OzTivoGrabber - Australian OzTivo grabber for Foxtel plugin for TVServer (1 Viewer)

[raf]

Hi,

I've just been trying out your plugin but I have a problem.

It's downloads the data ok but it doesn't import it into mediaportal, the log file says it can't find mediaportal folder which is in the default location however I am using Vista x64 so the defaulr location is ..\Program Files (x86)\Team MeadiaPortal\ not ..\Program Files\Team MediaPortal is this the problem?


TIA

 

[50chickens]

raf,

i'll make a debug copy and put it up for you.. but in the meantime, is there any more info that you have?? eg, is there any other info in the log, or anything else that might help me fix the problem?

 

[raf]

Nothing to me that seems to indicate a problem (you may see things differently) other than it says it can't find the directory, I can send you the log if you'd like but I won't be able to do that until later.

It creates the TVguide.xml fine as I can use it to load the data in using the xmltv plugin.

 

[dir]

yep.. you can use oztivograbber for non foxtel channels. you only need to add the oztivo code into the channel config dialog - eg ABC-VIC. you can untick the 'assign foxtel channel no's in MP' checkbox, but it won't affect your case.

btw, oztivograbber is only set to configure channels to analog cards. if you want to assign it to digital ones let me know. i figured ppl would only like to use this app for a foxtel box plugged into an analog card (like me), but this plugin can be used to create channel's in mp using oztivo data for both analog and digital channels so i should probably take that restriction out.

Hmmm. Maybe I'm confused about what your plug-in can do. I want to find the most straight-forward way to populate the EPG for FTA channels. I have a license to use epguide.net, which grabs oztivo data and formats it into a tvguide.xml file, but the native EPG importer in MediaPortal doesn't appear to read it properly. I've seen the WebEPG stuff, but from what I've seen it only grabs some of the channels, not all of them.

Ideally, I just want to find a utility that reads OzTivo's EPG data for my area and sticks it into the MediaPortal database on a regular basis. Your util appears to be able to do this. (Or at least, I thought it did, but you're saying that it doesn't work for digital channels so now I'm not so sure. If I add in the oztivo code for a FTA digital channel, such as "Nine-Vic" or "ABC-HD", wouldn't your util simply grab those and add them to the MP database? Or are you saying that your app tries to take all grabbed Oztivo data and place it in the MP database under the Analog channel area?

Regardless, if your util can be made to grab OzTivo's EPG data, using my login details, and stick them into MP's database on a scheduled basis, then (assuming OzTivo's data is current and correct), it sounds like a perfect solution for wanting an Australian EPG within MP.

 

[50chickens]

Nothing to me that seems to indicate a problem (you may see things differently) other than it says it can't find the directory, I can send you the log if you'd like but I won't be able to do that until later.

It creates the TVguide.xml fine as I can use it to load the data in using the xmltv plugin.

yep, i'll definately want to have a look at the log, but i'll also make a version with a big more logging and upload that sometime late tonight (gotta go out for a bit after work).

just an aside my plugin calls the xmltv plugin code to import the tvguide.xml once it's created, so if you can import it directly using the xmltv plugin/exe then it's probably something easy to fix (ie, you mentioned that it's having trouble finding the MP folders - which is a remnant of when my oztivograbber app was a stand alone exe rather than a tvserver plugin)

Hmmm. Maybe I'm confused about what your plug-in can do. I want to find the most straight-forward way to populate the EPG for FTA channels. I have a license to use epguide.net, which grabs oztivo data and formats it into a tvguide.xml file, but the native EPG importer in MediaPortal doesn't appear to read it properly. I've seen the WebEPG stuff, but from what I've seen it only grabs some of the channels, not all of them.

Ideally, I just want to find a utility that reads OzTivo's EPG data for my area and sticks it into the MediaPortal database on a regular basis. Your util appears to be able to do this. (Or at least, I thought it did, but you're saying that it doesn't work for digital channels so now I'm not so sure. If I add in the oztivo code for a FTA digital channel, such as "Nine-Vic" or "ABC-HD", wouldn't your util simply grab those and add them to the MP database? Or are you saying that your app tries to take all grabbed Oztivo data and place it in the MP database under the Analog channel area?

