Finally! Fully integrated free Canadian Listings

[Lester Jacobs]

Can you post the contents of the zap2itdata.log file? That will tell me whether the zap2it data direct service had an error or whether it's the plugin code.

Also check the sage log files to see if there's anything weird happening during the EPG update (look for "Data Direct" instances in the log files).

Cheers
Lester

[pawn]

1. I searched Sage's log file: nothing like that in the whole file. I saved it and can email a zipped copy if needed.

2. zap2it log file attached.

3. Re.: adding utility to flag firstruns/reruns: Would you do this with a Sage STV, or a standalone utilty?

I notice the new plugin data is very similar to the XMLTV data, and since I've already done this work, and since it is quite involved once you get into it, you are welcome to the source if wanted. It's in VB format, but since it can be run from the command line, it wouldn't be hard to have your plugin shell out when necessary and do the work. Or, it would be easy to convert it to whatever. I'd leave it as is, since it's already got a front end for setting up the appropriate data.

[Lester Jacobs]

Very weird. That file shows that the data was downloaded just fine by the plugin. Obviously SageTV did activate the plugin today since this file was created with recent timestamps. The question is, why didn't it import the file once it was done downloading it?

What do you mean that you saw no guide data. Are you saying that you had "No Data" sections?

Also I know the zap2itdata.xml file is very large so you can't send it. However, if you open it, does it look "normal"? Might be tough to tell at first but the file is pretty logically laid out so you shoudl be able to detect abnormal patterns.

In terms of point 3, I was thinking of encoding it in the plugin itself so that it could change the data "on the fly" as it was being downloaded . I did rough out a spec on paper and, as you say, it can get quite complex. Let me toy with it for a few days and if I can't get it figured out I may ask for your source. However initially I'm regarding it as a challenge for myself. :-)


Cheers
Lester

[pawn]

What do you mean that you saw no guide data. Are you saying that you had "No Data" sections?


No actually (I've had that many times before). The guide came up with absolutely nothing showing in the program areas (no boxes, no text, just blank space).

The GUI was all working proerly, the preview window was there (but blank), just empty space in the guide data area.


Also I know the zap2itdata.xml file is very large so you can't send it. However, if you open it, does it look "normal"? Might be tough to tell at first but the file is pretty logically laid out so you shoudl be able to detect abnormal patterns.


Hard to tell, since the data seems to be all over the place (i.e., not sorted by show ID). For instance, the program info for all shows is together, then way later on, the "genre" info is together for all shows. Maybe that's by design, I have no idea.

The file zipped down to just over a MB. Email me at kjones95 (at) cogeco (dot) ca and I'll attach it with my response (if you want). The Sage beta log file zips much smaller and I can also send that (if you want).


In terms of point 3, I was thinking of encoding it in the plugin itself so that it could change the data "on the fly" as it was being downloaded . I did rough out a spec on paper and, as you say, it can get quite complex. Let me toy with it for a few days and if I can't get it figured out I may ask for your source. However initially I'm regarding it as a challenge for myself. :-)


Let me know. At the least, users are going to need a GUI to create a config file to work on (unless you can create an STV for it). It might be nice if both of our utilities followed a common format.

[pawn]

Originally posted by pawn
If a show is being aired at multiple times on multiple channels, the new plugin assigns a single internal id to this show.


I'm glad you mentioned this, because I now understand what is happeneing when I select a show not on the sat channel range, and it tunes to a sat channel: when the same episode is on one of my cable tuners as well as the sat tuner, if I tune to that show on a channel that is only in the cable channle range, the plugin will sometimes tune to the sat listing instead.

Not sure if that's clear.

Lester: have you looked at this issue at all? I would update it to say: the sat receiver is used seemingly EVERY time to tune a show that is playing on both cable and satellite, even though I click on a cable only channel.

This is very bad, since I only have one satellite tuner and two cable tuners, and I'd rather not tie up the satellite if possible.

Thanks,

KJ

[Lester Jacobs]

Originally posted by pawn
Lester: have you looked at this issue at all? I would update it to say: the sat receiver is used seemingly EVERY time to tune a show that is playing on both cable and satellite, even though I click on a cable only channel.

