Schedules Direct EPG Plugin PoC Completed

[Slugger]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

So if I use a combination of cable and OTA, and select my cable lineup at the SD site, any additional OTA channels that I receive that are not available from my cable provider will not get any guide data?

In theory, yes. You can create multiple lineups with SD. I haven't tested this, but if you created multiple lineups in SD such that this plugin pulls them all in then you may be able to then do the old Sage core trick of assigning channels from one lineup into another. I really don't know if that'll work, just thinking out loud.

[pkscout]

Originally Posted by Slugger

In theory, yes. You can create multiple lineups with SD. I haven't tested this, but if you created multiple lineups in SD such that this plugin pulls them all in then you may be able to then do the old Sage core trick of assigning channels from one lineup into another. I really don't know if that'll work, just thinking out loud.

If all we are doing is changing the source of the EPG data, it seems like this would work the way it does now. I have two OTA tuners and two QAM tuners. The OTA tuners are assigned one lineup and the two QAM tuners are assigned another lineup. I've never needed to assign a channel from one lineup to another to get all the channels to show up in the guide or record from them.

Or am I missing something?

[Slugger]

Originally Posted by pkscout

If all we are doing is changing the source of the EPG data, it seems like this would work the way it does now. I have two OTA tuners and two QAM tuners. The OTA tuners are assigned one lineup and the two QAM tuners are assigned another lineup. I've never needed to assign a channel from one lineup to another to get all the channels to show up in the guide or record from them.

Or am I missing something?

This use case wouldn't be a problem. Schedules Direct allows you to configure up to 4 separate lineups per SD account. The only difference with this plugin is that it only has access to the channels and lineups defined in your SD account. With the core EPG feed, you can give it any arbitrary Z2I channel ID and add that channel to any lineup because the core EPG feed has access to every channel known to Z2I. This plugin only has access to the channels available to your SD account and nothing more.

[tmiranda]

Sage started getting channel logos and some fanart from zap2it as well. Does SD provide that too?

[Slugger]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Sage started getting channel logos and some fanart from zap2it as well. Does SD provide that too?

No.

[sdsean]

Ok but it what is sounds like is that I could have 2 line-ups, one from Canada and one from the U.S., and thereby do the channel mapping that I need to do to get the correct info, correct?

Now of course this assumes that I still need to do this. . b/c like I said I have always found it weird that Sage's service didn't get the game matchup's right even-though I know the data is there and BeyondTV got it right (mostly).

I will wait till it's more stable / have a solid install/un-install rollback. . .but It's good to know that there is work here in case Sage's EPG service falls off the map due to acquisition.

Please keep going, and I'd be glad (as I'm sure others would as well) to donate to said project if need be. . .

[Slugger]

Originally Posted by sdsean

Ok but it what is sounds like is that I could have 2 line-ups, one from Canada and one from the U.S., and thereby do the channel mapping that I need to do to get the correct info, correct?

Now of course this assumes that I still need to do this. . b/c like I said I have always found it weird that Sage's service didn't get the game matchup's right even-though I know the data is there and BeyondTV got it right (mostly).

I will wait till it's more stable / have a solid install/un-install rollback. . .but It's good to know that there is work here in case Sage's EPG service falls off the map due to acquisition.

Please keep going, and I'd be glad (as I'm sure others would as well) to donate to said project if need be. . .

Yes, you should be able to define two lineups at SD and then assign channels from one into the other within Sage as a way to get the game data in your EPG. With that said, I haven't even thought about testing that yet. I've got the code done to login to your SD account, identify which lineups you've defined, and download those lineups into your EPG. And now I've stopped for awhile (after all, I'm suppose to be on SageTV coding holidays until late Sep/early Oct ).

The code is stable enough now that if Google decided to shutdown the EPG server tomorrow, I'd be up and running in less than 5 mins with Schedules Direct - that's my initial goal. Now assuming Google does what they say - at least 12 months of EPG server - then I've got plenty of time to tweak the plugin.

