EPG123 zap2it support

[neptunepic]

Hi all, I have recently discovered EPG123 and it seems to be working great. The only thing that troubles me is how it's limited only to paid memberships to Schedules Direct.
Is there any way EPG123 could be modified to allow downloading and importing data to WMC from the free Zap2It EPG service?

zap2xml (http://zap2xml.awardspace.info) is an open source program that very elegantly grabs all the EPG data from Zap2It, and it's completely free. All that's needed is for EPG123 to convert and import the resulting XML data to WMC.

If the devs are reading this, would you consider adding this option for people who can't afford to (or don't want to) continue paying for EPG data when it's available for free?

Thanks!

[garyan2]

Hi all, I have recently discovered EPG123 and it seems to be working great. The only thing that troubles me is how it's limited only to paid memberships to Schedules Direct.
Is there any way EPG123 could be modified to allow downloading and importing data to WMC from the free Zap2It EPG service?

zap2xml (http://zap2xml.awardspace.info) is an open source program that very elegantly grabs all the EPG data from Zap2It, and it's completely free. All that's needed is for EPG123 to convert and import the resulting XML data to WMC.

If the devs are reading this, would you consider adding this option for people who can't afford to (or don't want to) continue paying for EPG data when it's available for free?

Thanks!

I'm going to kinda answer your question. For starters, zap2xml attempts to provide what the Schedules Direct XML service (SD-DD) provides, but by scraping the zap2it website. It's not providing so much a service, as it is taking advantage of service that is freely given. I don't want you to keep the impression that zap2xml is endorsed / approved by zap2it/Tribune Broadcasting. But that is not the reason I haven't gone this route.

I built epg123 around the services and content provided by Schedules Direct (service) and Gracenote (content). More specifically, I built it around the Schedules Direct JSON service (SD-JSON) with its rich content (images, season/episode numbers, actors and character names, directors, guest stars, genres, and more...). I think the best thing I can do for epg123, and the user experience, is to ensure what it produces is high quality and I can only do that by ensuring the content it receives is high quality as well.

Now a question back to you. If I created a xmltv to mxf program that could be used to import into WMC, but charged say $5 for it, would you pay for it? knowing that the content will not be as rich as it could be? Sure, you'll have programs in the guide at the right times, maybe a decent description, but will you have all the cool stuff from what was described above? It will be functional for sure, but that is about it. Given the choice of paying a one-time $5 fee for a meh guide, or dropping $2.08 a month (annual fee of $25) for a solid, enjoyable guide 365 days a year ... which would you choose?

Now if a lot of people say they'd drop the fiver, stay tuned and I'll make it happen. I've already got a lot of the code done (I was using the SD-DD service with mc2xml shortly before creating epg123). But don't expect any bells or whistles. Opening it up to xmltv means I have no control over the content. I can't trust channel numbers, program ids, genres, ... anything. That means all it's going to do is convert from xmltv to mxf, and how it looks in the guide is all up to the choice of the user in selecting the source. I don't want to take the route BSEPG took and make an overly complex program to try and make up for lacking source content.

So now to answer your question ... for epg123 the answer is NO. Not just NO, but HECK NO.

BUT, I can easily create a simple program to convert an xmltv to mxf for import into WMC and provide that.

[Scallica]

Hi all, I have recently discovered EPG123 and it seems to be working great. The only thing that troubles me is how it's limited only to paid memberships to Schedules Direct.

Why not take the 7 day free trial? No credit card required. You will see for yourself that the $25 annual fee is worth every penny; in fact a bargain compared to Tivo's $15/month. There is also an extended trial plan for 2 months for $6.

[IT Troll]

The trouble with free is that it goes away. There was a great free feed in the UK with full API, but they closed it down. Free simply isn't sustainable.

[STC]

There aint no such thing as free any more. Ask Trump

[neptunepic]

Zap2It isn't going anywhere anytime soon. They are the largest online TV guide in the US.

[STC]

Yep, using advertising.

[IT Troll]

Zap2It isn't going anywhere anytime soon. They are the largest online TV guide in the US.