This is very bad, since I only have one satellite tuner and two cable tuners, and I'd rather not tie up the satellite if possible.

Thanks,

KJ

pawn,

I have two ideas:

1) Have you checked the "merit" value of your tuners in the sage.properties file. Possibly your Sat tuner has a higher merit and is thus "preferred"?

2) Another idea I had (which is probably the more likely cause) is that the order in which you setup the the sources is important. If you setup your satellite first then that's probably "preferred". Did you setup the cable tuners first or the satellite? If you setup the satellite first then try setting up the tuners first.

The plugin does not affect SageTV in any way except to update the EPG so it's got to be something about the order of te EPG update that affects your situation.

Regards
Lester

[pawn]

1) Have you checked the "merit" value of your tuners in the sage.properties file. Possibly your Sat tuner has a higher merit and is thus "preferred"?


Maybe you can help me with this, since I don't think the merit has ever worked for me (or I just don't understand how it works).

Here are the merits on my three tuners:

Cable on server:
mmc/encoders/551195575/encoder_merit=0

Cable on network encoder:
mmc/encoders/12345/encoder_merit=1

Sat tuner on server:
mmc/encoders/1642691032/encoder_merit=2

The order above is the order I prefer. I.e., cable on server first, sat on server last. Do I have the merits set correctly?


2) Another idea I had (which is probably the more likely cause) is that the order in which you setup the the sources is important. If you setup your satellite first then that's probably "preferred". Did you setup the cable tuners first or the satellite? If you setup the satellite first then try setting up the tuners first.


The above order is the order I installed them, as well as the order they appear in the setup wizard.


The plugin does not affect SageTV in any way except to update the EPG so it's got to be something about the order of te EPG update that affects your situation.


Not to argue, but you did say you included code to make parallel listings have the same show ID. This seems to me to be a no-brainer why I would click on, for instance, Family Guy on channel 3. and it tunes instead to Family Guy on channel 453.

And more evidence, this never, ever happened before using your new plugin.

Just trying to help.

[mikbro]

The encoder you want to Sage to select first should have the higher number... it looks like you have your merit values inverted.

[pawn]

Thanks, clearly I had it backwards. However, in my opinion, this doesn't address the problem I was describing.

[mikbro]

The behavior you are seeing (clicking on channel x and going to channel y to watch the show you want) is the way Sage operates.

If you were using XMLTV before you didn't see this behavior because XMLTV (more appropriately the plugin) didn't handle the data translation properly.

Shows have an ID attached to them. With the official tribune data, Show "ABC" has an ID attached to it, that is the same whether Show "ABC is on channel 10 or 100. Sage sees this and tunes to the channel that is on the tuner with the highest merit that has this show. The problem with the XMLTV plugin is that show "ABC" on channel x had one ID and show "ABC" on channel y had a different ID, so Sage always tuned to the "ABC" on the channel you selected because it did not "know" it was available elsewhere - now it does - and is using your merit to determine which it should select.

[Lester Jacobs]

EDIT: Didn't mean to type over your post Mike. Looks like we answered at the same time. But we said essentially the same thing so that's good

Originally posted by pawn
Not to argue, but you did say you included code to make parallel listings have the same show ID. This seems to me to be a no-brainer why I would click on, for instance, Family Guy on channel 3. and it tunes instead to Family Guy on channel 453.
...

Actually, it's not really the code in the plugin that makes parallel listings have the same show id. It's actually the data from Zap2It themselves. Each show in the data download is assigned a unique id by Zap2It. So, for instance, "Friends: The One where Ross finds out", might have id 1. Whenever and on whatever channel this show is showing it is referred to as id 1 in the data. The plugin simply passes this info on to Sage. Therefore SageTV "knows" that Friends on channel 4 at 8pm is the same Friends on channel 504 at 8pm (channel numbers are just for example). So if you select to watch Friends at 8pm, SageTV will choose (or should choose) the source with the most preferred merit which is showing that particular show id. In your case that choice appears to select your satellite.

