wiz.bin viewer

[malore]

Is anyone interested in a java script that prints out the show info for recorded shows and also can list all the shows every watched?

Sample:
----Files----
Title: Dilbert
Episode: Charity
Description: Charity groups solicit donations at Dilbert's office.
Category: Sitcom/Animated
Starring: Daniel Stern, Chris Elliott, Kathy Griffin, Gordon Hunt, Larry Miller, Jackie Hoffman
Guest Star: Tress MacNeille, Tom Kenny, Jim Wise, Gary Kroeger
Writer: Stephen Sustarsic, David Silverman
Executive Producer: Scott Adams, Larry Charles
Language: English
Originally Aired: 5/9/1999
Show ID: EP2913840011
Airing Time: Mon 2/2 2:30 AM
Duration: 30 min.
Closed Captioned, Stereo, TVPG
Station: Comedy Central
Channel: COMEDY
Encoded by: Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II Capture #2 DVD Extra Long Play ~ 1.8GB per hr
File: D:\TV\Dilbert-Charity-828346-0.mpg
Recorded: Mon 2/2 2:28 AM to Mon 2/2 3:02 AM

----Watched----
Dilbert - The Name - 1/24/1999
Dilbert - The Competition - 1/31/1999
Dilbert - The Prototype - 2/7/1999
Dilbert - The Takeover - 2/14/1999
Dilbert - Testing - 2/21/1999

[fidget]

I would like to have a utility that will dump the database (in XML?) and then allow it to be loaded back. This would be a more convenient way to archive the data that is stored in the wiz.bin file so that I can do a clean install and still retain the important data that is stored there.

[gplasky]

I think this could be very handy. Like fidget replied an export of this info would be very good too. XML, comma delimited, any type of dump would be helpful. Nice work.


Gerry

[Opus4]

nd if you can see what is watched... perhaps you could unmark them.

- Andy

[Deadbolt]

I would love a way in SageTV to automatically delete "watched" episodes after a certain amount of time (per each individual favorite and manual recording)...ie Watched episode of Seinfeld...30 days later it would record the same episode again.

Deadbolt

[falchulk]

Hmm, I thought the wiz.bin was an encrypted file?

[salsbst]

Well, it may or may not be encrypted but it certainly is binary and doesn't have a published file format. I could live without a viewer if I knew the file format. My main issue is with portability. I want to be able to restore wiz.bin if I need to move the Sage server from one machine to another, but without knowing how it interacts with sage.properties I don't think it would be wise.

[malore]

I recently purchased a DVD recorder and while experimenting with making my own DVD, I became annoyed by the chapter titles which came from the file names. Rather than spend a few minutes renaming the files by hand, I figured it would be a good idea to spend hours staring at a hex editor. Eventually, I figured out that wiz.bin is a relational database, which requires joining several different tables of information together to get the complete show information. Unless someone from Frey Technologies asks me not to, I plan on posting the java source code for my viewer. This will allow people to add any additional functionality they like and show the file format as I understand it.

[salsbst]

That's great... you might want to send them an email before publishing since I don't think they're actively monitoring the forum lately (presumably that had something to do with the change in moderators).

[falchulk]

Malore, does this viewer also show the guide data? If so, I have a feeling they are going to have a problem with it. I assumed since it contained the guide data, that it was encrypted. Thats why I never tried to access it at all. Otherwise an editor would be sweet. Having an application delete the entry from the database remotely would be awesome. I have other PC's that just play the files from a share on the sage box. Now that I know this, I will have to dig around........

[malore]

Falchulk, yes it can read the guide listings, it is necessary in order to the look up the information for the recorded files.

[dvsing]

I think a really nice feature would be to back up your favorite settings from the wiz.bin file. These are always a pain to restore if sage crashes and takes wiz.bin with it.

[sudipto]

This sounds like this will be a useful utility ... but of course, you should first check with Dan and Jeff if it is okay with them if you "reverse engineer" the wiz.bin file

[malore]

Sorry to disappoint anyone, but Jeff won’t authorize the release of my program, because he feels it violates the license agreement. I feel it falls more in the gray area of making things compatible with Microsoft documents, but the wiz.bin does contain more than just the user’s data, so he may have a point. I also hoped it wouldn’t be a problem because, back in September I asked this about SageTV 2: Will it provide any sort of access to the data in the Wiz.bin file? I don't know how much info is stored to mark a program is watched, but if possible I would like to be able to see for example how many episodes of the Simpsons, etc. I've watched.
Narflex (Jeff) responded:
You'll be able to do that no problem. There's extensive searching, filtering, sorting & grouping capabilites with the Studio.
You'll even be able to edit EPG data from within the UI.

So, I’ll have to wait and see what the studio can do, and maybe I’ll be able to make some add-ons for it. Apparently the SageTV 2 uses a different file format, so the usefulness of this viewer would be limited anyway.

[falchulk]

Thats what I thought his response would be. The guide data is a closely protected property for all pvr software. If you can access the file, you can redistribute it.

