Schedules Direct US/Canadian/Mexico EPG Plugin (Updated August 2010) (1 Viewer)

[mm1352000]

I think the current SD-plugins will stop working around Nov 1 without the etc\hosts change.

Mmmm, well let's see...

From what I read previously on the SD forum there are three reasons that the changeover might/would require intervention by devs and/or users:

1. The replacement service only supports USA and Canada.
2. The replacement service channel IDs might not exactly match the original DD service channel IDs (ie. remap required... maybe).
3. SD might not be able to get GraceNote/TMS to redirect traffic to the replacement service (ie. etc/hosts or rebuild with updated URL required... maybe).

Reading the latest news on the SD home page it seems the replacement service is already live, and GraceNote/TMS are redirecting some traffic to it. The corresponding forum thread suggests the replacement service should be a very good drop in:
http://forums.schedulesdirect.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2599

The known issue list is encouragingly short.

In other words, I'm not so sure anything needs to be done immediately.

It would be good to avoid relying on a redirect which might be removed at any time, and that's any easy fix so may as well do it.
The people outside the USA and Canada will need to find an alternative data source, but I don't think there is much we can do about this.

 

[Firemogle]

I got an email today and panicked but it reads like you guys are on top of it.

If I can ask, it seems like the current plan is to make a transparent change internally to keep functionality and not upgrade to the JSON items, is this correct?
Is the plan to add the new features at some later point?
Just curious, not trying to demand upgrades

Thanks for your work!

 

[sjevtic]

I think that's a pretty accurate summary of the status quo.

It's not clear right now if there will be a new build official of the existing SD plugin available before November 1 with the new SD-DD hostname baked in (or a configurable hostname for that matter), but if not, you should be able to use the hosts file hack suggested in the SD forum.

At the moment, it doesn't look like anyone here will have time in the immediate future to rewrite the SD plugin to use the new JSON API. Hopefully someone will take on the task at some point though and bring the capabilities of the new JSON service to MP.

Sasha

 

[RonD]

I'm in the USA west coast PDT timeszone, anybody else having a missing schedules gap in their SchedulesDirect EPG listing? In my case listings are good up until Oct 31 4PM, 8 hour gap until Nov 1 12AM. I'm using the tweaked SD plugin for the but this should show same results if you use the etc\hosts forced IP address. Have valid EPG data until Nov 4 11PM. Saw this yesterday, waited until the SD-plugin did another update today, still see the same gap. Not sure if this is related to SD switchover that occurs on Nov 1.

 

[davidpmays]

I'm in the USA west coast PDT timeszone, anybody else having a missing schedules gap in their SchedulesDirect EPG listing? In my case listings are good up until Oct 31 4PM, 8 hour gap until Nov 1 12AM. I'm using the tweaked SD plugin for the but this should show same results if you use the etc\hosts forced IP address. Have valid EPG data until Nov 4 11PM. Saw this yesterday, waited until the SD-plugin did another update today, still see the same gap. Not sure if this is related to SD switchover that occurs on Nov 1.

I am CST, East Texas, I checked my schedule and my first look was to select one channel and scroll down. There was a gap the morning of Nov 1. However, when I went back to the full schedule with all stations they were all there, no gap.

 

[2BitSculptor]

Central time zone here ... just checked my guide ..... no gaps

 

[rileydogmi]

On 11/1, will SD cease to work if nothing on my end is done?

 

[RonD]

Curious how many USA SD users have tried modifying the etc\hosts file as described in the SD message. This worked for me without problems. Make a backup copy of the default windows hosts file. Due to windows permissions, I copied the hosts file a normal user folder with read/write permissions, edited the hosts file with notepad or other text editor to add the fixed IP address, then copied the updated hosts file back to the windows \etc folder. Make sure the hosts file does not have a .txt or other extension.

SD message for fixed IP address
http://forums.schedulesdirect.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2599

full windows 8 folder path to the hosts file, other windows versions should have similar path
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

 

[sjevtic]

I changed my hosts file yesterday evening, resulting in a full EPG download overnight, and everything appears to have gone smoothly. The EPG seems to have all my channels, and there do not appear to be any gaps around midnight on November 1. I am in the Central Time zone.

Also, it is possible to directly edit the hosts file and other system files easily by starting your editor with UAC elevation. When selecting your editor from the Start menu, simply right click and use the "Run as administrator" option on the resulting context menu.

Sasha

 

[rileydogmi]

I just changed mine too and forced a refresh - I think it is working as I see data after 11/1. Thanks!