Feature Request - Lineup merging

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HTBruceM

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Feature Request - Lineup merging

#1

Post by HTBruceM » Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:04 pm

Lineup merging into WMC (i.e. eliminate requirement for Lineup Selector)

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garyan2

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#2

Post by garyan2 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 9:28 am

HTBruceM wrote:Lineup merging into WMC (i.e. eliminate requirement for Lineup Selector)
It's a high priority item. Just got me a lot of learning to do for this one.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

JTScribe

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#3

Post by JTScribe » Fri Mar 04, 2016 2:34 pm

garyan2 wrote:
HTBruceM wrote:Lineup merging into WMC (i.e. eliminate requirement for Lineup Selector)
It's a high priority item. Just got me a lot of learning to do for this one.
Oooh, nice. I've paid for very little software for my HTPC - MCL, My Movies, and TMT - but I would gladly add you to my list if you can get this.

webminster

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#4

Post by webminster » Fri Mar 04, 2016 2:59 pm

If the data is there - Seeing the descriptive name of the channel when looking at the channel itself (the callsign column in the guide). Right now is always "(EPG123)", would be nice for the option for that to represent the channel description, like "VICELAND HDTV" or "Fox News Channel HDTV".
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#5

Post by Space » Fri Mar 04, 2016 3:11 pm

webminster wrote:If the data is there - Seeing the descriptive name of the channel when looking at the channel itself (the callsign column in the guide). Right now is always "(EPG123)", would be nice for the option for that to represent the channel description, like "VICELAND HDTV" or "Fox News Channel HDTV".
I agree. Not all of the stations are identifiable by their call sign (for those of us without logos enabled) and it would be nice to have a more descriptive text when highlighting the channel.

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STC

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#6

Post by STC » Fri Mar 04, 2016 3:49 pm

^ Would this change result in the recording schedule to be kaput and require everything to be setup once more?
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garyan2

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#7

Post by garyan2 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 4:50 pm

STC wrote:^ Would this change result in the recording schedule to be kaput and require everything to be setup once more?
In theory no. The unique identifier for the service/station stays the same ... we would just be changing the text. I briefly looked at this before and found some issues with trying to rename a station on the fly. The name, just like the logos, are sticky. (When ABC Family changed to Free Form, my callsign stayed the ABC Family callsign). I've found a way to remove the logos so maybe I should revisit that.

According to the SD API documentation, the provider callsign (i.e. Fox News Channel HDTV) is available, but I was unsuccessful in retrieving them. Problem was probably on my side in requesting a verbose response, so I will have to revisit that as well. I'll put it on the list :thumbup:
- Gary
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KenL

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#8

Post by KenL » Fri Mar 04, 2016 6:10 pm

garyan2 wrote:...I got notified from SD that the 4 lineup limitation I have on EPG123 was really for the SD-DD (xml) service and does not apply to the SD-JSON service. With SD-JSON you can have up to 255 lineups. I obviously need 3 to fulfill my needs, so I am asking all you what you would like to see? Remove the limit and make the program more dynamic in the lineups (up to 255)? or is 4 good enough? would 5 be better? Just PM me your thoughts or reply to this if you want to share them.
If the limit is 255, might as well have at least a few more.

I use up to 3 zip codes just for the OTA portion. In planning for the future and leaving room for building listings for things like SlingTV and streaming channels... looks like room in the current GUI for 7 or so lineups?

Not urgent of course. I did notice it seems we need appropriate lineups actually installed to hunt and peck for extra channels. Do we know how many PUT or DELETE we get in a 24 hour period?

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garyan2

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#9

Post by garyan2 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 6:17 pm

KenL wrote:
garyan2 wrote:...I got notified from SD that the 4 lineup limitation I have on EPG123 was really for the SD-DD (xml) service and does not apply to the SD-JSON service. With SD-JSON you can have up to 255 lineups. I obviously need 3 to fulfill my needs, so I am asking all you what you would like to see? Remove the limit and make the program more dynamic in the lineups (up to 255)? or is 4 good enough? would 5 be better? Just PM me your thoughts or reply to this if you want to share them.
If the limit is 255, might as well have at least a few more.

I use up to 3 zip codes just for the OTA portion. In planning for the future and leaving room for building listings for things like SlingTV and streaming channels... looks like room in the current GUI for 7 or so lineups?

Not urgent of course. I did notice it seems we need appropriate lineups actually installed to hunt and peck for extra channels. Do we know how many PUT or DELETE we get in a 24 hour period?
I would love to simply make it dynamic and allow up to 255 which would involve a lot of fun coding. In the near term, I can easily add a couple more tabs if needed.

EDIT: Didn't answer all your questions. You can have up to 6 add/deletes in 24 hours (not sure why that limitation is still there considering you can have up to 255 subscribed lineups). Really, really, low on priority right now is to be able to peek into any lineup to see the stations available ... and a more lofty goal is to peek into what is currently broadcast on each station ... all before you subscribe to it. You are able to see all the channels in a lineup on the SD website without using an add/delete also.

