EPG from Teletext?

[MaBo]

Hi,
Now the new drivers for the hauppauge cards support teletext, wouldn't it be great to have the epg-data pulled from there. I don't have fast permanent internet access from my HTPC, but it is permanently connected to the TV-cable!

Most (or all) tv-stations have their programmes listed on their teletext site for the next five days or so. VTPlus can export these sites in text-format. Now the question is, does anyone know of, or is able to program a that converts these text files into (simple) wmltv files?

Maarten

[Beowulf]

That would be interesting!
I am no programmer though..and oh! add subtitles from teletext too please!

[AndyCherry]

Sounds like a great idea - however I don't believe they have teletext in New Zealand where sub is based, which is going to make it a bit hard for him to do it...

[sub]

We do have Teletext here, but I dont think it works the same way as the UK for TV listings. We've also only got about two of our channels publishing data this way.

If someone can come up with a proof-of-concept type application (or graph or whatever), I'm sure we can implement this. The EPG source were written using a plugin architecture, so we should be able to write a Teletext EPG grabber.

[MaBo]

Hi Guys,
Well I've started coding a vbs-script to do this. It is not that complicated when starting from vtplus with a filter.

The basis is in place, now the little bits and pieces to get it working properly have to be dealt with.

I use vbscript as this doesn't require any special software to create. Also, the task is failry simple.

When I have a first running version I'll keep you posted.

MaBo

[msm]

Sounds good. Thanks for the hard work - please keep us informed of your progress - i for one am very interested in seeing this working,

Matt

[sub]

Yes, keep us up to date. If you need anything let me know.

[MaBo]

Well,
version 0.6 actually works!
It is not completely plug and play, but it gets the job done. Now I have to make some instructions and add some more comments in the code.
However, there is no error checking! So when a station "forgets" to update their program, that is what you'll get.

The coming days I'll make a package and post it for anyone interested.

Sub, I don't keep gbpvr running 24/7. Is the EPG re-read when gbpvr restarts? Or only "between 3 and 4 am" as I remember having read.

MaBo

[sub]

Great! Well done.

At the moment it only updates at 'between 3 and 4 and' or when you click the update EPG button. How about if I add support for a -updateEPG parameter to GB-PVR which will process the EPG sources on start up?

Are you producing XMLTV files from the output of vtplus?

[MaBo]

Sub,
Your suggestion on updating the EPG at gbpvr startup would be very handy.

And yes, I have made a vtplus-script that loads the program listings from the different stations (this is an editable script to be adapted to every user's wishes). Then vtplus saves the pages in text format with a filter (also to be specified/made by every user; I include several filters) to take out unnecessary stuff (pagenumber etc). The vb-script then transforms the textfiles into xmltv. This can all be automated either via vtplus or via a batchfile.

GBPVR understands the output. GBPVR doesn't like the "&" character, so I check the output on the existence of "&" in the file. For now it is replaced by the Dutch word "en".

By the way the increase in gbpvr functionality with an EPG is like a quantum leap!!

It's great to program again after many years of only an occasional batch-file....

MaBo