[mythtv-users] EPG, IR Remote and just making it all work

[Michael T. Dean]

On 02/05/2012 05:05 PM, David Sims wrote:
> From: Michael T. Dean
>> On 02/05/2012 04:42 PM, David Sims wrote:
>>> (using mc2xml to
>>> download the program information each night and mythfilldatabase is ran
>>> afterwards.)
>> Please don't discuss mc2xml use on this list. Windows MCE listings 
>> service and data is licensed only for use with Windows MCE 
>> application, and can not be used with MythTV. 
>> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/425109#425109 
>
> Had no idea Mike.

Yeah, that's actually the worst part of mc2xml.  There are indications 
that it's being used by a lot of people who don't actually realize that 
doing so violates the license agreements involved.  I would expect this 
is actually the case for most of the people who do use mc2xml (and I had 
assumed was the case with your use of it).

Most seem to believe that because they paid for Windows MCE (or paid for 
Windows 7 and got MCE with it), they paid for the data.  However, that's 
not the case, as the license agreement states (in hard-to-read 
legalese--in an agreement most don't even read, anyway).  And, as a 
MythTV user who relies on the availability of listings data, I hope that 
more of these people are eventually educated about the license so that 
they become Schedules Direct members so that Schedules Direct has 
sufficient income to continue to license listings data for 
redistribution from Tribune Media Service.

>    Was looking for a free source or at least a testing
> source while I experiment with MythTV.
> Is there any other source I should be using?  It was never my intention to
> violate any licensing.

The "approved" solution is to use the 7-day free trial membership from 
Schedules Direct ( http://schedulesdirect.org/ ).  With that free trial, 
you will be able to download new listings data as required over a 7-day 
period, and since MythTV (and most other approved applications) download 
the full 2-week listings provided by Tribune Media Services, you can 
actually stretch your initial testing out to 3 weeks without an 
interruption in listings.

After that, if you're still not sure, you can try a 2-month membership 
for $6, or just sign up for the full 1-year membership for $25.  (Note 
that the price is $25 for an entire year--this isn't like your cable 
company DVR listings fees that are more like $6-10/mo/DVR.)

Note that Schedules Direct seems to be the only source of licensed 
program listings data available for open source and freeware 
applications in North America.  And, IMHO, the $25 per year I spend on 
the membership is money well spent--the listings service that's 
available to Schedules Direct members is second to none.

Thanks,
Mike