Pay-Per-View Plugin

[Cayars]

For those that CAN get the PPV via TitanTV. How about via Zap2It?

[kevthor]

I cannot get the PPV data from Zap2It. only TitanTV.

[Jkimmell]

Originally Posted by Cayars

For those that CAN get the PPV via TitanTV. How about via Zap2It?

TitanTV has my PPV listings but Zap2It doesn't.

[rsagetv99]

Carlo, I don't think Zap2It has any PPV info, only TitanTV does. Maybe you could put something together using the Canadian Zap2it Direct import module that Lester Jacobs developed.
http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ead.php?t=3916

Maybe you could use his method bring in everything but PPV from Zap2it, and then use TitanTV to bring in the missing PPV info. I'm guessing that everything could be written to a file and then imported into SAGE at the end.

Is this possible?

[PGPfan]

Originally Posted by rsagetv99

Maybe you could use his method bring in everything but PPV from Zap2it, and then use TitanTV to bring in the missing PPV info. I'm guessing that everything could be written to a file and then imported into SAGE at the end.

Is this possible?

That's exactly what I hope we can get. I'm even wondering if somehow the guide data could be 'modularized', kind of like when you set up a tuner and select what guide data to use. You could select PPV as a source, and maybe one capture card could be dedicated to doing PPV's.

Just thinking out loud.

-PGPfan

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by rsagetv99

Carlo, I don't think Zap2It has any PPV info, only TitanTV does. Maybe you could put something together using the Canadian Zap2it Direct import module that Lester Jacobs developed.
http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ead.php?t=3916

Maybe you could use his method bring in everything but PPV from Zap2it, and then use TitanTV to bring in the missing PPV info. I'm guessing that everything could be written to a file and then imported into SAGE at the end.

Is this possible?

That was specifically the reason I asked about Zap2It. If they had the data then Lester's plugin would have worked with zero effort on my part.

[rsagetv99]

Originally Posted by Cayars

That was specifically the reason I asked about Zap2It. If they had the data then Lester's plugin would have worked with zero effort on my part.

Yeah but then I wouldn't want to give you $10 either.

Seriously though if you used Lester's plugin plus the data from TitanTV, this would give us the best of both worlds. Besides, you're so good at this stuff it probably wouldn't be much more that zero effort for you...

Hey, I tried bribing you already, so now I'm hoping that flattery will get you going.

[Cayars]

To funny. It would be a little different. Curious, have you guys asked Lester about doing this?

[kevthor]

I haven't. I just asked on the board here in the first post for anyone that wanted to take it on. Since lester didn't reply to this thread I assumed he didn't want to.

[rsagetv99]

I just requested it.

http://www.digicasa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=53#53

[technix]

couldnt a plugin like this be approached the same way the news feed is

So you have Pay Per View guide and the data would be listed as the news feed instead of chanigng the current EPG

[kevthor]

Originally Posted by technix

couldnt a plugin like this be approached the same way the news feed is

So you have Pay Per View guide and the data would be listed as the news feed instead of chanigng the current EPG

I'm not sure but if I'm correct if it were implemented the way you propose you would be able to view the data, but I don't think you could set Sage to record it?

[Lester Jacobs]

Originally Posted by rsagetv99

I just requested it.

http://www.digicasa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=53#53

Hi,

I did see this request when it was first posted but I didn't reply at that time since I don't watch PPV channels at all. In any case it would be fairly easy for me to modularize the "Canadian" (technically North American) EPG Plugin to pull info from a secondary file containing PPV info, and combine this data with the Zap2It data for the other channels and then update Sage with the complete info. That's the fairly easy part.

The hard part as I see it is obtaining that secondary file of PPV info. My plugin would require that secondary file to be in XML format. Can we obtain the PPV info from eg TitanTV in XML format? Can someone investigate what the options there are for obtaining the PPV info and converting it to XML? Ideally the XML file would follow the Zap2It schema (attached). If the file were in this schema the import would require minimal effort on my part. However I could probably handle any XML format as long as it contained all the required information.

