236 replies to this topic

[Bryce]

It took a lot of playing around but it works.
I had to use a mixture of software to make it happen.
The only problem at the moment is data cannot be picked up from SBS
The first thing I found out was I had to use an older version of BladeRunner. To work in Vista.

Invaluable information found... Here

I used my own customized batch file. (runs epgscan to make multiple files)
Null pointer's EPGScan (collects the EIT data and converts it to xml format)
freeEpg's xmltvAlter (resets time zone and much more. Excellent tool. I hope this becomes a permenent tool on their site.)
TVxb listings grabber (Merge and send xml files to Bladerunner folders listings.xml + channel info.xml)
Monsters BladeRunner Pro V3 (Injects binary data into MCE)

This will give an idea what can be acheived.


Main EPG




Mini EPG

Be Warned:
There are a lot of configuration files to be edited.
TVxb.ini (merge xml files together.)
BladeRunners GetEPGDataMetaInfo, GetTVServicesMetaInfo.html
Registry change. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\EPG\discSvc registry key
http://localhost/Nat...esMetaInfo.html
It works great.
I hope this helps those who want to achieve the same.


Bryce

[Bryce]

This is the GuideListings batch file I use with EPGScan.
 GetListings.zip   673bytes   91 downloads



example: C:\EPGScan\EPG
I put the GetListings.bat file into the same folder as EPGScan, with a sub folder called EPG to hold xml files generated by EPGScan.
I placed a shortcut on to the desktop (GetListings) with administrative rights.
The batch file deletes any previous xml files generated by EPGScan.
The commands put into the TVxb.ini file direct TVxb to goto the sub file and merge all the
xml files together to make a listing2.xml and dropped in to the BladeRuner folder called GuideData
When Bladerunner innitiates it prosesses the listing2.xml file and deletes it.

I have remarked out a section in the batch file that merges listing files together using TVxb.ini config file.
I found I could direct BladeRunner to execute the command through TVxb as follows.
See pic below.
You need to configure the TVxb.ini file.
This is the current file I use.  TVxb.zip   579bytes   34 downloads

I used these statements in the TVxb.ini file....
!--main parameters--
xmltvoutput=C:\WINDOWS\ehome\BladeRunnerPro\GuideData\listing2.xml
mcechanneloutput=C:\WINDOWS\ehome\BladeRunnerPro\QuickGuide\ChannelInfo.XML
xmltvimport=C:\EPGScan\EPG\ABCepg.xml,C:\EPGScan\EPG\SevenEpg.xml,C:\EPGScan\EPG\NineEpg.xml,C:\EPGScan\EPG\TenEpg.xml
The last line represents files generated by EPGScan placed in the sub folder.
These files are merged together as one file called listings2.
The attached file can do with some tidying up by a TVxb guru.





Bryce

[wallaceff]

Hey,

I've been pretty much looking for something that would do this for AGES.

Now I just wish someone would take all those seperate components and splice them together into 1 app!

Also, from what I understand, the EPG sometimes is a bit lacking, like Ch 9 Sat night is "Saturday night at the movies" without listing the actual show.
But still... its what I would love to have as a single app... aren't there any really good programmers out there that want this too???

[Bryce]

Hey,

I've been pretty much looking for something that would do this for AGES.

Now I just wish someone would take all those seperate components and splice them together into 1 app!

Also, from what I understand, the EPG sometimes is a bit lacking, like Ch 9 Sat night is "Saturday night at the movies" without listing the actual show.
But still... its what I would love to have as a single app... aren't there any really good programmers out there that want this too???

Hi wallaceff

This is the information that shows up in the EPG for next Saturday.




And this is how the program info screen looks.



The only problem I have a the moment is there is no info for SBS.

Bryce

[wallaceff]

Bloody Ch9! They really can't get their act together, can they! lol
I've read on a different forum about someone running a script to change the capitilisation.
I think here: http://www.xpmediace...-tonight-4.html

and here: http://www.xpmediace...dia-center.html

[logifuse]

Well done Bryce - rep points for you!

Maybe doing the injecting with EPGScan's wmcGuideServiceProxy might be another option?

Justin

[Bryce]

Bloody Ch9! They really can't get their act together, can they! lol
I've read on a different forum about someone running a script to change the capitilisation.

epgStream are developing a tool called xmltvAlter.
I'm sure it has the ability to address this problem.

It has a file called xmltvRules.config.
You edit this file with a rule.
Inside the file xmltvRules.config is a template of rules. See below
epgStream add more rules as the app develops.

