WebEPG foxtel grabbers... (1 Viewer)

[Dordo]

good point, as you might have guessed, programming isn't my strong point.

 

[James]

Hi Dordo,

Also did I hear P2P EPG as a possibility? This is a great idea works very well both for MP users and the websites. Why exactly is this unfeasable, Im not sure why we aren't allowed to grab the EPG data, hell even if this was written as a very much distanced and unofficial plugin to take the focus off MP?

The problem is that the EPG data is copyright. So re-distributing it via P2P, is like any other copyright violation. Although when each person downloads their own copy it is less of a problem. So such a plugin would need to be un-offical.

I think the TV stations should provide this information free too. Via RSS would be good However they want to use it as another source of money, think newspapers, tvguide, etc, etc. If everyone has an EPG then there is no more need for these paper versions. One might say thats life get over it and move on, but these paper produces pay money to get the program guide data.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

/James

 

[Dordo]

So not to push a sore point or anything here? But are there any problems which I am not taking into account with a unofficial open source and anonymous plugin which does that? I'd have thought the sites might be more willing to overlook the problem when the number of grabbers suddernly just drops, hell even if they do get upset abouit it, its just as easy to stop?

 

[Marcusb]

I think the TV stations should provide this information free too. Via RSS would be good However they want to use it as another source of money, think newspapers, tvguide, etc, etc. If everyone has an EPG then there is no more need for these paper versions. One might say thats life get over it and move on, but these paper produces pay money to get the program guide data.

I figure this is their reasoning too, but the stupid thing is that The Age and other papers make RSS feeds for news freely available and that doesn't seem to be impacting their sales (or they wouldn't do it) and this is way more direct as these feeds eliminate the need for newspapers whereas the TV guides really are more like a kind of advertising.

I think they are alsoworried about revenue from commercials if we can all skip adds, which is also stupid as videos work in a similar way.
Basically big companies try to kill any new technology and eventually get badly burned by this approach. Just look at the music industry and MP3s.

 

[James]

Dordo,

You may want to read here:

http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~willu/xmltv/#Legal

But I think its a good idea a P2P EPG system would be great. So if you want to start the project off, go right ahead


/James

 

[Dordo]

Dordo,
So if you want to start the project off, go right ahead


/James

// Hello1.cs
public class Hello1
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      System.Console.WriteLine("Hello, World!");
   }
}

Unfortunately that is about the extent of C# knowledge.
Having said that I would be more than happy to help back a project of this description, anyone who is remotely interested and capable please get in touch, there are certain aspects about this project which must be done in a specific way so as not to hurt MP in any way what so ever legally.