But free scraping of their website could. Only takes a captcha code or similar.

[neptunepic]

Maybe, but in the meantime it works great so no reason to spend money on it if I don't need the extra features SD offers.

[garyan2]

I've made a couple of my own scrapers in the past, and they are a beast to maintain. Any little change in a website's template could break the scraper. That's why I steered the direction of my involvement to simply converting an xmltv to an mxf import file. I wouldn't care where the information came from, how you got it, if it is correct or not ... I wouldn't try to apply any logic to the code to try and anticipate what some of the information should be. It would, for all intents and purposes, be a garbage-in/garbage-out kind of program.

[rmeden]

Maybe, but in the meantime it works great so no reason to spend money on it if I don't need the extra features SD offers.

How about because it violates the Zap2it.com's Terms of Service? Is that a reason?

It's up to each person to determine if that makes it illegal, immoral or fattening.

RobertE

(Disclaimer, I'm President of SD, and also the leader of the XMLTV SF project)

[Embiggens]

If you look at it objectively, instead of from the perspective of a WMC user, where Microsoft handled the guide data fees, it is the right choice (if you are in financial position to do so) to support SD if you are using their services.

[jonwz]

Maybe, but in the meantime it works great so no reason to spend money on it if I don't need the extra features SD offers.

How about because it violates the Zap2it.com's Terms of Service? Is that a reason?

It's up to each person to determine if that makes it illegal, immoral or fattening.

RobertE

(Disclaimer, I'm President of SD, and also the leader of the XMLTV SF project)

Question Robert; do you funnel any portion of the Schedules Direct revenue to the application developers that provide your subscribers? Maybe your contract with your data provider doesn't allow for that.

I've already subscribed for a year of SD service, and I've also donated an equivalent amount to Gary for giving us an alternative to this 7mc guide "virus".

I'm asking for the following year for me, and possibly for other people that might think that the only payments they should make are to SD and not to the author of EPG123.

[garyan2]

Maybe, but in the meantime it works great so no reason to spend money on it if I don't need the extra features SD offers.

How about because it violates the Zap2it.com's Terms of Service? Is that a reason?

It's up to each person to determine if that makes it illegal, immoral or fattening.

RobertE

(Disclaimer, I'm President of SD, and also the leader of the XMLTV SF project)

Question Robert; do you funnel any portion of the Schedules Direct revenue to the application developers that provide your subscribers? Maybe your contract with your data provider doesn't allow for that.

I've already subscribed for a year of SD service, and I've also donated an equivalent amount to Gary for giving us an alternative to this 7mc guide "virus".

I'm asking for the following year for me, and possibly for other people that might think that the only payments they should make are to SD and not to the author of EPG123.

Don't worry ... I don't get any kickbacks. I even had to pay $25 to renew my membership this week.

[Scallica]

Don't worry ... I don't get any kickbacks. I even had to pay $25 to renew my membership this week.

You should! I wonder how many new SD subscribers are the result of EPG123. At the very least, a complimentary subscription for you would be nice.

My 2c

[STC]

We are but a speck of poop in the grand scheme of things unfortunately.
I would guess the number of EPG123 users are in the low-ish hundreds somewhere...

[garyan2]

Looking at stats from TMDb, there are at least 430 epg123 users. That doesn't mean I brought SD 400+ new members - it just means 430 members happen to be using epg123. I say "at least" since this is just the number of unique users in a day that have the TMDb option selected for epg123.

And if you're curious, that number was 346 on 19 August.

[STC]

Not bad!

[garyan2]

Yah, it's actually interesting to watch sometimes the increase in website traffic, the number of users adding up on TMDb, and the correlation to when MS/Rovi is screwing up. The r-squared is undeniable.

[jonwz]

Actually Gary, that's my worry. I read how many people think the only "cost" of using epg123 is the recurring SD fee.

I have no idea of the economics, and I don't think epg123 is open source, but I do see in the SD webpage header:

"Your membership fees help us fund programs to help your favorite Open Source projects".

I was hoping you got some funds from that.

Thanks again for making the best, but "dead", HD DVR (hopefully) ageless.