I started looking and editing xml and config files the hard way using notepad.
I quickly learnt there are better editors to use.
Download this app. XML Marker
Very easy to use and free.
It gives a better perspective of what your looking at. Especially when working with xml files.
Here is a listings file to view with XML Marker to see what I mean... [ATTACH]2471[/ATTACH]
Open the listing file in XML Marker, Microsoft Word and notepad to see how different programs view a file.

Example of rules for xmltvAlter inside xmltvRules.config.
RULE TEMPLATES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<rule type="addProgrammeSubtitle" titleStartsWith="" newTitle="" />
<rule type="changeChannelDisplayName" channelId="" displayName="" />
<rule type="changeProgrammeCategory" currentCategory="" newCategory="" />
<rule type="changeProgrammeTitle" currentTitle="" newTitle="" />
<rule type="changeChannelId" currentId="" newId="" />
<rule type="changeProgrammeTimeZone" channelId="" timeZone="" />
<rule type="adjustProgrammeTime" channelId="" adjustment="" />
<rule type="deleteProgramme" channelId="" scope="" range="" criteria="" lowerTimestamp="" upperTimestamp="" />
<rule type="duplicateChannel" sourceChannelId="" destinationChannelId="" />
<rule type="mergeChannels" sourceChannelId="" destinationChannelId="" removePartialOverrides="" />
<rule type="deleteChannel" channelId="" />
<rule type="deleteAllChannels" excludedChannelIdList="" listSeparator="" />
<rule type="comment" text="" filePath="" />
<rule type="clearNode" xmlPath="" />
<rule type="deleteNode" xmlPath="" />
<rule type="deleteNodeByText" xmlPath="" comparisonType="" findText="" />
<rule type="deleteNodeByAttributeText" xmlPath="" comparisonType="" attributeName="" findText="" />
<rule type="replaceNodeText" xmlPath="" findText="" replaceText="" />
<rule type="renameNodeText" xmlPath="" findText="" replaceText="" />
<rule type="duplicateChannel" sourceChannelId="Seven-Syd" destinationChannelId="SevenHD-Syd" />
<rule type="duplicateChannel" sourceChannelId="Ten-Nsw" destinationChannelId="TenHD-Syd" />
<rule type="mergeChannels" sourceChannelId="SevenHD" destinationChannelId="SevenHD-Syd" removePartialOverrides="false" log="true" />
<rule type="mergeChannels" sourceChannelId="TenHD" destinationChannelId="TenHD-Syd" removePartialOverrides="false" log="true" />
-->

Bryce

[GlenR]

Now this is interesting. A free EPG that comes from the actual networks - without scraping. I like the irony.

It would be great if this was one app with a nice config interface - it currently looks very daunting to set up. Still, great work Bryce, it's obviously a work in progress and is definitely a move in the right direction.

I'll be keeping an eye on this one. My Ice is paid up until March next year so I'll let that run out first.

[logifuse]

The problem is that SBS haven't come to the party yet & who knows if they will? They supply data to Foxtel, so what's the problem?

[Bryce]

Well done Bryce - rep points for you!

Maybe doing the injecting with EPGScan's wmcGuideServiceProxy might be another option?

Justin

I'm sure this would work also.

I looked at wmcguideserviceproxy before looking at Bladerunner.
I had a problem at the end of Vista EPG setup using wmcguideserviceproxy. My fault not wmcguideserviceproxy.
I felt more confident with Bladerunner because of the amount of time I have played around with it.
And I could drop different file arguments into the graphic file config screen to see if they worked.
I will definitely be looking at wmcguideserviceproxy again at a later date once I play around with this a bit more.

I also looked at a grabber called DVBGuide
Well worth looking at.
I used DVBGuide prior to Null pointer's EPGScan.

Bryce

[logifuse]

Yeah, I only had a brief look at all the tools.

The main disadvantage we seem to have (compared to the UK) is that each of our stations is on it's own MUX & each MUX only carries the data from the channels on it. It seems that in the UK, each MUX carries all the data for all the channels even if they are on a differerent MUX, so you only need to do a single scan for the data for all the channels. Much easier to manage.

Then the data needs to be formatted correctly & then injected in to VMC. There's plenty of steps to go wrong unfortunately.

If wmcguideserviceproxy keeps getting developed, it will probably prove to be the best injecting option as it looks like it will support data from multiple sources making it easier to switch if the EIT data vanishes (who knows what sort of stunts the channels will pull?).

Anyway, well done. Hopefully it leads to an easy EIT data for all solution.

Justin

[Bryce]

More to add.
1.
Open and Save the information page
Information page link http://www.tvxb.com/...nstructions.htm
Save the information page
Then go to the top of internet explorer.

