Questions?

[Rick Bonari]

Can HSTV be used without doing the download of the TV schedules, etc. Also, can TV channels be selected for view and recording via a web page interface in HSTV? Thanks Much in advance !!!!!

[CFGuy]

There is three ways to enter a view or record event.

1. Grid page - Each program has the icons above the title to set a view or record event. This will do a one time event.

2. HSTV Event editor - Enter the criteria to find the programs you want. This will create the events on an ongoing basis.

3. Write a script that finds the programs you want reminded of and then call the createevent function. It will add the events your script finds using the defaults you enter on the admin page.

Without doing the downloads there would be no data for HSTV to find the programs entered in the editor. Also without the data there would be no grid page so for all the above you would need to do the download.

What are you looking to do that you would not need the program info?

Jeff Farmer
HomeSeer user since March, 2000

[Rick Bonari]

I assume that the functions and features of HSTV are accessible from the Web. Is this a correct assumption? Thanks for your help !!!!!!

[CFGuy]

Yes, there are several web pages that make up the web part of HSTV.

* Grid page - A normal channel grid.
* TV Display - A page that lists what is on but in a large size for display on a tv.
* Category List - A list of the shows by category.
* Search - A page to enter search criteria to find upcoming programs.
* Scheduled - A list of the Remind, Watch and Record events.
* Channel Editor - Select which channels show in the grid and set the order they display.
* User Options - Set the user options and preferences.
* Event Editor - Edit the Remind, Watch and Record criteria used to create the repeating events.
* Admin - Edit the global settings.
* Import Editor - Select the channels for import. Which channels are used with VR and your favorites.

Jeff Farmer
HomeSeer user since March, 2000

[Rick Bonari]

I have a Leopard/Ocelot Unit with an SECU16IR unit to control the tV/vcr equipment. How is the setup for the IR Commands handled in HSTV? Thanks again for your help. Also, I'm assuming that with the web interface, I could access it from work and change selections and times, etc.? Would this be a correct assumption.

[CFGuy]

I use a Secu16IR also.
In HS you setup your devices in the IR config. Each device you enter will appear in the dropdowns to allow you to select which device you want to use for recording and which device you want to use for changing channel. Then on the devices you need to label your commands. HSTV allows you to tell it what the command name for record, and stop are. It expects 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 for the numbers.
When an event is setup, it uses the HS device names and commands to build the IR string. If you go to the HS events page and into the IR action tab, you will see the devices and commands that are available to HSTV.

And yes, as long as you can access HS from work, you can access the HSTV pages. So all the setup, editing, etc is available to you.

Jeff Farmer
HomeSeer user since March, 2000

[Rick Bonari]

I guess one last question I have, is that I use my Ocelot/Leopard to send commands to the T.V., etc. in the den, and I use an SECU16IR in the master bedroom to control the TV, etc. in there. Also plan to add another SECUIR16 in the Family Room. Can HSTV accomodate this type of setup? Sounds like whatever is setup in Homeseer can be accomodated in HSTV? Also has there been any thought about having a separate section on a web page that could allow you to do basic control and scheduling for other than the T.V.'s, such as a stereo system, DVD player, etc. This would allow one to maybe turn the T.V. on to say channel 5 at maybe 6:00 p.m. from work, so that it will be on and ready when you walk through the door. Also, if one is away on a trip, you could use this mode for security purposes to make it look and sound like someone is home. Having a general purpose page to control just about any IR device could be useful it seems. Thanks much for your help and time. Sounds a bit complicated to get setup, but your support seems really great. I guess I should mention, that the system I would be running this on is an older 350mhz AMD K6 Processor with 256meg of ram. It has been real reliable in running my home control system via the ECS Home Control Software in the past. I have had the system up for 7-8 months without having a problem with it. Also running windows 98. Let me know what your thoughts are on this issue. Thanks again!!!!!!!!

[CFGuy]

You should be able to do that.
Here is a picture of the setup screen for the tv events.



You have a section for before and after the channel IR commands are sent, a section for before and after the record command and before and after the stop command.

What you could do is in the prepend for channel change IR, you could enter the tv or dvd and the ir commands for those devices. Then in the stop append you can enter the power off for the tv or dvd.
And so you don't have to remember the tv ir string every time you enter a new event, you can enter the tv ir string on the admin page. Anything set in the admin page will be pre filled on the event edit page as defaults.

You also have the ability to select a script to be run, an application to be run. And you can select a run before speaking scripta and a run after speaking script.

You might be pushing it with your system, but if you schedule the import event overnight at a time when your system is not busy then you should be fine. I'm running on a system with an AMD Duron 700 with 1 gig or RAM. But in addition to HS, I'm running PHP, Cold Fusion, IIS, SQL Server, FTP ServU, MySQL, IVista, Mercury Email Server and VNC.

Hmm, I think its time for a second server.

Jeff Farmer
HomeSeer user since March, 2000

[Rick Bonari]

Is there a way to cut down on the amount of time that it takes to do the downloads? If you are only interested in a few channels, can you select the channels you want to download or does the service require that you download everything from the site? Thanks again for all of your help !!!!!

[CFGuy]

When you are setting up xmltv you tell it which channels to download. So if you only have 10 channels that you would ever want to be reminded from, then you could select just that 10 or what ever number of channels.

The Import page allows you to select which of the channels from xmltv to actually import. This allows for some of the countries where xmltv is all channels or none to override the all. Fortunately, the U.S. setup does allow selecting the channels.

You could also use the download and import rather than the downloadmulti and importmulti functions.
The difference is downloadmulti downloads all the xml files every night. That way if something happens one night and a file is missed, the multi one allows making up for the missed files.

download only downloads one day. If you have HSTV set to download 10 days ahead then the download function will only download one day and only the 10th day forward.

The import and importmulti work the same way. import does one day, importmulti does all the current days.

The advantage to the multi is occassionally, programs are missing their end time. With the multi import, the function can look at programs from the next day to determine the end time.

And if you do have a feature you would like to see added, let me know.
I have a to do list built from user requests.

Jeff Farmer
HomeSeer user since March, 2000