[justme]

Credit to malore for being a good Sage user and checking before releasing something that could cause Frey problems. I think we'll all be happy with the Studio when it comes out.

[Jason]

Originally posted by falchulk
Thats what I thought his response would be. The guide data is a closely protected property for all pvr software. If you can access the file, you can redistribute it.

Well, here comes the dilemna... which came first... the chicken or the egg? It seems that a MediaMVP client from Frey is not coming (in the near future...) until an SDK from Hauppauge is released. Hauppauge is not releasing one soon... Which then turns all of the MVP users to third party coders to help setup a 'frontend'. Part of setting up the frontend would be the ability to review the EPG. Alas, Frey cannot allow us access to the data for fear that someone (and they are right... someone would ) distribute that info. Which leads us back to waiting for Frey to release a client for the MVP... Does anyone see the dilemna?

So now we have another dilemna... Sage and BTV are in close competition (so to speak...) for the PVR software package of choice for most folks out there. BTV users have access to the EPG data and thus have been able to put together a kludge of a front end for the MVP. This effectively gives them a MediaMVP/BTV client... something that has already been announced from Frey!

So, I ask everyone... why can it be done for other software? Is there no way to allow access to the data? We all have keys that we recevied when we purchased Sage... could those keys not be integrated into the access somehow?

If we keep on waiting for Hauppauge to release an MVP SDK, and then wait for the Frey version of the client, we will be waiting a VERY Long time. Sage is the best package so far... let's try and keep it there, by not arbitrarily stifling third party development. There has to be some middle ground that will satisfy all the parties involved... No?

-Jason

[Cayars]

Not to harp on the subject but BTV has another advantage over SageTV when dealing with external hardware devices too (MVP or others).

BTV lets you setup folders for specific shows or types of shows. Put all adult recordings in an Adult folder (on hard drive), put all kids shows in a "Kids" folder, all normal TV shows in a "TVShows" folder and all movies in a "movies" folder. Can be done any way you want.

Because of the true directory structure on hard drive it makes it very easy to setup external devices like the MVP to access your content without special hooks. Most devices allow you to set password restrictions at the folder level (Parental control). Besides parental control/security, it makes for easy navigation on the device.

You could setup one MVP with folder mapping only to the kids shows and give this MVP to the kids. You could setup another MVP in the house with access to everything but adult content and give this to the teanager, etc...

The point of this post is to get Dan/Jeff to maybe think about letting us setup specific folders in SageTV in future versions and allow us to pick where a favorite is recorded to. This time/testing to get this working in SageTV would be an investment in the future to allow much greater out "of-the-box" functionality with the external devices.

Carlo

[Jason]

Originally posted by Cayars
Not to harp on the subject but BTV has another advantage over SageTV when dealing with external hardware devices too (MVP or others).

BTV lets you setup folders for specific shows or types of shows. Put all adult recordings in an Adult folder (on hard drive), put all kids shows in a "Kids" folder, all normal TV shows in a "TVShows" folder and all movies in a "movies" folder. Can be done any way you want.

Because of the true directory structure on hard drive it makes it very easy to setup external devices like the MVP to access your content without special hooks. Most devices allow you to set password restrictions at the folder level (Parental control). Besides parental control/security, it makes for easy navigation on the device.

I agree! While I do not want to take away the focus from the wiz.bin issue, this is a great point! The auto_categorize_epg=true in the sage.properties file does not truly perform like I had envisioned. Let the file system categorize the files...

-Jason

[ToonGal]

Originally posted by Jason
1) Is there no way to allow access to the data?
2) could those keys not be integrated into the access somehow?

1) There's a very EASY way to access this data. Malore showed you that he understands the structure (in the first post) and wrote a utility to decode it. Before I found this thread, I took Hackman Hex Editor to the 'wiz.bin' file and deconstructed the basic parameters of the file within two hours. Most of that time was figuring out that weird time value; hint: Unix=(hex(date*15180)/hex(5265C)). I documented the structure, but never pursued writing the utility similar to his, given I am not sure if v2 uses the same format; I really didn't want to waste my time were they different.

2) Again, easily achieved. However, Frey isn't thrilled with the potential non-customers accessing this information, and there are problems on two fronts: a) a utility that decodes wiz.bin - malore abided by their wish to not publish it, a request I will also honor, and b) any access integration is easily spoofed, by those who would care to do so, causing the same protection problem to that data.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that the data should be made "public" by opening some SDK which works with a plug-in mentality. My main attraction to Sage is the techno-savvy group which is here. Most other PVRs (non-Linux/open ones) seem to be packaged and not expandable. Sage has possibilities from its architecture which are unlimited.

I've posted before that I like the myHTPC approach, where external XML models (worst case) can be integrated into the core. I would -SO- love to become a developer for Sage, merely for the benefit of using the improved product. Hope the 'open' approach is the long-term plan to help keep up with the competition. If Sage doesn't, I know Linux ones will...