SUB please read RE: Zap2It

[ram4x4nut]

Hey Sub, how ya doin?

Just found out that Zap2It has throttled back their service to 3 days. Well that's what they say anyway but now I snag just over one day from them!

What other options do we have in the US? I'm really getting tired of Zap2it mucking around with things.

Please help as this is REALLY affecting the WAF here.

Thanks,

T

[Jim_]

Same here, 7-days with never a problem strait to 1-day,,, a 1-day scheduler serves little purpose in life.
This should be a wakeup call for everyone considering throwing mega bucks into a dedicated pvr.

[sub]

Theres not really anything I can do about it if they choose limit the service to three days. It sounds like a bummer. There is probably more to it than zap2it are letting on... (can anyone say 'pressure from companies that have to pay for exactly the same listings'?)

I've just checked here, and I get the full three days (well, 2.5 days, but I'm putting that down to timezone differences). If you dont think you're getting three days, I'm happy to take a look in config.exe.log to see if I can see anything.

[bhays]

Do they sell a subscription option?

[ram4x4nut]

It looks like I am getting about 2.5 days. What I want to know is if there is a different service we can use here in the US even if I have to pay for a subscription? 2.5-3 days just isn't enough. I was thinking maybe you could look at pulling from titantv (it comes with Haup's wintv scheduler) or something like that. Maybe even make this something that a plugin could be built for?

[sub]

No, there isnt any other free guide for US that I'm aware of. GB-PVR isnt allowed to use the titantv listings without permission.

Before the current zap2it DataDirect interface, people use to use a zap2it website screen scraper for producing XMLTV files, which could be used in all sorts of PVR apps including GB-PVR. I'm sure if it persists, something like this reappear, maybe using zap2it data or possible titantv or somewhere entirely different.

[wtg]

Is XMLTV not an option for U.S. users?

[sub]

The current XMLTV grabber for the US just calls the same zap2it interface, so it'll also be limited to three days.

[wtg]

Are there subscription services that could even be used? I mean, free is great but I wouldn't mind paying for zap2it or Titan TV as long it was pretty reasonable.

And does anyone know if pulling the guide right off the cable feed or off the air it possible? For instance, my RCA TV has a built in guide that it gets right right off the basic cable line, something that apparently exists throughout the US at least. It's apparently transmitted in the same part of the signal that Closed Captioning is a part of so it doesn't require any special service or cost anything. RCA calls it Guide Plus Gold. I've wondered why some smart cookie hasn't made a way for the capture cards to get access to this too.

[capone]

From the zap2it forums:

"To address current performance and availability issues, we're temporarily scaling back downloads from 13 days to 3 days. This is a temporary fix, not a policy change."

Breathe, people, breathe....relax...serenity now...