New TiVoWeb Module: Digiguide

sanderton · 11-18-2003, 05:00 PM

This is a TiVoWeb module which reads the To Do List then looks up what Digiguide has showing in the same slot. The idea being that any last minute changes will be flagged up for you to deal with.

In use so far I have found two mistakes in TiVo's listings, and one in Digiguide's!

In order to use it, you need to have a subscription to Digiguide's web edition. This costs an very reasonable £6.99 a year. See http://www.mydigiguide.com/index_front.shtml

To configure the module you need to give it your Digiguide login info by changing two settings at the top of the code in a text editor. This consists of your log in e-mail address, and the embedded identifier used by the PDA edition (TiVo pretends to be a PDA with this module). You can find this identifier by browsing to the "Setup myDigiGuide on a handheld PC" page and it will be in the URL after "wu=". You can edit these into the module on your PC - no need to worry about Unix editors etc.

Configure the Digiguide PDA edition not to have any programme details.

Obviously your TiVo will need to be able to connect to the internet, either via your LAN or a serial connection suitably configured.

The Match column lets you easily spot differences.

Post your bugs here...

mike0151 · 11-18-2003, 05:37 PM

My TiVos don't connect to the internet other than dial up (so far) and I don't currently use digiguide but why not ignore 100% matches? Would reduce confusion a bit perhaps?

bobnick · 11-18-2003, 06:06 PM

Oh, this only works with mydigiguide.com and not digiguide itself then? I only have a subscription for the main windows programme - I don't fancy paying for data a third time, just to catch Tribune's mistakes!
Is there any chance it can be integrated with the normal digiguide program?

sanderton · 11-18-2003, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bobnick
Is there any chance it can be integrated with the normal digiguide program?

I don't think so. I can't see how you would do that.

sanderton · 11-18-2003, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mike0151
My TiVos don't connect to the internet other than dial up (so far) and I don't currently use digiguide but why not ignore 100% matches? Would reduce confusion a bit perhaps?

Yes, that would be a very easy change to make. But it wouldn't speed the module up at all.

bobnick · 11-18-2003, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sanderton
I don't think so. I can't see how you would do that.

Oh dear

I've been so looking forward to this module, and you were such a tease by merely saying it worked 'with Digiguide'!
If only Digiguide gave us web access when we paid our subscriptions for Digiguide proper..

sanderton · 11-19-2003, 04:42 AM

I'm the other way round to you - I use the web version all the time but have never bothered with the PC app - couldn't see the point!

dialanothernumb · 11-19-2003, 05:31 AM

I'm the first way round, i.e. DG on the PC. Iwas looking to see if markers worked with the web version

but of course not... so I'll be sticking with the PC version for now. (I originally got DG to control my PCTV card in the dark old days before TiVo)

JMWhitehead · 11-19-2003, 07:37 AM

Would this, in the event of TIVO ditching the UK, be starting point for getting our own guide data into the TIVO using digiguide instead?

dialanothernumb · 11-19-2003, 07:53 AM

It would be one alternative, but a little clunky. I think we'd be looking at solutions developed by other anglophone countries (Canada/Australia/NZ) to provide a semi-equivalent service. These solutions wouldn't be for the faint-hearted though.

Did I just call Canada an anglophone country? I apologise!

For the sake of TiVo remaining a domestic appliance that can be operated easily by all family members, I hope the day Tribune data is turned off is a long way away.

I think it was Iankb who made the point before that, were Tivo to "switch off" here, Tivo's reputation would take a big hit in the US (as quitters). So long as TiVo are a viable company in the US, I think they'll keep the lights on here.

sanderton · 11-19-2003, 07:56 AM

No, this is a completely unrelated process.

The "own guide data if TiVo pulls out" is all figured out, but not openly discussed as if people use it to replace the TiVo data now, that would hasten the ending of the service by depriving TiVo of what revenue they do now get!

Should TiVo pull out, the alternative will be up and running before the last set of guide data ran out, so don't worry about it!

iankb · 11-19-2003, 08:16 AM

Unless TiVo were to fold in the US, I would think that any withdrawal of the UK service would be preceded by a lengthy period of notice. Anything less than a year would, IMHO, be unacceptable and would have a more than detrimental effect on their US sales.

Since new TiVo's are still being sold and registered, then I would think that they would need to honour at least the warranty period of one year as a minimum.

Prof. Yaffle · 11-19-2003, 10:08 AM

Stuart, just out of interest what is the Reorder SP's option you have in TiVoweb?

sanderton · 11-19-2003, 10:10 AM

A work in progress.

