[mythtv-users] Data Direct "service"

Bruce Markey bjm at lvcm.com
Thu Apr 5 18:58:37 UTC 2007


Matt wrote:
> On 4/3/07, Bruce Markey <bjm at lvcm.com> wrote:
...
>> - If description information is not available from DD but is
>> from tvlistings.com this will surely lead to people using
>> scrapers which would increase tvlistings.com traffic ten fold
>> then one-hundred fold or more.
...
> Bruce, maybe it's time to stark looking into alternatives for

Why are you telling me? I'm the person afraid that people will
seek alternatives.

If I said 'don't fall off of the roof of that building or you
might break your skull' does not mean that I threatened to break
your skull.

Yeechang Lee, always seeking to prove to himself that he is an
authority on all things and what he says is very important,
assigned himself judge and jury and convicted me of threatening
TMS by assuming that I was trying to speak on behalf of those who
would use scrapers. This is false. I was pointing out the peril
that I do not want to see. In an ironic twist, he unambiguously
employed this tactic claiming that he knew "*exactly*"[sic] the
opinion of some unidentified TMS employee and claimed that he
was speaking in consort with, and on behalf of TMS in chastising
me. What a clod, but that's beside the point.

> DD/zap2it.  It's owned by Tribune which is currently being bought out
> and going through restructuring.  Either way, maybe a couple of
> different options and contingency plans wouldn't hurt.  Myth dies if
> we can't get listing (or get inaccurate ones).  Not saying we have to
> drop DD, but just have a backup plan.

More irony. This message and all those like it that follow
prove my point (as Gene Barry is crushed by the frightened mob).

GemStar doesn't have the equivalent of DataDirect so the only
alternative is scrapers [WHICH I DO NOT ADVOCATE]. Some web
sites that have TV listings get their data from TV Guide but
most get it from TMS. If there were scrapers [AND I DON'T WANT
ANYONE TO WRITE OR DISTRIBUTE A SCRAPER] they would be getting
data from the same source(s) no matter where they went.

That said, I honestly have always believed that one or more
people [AND I AM NOT THAT PERSON] has maintained a copy of the
XMLTV North America grabber that can grab from tvlistings.com .
If the DataDirect service became unavailable [WHICH I DO NOT
ANTICIPATE AND CERTAINLY HOPE DOES NOT HAPPEN], a scraper would
come to light [FROM SOMEONE THAT I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF] and be
widely distributed within days [AND I WOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO
WITH ITS DISTRIBUTION].

[I DIDN'T PLOT TO KILL JFK EITHER!]

--  bjm



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