How do i get XMLTV running for australia (1 Viewer)

[samuel337]

new XMLTV grabber for Australia

Hey guys, I have developed a new XMLTV grabber which uses data from DevelopmentOne, a company in Melbourne who is letting other people use their data.

It is significantly faster than TVHarvest ( as it doesn't need to parse the webpages, it just downloads the data). There have been reports of discrepancies with their data, but none of which I can find, so it should be alright. I've been using it with myHTPC and MP and it works fine.

Unfortunately I can't attach it on to this forum, so if anyone wants a copy, send me a PM and I'll email it to you.

EDIT: Here the link for it: http://members.dinkum.net.au/plai33/D1XMLTVGrabber.zip

Sam

 

[Anonymous]

Cool. 8) The PM is on its way.

Does your script use the tag <icon source> ?

If not (or if you want to keep using TVharvest), here is how to match up the icons to the names in the xml data:

http://nolanparty.com/mediaportal.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=313

icons available here:

http://www.satlogo.com/tvcountry/au.html

 

[dogboy]

forbes

Good work, worked like a charm, but with TVharvest creating an xml file for each day specified in the config, how do you handle only being able to use the one file name (tvguide.xml) when you want to look up whats on tomorrow?

Dogboy

 

[Anonymous]

Dogboy,

not quite sure what you mean. I have TVharvest setup so it downloads 6 days worth and it puts it all in one single xml file (it calls it listing2.xml by default). If you rename it tvguide.xml, MP's EPG should apply all the listings for the next 6 days. To be honest, I am not yet using MP in a "production" environment so I haven't tested out how well it really works. I have a number of critiria that I have to get working properly before I make the full switch to MP (from myHTPC). This was the first real hurdle that stopped me.

I am at work now so I can't see if I can scroll through all 6 days or not. Let me know how you get on.

I got the Package from Sam last night, so I am going to be trying that out. If that works as expected then I think it will be a much better overall solution. TVharvest just takes too long to extract all the data. Also, if Sam was willing to share his code, it could be integrated into MP's config drop downbox for XMLTV data and would provide a far more integrated experience. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

don't know if this is the same thing Sam is talking about:

http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/Workspaces/Workspace.aspx?id=fba075d5-0ebb-454d-b2c8-062de0689a1f

it has the source code on the page and according to the software licence, it should be alright if someone wanted to integrate it into MP (though I doubt that will happen, as it is too region specific and MP is an international production)

Shared Source License for AuXmlTvGrabber

This license governs use of the accompanying software ('Software'), and your
use of the Software constitutes acceptance of this license.


You may use the Software for any commercial or noncommercial purpose,
including distributing derivative works.

In return, we simply require that you agree:
1. Not to remove any copyright or other notices from the Software.
2. That if you distribute the Software in source code form you do so only
under this license (i.e. you must include a complete copy of this license
with your distribution), and if you distribute the Software solely in
object form you only do so under a license that complies with this
license.
3. That the Software comes "as is", with no warranties. None whatsoever.
This means no express, implied or statutory warranty, including without
limitation, warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular
purpose or any warranty of title or non-infringement. Also, you must pass
this disclaimer on whenever you distribute the Software or derivative
works.
4. That no contributor to the Software will be liable for any of those types
of damages known as indirect, special, consequential, or incidental
related to the Software or this license, to the maximum extent the law
permits, no matter what legal theory it’s based on. Also, you must pass
this limitation of liability on whenever you distribute the Software or
derivative works.
5. That if you sue anyone over patents that you think may apply to the
Software for a person's use of the Software, your license to the Software
ends automatically.
6. That the patent rights, if any, granted in this license only apply to the
Software, not to any derivative works you make.
7. That the Software is subject to U.S. export jurisdiction at the time it
is licensed to you, and it may be subject to additional export or import
laws in other places. You agree to comply with all such laws and
regulations that may apply to the Software after delivery of the software
to you.
8. That if you are an agency of the U.S. Government, (i) Software provided
pursuant to a solicitation issued on or after December 1, 1995, is
provided with the commercial license rights set forth in this license,
and (ii) Software provided pursuant to a solicitation issued prior to
December 1, 1995, is provided with “Restricted Rights” as set forth in
FAR, 48 C.F.R. 52.227-14 (June 1987) or DFAR, 48 C.F.R. 252.227-7013
(Oct 1988), as applicable.
9. That your rights under this License end automatically if you breach it in
any way.
10.That all rights not expressly granted to you in this license are reserved.

 

[sla]

I got xmltv to work in Australia, using the tv_grab_au from http://www.onlinetractorparts.com.au/rohbags/xmltvau/index.html

Yes, it did take a bit of setting up. But now that I have it set up, I can zip up the files (includes tvguide.bat, tv_grab_au.conf and channels_ids in the correct locations) and send it to anyone who wants it. tv_grab_au requires perl to be installed.

 

[samuel337]

Hey guys

The auxmltvgrabber is a project by another fella, not me. I've played with it a bit, and it basically does the same thing as mine (I didn't find his when I developed mine...bugger, otherwise I would've used his). It has less options though and doesn't list the regions and providers. However, the guy whose creating that is working on a new version.

Dogboy:
I'm not too sure what you're talking about either, as I used to use TvHarvest, and it dumped multiple days' worth of data into one file, listing2.xml.

sla:
congrats on getting tv_grab_au to work. It uses the DevOne data source as well. I got sick of meddling with perl and stuff so I created mine :lol:

Sam

 

[Anonymous]

I have tried out Sam's grabber and it works really well. Much faster (a few seconds compared to about 30 minutes for TVharvest) and it seem to contain more info for the programme descriptions. Normally my TVharvest xml file was about 300KB, with Sam's it was double that.

