Zap2it Closing Down

[gkreis]

I'd pay $25-$30 a year for a subscription. I wonder how many others would? Would it be enough for someone to pay Zap2It a large monthly fee covered by these subscriptions and then some?

I think the bigger problem is that they couldn't guarantee one of us would be using the data for commercial purposes. So no subscription price would be high enough to deal with that issue, right?

Are programs like Sage and BeyondTV encrypting/decrypting the schedule downloads to make their sources feel safer? Would that be something GBPVR could do?

I am starting to think that the Sept 1 deadline is going to arrive well before there is a viable solution. Sure, we could screenscrap to get XMLTV data, but as has been noted, that puts us on the radar and we will get shut down (and we should). I don't want to abuse access and would pay, if someone would sell. I think we are going to get into a situation where no one will sell into a 'open' marketplace where they can't control the data's use.

Put yourself in their shoes. Pretend you are their CEO and think of how you would handle it. That can be an eye-opening perspective.

P.S.
This issue, along with the cost to build a new PC to record HD, controlling HD boxes with the PVR, etc. is going to push some of us (probably me) into using cable/satellite provided DVRs sooner than I wanted to... sigh.

[dragonfiregum]

Im sure if thousands of people suddenly started scrapping from sites itd be a problem. But as i see it now there are 2 solutions in the works. And maybe more will come.
I to would pay a 25dollar a year fee. That isnt that much.
Cable/sat dvr's ? Maybe some might switch over if they have money, but alot of us already invested in our PVR's which can hold much more programming then they can and i dont think we want to give that up. That and theres just something about being a do-it-yourselfer.

[gkreis]

Im sure if thousands of people suddenly started scrapping from sites itd be a problem. But as i see it now there are 2 solutions in the works. And maybe more will come.

I hope so. The work with TitanTV looks promising.

I to would pay a 25dollar a year fee. That isnt that much.
Cable/sat dvr's ? Maybe some might switch over if they have money, but alot of us already invested in our PVR's which can hold much more programming then they can and i dont think we want to give that up. That and theres just something about being a do-it-yourselfer.

I agree with you on all the points. I, however, just pressed a underpowered PC into service as a simple server and the PVR. It holds its own with SD, but it won't be able to deal with HD content. I suspect I am going to be getting an HD LCD before year's end and that will kick off a whole cascade of changes. I just know it....

The 'barnstorming' days of PVRs are drawing to a close, it feels like. Maybe I am all wrong and being too pessimistic.

[whurlston]

I'd pay $25-$30 a year for a subscription. I wonder how many others would? Would it be enough for someone to pay Zap2It a large monthly fee covered by these subscriptions and then some?

The fee for the data for commercial purposes it $12,000 a month. sub has mentioned that a pay service is in the works for users though.

Im sure if thousands of people suddenly started scrapping from sites itd be a problem. But as i see it now there are 2 solutions in the works. And maybe more will come.
I to would pay a 25dollar a year fee. That isnt that much.
Cable/sat dvr's ? Maybe some might switch over if they have money, but alot of us already invested in our PVR's which can hold much more programming then they can and i dont think we want to give that up. That and theres just something about being a do-it-yourselfer.

There are 4 solutions so far (utilizing 2 sources) and I am working on a 5th (utilizing a 3rd source).

[ww4397]

My Zap2it account was about to expire on its normal schedule, so I went to the Zap2itlabs site to renew. When I renewed I received the following:

Your subscription has been extended to 2007/10/10

Status: Active
Subscription Expires: 2007/10/10
Subscription Plan: Gold

My new expiration date is October 10, 2007, not September 1. Is this normal? There was no mention of the site closing.

Thanks.

[pcostanza]

My Zap2it account was about to expire on its normal schedule, so I went to the Zap2itlabs site to renew. When I renewed I received the following:



My new expiration date is October 10, 2007, not September 1. Is this normal? There was no mention of the site closing.

Thanks.

That's interesting! Mine is set to expire on the 17th and I have been curious as to what it will do. Usually they gave me 6 months but the last 2 times it's been 3. It could just be they haven't changed the way they update. And if they pull the switch on Sept. 1, it all goes black no matter what date they give us.

[capone]

My new expiration date is October 10, 2007, not September 1. Is this normal? There was no mention of the site closing.

Chances are that page is just adding a default number, and just wasn't updated to say if date > 9/1 to make date= 9/1.

I would stick w/ the reality that 9/1 = end.

[RacerX]

Paying for EPG service?
OK, so let's say the service were to cost 5.00/month.....
Why not get a commercial product that costs 60.00, get free updates within the major version # AND a cheap upgrade cost to the next major version change. EPG is free.

My thing is, if you keep the commercial software for at least a year, why would you get a freeware program that costs you more in the end than paying for software?

Just a thought, please respond.

[zed]

...
My thing is, if you keep the commercial software for at least a year, why would you get a freeware program that costs you more in the end than paying for software?

Just a thought, please respond.

Because the freeware works better than any of the commercial products? And the support is better?

However, I wonder about buying one of the commercial products so you get the EPG data and then converting the EPG data to work with GB-PVR, probably via an xmltv converter. I don't know how the commercial products store their EPG data, so it may not be viable. Anybody have any knowledge of how they store it?

[whurlston]

Because the freeware works better than any of the commercial products? And the support is better?

That would be my vote.

However, I wonder about buying one of the commercial products so you get the EPG data and then converting the EPG data to work with GB-PVR, probably via an xmltv converter. I don't know how the commercial products store their EPG data, so it may not be viable. Anybody have any knowledge of how they store it?

I have some working knowledge of the structure of one product due to my work on the HDHomeRun QAM mapping.