[mythtv-users] Australian TV grabber (tv_grab_au)

Craig Read craigread at csi.com
Mon May 16 09:35:52 UTC 2005


Michael Smith wrote:

> As such, I'd like to hear any suggestions for features that people 
> find lacking in the current version.

I'm not sure about the current version of that script (as I'm not using 
it), but there are some common things I see lacking in scripts in general.

> What I've got so far:
>
> (*) Configuration code that automatically probes the NineMSN site for 
> regions and services and queries the site for appropriate ids and 
> channel lists. (tv_grab_au --configure)

Also, the ability to update channels in the database using the 
appropriate ids.  With DVB you scan for the channels and then have to 
update all of the xml tags.  Be nice if this was handled by the grabber 
(similar to the way the channels.conf importer works).

> Here are the things I'm thinking of looking into now:
>
> (*) People with Foxtel (or some other commercial TV service) 
> presumably want both the free channels and the Foxtel channels 
> downloaded, right? What are you doing now? Two versions of the script 
> with different hard-coded configurations (one for free, one for 
> Foxtel)?? If anyone cares about this, I'd propose incorporating a 
> multiple source system into the script from the ground up.

That would be nice.  I'm using MythTV for FTA digital only, but it'd be 
nice if the script could grab digital, analog (not all are transmitted 
in digital yet), cable and satelite program info at once (if all are 
available from the same source).

> (*) Parsing ourguide.com.au for the channels that it lists. It doesn't 
> appear to have any commercial services listed, and it is missing the 
> digital-only channels (e.g., ABC2, SBS News). It does, however, have 
> enough information to rip titles, start/end times, and short 
> descriptions for many programs right from the guide page.

Good, except ABC2 and SBS News are two channels I record frequently.  
The guide I'm currently using supports them.  The big "missing" at the 
moment is a script that can indicate when programs are "simulcast" on 
the HD channels.

> (*) Configuration parameters and/or a probabilistic/adaptive method of 
> finding programs whose descriptions don't change often enough to query 
> the details page every bloody time (e.g., news programs, morning 
> programs, etc).

You'd still need to query the start and end times.  Unfortunately, the 
start and end times are frequently innacurate anyway.

> Obviously some of these features are designed to lower the load on 
> Nine MSN (or whichever site we need to switch to down the track).
>
> *NON-FUNCTIONING* experimental code may be perused for those 
> interested -- I'll have a working version shortly and post a message 
> when that is done.
>
>   <http://immir.com/tv_grab_au>       the grabber
>   <http://immir.com/channels>         channels configuration file
>   <http://immir.com/tv_grab_au.conf>  example config file
>
>
> Any comments?
>
> Cheers,
> Michael.
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>
>



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