STV Import: Favorite Channel Lists

[BobPhoenix]

This SageTV plug-in allows you to limit the display in the standard EPG listing to only those channels that you want. You can group them however you want. This plug-in does not disable the channels it just limits the display to only those channels that you wish to display. So favorites will still record from channels that are not displayed in the EPG guide.

One grouping that I have done is to put all of my HDTV channels together so that I don't have to look at the SDTV channels or page through them.

You setup your Favorite Channel Lists from the Customize menu. Scroll to the bottom of the customize menu and you will get a screen something like this


Then just select the Setup button above and you will get a menu that looks somewhat like this:


Just setup your favorite channels by clicking on the Channel name/number on the right hand pane and if it is a new favorite select the New Favorite menu item. A popup box will appear asking you to name the Favorite. If you have numeric text entry enabled you can enter a readable name with your remote only.

Another thing the screen above shows is that you can restrict the EPG display to only those channels on a specific favorite that you have saved. You must have parental controls enabled for these menu options to show up on the screen.

If you have parental controls enabled and you have restricted the EPG display to a specific favorite channel list the menu above will be locked and when you select unlock you must enter the Parental Lock Code to display the full screen. It looks like this:


Once you have your favorites setup just exit setup and go to the program guide. To select a favorite channel list - Unless you have restricted it - you must bring up the options dialog in the EPG display and select your favorite channel list from there. It looks like this:


When you click on the button showing your current list (Default EPG is "All Channels" by the way) another popup menu allows you to select the list you are interested in. If parental controls are enabled and you have restricted the EPG display to a specific list another popup menu will ask you for the Parental Lock Code.

After selecting your list the guide will change and when you exit the options menu your display may look like:

I have just the four channels above in the SDTV favorite channel list on my system so that is all that is displayed in the EPG. NOTE your favorites are not limited to these channels just the EPG display.

To download this plugin go to the downloads section.

The current version is 0.9 and the zip archive contains further screen shots in some documentation I put into a PDF - so you will need a acrobat reader to read it. Version 0.9 also adds the ability to store the lists on the server, use the Guide SageTV command to cycle through your lists and to type a number to go directly to that channel in the Favorite Channel Lists menu similar to how the EPG menu works. There has also been a version for the SageMC STV created by mlbdude included in the zip file.

The FCL menu now has an options menu accessed by pressing the options button on your remote or keyboard and looks like this:


NOTE the documentation has been updated as of 04/12/2006 to include the new features in this version.

If you have suggestions or problems post to this thread and I will see what I can do to resolve them. This is my first attempt at anything with Studio so bare with me on changes as they may take a while - I am still learning.

Also this has only been tested with SageTV 4.1.x.

Bug/Feature list for Version 0.9:

• Bug Fixed: While watching a video if you bring up the EPG guide and you have video background or window enabled the EPG guide becomes locked and the SageTV GUI needs to be rebooted to change the Favorite Channel List. - fixed after version 0.9

• Bug Fixed: In the options menu of the EPG guide the rows and columns were broken after the import. This was introduced in version 0.8 and has been fixed (hopefully to never return) in version 0.9.

• New Feature: FCL's can now be stored on the Server (the default) and can be copied to and from Server and Client

• New Feature: FCL's can now be cycled thru in the EPG guide with the SageTV Guide command as well as the Custom1 thru Custom5 commands. The Guide command retains it's default function if not selected or if a quick second press of the button is used

• New Feature: When setting up your FCL's in the setup menu you can enter a number to jump the display directly to the channel number

• SageMC Version with the same features as the regular STV version and also has the same ability in the Guide by Channels menu as the regular Guide menu in SageMC

• New Feature: ability to be re-imported over itself. It cannot however be imported over previous versions - Except for the SageMC version which has always had this capability

Bug/Feature list for Version 0.9.5:

• Fixed bug where all channels with the same channel number that are included in a FCL would all be listed.

• The channel bug fix required the format of the channel lists to change. It used to be just the channel number in the list. Now it is the StationID since those are unique and the channel numbers are not.

Bug fix & SageTV version fix 1.1.1:

• Fixed version incompatibilty between this plugin and SageTV V6

• Fixed a bug that didn't allow newly created FCL's to show up until the SageTV GUI was rebooted

Bug fix & SageTV version update now Version 1.1.4

• created a new version that is compatible with SageTV 6.2.x

• old version 1.1.3 included for SageTV 6.1.9 and earlier

Updated SageMC version to be compatible with SageMC 6.3.4 the Default STV version has NOT changed.

• Moved the Detailed Setup menu configuration option to the SageMC Options Extras menu

• Old version of FCLforSageMC have been put into an archive in the STV\SageTV3 directory

• Updated code to work with changes needed for SageMC 6.3.4 - this will NOT import into prior versions check the archive for older versions

BobP.

[wheelrandolph]

Thanks BobPhoenix--it really looks nice and will be quite usefull to me. My HD channels are all over the EPG and grouping them into a FAV list is great. Can't wait to try it.

Randy

[aperry]

This is awesome, hopefully something that will be incorporated into the main product at some point. I know that many people have been hoping for it to get added...

Thanks very much for the work on this!

[BobPhoenix]

Your welcome. Althought the idea and some of the code came from the Cayars STV. I adapted what he had and made what I think are improvements and incorporated it into the current release of SageTV. I don't know if this was Cayars work or if he got it from some other persons work. So thanks really belongs with the original author - whoever that might be.

BobP.

[rp1790]

Hey, thanks for this plugin, it works great and is something I've really been looking for. The WAF just went up one.

[kha]

Thank you very much for the great plugin!

Is there a way to easily switch between different lists without going into options menu. Ideally, I would like to toggle different lists by pressing an EPG button multiple times.

