EPG + Girder + Newbie

[Shortty]

I've just started playing with Girder. I've got it working with WinAmp and my next project is some sort of "TV Guide" but I don't know where to start :( All I want to do is display a grid of whats playing, scroll through it with the remote then change the channel on the cable receiver when I select a show.

Can this be done?

Is XMLTV the only (free :wink: ) way to do this?

What software do people use to display the XMLTV data?

TVHolic sounds like what I need but I can't get it to display anything. Does anybody else have problems with it?

This forum is great for in-depth stuff and I'm sure I can handle details like sending IR commands through my slinke to the cable box but I just need help with the simple stuff (well, simple for you guys - I'm pulling my hair out!)

Thanks

[avid]

If you are considering using NetRemote as well as Girder, one way of presenting the XML data is on a Pocket PC remote control. See http://brianavid.com/Avid/ScreenShots/Listings.htm and http://brianavid.com/Avid/ScreenShots/Listings_Selected.htm for an idea of what I mean.

Brian

[Shortty]

That's just what I want (and more) but I'd like to avoid buying a PDA. In my many searchs through this forum I found many references to NetRemote solutions but didn't spend too much time on them because I wanted to avoid the extra complication and $$$. You guys talk about a NetRemote solution like its a light snack so I figure a simpler PC only setup should be do-able. If I could just find an Electronic Program Guide that worked AND did what I want I'm sure I could Girder-ize it. I don't even know if I need a stand alone EPG. Maybe Girder with the XMLTV plugin can display the info itself. Or I can run the pocket pc software on my PC. Or Excel or Word could be used. I just don't know.

Maybe this forum isn't the place for this but the people here seem very knowledgeable and are doing this sort of stuff so I thought I'd ask. If I am in the wrong place just say so.

[curtiswren]

Have you seen this post http://www.promixis.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9779? Chris wrote a very cool front end to the XMLTV girder plugin.

[VaioUserChris]

Hi Shortty,

As Curtis mentioned I've done some work on a front-end using Girder without netremote and I encourage you to take a look at it. It doesn't currently have a grid view though - but I'm looking into putting one together when I have some free time - perhaps in the next month or so.

Another approach you might want to consider is a free program called TVHolic (http://www.meedio.com/pub/Tools/TVHolic/Readme-TVHolic.htm). That program is highly customizable and works well with Girder, so you could conceivably get it to do what you describe. TVHolic also requires an XMLTV file.

Chris

[Shortty]

Thanks a million guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is exactly the type of information I was fishing for. I had read that post but not since the info about Chris' XMLTV viewer was added :(. I'll give it a try right away. A grid is my ultimate goal but this looks perfectly usable and a full grid is just gravey. And who knows, with a place to start, the hard stuff done and some sample code to follow, maybe I'll get to a grid before you do Chris (warning: I alway seem to have time to make the bold boasts but rarely seem to have teh time to execute :wink: )

WRT TVHolic, I never could make it work. After a few grey hairs I've had XMLTV working with other EPG's. From the TVHolic forum it sounds like Data Direct (Zap2It) has been updated and newer versions of XMLTV handle that but TVHolic has never been updated to handle the new data and/or format. That forum is cluttered enough and my patients short enough that I could neither prove nor disprove that. The errors I'm getting are consistant with that though. I'm using version 0.5.37 (Nov 29, 2004) of XMLTV and the latest (Oct 7, 2003) of TVHolic. Does this work for other people? Either way, Chris' viewer and Curtis' plugin are where I want to be.

Once again, I'm extremely grateful for the help.

[Jlee]

And if you do decide to look at Brian's NR solution again be aware that you can run NR on a standard PC as there is a windows version as well as PPC.

[avid]

And if you do decide to look at Brian's NR solution again be aware that you can run NR on a standard PC as there is a windows version as well as PPC.
But there is a gotcha though. The EPG software will read from XMLTV anywhere. But actually setting timers depends on the recorder hardware/software. And my driver is for Nebula DigiTV - which works in Europe, Australia and Singapore. It's all a question of broadcast standards.

So some further work would be needed to support other PVR platforms.

Brian