File
Save as …… Save the page you’re looking at and give it a name.
Save as type HTML ….. Save it to Documents

Save the information page to Documents so you can refer back to it at any time.
Read through the document.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monster:
BladeRunner V3

Download BladeRunner http://www.xpmediace...p?do=file&id=60
Note:
Do not use BladeRunnerPro V3.5
It currently does not work with Vista.
Instead use BladeRunner Pro V3

Install BladeRunner Pro V3 - Accept the install defaults BladeRunnerPro Configurator You will need to right-click and "Run as Administrator" as it will expect write access to the BladeRunner folder which is under the ehome system folder.)

Important after installation:
Right click desktop BladeRunner icon (main program.)
Properties
Advanced
Tick Run as Administrator
Click O.K

Go back to the information page to do the following steps.
Do the following steps
1. Install IIS (Internet Information Services)
2. Run the IIS Administrator
3. Point your default IIS web site to BladeRunnerPro


Read point 4 on the information page.
Then download the modified files under the heading Download modified files on this page.


4. Customize BladeRunner to make the guide available from the local machine via IIS
Save original files in a safe folder called Bladrunner Original for safe keeping somewhere on your drive.
GetEPGDataMetaInfo.html ----
GetTVServicesMetaInfo.html –The files are located at "C:\Windows\ehome\BladeRunnerPro\Native\GetEPGDataMetaInfo.html"

Download modified files
As described in Customize BladeRunner.
Download. [ATTACH]2474[/ATTACH]
GetEPGDataMetaInfo.html ----modified
GetTVServicesMetaInfo.html ---modified
Copy these files into "C:\Windows\ehome\BladeRunnerPro\Native\GetEPGDataMetaInfo.html"
Overwrite existing files with the modified files.
Also save these files in a folder named BladeRunner modified for safe keeping somewhere on your drive.

Run BladeRunner configurator
Note:
Make sure it is running with administrative rights.
Right click icon properties
Advanced
Click administrator
Click O.K.

Add these settings.

Post Process
Name: TVxb
File: C:\Program Files\TVxb\bin\TVxb.exe
Arguments:
Start "" "C:\Program Files\TVxb\bin\TVxb.exe/"

Cut and paste above statement exactly as is including the "" " /"

And then immediately File, Save, then Exit. Continue to Step 2.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Final checks.
Mandatory
Complete and check steps discussed about BladeRunner in the information page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 2.
Install TVxb Ver 1.0085 on your system.
TVxb can be downloaded from here. TVbx Download Page

Download the modified TVbx.ini file Zipped
Download from here.... [ATTACH]2475[/ATTACH]
It is configured to work with the Batch file.
Unzip this file to documents or a folder of your choice.

Unzip the file to C:\ProgramData\TVxb\ini\
You will get a prompt telling you the file already exists.
Click o.k. and overwrite the existing file.

Back up the modified file TVxb.ini and keep in a safe place.

The directory should look like this with the new TVxb.ini file in it.
C:\ProgramData\TVxb\ini\TVxb.ini

That’s it goto step 3.
-------------------------------------------


Notes: On TVxb

Initiated by directives in the batch file.
TVxb grabber Is used to merge 4 xml files into one xml file directed by the TVxb.ini file.
Located at "C:\ProgramData\TVxb\ini\TVxb.ini"

The following lines are argument strings in TVxb.ini

xmltvoutput=C:\WINDOWS\ehome\BladeRunnerPro\GuideData\listing2.xml
mcechanneloutput=C:\WINDOWS\ehome\BladeRunnerPro\QuickGuide\ChannelInfo.XML
xmltvimport=C:\EPGScan\EPG\ABCepg.xml,C:\EPGScan\EPG\SevenEpg.xml,C:\EPGScan\EPG\NineEpg.xml,C:\EPGScan\EPG\TenEpg.xml
!xmltvoutput=C:\EPGScan\EPG\listing2.xml
!mcechanneloutput="C:\EPGScan\EPG\ChannelInfo.XML"


Four XML Files are merged together by directives in TVxb.ini file.
ABCepg.xml NineEp.xml, SevenEpg.xml TenEpg.xml
And Converted to one file named listing2.xml

The file produced listing2.xml, is copied to
"C:\Windows\ehome\BladeRunnerPro\GuideData\listing2.xml"

The four .xml files generated by EPGScan are located here.
"C:\EPGScan\EPG\4Files.xml "
SBSepg.xml does not exist because at this time they do not send any information in the EIT.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Step 3.
Batch File
This is the latest batch file. Here.....  GetListings Sydney.zip   852bytes   14 downloads
1. Install to C:\EPGScan
2. Right click on GetListings Sydney.bat
3. Send to - Desktop shortcut.