Regardless, if your util can be made to grab OzTivo's EPG data, using my login details, and stick them into MP's database on a scheduled basis, then (assuming OzTivo's data is current and correct), it sounds like a perfect solution for wanting an Australian EPG within MP.

here's what my oztivograbber was originally designed for -

1. download foxtel channel data from the oztivo site
2. create tvguide.xml file based this data
3. create analog channels in MP with channels from tvguide.xml
4. assign them to an analog tuner card
5. set the set top box channel numbers (eg 411 for movies 1, 502 for fox sports 2) to those channels so that they can be blasted to by and-81's ir server suite.

now, that was my original purpose, but people always come up with inventive ways to reuse things what you're asking is completely possible with a slight modification to my plugin.

currently, if you look in the foxtelchannels.xml file you will see 1 important piece of data - the oztivo code for their EPG data. now, i have only coded the foxtel channels (as i was only ever interested in those) but you can hand edit your foxtelchannels.xml file for any channel that Oztivo provided data for - FTA or pay tv, analog or digital. the problem is my app was only ever designed to process analog tuner stuff so when im saying it doesn't handle digital i mean that it can download epg data related to digital channels, but won't create channels/tuner assignments/blasting info around it.

i haven't tried it, but you could try using the xmltv plugin to map those channels in the tvguide.xml to the digital channels you have configured in MP. then, only set my plugin to build the tvguide.xml file without assigning the channels, or setting the external stb id's. so you use my plugin to download the data and xmltv to map and import it.

question i have though is .. normally digital channels contain full epg data. why do you want to grab the oztivo epg data instead??


i can probably modify my plugin to handle digital channels in the way you want, but in my analog version creating a new analog channel is pretty easy. i only need to know the external stb channel no - eg 502 = fox sports 3 whereas with digital channels there are way more things to setup (eg tsid, sid no's etc), although iirc MP already has a list of digital channel and their details that i can use. it'd be an interesting exercise tbh.

hopefully this clears up the confusion for you

 

[raf]

Ok I've attached the log file

 

[dir]

"question i have though is .. normally digital channels contain full epg data. why do you want to grab the oztivo epg data instead??"

Ah, now, good question. And I have a good answer! Somewhere....
Uh, well, you see, the last time I checked was about 3 years ago and tthe only EPG data that was broadcast over the air was current+next program name. I take it things have changed since then and they broadcast a week or more's worth, including program details and categories now? If so then I assume I can just tell MediaPortal to grab EPG data from the FTA stream, right?

 

[50chickens]

Ok I've attached the log file

ok.. i'll take a look.

ok the short answer (i think) is if you tick the 'foxtel Channel No's in Media Portal ' checkbox it'll add the epg data. if you don't use foxtel you can still do this. also, my plugin complaining about not being able to find the MP directory was just some code i hadn't taken out and didnt have anything to do with the problem.

the long answer is xml uses these external id's to map epg data onto a channel. i actually incorporate the xmltv source into my plugin, rather than just calling it (i can't call it directly as it turns out). i'll check in the xmltv area to see what they have to say about this..

other than that tho, it looks like everything is ok, but grab the new version of this plugin (i've updated the attachment in the OP). it's got a bit more logging. oh btw, the logfile name and location has changed - it's now in the plugins folder called oztivograbber.log

Ah, now, good question. And I have a good answer! Somewhere....
Uh, well, you see, the last time I checked was about 3 years ago and tthe only EPG data that was broadcast over the air was current+next program name. I take it things have changed since then and they broadcast a week or more's worth, including program details and categories now? If so then I assume I can just tell MediaPortal to grab EPG data from the FTA stream, right?

not sure... i know the digital fta channels have epg and i know that MP can grab and display this but i don't remember what level of detail is provided. it's a good question maybe the oztivo source has a much more detail - ratings, categories etc. anyways, i'll look into how hard it is to add digital fta channel into my plugin. it'll definately be easier just to add the oztivo epg data onto existing digital channels rather than creating new digital channels in the way i do analog ones, but i'll see what i can do.

 

[erosco]

Howdy,

I'm on 1.1.0 (well actually I'm on 1.1.0 DisasterEdition) but I get a crash in TV Server Config when I click on Save Settings.. screenshot is below.

The program actually works.. (and I'm impressed , but I can't save my username/password for oztivo making it of limited functionality for me!

If you could tell me where the settings are saved (and maybe a template) I am happy to add them manually.

It saves changes to foxtelchannels.xml ok but not the plugin settings due to a gentle.framework missing error.

Thanks
erosco

 

[50chickens]

Howdy,

I'm on 1.1.0 (well actually I'm on 1.1.0 DisasterEdition) but I get a crash in TV Server Config when I click on Save Settings.. screenshot is below.

The program actually works.. (and I'm impressed , but I can't save my username/password for oztivo making it of limited functionality for me!

If you could tell me where the settings are saved (and maybe a template) I am happy to add them manually.

It saves changes to foxtelchannels.xml ok but not the plugin settings due to a gentle.framework missing error.

Thanks
erosco

i think maybe the gentle framework has been updated, so the reference to it in oztivograbber doesnt work now..
oztivograbber was built again 1.0.0.0 (iirc) so im not surprised too much things dont work 100%.

i'll look into it.. pop back in a few days, i should have an update.