Regards,

MK

[BobPhoenix]

I could add that as an option on one of the Custom buttons for a remote: Custom3 for instance. Would that work for you?

My goal was to change the actual EPG layout as little as possible so I only update the menu name at the top. Plus I was matching what the Cayars STV from 2.x produced except where I enhanced the channel setup screen - didn't really like Cayars here. Plus it had a bug where the green selection didn't show until after you move the highlight off the channel button - fixed that. The other new feature was the parental control aspect.

BobP.

[kha]

<Custom 3> button toggling through all available channel lists, including the default (all channels) would be great!

Regards,
MK

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by kha

<Custom 3> button toggling through all available channel lists, including the default (all channels) would be great!

Regards,
MK

Well Custom 3 should probably be avoided since it is used in the Linux version already. I could bring up the selection list with the guide button along with the option to go back to the current time display (what guide command does currently) - Thanks for suggestion Opus. Will that work? It's not a cycle like you suggested but it does cut out the options menu popup and take you straight to a selection list. Or I could use Custom4 to cycle if that is your preference. Just let me know which you would prefer.

BobP.

[kha]

Thank you very much for your replies.

I would strongly prefer a single button (be it <Custom4> or any other one to cycle through different EPG screens without going into options menu.

If I understand you correctly, your other suggestion (about automatically bringing up the selection list with the guide button along with the option to go back to the current time display) is not bad, but it would be a good additional feature (not a replacement for a single button cycling capability). Also there should be a way to disable this selection pop-up for people who just want to go directly to an EPG.

Best regards,
MK.

[BobPhoenix]

OK I'll make one of the custom buttons cycle through the choices - think I'll skip the guide button since the list is available in options currently. Now as to time frame for this change. I have another plugin that I'm working on currently that is almost finished so I will start on this change after that. This means maybe this weekend but most likely next week.

BobP.

[kha]

Thank you in advance!

MK

[jtt88]

Nice job with this! I've been wanting/waiting for this for quite a while since I first mentioned it on the forums. I had this with Dish Network (don't have Dish anymore because I moved) and liked it and I know my kids did too.

I agree that having a button that I can map on my remote to toggle through them would be perfect.

[BobPhoenix]

OK I just uploaded Version 0.7. It no longer requires that the Unsupported Extras be enabled to display the setup option. It also allows you to switch between the various lists with one of the Custom SageTV commands. The default is CUSTOM1 but you can change it to any of the other Custom commands by changing a property setting. The propery to change is: "RDP/favorite_channel_custom=". The value must be in all CAPS or you will actually disable this feature.

I tried but was unable to create a version that would install overt the top of an existing version. Just had too many loops in the code to handle. So make sure that you install this with a fresh copy of your STV without this import installed. Sorry I'm still looking at fixing this.

BobP.

[silkshadow]

Thanks BobPhoenix, this is defiunately something I miss from Cayars ! Man, I think a full cayars STV is possible now, this is wonderful!

[kha]

BobPhoenix,

Thank you very much! I have tried the new version and it works nicely!

One thing, which would still be nice to have, is to be able to go to an EPG directly by pressing the new <Custom1> button. At the moment you have to use 2 remote control buttons to see the desired EPG from, say, the main menu: (1) an <EPG> button to go to EPG; (2) <Custom1> button to cycle to the desired EPG.

Ideally, if <Custom1> button would be associated with both actions (going to EPG and cycling through the EPG's), a single remote control button would be sufficient for all EPG-related operations.

What do you think?

Once again, thank you very much for your great work!

MK

[Alfiegerner]

Hi BobPhoenix,

Any chance of a release for SageMC users? Apologies if this is asking too much

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by kha

BobPhoenix,

Thank you very much! I have tried the new version and it works nicely!

One thing, which would still be nice to have, is to be able to go to an EPG directly by pressing the new <Custom1> button. At the moment you have to use 2 remote control buttons to see the desired EPG from, say, the main menu: (1) an <EPG> button to go to EPG; (2) <Custom1> button to cycle to the desired EPG.

Ideally, if <Custom1> button would be associated with both actions (going to EPG and cycling through the EPG's), a single remote control button would be sufficient for all EPG-related operations.

What do you think?

Once again, thank you very much for your great work!

MK

There are only 2 ways that I see that I could do that:

1. Make the Custom1 button a global "Listener" and then any press of the button will take you to the EPG display. But that would eliminate the use of the button in any other menu by anyone else - at least I think it would.
2. I could put this functionality on the Guide command. But if I do this then I don't see how I would be able to allow the default operation of the Guide command which returns the display to the current time and date. I guess I could make the Custom1 button have this functionality but that might cause confusion for others.

Neither way is in my opinion a great option but #1 would be the least intrusive. If I do that then it will be lock into Custom1. I'll have to think about this for a while. Maybe I can think of a way for option #2 - which would be my preference - if I can figure a way to do it.

BobP.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Alfiegerner

Hi BobPhoenix,

Any chance of a release for SageMC users? Apologies if this is asking too much

I have never used SageMC but I will look into it.

BobP.

[BobPhoenix]

I will have to update this plugin for the new beta. It is NOT compatible with 4.1.7. Just tried it myself and while the program guide works the rest does not. The configuration menu item in detailed setup does not install correctly and the main configuration menu for the Favorite Channel lists also disappears. Until I update this do NOT instal it on the 4.1.7 beta. Sorry about that. But does give me an out to make this importable on top of itself now that previous versions don't work.

EDIT: The actual fix for this was be easy and fix is attached to this post. But I would like to update it to install over the top of itself which will take longer. I will work on the import feature and release it as a new version number. Also this STVi should work with earlier versions but has not been tested on anything but 4.1.7.

Edit: Removed the file when new version was uploaded to the downloads section which fixed a bug I introduced in 0.7 - opps.

BobP.