support. Meanwhile, reading the I-xmltv thread made me realise that some users just wanted a simple, easily installed tool without all the bells and whistles. The result of all this is EPGExtra. Diversity is, indeed, a wonderful thing.