I did have problems getting MP to read the file. I don't think Sam's xml file is at fault as myHTPC's EPG could read it fine. It must be a problem with the way I have channels setup. Will have a better look at the weekend. I'm still having real problems with just getting any tv from my AIW 9600xt.

I press F3 and it just says "TVguide import failed, no programs found". Anyone any ideas?



Sam
Thanks, it works really well. Don't know if its worth it for MP, but could you add the ability to exclude specific channels from being included in the xml file. Can't think of any other suggestions for it. It does its job really nicely. If you could be bothered, I suppose you could build a GUI config window to select the region/channel settings via down boxes and the ability to set up a scheduled task for it to run. To be honest I don't think its worth it, as I think it should be a MP global thing.



Gizmomelb

though I doubt that will happen, as it is too region specific and MP is an international production

Agreed, it is an internal production, however I disagree that it is too region specific.

All the other xmltv grabbers (remember there is currently only about ten in MP at the moment) all have to be configured with a initial manual setup similiar to Sam's. Once the're set you can normally just leave them as they are. However these setups normally require Command Line Interface work with switches and help files. I realise this is childs play for most PM forum members but is not the friendly interface you want for this to become mainstream. If you look at any HTPC forum, one of the biggest areas of confusion for newbies is the EPG setup.

I think it would be relatively straight forward (disclaimer: I am not a programmer per se, I so don't really know what I am taking about :lol: ) to built a front end for these. You select which country you're in, and if there is a grabber available it lets you select that and then asks you the region specific questions (probably only three or four bits of info) and injects this into a suitable config file. If the country does not have a grabber it lets you know and moves on. As new grabbers are created for other countries, they can be added. You get the idea.

All this could be part of the installation wizard.

(I had a similar thought regarding video/tv card setups on installation over here: http://nolanparty.com/mediaportal.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1062
but I think it fell on deaf ears.

Dogboy
Are you still having problems with TVharvest? Are you remembering to hit F3 to reload the xml file.
Post your TVharvest.config file and we can take a look at it for you. How big is the listing2.xml you are getting?

 

[samuel337]

After poking around and scanning the MP source code (that was hard, I'm a VB.NET programmer, not C#) I have concluded that the data that my xmltv grabber produces doesn't work with MP, but why I do not know... It works with myHTPC, so maybe MP is a bit stricter about how the file's written...

Anyone got any ideas? MP tells me that there are no programs found.

sla:
Can you email me a copy of your tvguide.xml file? I want to see why that works and my one doesn't work... I'll PM you with my email.

Sam

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear that Sam. Surely there are some xml gurus out there that can help. At least it wasn't just me how couldn't get it to work in MP. If it helps here are the first few lines of my xml files. Just to give the international expertise out there a look at our output.

From TVharvest (does currently work within MP):

- <tv date="29 August 2004">
- <channel id="Channel Nine Brisbane Metro">
  <display-name>Channel Nine Brisbane Metro</display-name> 
  </channel>
- <channel id="ABC QLD">
  <display-name>ABC QLD</display-name> 
  </channel>
- <channel id="Channel Seven Brisbane">
  <display-name>Channel Seven Brisbane</display-name> 
  </channel>
- <channel id="Network TEN Brisbane">
  <display-name>Network TEN Brisbane</display-name> 
  </channel>
- <channel id="SBS Queensland">
  <display-name>SBS Queensland</display-name> 
  </channel>
- <programme start="20040824060000 +1000" stop="20040824090000 +1000" channel="Channel Nine Brisbane Metro">
  <title>Today</title> 
  <desc>Steve Liebmann and Tracy Grimshaw present three hours of television, covering news, current affairs, sports, the latest in politics and reports from specialists in a variety of fields including entertainment, fashion, health and food.</desc> 
  </programme>
- <programme start="20040824060000 +1000" stop="20040824063000 +1000" channel="ABC QLD">
...
...(edited for brevity)
...
- <programme start="20040830053000 +1000" stop="20040830060000 +1000" channel="Network TEN Brisbane">
  <title>This is Your Day with Benny Hinn</title> 
  <desc /> 
- <rating system="ABA">
  <value>G</value> 
  </rating>
  </programme>
  </tv>

Here is Sam's new script output:

- <tv source-data-url="http://www.d1.com.au/D1xmltv.asmx" source-info-name="D1">
- <channel id="10">
  <Display-Name lang="en">Network TEN</Display-Name> 
  </channel>
- <channel id="2">
  <Display-Name lang="en">ABC Queensland</Display-Name> 
  </channel>
- <channel id="7">
  <Display-Name lang="en">Channel Seven</Display-Name> 
  </channel>
- <channel id="9">
  <Display-Name lang="en">Channel Nine</Display-Name> 
  </channel>
- <channel id="28">
  <Display-Name lang="en">SBS</Display-Name> 
  </channel>
- <channel id="31">
  <Display-Name lang="en">Briz 31</Display-Name> 
  </channel>
- <programme start="20040825012500 +1000" stop="20040825020000 +1000" channel="10">
  <title lang="en">Body Story</title> 
  <desc lang="en">(R) (G)</desc> 
- <rating system="ABA">
  <value>G</value> 
  </rating>
  </programme>
- <programme start="20040825020000 +1000...
...
...
...
- <programme start="20040901233000 +1000" stop="20040902000000 +1000" channel="31">
  <title lang="en">Dw Journal</title> 
  <desc lang="en">(PGn/a)</desc> 
- <rating system="ABA">
  <value>PG</value> 
  </rating>
  </programme>
  </tv>

Hope somone can help. Great work Sam.