I-xmltv: TV Guide customization & Zap2It EPG utility.

[FuzzyPapaBear]

Thanks pens18aj. Thanks Jim. Couple more questions: Is the date in the xml file compared to today's date to determine if a show is a premier or not?

Thanks again for a great utility Jim. I'm sure it will help me reduce the amount unneccessary recordings, espcially the reality shows on VH1, etc.

[Jim_]

Thanks pens18aj. Thanks Jim. Couple more questions: Is the date in the xml file compared to today's date to determine if a show is a premier or not?

Thanks again for a great utility Jim. I'm sure it will help me reduce the amount unneccessary recordings, espcially the reality shows on VH1, etc.

Your welcome.

Yes, I used “today” for the original description but a more accurate one is that the original-air-date is compared to that day's listing date in the guide. Every single day in a typical 14-day guide will have premiere indicators, for shows that are new for that day in the guide. So you can schedule future premieres in advance.

Keep in mind that the information provided for some shows can be limited 3-days or 14-days in the future. But when it comes time for GBPVR to record the show (and the day before that) the information is completely up-to-date, if a listing has the original-air-date and the show is new for that day it will “beyond any doubt” have the premiere indicator.
Jim

[Jim_]

I'm not putting this on the wiki for now because it has some things that are experimental and not used with GBPVR. I'll probably remove the junk and post it to the wiki eventually but I thought I'd share it here for the people who would like to try it.

I had Genre in the description in the past but removed it, because GBPVR allow you to color code the guide based on genre and the enhanced web admin gives that information anyway. But in actual use I like having genre information (in the guide) for all the other types I did not color code.

So...
Feature added: /gd/ Places (G)enre at the end of the (D)escription field.
/gd/1 = Add Genre to movie descriptions.
/gd/2 = Add Genre to everything that is not a movie.
/gd/3 = Add Genre to everything.
Just add this switch to your "MVSwitches=" or "TVSwitches=" line.

Code:

Example: SET TVSwitches=/sx /oe /se/ - /dd/() /df/Y-M-D [B]/gd/1[/B] /tp/-6

The other small change allows the user to choose how many days they would like to display Zap2It information in the guide. The default was (and still is) one day, but 2 days makes the information easier to find.
You do not need to change anything, or use this feature, but if you want to display ZapStatus for two EPG days.
Simply find /ZS in your UpdateEPG.bat and add /2 to the end of the switch.

Code:

REM *** Replace "Paid Programming" listings with Zap2It messages ***
IF %Zap2ItStatus% == 1 I-xmltv %GBPVROutput% [B]/ZS/2[/B]
IF %Zap2ItStatus% == 1 MOVE I-XMLTV.XML %GBPVROutput%

<edit> 9/13/06
Removing attachment, this feature is now included in the wiki version

[bwana devil]

i have a problem that hopefully requires a simple solution. when i go to the final set up step to add the "XMLTV Plugin" in the GBPVR Confi Utility, the plug in is not listed as an option to add. the file "TVGuide" is not a .xml file but a .gif file. what can i do to correct this?

thank you!

[Jim_]

i have a problem that hopefully requires a simple solution. when i go to the final set up step to add the "XMLTV Plugin" in the GBPVR Confi Utility, the plug in is not listed as an option to add. the file "TVGuide" is not a .xml file but a .gif file. what can i do to correct this?

thank you!

Hi,
You’re skipping a couple of the setup steps.
TVGuide.xml is downloaded “after” I-xmltv & xmltv are installed and configured.
After UpdateEPG.bat is clicked the second time, verify TVGuide.xml exists before configuring the GBPVR EPG source.

If this is your first installation of GBPVR you should start by reading the wiki, it will explain how to setup a Zap2It user account. It also explains how (and where) to select the EPG plugin.


After you have a Zap2It account with a lineup selected and download TVGuide.xml, this picture should help you understand how you select the "XMLTV plugin".
Jim

[Jim_]

Hi tipstir,
TVGuide.xml is just the (default) name I used for the EPG file, because it’s a fairly common EPG source name and easily understood.
The data comes “only” from Zap2It.

Installing and trying it is much easier than explaining what it does!
I designed this around some very specific function enhancements I wanted.
Most people may only look at the changes in the guide. I use the specifically placed changes for RegTracker dupe avoidance, Zap2It downtime & 3-day limit avoidance, EWA & GBPVR movie searches, scheduling only new shows, RenameRecording uses the production/episode numbers, and several other things…

Jim

[bwana devil]

Hi,
You’re skipping a couple of the setup steps.
TVGuide.xml is downloaded “after” I-xmltv & xmltv are installed and configured.
After UpdateEPG.bat is clicked the second time, verify TVGuide.xml exists before configuring the GBPVR EPG source.

finally got it. i kept going over the steps thinking i had it correct but the trouble was i wasnt giving it enough time the second time i "clicked" UpdateEPG.bat. i didnt realize the "click" required it to run through anything and i just closed it right away.

just got it up and it looks great. set a few shows that i like and dont have to worry about getting those nasty reruns. thanks for the help. oh and i loved the red arrows. those were quite helpful.

[zehd]

Might have missed it but..

For the second week in a row, I see my guide running down. I have a 14 day guide scheduled..

After a few days, I can no longer look 14 days in advance..

I have Windows Task Scheduler running your UpdateEPG.bat out of your dir at 4:00 am

I have GB-PVR configured for the xmltv data and set to completey reload the guide at 5:00am

I have reinstalled and configured the i-xmltv and it seems to download the epg again...

It usually snaps into place, but I wonder what might be causing it...? I believe that I have eveything set up to update everyday in the correct order...

???

[pens18aj]

Might have missed it but..

For the second week in a row, I see my guide running down. I have a 14 day guide scheduled..

After a few days, I can no longer look 14 days in advance..

You know I just noticed the same issue. If I look out a few days any shows at 10:00 pm or later do not show up in the tv guide. I am running the newest version. If I empty my EPG and let it do an update it does fix the issue for a bit.

[Jim_]

Might have missed it but..

For the second week in a row, I see my guide running down. I have a 14 day guide scheduled..

After a few days, I can no longer look 14 days in advance..

I have Windows Task Scheduler running your UpdateEPG.bat out of your dir at 4:00 am

I have GB-PVR configured for the xmltv data and set to completey reload the guide at 5:00am

I have reinstalled and configured the i-xmltv and it seems to download the epg again...

It usually snaps into place, but I wonder what might be causing it...? I believe that I have eveything set up to update everyday in the correct order...

???

Hi Frank, no problems on my end (v96.12).
Not sure exactly what the issue you guys are having is, but I tried to make isolating I-xmltv problems from windows / GBPVR problems as simple as possible.

1. If you mouse-click on UpdateEPG.bat and a valid up-to-date TVGuide.xml is created that can be manually loaded into GBPVR, the I-xmltv / xmltv.exe installation is working properly.

2. I-xmltv.log will contain a time & date entry for each day it is called, and it also logs each step it completes and any problems encountered incase there’s a problem with test #1. If there isn’t a dated entry in the log, I-xmltv or UpdateEPG.bat simply wasn’t called.

3. If test #1 works, but GBPVR is not calling UpdateEPG.bat or updating its EPG automatically (like the IE7 beta3 problem), the problem is most likely with GBPVR or a conflicting plugin / utility / TSR.

Hope this helps!
Jim