[vdr] ANNOUNCEMENT: epg2timers 0.9.

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

epg2timers version 0.9 is now available in Klaus' Tools directory at

ftp://ftp.cadsoft.de/pub/people/kls/vdr/Tools/epg2timers0.9.tar.bz2

epg2timers 0.9 no longer makes a lot of substitutions when
creating a file name from the title. This should make the
Timers menu easier to read and it will also avoid problems
with broken file systems.



For those who have not heard of epg2timers before, here is the REAME file:




Overview.
=========

The 4 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 perl script "loadvdr.pl" pumps these new timer entries
    into a running vdr using telnet and the SVDRP protocol.
    (alternatively, the timers.conf file could be written directly
     when vdr is not running)

4.  The shell script "update_timers" implements the overall 
    control of the entire process.
    It retrieves the latest merkliste from http://tvtv.de,
    converts it to timers.conf format and sends the timer entries 
    to vdr.
    
    

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, but it
should work out of the box. See "tvtv.de channel names" below.

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 vdr's current 
channels.conf file. Put that into the CHANPATH.

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 once used:
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 and loadvdr.pl into it, compile epg2timers.cxx 
with the command:
    g++ epg2timers.cxx -o epg2timers
and move the epg2timers binary into the TOOLDIR directory.

The get_merkliste.pl script requires certain packages to run.
Besides of course perl, install perl-libwww-perl (at least
that's the name on SuSE 7.2, it may have a different name in
your distribution).

If you have problems with SVDRP and loadvdr.pl, you may want to
try out the update_timers.old script, which replaces the timers.conf
file directly and kills vdr (assuming that it will be restarted
by the runvdr script) to make vdr reload the timers.conf file.


tvtv.de channel names.
======================
The file epg_channel_names contains the names of all channels
currently (as of September 9, 2001) supported by the tvtv.de 
web EPG. The variable "channel_map" in epg2timers.cxx maps
these names into PNRs (aka Service IDs). I have initialized
this table with provider names converted from a d-box channel 
scan of Astra 19.2E, so the PNRs should be correct for that 
satellite, but most of the names propably aren't yet- I simply 
had not enough time yet to go through epg_channel_names
and insert all its channel names at the proper places in the
channel map. Consider the map supplied an example. ;-)
If you fix any of the entries, please send me a patch.
For my own humble purposes, the table works well as it is.
Of course, your channels.conf must contain the matching
PNRs (last field in each line).


To Do.
======
Currently, all users appear to be happy with epg2timers as it is.
So am I.
If you have a bright idea about something that should be enhanced,
please let me know. Time permitting, I might implement it.
Of course, this is open source, so you are more than welcome to
supply patches.
Supplying a patch is of course also the method that makes it most
likely that your enhancement idea gets implemented. ;-)



Changes.
========
0.8 23-Mar-2002   Update channel map.
                  Optionally use vdr EPISODE macro in file name.
0.9 28-Mar-2002   Remove mapping of most special characters 
                  when converting the title to a file name.
                  Add handling of quot HTML keyword.



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

Peter Ahlert:    loadvdr.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.
  
* Suse (my wife, not the Linux distributor ;-) 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 to fully automatize it 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.
  
* Peter Ahlert for contributing the loadvdr.pl perl script.

* Matthias Weingart for contributing additional channel_map entries.

* Rainer Janson for updated channel map entries.

* Christian Rienecker for suggesting that mapping of most special
  characters is no longer necessary when converting the title to 
  a file name.

(If I forgot somebody, it was not intentional. Please remind me)


Carsten, March 2002.