Prof. Yaffle · 11-19-2003, 10:16 AM

Aha. Just curious because I didn't think there was one available. One to look forward to then

leejordan · 11-23-2003, 06:29 PM

Hi Stuart,

I've just tried this but I must be doing something wrong as it has found lots of mis-matches.

It looks like it is comparing different days, so Tivo thinks that Eastenders is on Mon 24th at 8pm, whilst Digiguide thinks it should by Holby City which is actually on Tuesday.

What do you think?

Lee.

domryder · 11-24-2003, 02:57 PM

Hi Guys,

Now this is just an idea but could you register the PC software on two different PC's with the same code, now i know this is a bad thing but if anyone was looking for the web version they could swap my logon for their key.

If you think about it both users have paid so why couldnt we both use the web and program version.

What do you think?

Dom

sanderton · 11-24-2003, 03:49 PM

I think that if people start doing that I would remove the software from here. Digiguide costs £6.99 A YEAR for heaven's sake!

uktivo · 11-25-2003, 04:34 AM

this is a great little module sanderton!

uktivo · 11-25-2003, 04:39 AM

ah my tivo connects to the web through my 56k internet connection. Would this be too slow for this module?

sanderton · 11-25-2003, 04:56 AM

No, modem speed is fine.

dialanothernumb · 11-25-2003, 05:05 AM

What differences are people picking up between Tribune and DG in general? Is there a common theme or is it just the odd quirk?

I ask because every so often I find quirks come up using shanew's digiguidesearch, such as 5th Gear (TiVo) vs. Fifth Gear (DG) which results in no rearch results... Another was the British Documentary Awards 2000 (DG) vs. British Documentary Awards (TiVo). Adding the extra 2000 in the title threw the TiVo and again, no results.

sanderton · 11-25-2003, 05:10 AM

There are quite a few "alternate" spellings and wording that would throw the digiguidesearch module.

If it were me, I'd have made that module send channel and start time to the TiVo, then return the programme name for confirmation, but I've not used it so I don't know if that's possible.

iankb · 11-25-2003, 05:17 AM

I don't know what that module does at the moment, but that example is an obvious case for the user to be able to spot the problem and add word-pairs to a thesaurus (e.g. 5TH = FIFTH). That would avoid each specific instance from reappearing.

Do any of the modules at the moment have the ability to use independent 'database' storage?

dialanothernumb · 11-25-2003, 05:21 AM

TBH there are a few, but only a few, shows like that. Otherwise the DGsearch module works well for what it's supposed to do which is to make a slicker entry of recording times.

dialanothernumb · 11-25-2003, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by iankb
I don't know what that module does at the moment, but that example is an obvious case for the user to be able to spot the problem and add word-pairs to a thesaurus (e.g. 5TH = FIFTH). That would avoid each specific instance from reappearing.

Do any of the modules at the moment have the ability to use independent 'database' storage?

Shanew will be able to comment better, but he's already got exclusion words in his tivo-side script which chops out things like "and" and "in" which can be added to ad nauseam. The issue I guess about this approach is the "ad nauseam" bit. How big would the script end up being. So maybe reference to a separate DB would work.

I was wondering if DG tends to include more in a title than TiVo's data, which means the DG search is too exclusive.. e.g the inclusion of the year in the Documentary Awards title above.

Maybe Stuarts approach would be simpler. {scratches head, as nothing is simple for a non-programmer learning supposedly one of the easiest languages}

dialanothernumb · 11-25-2003, 05:55 AM

Hi Stuart

Just installed. Looks good. Just one comment, the line

set digiguideid "99AA999" '# You Digiguide login id as embedded in the PDA URL after ?wu=

Needs a semi-colon before the hash-comment doesn't it? At least that's how I got it to work.

The only show to regularly get zero match was "Jellikins" reported on DG as "GMTV". I'll have to explain to my daughter that Bouncer, Strum and their mates are incompatable, maybe by showing the algorithm (how far does technical support extend with this product Stuart?)

shanew · 11-25-2003, 06:18 AM

Hi,

I can certainly have a go at re-writing the digiguide search to implement stuarts idea of just sending the channel date and time. The reason i used the search method was becuase i thought that it was the only way to find a new program. it was only last week that I found out that if you click on channel guide you can see upcoming listings! There should be something in there I can use.

I'll also need to look into the channel mapping as i remember that dabdig needed you to export it for some reason.

Shane.

sanderton · 11-25-2003, 08:22 AM

Shane, if you look at my code for this module you'll find a mapping from Digiguide channel numbers to TiVo ones. And if you look in my Conflict Resolve module (see sig link) you'll find code to look up a recording based on start time and channel.

shanew · 11-25-2003, 08:43 AM

Thanks Stuart, i'll check them out this weekend.

PS nice hacks page - what haven't you got!?