Regards
Lester

[rsagetv99]

Well, I've spent the last hour or so trying to figure this out. The best I can tell, it appears that TitanTV does not offer a downloadable program guide. Instead, you download an app for your particular hardware (e.g. PVR 150) and this app takes you to the TitanTV website. From there you pick a program and through the app it schedules the program and automatically starts/stops recording the show for you.

I e-mailed TitanTV support to see if they offer a downloadable guide. The only other thing I can think of is if there was a way to copy the information from the web-site into a file, but I am not smart enough to figure this one out.

[Lester Jacobs]

Originally Posted by rsagetv99

Well, I've spent the last hour or so trying to figure this out. The best I can tell, it appears that TitanTV does not offer a downloadable program guide. Instead, you download an app for your particular hardware (e.g. PVR 150) and this app takes you to the TitanTV website. From there you pick a program and through the app it schedules the program and automatically starts/stops recording the show for you.

I e-mailed TitanTV support to see if they offer a downloadable guide. The only other thing I can think of is if there was a way to copy the information from the web-site into a file, but I am not smart enough to figure this one out.

Your findings correlate with what I know about TitanTV. All the apps I have heard about that use this tool use the website to do the scheduling i.e. no data is downloaded to the app. It is technically possible to do web site scraping from TitanTV I suppose but I am not prepared to write a website scraper app...someone else would have to do that. I AM prepared to modify the plugin as soon as someone can come up with a way of obtaining PPV info in an XML file.

The faint light that I see at the end of the tunnel is that Zap2It MIGHT be adding PPV info in the future. There's been some rumblings on their forums about that. They haven't guaranteed anything but they haven't shot down the idea either. You might want to go register at the
Zap2It Direct website and indicate your interest for them to add PPV info. If more people register their interest, then they may be inclined to add PPV support more quickly.

Regards
Lester

[rsagetv99]

Anyone with experience writing scrapers wanna help? Or at least can someone point me in the right direction?

[PGPfan]

If I remember correctly, ToonGal has done some work creating scrapers for comic strip plugin, etc. Perhaps she might be the one to approach for assistance with this. We desperately need this functionality. I think all those that are interested in this type of plugin should ALSO leave a comment on the Zap2it forum that Lester linked for us. A 2 pronged approach can't hurt.

-PGPfan

[kevthor]

Originally Posted by Lester Jacobs

Your findings correlate with what I know about TitanTV. All the apps I have heard about that use this tool use the website to do the scheduling i.e. no data is downloaded to the app. It is technically possible to do web site scraping from TitanTV I suppose but I am not prepared to write a website scraper app...someone else would have to do that. I AM prepared to modify the plugin as soon as someone can come up with a way of obtaining PPV info in an XML file.

The faint light that I see at the end of the tunnel is that Zap2It MIGHT be adding PPV info in the future. There's been some rumblings on their forums about that. They haven't guaranteed anything but they haven't shot down the idea either. You might want to go register at the
Zap2It Direct website and indicate your interest for them to add PPV info. If more people register their interest, then they may be inclined to add PPV support more quickly.

Regards
Lester

Maybe we have to look at a different provider other than TitanTV that does have the PPV listings and provides XML download.

Where do we submit a request on zap2it for PPV information? Is there a forum or are we just emailing them or what?

[kny3twalker]

well if everyone filled their inbox
we might get a response
please post the email address

[Lester Jacobs]

Originally Posted by kevthor

Maybe we have to look at a different provider other than TitanTV that does have the PPV listings and provides XML download.

Where do we submit a request on zap2it for PPV information? Is there a forum or are we just emailing them or what?

There's a forum at the link I indicated. I believe you can only access it if you register though. You will need a certificate code to register. Go to the DigiCasa website. In the products section you'll find the SageTV EPG Plugin and on its page you'll see a certificate code you can use.

Regards
Lester