Electronic Program Guide Readers

[TV Scheduler]

I have two Electronic Program Guide Readers that transfer tv scheduling information in the same way as TitanTV.com.

For Australian's there is the YourTV.com.au (http://tvscheduler.net/YourTVEPGReaderSetup.exe) reader.

For the US there is the Gist.com (http://tvscheduler.net/GistEPGReaderSetup.exe) reader.

Comments and suggestions are welcome. I'm trying a new direction here with simple easy to use tools.

Bob

[srigby]

Hi Bob,

Error message was:

MSCOMCTL.OCX or one of it's dependancies was not registered


I'm running XP Pro SP1 Build 190

[TV Scheduler]

Originally posted by srigby
Hi Bob,

Error message was:

MSCOMCTL.OCX or one of it's dependancies was not registered


I'm running XP Pro SP1 Build 190

www.tvscheduler.net/SystemFilesSetup.exe will install the required system files.

Bob

[srigby]

Ok, installed the System Files

Clicked on a program (ABC 8:30pm), clicked on the Record button below

It asked me for an RF channel for ABC

But since then, nothing's happening. If I try to record the same problem, there's no conflict.

Does this version enter the program details into SnapStream's/Showshifter's scheduling system or use it's own?

I wound the clock forward to 8:30pm but nothing happened

Is something missing? Have I forgotten to do something?

[TV Scheduler]

Originally posted by srigby
Ok, installed the System Files

Clicked on a program (ABC 8:30pm), clicked on the Record button below

It asked me for an RF channel for ABC

It won't have to ask again. It made an entry in the registry.

Does this version enter the program details into SnapStream's/Showshifter's scheduling system or use it's own?

It uses SnapStream's/Showshifter's scheduling system.


Is something missing? Have I forgotten to do something?


The EPG Reader writes and shell executes a 'program.tvpi' file. What happens depends on what your system does with the file. Go to the C:\Program Files\YourTV EPG Reader directory and right click on the 'program.tvpi' file. Select 'open with' in the popup menu. Select the 'Choose Program' option and then when the 'Open With' window comes up click the 'Always use this program to open these files' check box and select ssw from the list.

Bob

[srigby]

Thanks - that helped me get a little further.

Which program should always be used to open tvpi files? YourTV EPG Reader?

I think it's great that you decided to use ShowShifter's / SnapStream's own scheduling system - rather than just keep it in the dark.

[srigby]

I associated the .tvpi file with YourTV EPG Reader which only resulted in spawning another YourTV EPG Reader when I clicked on a program I wanted to record.

So I associated it with the ShowShifter executable which starts ShowShifter upon clicking on a show - but there was no entry placed in ShowShifter's scheduling system.

I'm going wrong somewhere...

[Scott McNay]

Open My Computer, click Tools (or View)->Folder Options->File Types, go look for TVPI (may be called "TitanTV download metafile"), and edit it. It probably shows the command as something similar to:

"C:\Program Files\SnapStream PVS\ssw.exe" %L

or

"C:\Program Files\SnapStream PVS\ssw.exe" %1

Change it so that it looks like this:

"C:\Program Files\SnapStream PVS\ssw.exe" /tvpi %L

--Scott.

[srigby]

Thanks for the tip, but I'm actually using ShowShifter at the moment (trying out their native DivX 5 support).

Bob, when you read this and your reply is:

"Sorry, I can't test ShowShifter because my 30 days has run out"

Just write to them and tell them what you're doing - they'll give you a 30 day key to finish work on your new EPG readers.

[TV Scheduler]

I found some minor problems and made some adjustments. There are new versions of
YourTV EPG Reader (http://www.tvscheduler.net/YourTVEPGReaderSetup.exe) and Gist EPG Reader (http://www.tvscheduler.net/GistEPGReaderSetup.exe)

I've included a ShowShifter TitanTV.reg file and a SnapStream TitanTV.reg file to simplify swaping back and forth.

The problem may not exist in the new version of SnapStream but a quotation mark in the program description would cause an 'unknown error' when trying to add a show to the schedule.

Bob

[bfg]

Bob,

I'm trying to get the YourTV reader going on a WinXP (Pro) machine.

What is supposed to happen when you press the "Record" or "Watch" buttons at the bottom of the pop-up browser window?

I see that the "Record" button creates a file "program.tvpi" in the "C:\Program Files\YourTV EPG Reader" folder with the correct content for the show selected.

If I double-click this file a new recording is scheduled in SnapStream OK.

Shouldn't this happen automatically?

I'm using the new version you put up on the 18th and I have merged the "SnapStream TitanTV.reg" file and the "YourTV.reg" files into the registry.

BTW I'm launching the "YourTV EPG Reader.exe" outside the SnapStream browser.

Is there some magic way to get it to launch from the "Program Guide" tab on the SnapStream "Record" page?

