[addon] BTV-Negociator for BTV 4.8+ (Nov 28 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: 5.07
Status: In development
Last Updated: 28 Nov 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:
- Fixed the IMDb copy.
- Fixed some TreeView operations.
- Support for the upcoming Recent recordings changes.

License: Freeware, donations accepted at: http://fonceur.tripod.com/Donation.html
Requirements: BTV 4.8 (or link) + .Net Framework

Download BTV-Negociator_5.07.zip

[Kilrsat]

Updated

[Kilrsat]

Updated

[randy]

I see someone else has reported this problem with a previous version but I see no resolution. When I start btv-negociator i get "can't connect to localhost:8129" I have tried this with the actual ip and 127.0.0.1 as well and get the same result. I was able to use the btv command line tools which I believe also access the web server to extract metadata without problem. Any suggestions?
Thanks

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by randy

Any suggestions?

First make sure that you are using the right version, i.e. there is a different thread if you are using a version before BTV 4.8. Second, if you setup user accounts in BTV, you will need to select one in BTV-Negociator too. Third, check in a browser that you do get the web admin at localhost:8129, which is probably fine, since you had the command line tool working. Fourth, make sure it's not a firewall issue preventing BTV-N to connect...

[randy]

I am using btv 4.9, As far as I know I am not using user accounts, I have not set up user accounts but if you direct me I can check. The firewall is off and I can access the admin screen directly through a browser. Also I am running btvN on the same computer as has the server, no btv-link stuff. Anything else?

Thanks for your help.
Randy

ps. I will note that when btvtools runs, it runs http://un:localhost:8129 I tried adding the un in BTVN and it generated an error.

[johnbucek]

I am experiencing the same problem with BTV Negociator 4.15 not being able to connect. I am running BTV 4.9.2 on Windows Server 2003. I tried connecting locally, using localhost and the IP address. I also tried connecting remotely via a Win 98 PC and a Win 7 PC on my network. Both can connect to WebAdmin via browser, but not via BTVN.

It doesn't even seem like BTVN takes enough time to try to connect. The error message comes back immediately. There is no way that WebAdmin would have time to respond so quickly. Perhaps this is a problem with timing.

Has anyone found a solution to this yet?

Thanks,
John

[johnbucek]

Never mind my earlier post. I downloaded BTVN 5.07 and it now works. For some reason version 4.15 was the latest showing when I looked at the thread earlier today. Perhaps I forgot to refresh the page.

I can't wait to try it. It looks like an excellent program.

-John

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by johnbucek

Never mind my earlier post. I downloaded BTVN 5.07 and it now works. For some reason version 4.15 was the latest showing when I looked at the thread earlier today.

The BTV-Negociator 4.15 thread is for version of BTV pre 4.8...

[greendl]

I am having some trouble with using version 5.07. It connects to the server and shows my recent recordings but it is constantly using a full CPU (25% on quad and 50% on dual). When I exit the program it continues to run under the task manager process tab at one full CPU. When I select a recent recording to remove it (my most common task to reset episodes that did not record perfectly), the program freezes and must be killed by the task manager. When I restart Negociator the remove task was completed. I am using the program as a client on two different computers. Thanks for any help.

[Fonceur]

You could try the beta version from the thread: http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/deve...a-release.html

Could you post the log, maybe there's some hints in there...

[greendl]

Same results with the beta version and running on the host machine. The log is pretty much the same every time. Here is a sample:

8/17/2010 10:52:32 AM :: Starting BTV-Negociator version 5.07
8/17/2010 10:52:43 AM :: Connecting to http://staff:8129.
8/17/2010 10:52:54 AM :: Filling/updating all the lists
8/17/2010 10:52:54 AM :: Updating all the lists later.
8/17/2010 10:52:54 AM :: Rejected :: Updating now...
8/17/2010 10:52:54 AM :: Recordings :: Updating now...
8/17/2010 10:52:54 AM :: Library :: Updating now...
8/17/2010 10:52:54 AM :: Upcoming :: Updating now...
8/17/2010 10:52:54 AM :: Recent :: Updating now...
8/17/2010 10:52:54 AM :: Forced :: Updating now...
8/17/2010 10:56:29 AM :: Recent :: Updating now...

[Fonceur]

Hmm, can you check all the lists to see if any is acting strange?

If you have the auto-search, conflict resolution, or other automatic options, I'd tried to disable them for now, and see if that changes anything...

[greendl]

Several of the lists never resolve (just show an hourglass):
Blocked
Conflicts
Forced
Recordings

The only things checked are:
Keep a log file
exclude hidden channels

P.S. My video folders contain about 4800 video files - mostly avi conversions