[mythtv-users] Zap2it Labs Shutting Down?

ryan constantine rconstantine1 at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 20 16:46:37 UTC 2007


I know I"m late to this party, so I apologize if it has been discussed before...

but has anyone looked at the possibility of figuring out the guide data streams used by cable and satellite? I know my TV collects 2 weeks of guide data from the TV Guide channel (Comcast cable in Sacramento). The bummer is that it requires that the TV be off for at least 8 hours. I therefore assume this is not a high speed connection and would not be as slick as what we have now. I imagine DirecTV and Dish both have dedicated data streams for their EPGs as well. Are they piggy backed on a channel that could somehow be decoded?

Also, if we go the XMLTV route, would that possibly scrape a website of our choice for that data? I know Comcast has a good site, and I sometimes use my.yahoo as well. There certainly isn't any shortage of sites that have this data to freely view. I know someone mentioned the difficulty of gathering all data for all markets in the U.S., but usually that means all CBSs, all NBCs, etc. If the scraper could log into a Comcast or my.yahoo account, then presumably the user has already set up their postal code so the data is just what they need. And most sites also let you cull the info down to just your 'favorites', similar to the checkboxes at zap2it.

Whether there are legalities to these methods, I don't know. But as a Comcast subscriber (cable and internet services) it seems reasonable for me to use the data they provide in the way I need it. The rest of you likewise.

Whatever happens, it looks like something needs to be started soon.

And I just got my myth box, too. Bummer.



       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Get the Yahoo! toolbar and be alerted to new email wherever you're surfing.
http://new.toolbar.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/index.php
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20070620/1a61e529/attachment.htm 


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list