GuidePlus for NPVR

[toricred]

Great. I wasn't worried about it, I just wanted to provide as much feedback as possible. Everything is working perfectly now.

[Karyudo]

I've been lurking and following along as GuidePlus has been tweaked over the past month or so. It's good to see GP being actively developed! I'd like to try it -- mostly, I just want to use GuidePlus to move recorded files from my capture box to my WHS 'Recorded TV' share, sometime after the recording's done.

I've got a few questions before I start messing with setup and database stuff I'd rather leave alone if I can:

1. Now that it sounds like the separate trigger database is no longer needed, how do I go about installing GuidePlus?

2. If I'm using the built-in connection to Schedules Direct for schedule data, am I good? Or do I need to do something else? It would be nice for there to be more metadata than what appears in Schedules Direct, but one of the reasons I'm recording what I'm recording is because there probably *isn't* any better source for the shows or metadata about them.

3. Will GuidePlus be able to rename and move files I've previously recorded, using the metadata NVPR got (directly from Schedules Direct?) at the time of recording? It would be handy to have the show name and episode title (or number, or original airdate) included in the filename (and the metadata, of course).

[carpeVideo]

1. Now that it sounds like the separate trigger database is no longer needed, how do I go about installing GuidePlus?

It is fairly simple - you need the guidePlus exe and the sql dll. I just create a directory in program files and drop it there. The trickier part is to a) set up an XML source (either XMLTV for schedules direct or mcxml) the non-altered guidefile needs to go somewhere and guidePlus can modify it from there. It means you typically set up an updateEPg.bat in the npvr directory to kick it off. Mine chains the run with the updateEpg running a command file.

epgUpdate.bat

Code:

d:
cd \programs\guidePlus
gPlus.cmd

gPlus.cmd

Code:

d:
cd \programs\xmltv
xmltv.exe tv_grab_na_dd --days 10 --config xmltv-cable.config  --output cable.xml
xmltv.exe tv_grab_na_dd --days 10 --config xmltv-air.config  --output air.xml
xmltv.exe tv_cat air.xml cable.xml >tvGuide.xml
cd \programs\guidePlus
guidePlus.exe xmlin=d:\programs\xmltv\tvGuide.xml xmlout=guidePlus.xml showfile=c:\users\Public\NPVR\showDetail.txt history=c:\users\Public\NPVR\guideHistory.txt rename=yes logfile=d:\Programs\guidePlus\guidePlus.log seriesDir=\\192.168.1.120\disk1\media\series moviedir=\\192.168.1.120\disk1\media\movies archiveAge=3
rem sync time
w32tm /resync

2. If I'm using the built-in connection to Schedules Direct for schedule data, am I good? Or do I need to do something else? It would be nice for there to be more metadata than what appears in Schedules Direct, but one of the reasons I'm recording what I'm recording is because there probably *isn't* any better source for the shows or metadata about them.

If you want the guide data changes you need to NOT use the built in connection since you need the XML. As to improved metadata GuidePlus tests the length of the description between schedules direct and its various sources (theTVDB, rageTV etc.) so the descriptions may be improved. It does not try to add further metadata (more actors etc.) beyond the original air date, season episode string, subtitle and longer description. Some things it does are no longer necessary (such as adding a * to episodes to new episodes) since similar functionality is now embedded in NPVR.

3. Will GuidePlus be able to rename and move files I've previously recorded, using the metadata NVPR got (directly from Schedules Direct?) at the time of recording? It would be handy to have the show name and episode title (or number, or original airdate) included in the filename (and the metadata, of course).

Yes that is exactly what it does - it renames with the episode title and s00e00 string and moves the files if directed to. The only caveat is it does this in bulk when the epg update is done not immediately after the recording. It also adds (new) to movies that are new to the guide so its easy to search for movies that you have not had a chance to record yet. Mileage may vary on it renaming older files since it needs some way to find the season and episode string and enough data may not be available. Also if there is no current pending recording of a series it needs to have that series manually added to the showfile, else it will not know to enhance and rename that series.

[equinoxe]

I've been struggling with getting guidePlus to work for a couple of weeks now but it seems to crash every time on execution - Attached is some captured output - any help would be greatly appreciated!

Eric

[carpeVideo]

I've been struggling with getting guidePlus to work for a couple of weeks now but it seems to crash every time on execution - Attached is some captured output - any help would be greatly appreciated!

Eric

Are you running on the NPVR box - it is not finding it installed:

"GBPVR/NPVR key / install directory not found."

This is causing the error (which could be better handled) when it tries to reach the database to rename your files

If you have npvr installed, what type of OS are you using? The keys it looks for are in : LocalMachine/Software/NPVR or LocalMachine/Software/Wow6432Node/NPVR

CV

[equinoxe]

Thanks for the quick reply - I am running on the NPVR box under XP and have verified the registry key is there - I've also tried running GuidePlus within the NPVR directory and still get the same error so I was wondering about a couple of options:

1. Possibly bad XML code (in which case is there a good automatic way to clean things up?)
2. Is there a way to explicitly state the NPVR directory or database location to be sure GP can see it?

As a bit more background, the EPG source is MC2XML for Bell TV (Canada) [Note: I've removed the French channels to ensure there is no weird characters perhaps causing issues]

I'm happy to run any debug code or anything else you may want to suggest - right now the PVR isn't in active service so I'm happy to experiment as necessary.

Thanks again for the help and a great app!

Eric

[equinoxe]

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]@carpeVideo

A quick update on this issue, I confirmed that the DB is being updated and then the crash occurs (I noticed the program name detail was altered by GP in NPVR). In trying to test further I moved GP to the same directory as the DB and removed any programs with non-alphanumeric characters (no change) - attached are updated output file and MS error reporting data in case they are helpful

[carpeVideo]

Quite odd - it says the error is opening the DB file yet it is getting updated in the DB file - let me put in some more logging messages and I will upload a new version for you to try

[carpeVideo]

Add the flag debug to the command line and give this one a shot, please reply with the log and screen shots again,

CV

[equinoxe]

I tried the new version with a debug flag (both with a filename and without) but it didn't seem to create any output. Attached are the latest screenshots and output in case they're useful.

On a side note, I have a separate batch file that simply performs an archive operation and that works perfectly - very odd

Thanks again for your help and patience with this - it's appreciated!

Eric