[addon] BTV Negociator (July 14 Update)

[SSDNAdmin]

Author: Fonceur
Short Description: Improved conflict resolution and more
Long Description: BTV-Negociator (cross between the French négociateur and English negotiator as both language files are included, feel free to send me yours...) is a little project that I started to teach myself C#. It is an add-on for Beyond TV, originally created to help resolve recording conflicts. Since then, extra features such as changing the recording frequency, creating mass recording, removing blocked/forced/recent recordings and performing permanent searches have been added.
Version Number: 4.15
Status: In development
Last Updated: 14 July 2008
Homepage: http://fonceur.tripod.com/BTV-Nego/Nego.html
Installation Instructions: The application does not come with an installer, so just unzip the file in the appropriate folder and run BTV-Negociator.exe from there or through a shortcut.

If the BTV-Server is not located at http://localhost:8129 (how do you access the web admin from this machine?) with a blank password, you can edit the configuration file BTV-Negociator.ini. Alternatively, if no connexion are made BTV-Negociator will go to the Configuration tab, sub-tab Parameters so you can input the appropriate values (remember to save...).

The BTV license information is automatically obtained from the appropriate registry key (tested with version 3.7.4 of BTV registered, BTV-Link registered or unregistered). I recommand to set your unsubscribed channels as Hidden to avoid false alternatives/recordings...

Release Notes:
What BTV-Negociator does is to list:

* All the Rejected recordings due to a Conflict. The list of shows creating that conflict and alternate times/channels to record are also provided. It is possible to modify from record once to always, if that solves a conflict as well as to add the alternate recording or replace the conflict by it. By using the auto-refresh timer, BTV-Negociator can be run in the background and setup a fake recording to warn you of conflict(s).
* All the Blocked recordings.
* All the Forced recordings.
* All the Recent recordings.
* All the Rejected recordings with the reason (can be filtered).
* All the Upcoming recordings.
* All the Duplicate recordings with the possibility of blocking extra recordings. Conflicts appear in red.
* All the Recording jobs with the possiblity of changing their frequency, to create a mass recording (record on any channel at any time), etc.
* Results from searches by Keyword, by Title or for a specific Episode in a Serie. To search by Episode, the Serie must first be added from another list, then the format Serie: episode (i.e. Lexx: The Giga Shadow) will add a new episode to that search. Through the use of a context menu appropriate to the current list (accessed by right-clicking), it is possible to create/modify Recording jobs, add Searches, remove/force/block a specific recording, etc.

Recent changes:
- Updated the IMDb parsing to grab the description.

License: Freeware, donations accepted at: http://fonceur.tripod.com/Donation.html
Requirements: BTV 3.7.4 (or link) + .Net Framework
Download BTV-Negociator_4.15.zip

[SSDNAdmin]

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[SSDNAdmin]

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[SSDNAdmin]

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[Kilrsat]

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[Kilrsat]

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[NYPlayer]

I just started using BTV Negotiator... Everything is working great. One question I do have is about Mass recording exactly what does it do. When I create a mass recording is it going to look at all the availible channels and schedule recordings?

For Ex. If i setup a mass recording of Law and Order will it record channel 8 and 54. Which are channels that law and Order are currently airing in my area.???

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by NYPlayer

For Ex. If i setup a mass recording of Law and Order will it record channel 8 and 54. Which are channels that law and Order are currently airing in my area.???

Yes, lets assume you have a recording job for Law and Order on channel 8. By using mass recording, it will look in the EPG and create other recording jobs with the same parameters (i.e. folder, video quality, padding, etc.) on any channel (i.e. 54 and others) where it finds that serie. It was mostly usefull with BTV 3.7 where only one copy would be recorded that way, with BTV 4 you might have to also use the Duplicate recordings list to prevent extra recordings of the same episode (from different channels)...

[SSDNAdmin]

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[SSDNAdmin]

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[Fonceur]

I noticed 2 problems with my 1.30 release, so I am attaching Version 1.31 here.

- Fixed the addition of more items to the Master List.

- Fixed adding a recording Once from the Search sub-tabs.

EDIT: Deleted the file since it is in the main post now...

[SSDNAdmin]

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[erichammer]

Fonceur,

Thanks so much for all your great effort on this project. It looks great.

A few quick notes and one request:

First, for some reason your system is set to look for htpc:8129, not local host. Didn't notice the htpc thing at first and it was driving me crazy that I couldn't get it work because 8129 was right. Also, it is set to default apparently to French. My French is poor at best, but it wasn't until I saw the config file that I figured out how to set it for English. Both very minor issues. One other thing, I sometimes get an "exception error." Seems to happen primarily with searching.

Ok, if that is not enough, a feature request as well: Is it possible to set it up (optionally) so your software automatically does searches say once a week and then auto records what it finds based on those searches? If not, I may look into writing the script I mentioned and use your program. Kind of an add on to your add on.

Once again, thanks so much for all your hard work. It's great. I don't miss Tivo anymore now that I've got addons running which do the same job as it did (with no monthly fee! ).

Happy New Year to all.

Eric

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by erichammer

First, for some reason your system is set to look for htpc:8129, not local host. Didn't notice the htpc thing at first and it was driving me crazy that I couldn't get it work because 8129 was right. Also, it is set to default apparently to French.

Ooops, normally I overwrite the configuration file by a default one but missed it on release 1.31, my bad...

One other thing, I sometimes get an "exception error." Seems to happen primarily with searching.

If they are error 404 about some HTTP problem, that would be some time-out problem with the web server... If it is something else, I would need more informations to try to solve it.

Ok, if that is not enough, a feature request as well: Is it possible to set it up (optionally) so your software automatically does searches say once a week and then auto records what it finds based on those searches? If not, I may look into writing the script I mentioned and use your program.

Well, there is already a timer used to recheck for conflicts, so in principle more things could be done automatically at the same time. Before implementing automatic recordings based on searches, I need to add some basic checks to make sure I do not create multiple jobs for the same show...

I am attaching the default .ini just in case.

[erichammer]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

If they are error 404 about some HTTP problem, that would be some time-out problem with the web server... If it is something else, I would need more informations to try to solve it.

It turns out that is what it was. Any solution or just re-run the search?

Originally Posted by Fonceur

Well, there is already a timer used to recheck for conflicts, so in principle more things could be done automatically at the same time. Before implementing automatic recordings based on searches, I need to add some basic checks to make sure I do not create multiple jobs for the same show...

Good point. Thanks for all the great work 'till now.

Originally Posted by fonceur

I am attaching the default .ini just in case.

I fixed it already, but for anyone else needing it, this could be useful.

Eric