Also, I'm surprised you still need 3 zip codes with SD. There zipcode coverage seems to be pretty accurate as well.
Last edited by garyan2 on Fri Mar 04, 2016 7:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Gary
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garyan2

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#10

Post by garyan2 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 6:52 pm

Space wrote:
webminster wrote:If the data is there - Seeing the descriptive name of the channel when looking at the channel itself (the callsign column in the guide). Right now is always "(EPG123)", would be nice for the option for that to represent the channel description, like "VICELAND HDTV" or "Fox News Channel HDTV".
I agree. Not all of the stations are identifiable by their call sign (for those of us without logos enabled) and it would be nice to have a more descriptive text when highlighting the channel.
Success on all counts. Expect it to be part of next release.

Image
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

webminster

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#11

Post by webminster » Fri Mar 04, 2016 10:28 pm

You are one steely-eyed missile man.
-Alan

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#12

Post by KenL » Fri Mar 04, 2016 11:22 pm

garyan2 wrote:...You can have up to 6 add/deletes in 24 hours (not sure why that limitation is still there considering you can have up to 255 subscribed lineups). Really, really, low on priority right now is to be able to peek into any lineup to see the stations available ... and a more lofty goal is to peek into what is currently broadcast on each station ... all before you subscribe to it. You are able to see all the channels in a lineup on the SD website without using an add/delete also.

Also, I'm surprised you still need 3 zip codes with SD. There zipcode coverage seems to be pretty accurate as well.
Yikes, then I guess better stick with 6 lineups. That would be unfortunate to get them wrong on the first try and be stuck waiting 24 hours to configure proper listings.

SD zip codes are decent enough for what most people likely get with an (indoor?) antenna. But with a wealth of OTA channels available, I've always needed to merge zip codes since the first affiliates went HD. Even before Rovi I used the Peter Near scripts to import lineups to complete listings for my normal scanned ATSC channels. Before that I used different zip codes in different machines recording different channels. :roll:

No big hurry but might as well have 6 lineups available if possible. Thanks. I have to say I really appreciate how EPG123 handles SD lineup/channel inclusion/exclusion so far. Looking forward to what you do on the MC end.

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#13

Post by garyan2 » Sat Mar 05, 2016 4:48 pm

I got a message from SD to clarify the lineup limitations. The lineup limitation is in fact only 4 lineups per user without some coordination with SD. With the restriction of adds and deletes to 6, the maximum number of lineups you could get in a 24 hour period is 7.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

HTBruceM

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#14

Post by HTBruceM » Sat Mar 12, 2016 1:50 am

This thread got off topic a bit...

This feature request is for EPG123 to include Lineup Selector functionality - eliminate the need to run Lineup Selector when converting to EPG123.

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garyan2

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#15

Post by garyan2 » Sat Mar 19, 2016 4:57 pm

All, just want to give a heads up and request some help. I will be creating a small program that I would like some to run to provide me with information on the automatching feature in the mxf file. Lo and behold, the documentation from MS on the mxf format is wrong for the use of matchName. When trying to get the Lineup Selector functionality built into epg123, I discovered on how the matchName attribute is actually used.

Long story short, on my system which is ATSC only, there is no step 3 for me... I am using the native feature to automatically match the service to the channel in the guide. To see if I can make this work for other transports, I need to see what it looks like for CableCARD, DVB-S, DVB-C, DVB-T, ...

Expect the program out much later as I have two 4-year-olds that really want to spend time with their daddy ... and I'm not going to deny. :D
- Gary
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#16

Post by boogmeister1 » Sat Mar 19, 2016 5:32 pm

Spend as much time as you need with the little ones and recharge your batteries! I, and many others, appreciate all the hard work you've put into this project. Without folks like you, a lot of us would be up a creek without a paddle. I am still having problems with the Rovi guide data and look forward to a superior solution.

Thanks again!
Eric

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garyan2

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#17

Post by garyan2 » Sun Mar 20, 2016 2:36 am

Looking for folks to help out with this. This is to automatically match tuned channels to the guide information using the built-in functionality of the media center store and the loadmxf import. I need samples from all possible transports as above. If this pans out, will be able to skip the Lineup Selector tool.

The program attached will create a text file which I would like you to zip up and PM it to me. Contents are simply some channel information and the matchname required for the automatch to work.

REMOVED

Thank you!
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

artm

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#18

Post by artm » Sun Mar 20, 2016 5:24 am

I ran this program and the text file produced is empty. Should it run from a specific directory?
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#19

Post by garyan2 » Sun Mar 20, 2016 5:54 am

artm wrote:I ran this program and the text file produced is empty. Should it run from a specific directory?
hmmm ... that isn't good. I hope this doesn't mean I can't do what I planned with you CableCARD folks. The program can be run from anywhere alongside the epg123.exe.config file. I can get the information I need from a lineup file as well. If you don't mind, could you zip your latest lineup backup file from c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome\mcepg2-X\backup\lineup\YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS and send to me instead?
- Gary
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#20

Post by stuartm » Sun Mar 20, 2016 6:32 am

So I have both Cablecard and OTA tuners on the same HTPC, will this all work for both. How will lineup merging work when multiple tuner types with different lineups are involved? (still waiting for a non-busy weekend to dive into trying this stuff out)

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