Why didn't this happen with the previous xmltv plugin? Well because that plugin "scraped" data from the Zap2It website instead of downloading it directly, it had no knowledge of show ids. Show Ids are "manufactured" by that plugin by doing a hash on the show name and some other stuff. Therefore, with the xmltv plugin, that same Friends show I described earlier might look like two different shows to Sage. Therefore Sage's behaviour in terms of choosing sources might be different.

So, in short, the difference in behaviour you are noticing is likely due to the fact that the new plugin provides more accurate information about the shows than the old plugin did and so is now activating new behaviour in SageTV (which was always there but never active because it was never provided detailed enough info).

Cheers
Lester

[pawn]

Thanks guys. Obviously this is not a bug, but a good thing, which I'm sure will be evident now that I understand the merit system better.

In case it was lost in my complaining: thanks Lester, this is a nifty piece of work.

[exdirtfarmer]

Thanks Lester,
your plugin is the shiznick.
no more once a week wrestling matches with sage to digest the xmltv plugin data.
Thanks again, dude.
:cheers:
Alan

[dkardatzke]

Can someone forward me on a few show information examples so I can compare the data to the data we receive from Tribune? Some popular first run programs and a movie or two should give me a good basis for comparison. (US shows only if you can because that's our data feed ) You can send the information to me at info@freytechnologies.com.

Thanks,
Dan

[pawn]

Originally posted by dkardatzke
Can someone forward me on a few show information examples so I can compare the data to the data we receive from Tribune? Some popular first run programs and a movie or two should give me a good basis for comparison. (US shows only if you can because that's our data feed ) You can send the information to me at info@freytechnologies.com.

Thanks,
Dan

What, you dont get "Degrassi High, the Next Generation" down there?

Seriously Dan, a couple of things:

1. The data (at least for my data sources) does not include firstrun/rerun flags.

2. Lester can correct me, but as far as I can tell, the data for any given show is scattered all through the file, i.e., show description for all shows, genre information for all shows, etc., etc.. It would be difficult to give you *all* data for a given show, let alone "a few".

I have zippped and emailed you my recent xml epg data file. Hopefully it helps.

[davey_fl]

I can send you some screenshots of detailed show info - would that help?

[Lester Jacobs]

1. The data (at least for my data sources) does not include firstrun/rerun flags.

Just noticed something interesting. Using SageTV 2.0.14, the guide does not indicate whether a show is first run or re run for all shows on my system. I did a complete uninstall then reinstalled 2.0.10 and the guide does show first run/ rerun status for shows where Zap2It provides info. I then uninstalled and reinstalled 2.0.14 and again the first run/rerun status is missing. So the plugin is working fine and it appears that SageTV 2.0.14 is at least not displaying first run/rerun status anymore. You can check this specifically with Star Trek: Enterprise which is a rerun this week. SageTV 2.0.10 correctly shows it as a rerun whereas 2.0.14 does not indicate that it is a rerun


2. Lester can correct me, but as far as I can tell, the data for any given show is scattered all through the file, i.e., show description for all shows, genre information for all shows, etc., etc.. It would be difficult to give you *all* data for a given show, let alone "a few".

Yep , the data is scattered and difficult/tedious to go through. However looking at the sample pawn sent should give a good idea of the breadth of the data even if specific shows are hard to decode.

Cheers
Lester

[olyar15]

Well, here are some screenshots of some shows. First run/re-run status seems to work for me.

[davey_fl]

FirstRun/Rerun does not even show up in any of my listings. I just looked at approximately 20 shows and no FirstRun/Rerun....

[Lester Jacobs]

Originally posted by olyar15
Well, here are some screenshots of some shows. First run/re-run status seems to work for me.

Works for me in 1.4.10 (which is where I assume those screenshots are from) as well. Also works in 2.0.10. It's 2.0.14 where I don't see first run/rerun status for any shows that I've looked at. This is all against the same data.

Perhaps we should indicate exactly which version of SageTV we're running when indicating whether first run/rerun status behaves correctly or not.

Regards
Lester