Zap2it Closing Down

[whurlston]

Glad to see that people are looking into this. If you need someone to test, I can help. I'm currently running 3 different listing sources using i-xmltv (pulling from zap2it) but I should be able to point that to a different source rather easily. Anyway, if I can help out, let me know!

I may have a small test for you to run tonight or tomorrow evening.

[flyswatta]

:o

I may have a small test for you to run tonight or tomorrow evening.

You betcha, PM me and I'll give you my direct email address. Err, actually, I'll just PM you my address. :o

[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.

[pvrdude]

Any word on how this change will effect Canadians and their PVR situation? I understand that their digital cable listings/channels are different than the U.S. versions.

Zap2it did a decent job incorporating the differences and displayed the correct programs most of the time. But, will anyone developing a new system to use, account for the differences?

[sub]

Any word on how this change will effect Canadians and their PVR situation? I understand that their digital cable listings/channels are different than the U.S. versions.

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

[pvrdude]

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

I'm concerned about any new system and whether Canadians will be able to log into the system.

[flyswatta]

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.

Sounds intruiging, but you'd have to separate local listings from national listings and account for timezone differences. I guess the grabber could automatically put the times in GMT - unless of course, the yahoo feed was in GMT already.

I guess I should log in and check out the yahoo TV listings. <scratching my head trying to remember my yahoo logon...>

[pBS]

where does MCE get it's data? and could we somehow tap into that, either from local machine stores or the source?

looks just like zap2it's info so they may have a contract with them..

[nitrogen_widget]

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.

Yahoo! has their own media center software.
They bought out medio.
I wonder how that downloads & stores EPG data.

[flyswatta]

where does MCE get it's data? and could we somehow tap into that, either from local machine stores or the source?

looks just like zap2it's info so they may have a contract with them..

I would be nervous about tapping into ANYTHING from M$, methinks it would be considered proprietary and they would have some sort of way of detecting that you were using their stuff without paying for an MCE license.