[linux-dvb] Announcement: epg2timers 0.3 - a package that allows you to program vdr timers via the web EPG at http://tvtv.de.

[Carsten Koch <Carsten.Koch@icem.de>]

Hi,

An old version of epg2timers has been distributed with vdr (in 
the contrib or Tools subdirectory) for over a year now. 
I will submit this new version to Klaus as a replacement soon.
The major new feature is, that everything now is fully automatic.
You only have to click a film on the web EPG to record it 
with vdr - that's it!
So, you can program your vdr from anywhere in the world now.

If you want to beta test the new version now, drop me a line 
and I'll send you a tar.bz2 of it.



>From the README file:

Overview.
=========

The 3 modules in this directory are designed to allow vdr timer 
programming via the http://tvtv.de web EPG (Electronic Program Guide).

Once you have these modules properly configured and installed, 
you should be able to simply click on the things you want vdr 
to record in the http://tvtv.de web EPG and be done with it. 
Everything else can be handled automatically.



Module description.
===================

The http://tvtv.de web EPG creates a so-called "merkliste"
("a list of items to remember") containing all the broadcasts
you selected.

1.  The perl script "get_merkliste.pl" transfers this "merkliste"
    from the http://tvtv.de web site to a local file "merkliste.html".

2.  The C++ program "epg2timers" converts this HTML file into vdr's
    timers.conf format.

3.  The shell script "update_timers" implements the overall 
    control of the entire process.
    It retrieves the latest merkliste from http://tvtv.de,
    checks to see whether its entries are different from those
    in the current timers.conf and if they are, aborts vdr
    and updates the current timers.conf.
    update_timers will not abort vdr if there is no change,
    so the impact on your current use of vdr is kept to a minimum.
    update_timers assumes that you are using the runvdr script
    which will automatically restart vdr after a few seconds.
    update_timers itself makes no attempt to restart vdr after
    it has aborted vdr.
    vdr needs to be restarted so it reads the new timers.conf file.
    
    

Configuration.
==============

get_merkliste.pl requires configuration of the "files_to_fetch"
variable preset. 
Log in to your http://tvtv.de account and click on the "Bookmark"
item in the "Setup" submenu of the "Mein Programm" side bar menu.
This will open a window with a URL in the location field that ends
with an id value. Replace the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
in the "files_to_fetch" variable preset with your ID value.
If you are using an HTTP proxy, uncomment the line containing
the $ua->proxy call and put your proxy details in.

epg2timers.cxx allows various items to be configured.
Unless you use the channels.conf file supplied in this directory,
you must configure the channel_names table in epg2timers.cxx
to match your channels.conf. 
i.e. the first entry in the channel_names table must be the 
http://tvtv.de name of the channels in the first line of your 
channels.conf. 
Note that the channel_names table maps http://tvtv.de channel
names into channels.conf line numbers. So the names you put
into this table must be the names http://tvtv.de uses, which
are not necessarily identical with the names you use in your
vdr channels.conf. Take a look at the suppplied channels.conf
and at the channel_names table in epg2timers.cxx. 

update_timers must know where to find the get_merkliste.pl
perl script and the compiled epg2timers binary. Both must be
in a directory pointed to by the TOOLDIR variable.
update_timers also must know where to find the vdr binary and 
the current timers.conf file. Both must be in a directory pointed 
to by the VDRDIR variable.

Depending on the price of your internet access, you may want to
run update_timers more or less frequently. It may also be a good
idea to run it at times where it is unlikely to interfere with 
your current use of vdr. Configure a crontab entry according to
these personal preferences. Here is the entry I use:
1       2       *       *       *       /home/cko/bin/update_timers
It runs update_timers only once a night at 02:01 a.m.


Installation.
=============
Create your TOOLDIR directory if it does not already exist.
Copy get_merkliste.pl into it, compile epg2timers.cxx with
the command:
    g++ epg2timers.cxx -o epg2timers
and move the epg2timers into the TOOLDIR directory.

The get_merkliste.pl script requires certain packages to run.
Besides of course perl, on a SuSE 7.2 system install perl-libwww-perl.


To Do.
======
These are just ideas. They MAY get implemented.
If you want them to happen, contribute a patch. ;-)

*  Support vdr hierarchical directories (after vdr does)
   by mapping the http://tvtv.de genre texts into 
   directory names.
*  Transmit the updated timers via SVDRP, so vdr does
   not have to be restarted.
*  Implement a unique channel number scheme in cooperation
   with vdr, so the http://tvtv.de channel name -> vdr channel
   number mapping no longer needs to be configured.
*  start_time_safety_margin for epg2timers.


Authors.
========
Carsten Koch (Carsten.Koch@icem.de): epg2timers.cxx, update_timers, 
                                     this README file.
Axel Gruber and Rolf Hakenes:        get_merkliste.pl


Credits.
========
I am grateful (in chronological order) to 

* Klaus Schmidinger for his excellent vdr program and for
  keeping an open mind in all directions.
  
* my wife for encouraging me to write epg2timers in June 2000 and 
  for her constant patience and support.
  
* Andreas Steinhauser for periodically criticizing the epg2timers 
  "manual mode" until I came up with the idea to fully automatize it
  and for contributing ideas.
 
* Axel Gruber for reminding me half a year later, for pushing
  the idea until it got implemented, for asking for new features
  all the time and for contributing ideas.

* Axel Gruber and Rolf Hakenes for contributing the get_merkliste.pl
  perl script.

Carsten, September 2001.


-- 
Info:
To unsubscribe send a mail to listar@linuxtv.org with "unsubscribe linux-dvb" as subject.