As for donation status, the plugin will fall under my sagetv-addons project, which is licensed based. However, with all my plugins, basic functionality is provided without a license and usually value-added functionality is where the license is required (or, as always, you can build and deploy all my plugins on your own and bypass all licensing requirements - it's all open source, after all).

The plan is that standard EPG download will be license free. I've got some ideas for value-added features, including the ability to filter and modify the EPG data as it's being loaded. For example, some shows on FOX never have the HD flag properly set on the HD feeds and so Sage always records from the SD channels. With these filters, you'll be able to apply custom EPG changes to shows that match your identified filters. These types of features will be disabled without the license. These value added features are also just plans, they may not ever happen, but the idea popped into my head as I was writing the basic functionality. But basic EPG loading functionality will be license free, especially since without the basic feature, Sage becomes useless.

[valerio]

Slugger,

First and foremost a big thank you for taking the time to develop such plugin that will ensure a much needed longer life to the great Sage TV. I am sure most of Sage users share my opinion.

May I suggest you share your website or some other contact information so that in the unlikely event the forums go down for whatever reason (even a technical one) we can still get in touch to get the EPG plugin when the time comes?
(I hope you have some Internet presence besides Facebook and such, for some of us that do not have social media accounts).

Valerio

[tmiranda]

Slugger,

I also want to say thanks for this "insurance policy". Although I don't think Google will turn off the EPG feed anytime soon I'm glad your plugin will be ready if they do.

I'm sticking to Sage for the forseeable future.

Tom

[graywolf]

Originally Posted by valerio

Slugger,

First and foremost a big thank you for taking the time to develop such plugin that will ensure a much needed longer life to the great Sage TV. I am sure most of Sage users share my opinion.

May I suggest you share your website or some other contact information so that in the unlikely event the forums go down for whatever reason (even a technical one) we can still get in touch to get the EPG plugin when the time comes?
(I hope you have some Internet presence besides Facebook and such, for some of us that do not have social media accounts).

Valerio

http://code.google.com/p/sagetv-addons/ is his site for all his plug ins.

[Slugger]

Originally Posted by valerio

May I suggest you share your website or some other contact information so that in the unlikely event the forums go down for whatever reason (even a technical one) we can still get in touch to get the EPG plugin when the time comes?
(I hope you have some Internet presence besides Facebook and such, for some of us that do not have social media accounts).

Valerio

Originally Posted by graywolf

http://code.google.com/p/sagetv-addons/ is his site for all his plug ins.

Yeah, that's the project site. Besides cell/text msgs, the quickest ways to reach me are 1) email or 2) Twitter. If you don't have my cell number then you won't be getting it, sorry. Assuming you don't, I'm more than happy to share my email address with anyone, I just won't post it in a public forum so PM me if you want it. My twitter URL is in my sig (I'm @ddb_db on twitter). I do have a facebook page, but I don't really use it too often. My twitter posts are auto posted on my facebook wall, and that's about all you'll ever see posted from me on fb. With that said, I will get facebook messages, too. Email is your best bet as it's pushed to my iPhone, which usually isn't more than an arm's length away from me.

Worst case scenario, should "doom's day" arrive, and you have no way of contacting me re: my plugins then open a ticket on the above project site, I'll see it and respond to it.

[drewg]

Originally Posted by Slugger

Me neither, but it is what it is. The 'live' airing flag is very important to me as well. The season/series premiere/finale flags aren't critical, but I've come to know and love them. mc2xml does not provide this info nor does xmltv.

According to the mc2xml web page, they may have some of this information with the version of mc2xml offered to donors of $20 or more. It says this new versions uses the Win7 guide data:


Microsoft's (newest) service: If you have used Windows 7 you might have noticed more program information in the guide. It uses a completely new TV data service that seems to support everything that the microsoft legacy service supported, but adds full ATSC/subchannel support ("Digital Terrestrial"), plus listings include writer/producer credits, some season info, DVD cover & program images, as well as other miscellaneous program details.

Drew

[davephan]

Did you need to block the EPG from SageTV EPG provider so that you know that the information is coming from Schedules Direct?