On the desktop
Right click GetListings Sydney.bat shortcut
Properties
Advanced
Tick Run as Administrator
Click O.K.
Done


Note. Sydney
Stations supported. 177500 …. 7 Digital, 7 Digital 1, 7 Digital 2, 7 Digital 3, 7 HD Digital & 7 Guide
219500 …. TEN HD, TEN Digital, TEN HD (2)
191500 …. NINE HD, NINE DIGITAL
226500 …. ABC HDTV, ABC HDTV, ABC2, ABC1 (3)
No EIT info 571500 …. SBS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.
Null pointer
EPGScan
EPGScan Download
1. Create this directory C:\EPGScan\EPG\
2. Also create this folder C:\EPGScan\DesktopReaders\
Place EPGScan.exe into C:\EPGScan
The batch file has all the commands to make EPGScan work. for Sydney.
Other states will need to edit the GetLising.bat file and change the frequencies.
Example: C:\EPGScan\EPGScan -f 226500 -b 7 -o C:\EPGScan\EPG\ABCepg.xml -t 0
-f Frequency -b Band -o output file
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.
epgStream
xmltvAlter
Used to reset the time zone.
So it works with other software on Vista Desktop. example XMLTV EPG Viewer and TVGuide
If it fails it has reached it’s Trial version time limit.
Download later version.
http://forum.epgstre...c.php?f=36&t=54

Put xmltvAlter xmltvAlter.exe xmltvRules
Into the C:\EPGScan directory
Download the xmaltvRules config file. This file is customised to work with the Batch file.
Download Here:  xmltvRules.zip   3.57K   18 downloads
Unzip this file to documents or a folder of your choice.
Copy the unzipped xmaltvRules config file to C:\EPGScan
You will get a prompt telling you the file already exists.
Click o.k. and overwrite the existing file.

The following are the rules in the xmaltvRules config file
You can make changes with an editor. 600 = minutes……10 Hours
-->
<rule type="adjustProgrammeTime" adjustment="600" />
<rule type="changeProgrammeTimeZone" timeZone="+1000" />
</alterXmltv>

Note when saving xmaltvRules config file
Click File
Save as All Files …….. Do Not Save As txt.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vista MCE Setup
Go to the information page.
Complete these steps.
1. Setup MCE to download the Guide from BladeRunnerPro
2. Check the URLs
3. Complete the Media Center TV Guide setup
(Optional 4.Setup BladeRunner as a scheduled task)
Done.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More:
I use two programs on my desktop called
TVG (TVGuide) Ver 0.5.5.1 http://tvguide.sourceforge.net/And
XMLTV EPG Viewer Ver 1.3.1.0 http://xmltvview.bir.../epgviewer.html
They both use XML files to display an EPG on your desktop.
Normally they do no work correctly until the time zone is set correctly in the xml file.
The batch file does this and both of these programs work extremely well.
Both programs read from the listings2.xml file.
By default TVG (TVGuide) searches for a listing file from C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\TVG\File.xml
Currently the batch file copies Listing2.xml file to "C:\EPGScan\Desktop EPG Readers\listing2.xml"After installing TVG (Guide) Go to the TVG (GUIDE) settings / Application/ URL or Filename and path of the default XMLTV File
Direct it to this folder "C:\EPGScan\Desktop EPG Readers\listing2.xml"
And it will work.
Do the same with XMLTV
Direct XMLTV EPG Viewer to the same folder. And it will work properly as well.


Enjoy
Bryce

[benneh]

How many days schedule is in these EIT broadcasts? 7 days?

[Bryce]

Hi benneh

I'd be Interested to know how often they update their guides.
ABC Had more days earlier in the week.

Sydney
ABC HD Currently 1 day. Schedule runs out May 16
ABC1 1 days Schedule runs out May 16
ABC2 7 days Schedule runs out May 22
7 digital + sub stations 8 days Schedule runs out May 23
7 HD Digital 8 days Schedule runs out May 23
9 digital 8 days Schedule runs out May 23
9 HD 8 days
10 digital 8 days
10 HD 8 days

Bryce

[aanda6]

Are any of our resident programming experts currently working on a way to bundle all this to make it idiot proof.

I for one would be moree than willing to donate to such a worthy cause. I know it anit much but I will start the ball rolling with $100 for the first person taht says they are willing to attempt this. Hopefully more in the community see the benefit and are prepared to do the same, then finally we in au might have a workable ota guide.