TIA
Bruce

[TV Scheduler]

Originally posted by bfg
Bob,

I'm trying to get the YourTV reader going on a WinXP (Pro) machine.

What is supposed to happen when you press the "Record" or "Watch" buttons at the bottom of the pop-up browser window?

I see that the "Record" button creates a file "program.tvpi" in the "C:\Program Files\YourTV EPG Reader" folder with the correct content for the show selected.

If I double-click this file a new recording is scheduled in SnapStream OK.

Shouldn't this happen automatically?


Yes it should. It must be a registry problem. I thought I had that fixed. SnapStream set things up for the default action to be 'download'. I had originally assumed the default action was 'open'. It sounds like you have that version. I just downloaded and installed www.tvscheduler.net/YourTVEPGReaderSetup.exe I double-clicked the SnapStream TitanTV.reg file. When I clicked the 'Record' button SnapStream added the show to my schedule like it should. Please grap the file from my site and try installing again to be sure you have the same files I just used.



BTW I'm launching the "YourTV EPG Reader.exe" outside the SnapStream browser.

Is there some magic way to get it to launch from the "Program Guide" tab on the SnapStream "Record" page?


SnapStream would have to have something built-in to launch an external program. If there is a way, I don't how.

Bob

[bfg]

Bob,

Thanks for your response.

I've just downloaded and re-installed the app and re-merged the Snapstream .reg file as you suggested but still nothing happens pressing the "Record" button (except a new "program.tvpi" is created each time).

(The download was the same version as I already had installed.)

If it helps, the file type properties dialog in Explorer for .TVPI (TitanTV download metafile) shows the default (and only) action to be "Download" with the command line ""C:\Program Files\SnapStream PVS\ssw.exe" /tvpi %L". The "Use DDE" checkbox is checked with the Application set to "ssw" and the Topic set to "System".

As I mentioned before, double-clicking on the .tvpi file does load the show into the SnapStream schedule as it should. It just seems like your button doesn't actually try to launch the .tvpi file on my system.

Any more thoughts?

Bruce

[TV Scheduler]

Bruce, I'm stumped.

You might try adding a new action. Click 'advanced' then 'new' In the action dialog box type 'open' In the 'Application to perform action' dialog box type "C:\Program Files\SnapStream PVS\ssw.exe" /tvpi %L Then click 'OK' and then select 'open' and click 'Set Default' I don't know if it will make any difference but it won't hurt to try.

I have put file YourTV EPG Reader.zip (http://tvscheduler.net/YourTV EPG Reader.zip) on my site which is just the executable but the action is now 'Download' if you would like to try that.

Bob

[bfg]

Bob,

Yay! Making "Open" the default action did the trick.

(It still works if you remove the "Download" action altogether.)

Just one thing more. The Australian "YourTV" site lists the program durations in minutes. This is captured correctly into the <duration> tag of your output file but SnapStream seems to require a different time format.

For example, a half-hour show listed as "30 mins" will become <duration>30</duration> which SnapStream interprets as a duration of 11 hours and 47 minutes for some reason.

Other common show lengths translate as:
60 mins -> 5 hours 23 mins
90 mins -> 17 hours 10 mins
120 mins -> 12 hours 0 mins

...aha! ... yes, SnapStream seems to want "HH:mm" format

e.g. <duration>01:30</duration> works correctly.

Can you fix this please?

Bruce

[TV Scheduler]

Bruce, There must be some caching between you and my site. Both of the problems you have had were fixed.

I've created a new version with an about dialog box with the version info. Install www.tvscheduler.net/YourTVEPGReaderSetup.exe and press 'a' while holding down the 'Alt' key. It should show version 1.0.2 If it doesn't e-mail me and I'll e-mail you a copy.

Bob

[srigby]

Bob, there must be a caching issue because I downloaded the link and re-installed - but the Alt-A doesn't work for me.

Can you eMail me the latest version? You should have my eMail address.

Thanks...

[bfg]

Thanks Bob.

Version 1.0.2 and it's all working now.

Bruce

PS I guess there's no way to make this work from networked machines other than the SnapStream server itself?

[TV Scheduler]

Scott a copy should be in your mail box.

Bruce, something like that is outside what it is designed to do. There is a way I can do that but......


Bob

[ChefJoe]

I wanted to dredge this up because I recently tried out gist.com epg reader and snap gist epg reader from the tvscheduler.net site, and I had all the same troubles of getting the scheduled tvpi file being made but nothing happened. I first tried the gist.com epg reader, nothign scheduled, I tried tuck's suggestions here http://discuss2.snapstream.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5752 and it didn't help, I tried all the suggestions in this thread, and it didn't work, but installing the system files and then installing the snap gist epg reader, making the setting for snapstream 2.0, things worked great.

I can live with $4 every three months for saved settings. It would appear that this program would even work with the non-gold version, but I've not tried that. Thank You!