Dave

[Slugger]

Originally Posted by drewg

According to the mc2xml web page, they may have some of this information with the version of mc2xml offered to donors of $20 or more. It says this new versions uses the Win7 guide data:


Microsoft's (newest) service: If you have used Windows 7 you might have noticed more program information in the guide. It uses a completely new TV data service that seems to support everything that the microsoft legacy service supported, but adds full ATSC/subchannel support ("Digital Terrestrial"), plus listings include writer/producer credits, some season info, DVD cover & program images, as well as other miscellaneous program details.

Drew

Yeah, I emailed the author, the donator's version/W7MC data doesn't have any of the details that we'd be missing. I can't seem to find an answer as to how or where Jeff gets these details for the Sage EPG data. I'm assuming he can't answer me now even if he wanted to.

Schedules Direct and mc2xml (free) actually provide episode info, except it's not in any standard format. It's in whatever format the producer of each show deems appropriate. There is no obvious way to map the given field to a reliable season/episode number. Further more, I can say that Sage doesn't use this field either because I did some research and there's no way Sage is mapping that field to anything reliable. Jeff is getting it either through extra fields from TMS that SD doesn't get or is augmenting the data from TMS with other (unknown) sources. Either way, the data (season/ep num, premiere/finale info, etc.) currently isn't available via SD nor mc2xml.

[Slugger]

Originally Posted by davephan

Did you need to block the EPG from SageTV EPG provider so that you know that the information is coming from Schedules Direct?

Dave

When you tell Sage to use an EPG plugin, it automatically stops talking to the Sage EPG server and calls the assigned EPG plugin class instead when it does an EPG update.

[valerio]

Thank you. I would not even assume of getting your cell number, no need for that at all. The website and email are great, as a last resort in case of catastrophe.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by valerio

Thank you. I would not even assume of getting your cell number, no need for that at all. The website and email are great, as a last resort in case of catastrophe.

In case of catstrophie I was going to run a banner ad on the Edmonton Oilers or Miami Dolphins scoreboard: "Slugger, Where Art Thou?"

[VCRUser]

Which version(s) of Sage does this support?

[davephan]

Originally Posted by Slugger

Yeah, that's the project site. Besides cell/text msgs, the quickest ways to reach me are 1) email or 2) Twitter. If you don't have my cell number then you won't be getting it, sorry. Assuming you don't, I'm more than happy to share my email address with anyone, I just won't post it in a public forum so PM me if you want it. My twitter URL is in my sig (I'm @ddb_db on twitter). I do have a facebook page, but I don't really use it too often. My twitter posts are auto posted on my facebook wall, and that's about all you'll ever see posted from me on fb. With that said, I will get facebook messages, too. Email is your best bet as it's pushed to my iPhone, which usually isn't more than an arm's length away from me.

Worst case scenario, should "doom's day" arrive, and you have no way of contacting me re: my plugins then open a ticket on the above project site, I'll see it and respond to it.

I did not see the Schedules Direct plug-in on your web site. Could you post a link where to download it?

I think it would be a good idea for someone to start collecting e-mails from everyone on this forum that wants to be on an e-mail notification list. The e-mail notification list will be needed before this forum is shut down. If this forum is shut down, it will probably happen fast with no warning. Then many of the current forum users can be notified by e-mail what forum will replace this forum. It would be best if the replacement forum was a place that is independent of Google.


Dave

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by davephan

I did not see the Schedules Direct plug-in on your web site. Could you post a link where to download it?

I think it would be a good idea for someone to start collecting e-mails from everyone on this forum that wants to be on an e-mail notification list. The e-mail notification list will be needed before this forum is shut down. If this forum is shut down, it will probably happen fast with no warning. Then many of the current forum users can be notified by e-mail what forum will replace this forum. It would be best if the replacement forum was a place that is independent of Google.


Dave

It is not yet available because it currently is against the schedules direct ToS (which restricts it to free/non-market software). It will take an exception to be made for sage (since you could argue it's non-market) to make it a legit option.