Future v1.1.0 Release

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taraba

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#101

Post by taraba » Fri Feb 03, 2017 3:27 pm

What would need to be done to do post-processing? Run a script to execute epg123.exe -update, then do the post-processing, then run epg123Client.exe -i epg123.mxf -match?

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garyan2

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#102

Post by garyan2 » Fri Feb 03, 2017 4:53 pm

taraba wrote:What would need to be done to do post-processing? Run a script to execute epg123.exe -update, then do the post-processing, then run epg123Client.exe -i epg123.mxf -match?
Correct. The post-processing would have to be before the import. It could be a sloppy Find&Replace operation, or a safer XML deserialize - edit - and XML serialize & save.
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#103

Post by garyan2 » Sun Feb 05, 2017 9:51 pm

Quick Question for everyone:

As I mentioned early, this could be considered a breaking change due to changing how the unique ID of the lineup channels is created. Which scenario would you rather have?

1. Execute an EPG123 update with a transition version (only needed once per machine) then use the final release of v1.1.0, or
2. Have a checkbox in the EPG123 GUI the user has to check to declare the transition is complete.

The advantages of #1 is that new installers don't have to know there was a transition. The transition version is a throw-away after used. Disadvantage is it opens the risk to the user not running the tool and losing all their guide listings until the "new" channels are matched to the guide.

The advantage of #2 is that by default it will be performing the transition until the user clicks the checkbox and there is no harm in running it forever in transition mode. The disadvantage is the new installers won't know what the checkbox is all about. Also, without a "transition tool," there is nothing to identify it will be required for those that upgrade at a later date, possibly when there is a v1.1.1. I don't particularly want to keep the code alive for the transition in future versions.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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12noon

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#104

Post by 12noon » Sun Feb 05, 2017 10:05 pm

As a developer myself, I think there are more long-term benefits to having a one-time transition version--especially for you. ;-) If you want to be super-careful, you can have 1.1.1 prompt the user once to ask them if they've run the transition tool. (1.2 could remove that prompt.)
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Space

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#105

Post by Space » Sun Feb 05, 2017 10:38 pm

I would say have a separate tool to do the transition. Once the transition is completed, have this program put a flag in the config file to let all future versions of EPG123 know that the transition was completed.

Any future version of EPG123 will check for this flag, and if it does not exist but there is an existing config file, then prompt the user to possibly download (if not part of the normal distribution) and run the transition program. If there is no config file (meaning this is the first time EPG123 was run), then just set the flag in the initial config and proceed normally. If the flag exists in the existing config file, then just proceed normally.

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#106

Post by Sancho » Sun Feb 05, 2017 11:18 pm

I think you can consider existing users to be "experienced" or "knowledgeable" and thus able to follow whatever instructions you provide. Thus, you can favor the solution that encourages new users, makes it easy for them, and makes the most sense to you as the developer. I reckon that'd be Option 1. I like the idea of a one-run-and-done solution, with instructions to immediately replace it with the final v.1.1.0. That's how I'm reading Option 1, anyway. Clear, concise instructions are all that should be required to get existing users through the transition.

I also assume that the old (now current) version will keep working indefinitely, though I imagine most users will transition/upgrade.

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#107

Post by Space » Tue Feb 07, 2017 1:50 am

Just a quick observation about 2 items currently in the guide related to the "NEW" flag...

Looking at screentv.com, I see that there is an airing of "The Wall" airing on 2/14 @ 8pm ET. This episode is marked as "NEW", yet it has an OAD of "2/14/2017". The reason for this is that this episode was originally scheduled for 2/14 @8pm, but was pushed back to 2/14 @9pm at the last minute (due to a Presidential news conference). So the episode is really not "NEW" but unless you knew of the schedule change and made manual adjustments, you would have missed it.

I completely understand why Gracenote would mark this as NEW and I think it is the right thing to do, however, it is not very helpful for WMC, since if WMC recorded the original airing on 2/14 @8pm, it would already think it recorded this episode and would not schedule it to record again, even though it is marked as NEW (the OAD is the same as the airing date, if you use that option in EPG123).

