TV Script Problem

[Rupp]

I just ran a ping script for the last 24 hours against www.gist.com every 5 minutes. Out of 288 pings in the last 24 hours only 3 failed. I have not seen any problems for the last week so I'm starting to think its some backbone problem for some of your ISPS. Are the guys that is having problems on the same ISP?

-Rupp
...it was a holy night.

[CFGuy]

Tom and I are working on changing the tv listings over to zap2it.
We have 5 phases.

1. Download the data.
2. Import the data.
3. Display the data.
4. VR and other scripts
5. Installer

We currently have 1 and 2 working. The download and import run once per day. I have not missed a day since I started running the new downloader. I even deleted some of the days to see if the makeup script would catch it. It did and after one night I had all the listings again.
The download and importer are written in Visual Basic. HS starts the process and then moves on. HS is not tied up while the download or the import is running.

Phase 3 is being worked on now. I have the grid displaying the current listings. I still need to add in the functions for selecting different days, format the look, add the icons for Record, Tune, Remind, Repeats, Add to Favorites.

Tom is working on Phase 5 and when done will do phase 4.

Its going pretty good and I'm hoping we will have something ready in time to give you all a christmas present.

Also, I was serious when I said to get your feature requests in. Its easier to build them in now than to add them in later.

Jeff Farmer

[alevey]

Jeff,
I know I keep repeating myself but TitanTV seems to have all the vendors behind them. Using thier site could lead to "true" PVR integration for the script you are writing.

[Jebus]

Jeff, Tom,
Can you script a way to change the intended target for the channel changing, ect... to be able to use other devices? ie: Computer TV cards. Maybe make a choice for either IR or HS.KEYS, even if the user supplies the HS.KEYS script. I have the "old" tv listings that use modified irlib config and ir.txt files. I sent these to Tom a while back................JG

The Garage

[jruby]

oops sorry about shouting, just noticed the capslock. any way wonder if you can keep the html nice and friendly to screen readers? using alt tags and some of the other accessability features that go along with that. If you want I would be willing to have a look at the html page you are generating for feedback. The one problem I was having with the tv scripts now is I could never read the show details all though they were popping up in another window.

the ability to customise the speach a bit for example in stead of checking the listing for, maybe I would like to hear tv listing for channel. So customised prompts would be nice as I like mine as brief, but then I use speach all day long.

Thanks.

[huggy_d1]

I deleted my gist.com cookies [note plural] until it prompted me for email info when I asked for the TV listings. After that the geturlIE hacked version worked. I left well enough alone and began downloading listings again (been 2 weeks). Sometime during the night gist.com went/goes down and perhaps that is when many of you fine folks have also been attempting to download the new listings.

It would be nice to have the times for downloads, both first attempts and re-downloads, configurable so we don't all hit gist.com at once, somewhat creating our own denial-of-service without meaning to do so.

Anyhow, at least it started working again for me thanks to the cookie note from other folks.
huggy(d1)

[CFGuy]

Itek,
The reason we are using zqp2it is because we can get the data in an xml file. So we don't have to parse through the data. I'm using Microsofts xmldom to do the parsing.

Jebus,
Possibly, I'll see about adding an option so instead of selecting an IR device you would enter a script instead. This may need some tweaking after release so it may not work initially but should be able to get to it after the first release.

Jim R,
Since we are just getting the data from the site, we will be able to control the source for displaying that data. So, yes, I plan on having the accessibility features added. My goal is too make the accessibility items be an option. That way it doesn't limit the popups for everyone. Options are our friend. he he.
To preview what I have so far on the grid go here: TV Grid
Please let me know of anything that will make it more accessible. My day job is working for a site that by law has to be accessible so I am always interested in real life experiences with screen readers rather than just meeting what the state and federal guidelines are.

NOTE: The grid is still being worked on, this is what I have so far.


huggy_d1,
I haven't missed any of the listings this entire time. But when gist first changed to offer multiple profiles, I had went in and setup a new profile and saved my old one.
The script to download needs to run once per day. You will setup an event to run it so you will determine exactly when it runs. I have mine run after 3am. I figure Internet traffic will be down as well as my Internet cable providers traffic.

Jeff Farmer

[Rupp]

Where are you getting the data for zap2it in XML format?

-Rupp
...it was a holy night.

[jruby]

I know this is in the early stages and all is very accessable except for:
no channel numbers if one would like to see them, would be nice if we could configure the columns we wanted to see, but I liked what I saw and all information was easy to see and understand. Nice job. btw: I would love to have my hs site look so nice.

Also what is teletex I heard this a lot when reading the grid?t

[ccastillo]

CFGuy -
It'a amazing to see how much progress you guys have had on the new version. I can't wait to get the final results!
I have a couple of questions about the grid:
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>Displaying the Channel number and icon as options. They are both part of the XMLTV standard (is that what you are using?) and the information is provided by ZAP2it.
<LI>Inserting the time line every so many channels... that way, after scrolling down, you can still see if a particular show starts at 9:30 PM or 10:00 PM[/list]
I have an example of both of this options at http://www.carloshouse.com/tv/
Keep up the good work!

- Carlos

[CFGuy]

While on my lunch break, I worked on the tv grid.

So more answers.

Rupp,
xmltv. The download script in the vb program I wrote runs xmltv with the command line parameters that you will setup via a web page. The goal is have as little as possible having to be done by command line. Even selecting the channels that xmltv will download has been built into a web page. One page allows the admin to select which channels are downloaded. The channels selected here are then displayed on a second page where each user can select the ones that they want displayed in their grid. Because HomeSeer only allows an admin and guest account, individual user settings will only work if you are running Secure Links.
If you are running secure links then the tv pages will use the secure link login to track individual settings.

The tv listings will work without Secure Links. You just have to share the settings.


Jim R
Teletext is the sub titles type. Eventually, you will be able to select what information you want to use. So you can turn sub title, ratings, etc. off if you don't want to use it.
As to the speaking of the reminders and whats on. Tom is handling that part and I'm sure he will see this thread. Sounds like some more options are in order. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] Can you tell I like options.

Carlos
Worked on this during lunch today.
1. done, kinda. You will now have an option of displaying Channel Name or Channel Number or both.
I'll have to look into the icons.
2. done. You can now enter a number for how many channels to display before repeating the time row.
You can see the changes on the TV grid now.

Jeff Farmer

[ccastillo]

Jeff -
It's looking better every time, even better with all the customization options that you are building in. If you don't mind me throwing out suggestions, here is another one: how about making the reminder functionality "open" so it can trigger other custom events in addition to the voice reminder? Paul Augusto did a very nice job in his CNN Breaking News script with an add-on feature to trigger other events when an alert is detected. I'm thinking on pager notification, instant message via MSN messenger, etc.

Also, along the same line, is the time for the reminder (currently 15 minutes before the TV show) going to be customizable as well?

- Carlos

[CFGuy]

I played with the style sheet last night on the tv grid and got the icons added for the Remind, Watch, Record, Repeats, Add To Favs.

Jeff Farmer

[CFGuy]

Carlos,
Events have an option for running a script before and after speaking. You will be able to set those scripts in the global settings and the tv listings will add them to the event. Does this do what you are asking about?

Yes, the time ahead to remind will be customizable. Along with a ton of other things no one has mentioned yet. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Jeff Farmer

[ccastillo]

Why reinvent the wheel? Jeff, the Before and After speaking parameters will do exactly what I want. I didn't remember that the reminders are separate events on their own. I'm glad to read that you already thought about using them.

- Carlos