I don't know if there is a solution to this problem, other than making EPG123 change the unique episodeId so that WMC will record it. This does not seem like a practical solution. I'm not sure there is a practical solution.

The best way to fix this would be to remove the episodeId for that episode from the "list of recorded episodes" for the Series, but I know of no way of even viewing this list, no less being able to edit it. If there was a way to do this, it would be great (for other reasons as well). Does anyone know if this is possible?


The second one is for the new show "Imposters".

This show premieres on 2/7 at 10pm ET on Bravo. You can see in the guide that this episode is marked as NEW.
However, if you look at 2/14 at 8pm ET on E!, you will see the same episode is also marked as NEW.
In this case the EPG123 option would probably change the OAD of the show to 2/14 at some point (perhaps after the 2/7 airing has been removed from the guide).
This seems a bit messy, and in the end, the same issue that was a problem in the first example above is a good thing here. Since the 2/7 airing would have already been recorded, the 2/14 airing will not record, even though it will have an OAD matching the air date (and be considered NEW). It also would not record if your Series is set to only record from Bravo and not from "any channel".

So I guess what I am trying to show here is that there is no perfect way to make sure you always get what you want. "Fixing" one thing may break another. In either case, it would not have made a difference if the option had been on or off in EPG123.

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garyan2

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#108

Post by garyan2 » Tue Feb 07, 2017 3:51 am

Don't worry, Space. I'm leaving the option in ... I have just never seen the override option produce any bad side effects. Personally, I'm going to keep mine enabled.

Also, totally agree, and been the source of, many "improvements" causing unforeseen disasters down the road. Live&Learn.
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#109

Post by 12noon » Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:01 pm

{quote} I see that there is an airing of "The Wall" airing on 2/14 @ 8pm ET. This episode is marked as "NEW", yet it has an OAD of "2/14/2017". The reason for this is that this episode was originally scheduled for 2/14 @8pm, but was pushed back to 2/14 @9pm at the last minute (due to a Presidential news conference). So the episode is really not "NEW"...{quote}

I think the episode IS still "NEW." The first airing of it was postponed from 8 PM to 9 PM; it wasn't aired a second time at 9 PM. I would want WMC to record this episode at 9 PM (not ignore it). Am I missing something? Why would you want WMC to skip recording an episode that was postponed?
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Space

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#110

Post by Space » Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:50 pm

I made a mistake in my original post, the original airing was on January 31st at 9pm.
It was originally scheduled for January 31st at 8pm but was pushed back an hour for Trump's Supreme Court nomination announcement.

The repeat airing was on February 14. This airing was marked as "NEW" even though it first aired on 1/31.

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#111

Post by IT Troll » Wed Mar 01, 2017 4:03 pm

IT Troll wrote:For the wish list; An on screen pop-up within/over Media Center if EPG data has less then x days remaining (x configurable). Similar to the one Windows 8 Media Center has for pending Windows Updates.
I was wondering if this suggestion is being considered for a future release?

My suspicion is that it would be difficult to do without a Media Center Add-in. I run Media Center full screen 24/7 and I guess an external app can't reliably pop something over this.

I thought about maybe using the Media Center OEM Logo as a kind of notification badge, but it sounds like that no longer works in WMC8.
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#112

Post by garyan2 » Thu Mar 02, 2017 2:21 am

It's not something I am currently working on. I imagine at some point I might make a plug-in someday, but that day ain't here yet.

I've also thought about making a service out of epg123 that will be presented in the taskbar when an update is active ... maybe even show status. That doesn't help those with 24/7 WMC on time, though.
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#113

Post by IT Troll » Thu Mar 02, 2017 9:28 pm

garyan2 wrote:It's not something I am currently working on.
No worries. Given that I haven't had an outage since making the switch, it probably isn't worth the dev time anyway.
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