IceTV guide lacks 'depth'

muzzlightbeer · Post by **muzzlightbeer** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 15:07

I'm currently [sarcasm] 'enjoying' [/sarcasm] the free trial for IceTV, but I doubt I'll renew and PAY for it next year. There is hardly any info in the info box, just a brief story synopsis. We want to know who's in it, is it a repeat, can the kids watch it and when it was made.

We have our PC in the TV room and use the 'yourTV.com.au' guide for our viewing information. I thought we wouldn't need it now that we have a built in 7 day EPG - but I find I still use the web based guide. I hardly ever use IceTV now, unless I've already checked on the web.

I wonder if there'll ever be a way to select our own EPG via the BW, instead of being stuck with a choice between paying for iceTV - or a free 'now and next'.

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 16:00

Ice provides most of that data, just look at an ICE entry for the Topfield-
10 2007-10-15 00:05 105 MOVIE: So I Married An Axe Murderer (1993) [Comedy; Movie] Charlie is fussy; every relationship he's ever had has failed because, there was something, well, not quite right. Enter Harriet, the woman of his dreams; perfection, she defines it. Until Charlie starts to suspect that Harriet, a butcher who is a little too fond of her work, has a habit of taking it home and practising on her partners. Director: Thomas Schlamme Cast: Mike Myers; Nancy Travis; Anthony La Paglia; (1993) (PG) [Rpt] PG N
(this is a whole "TGD" record, which is a tab seperated file, the PG is used to feed into the EIT, as the Topfield will show the parental rating anyway, and the (PG) is tacked onto the end of the extended even description to make it really obvious, also for when people are using string matches to find entries, it is easier to be in the text field).

All this is from the ICE data, fed into the Topfield, and displayed reasonably well with the stock Topfield guide. We chose to tack the RPT flag & movie year onto the end of the extended event description, and also into the title. We put the "genre" into the standard event description (in this case [comedy]) and also the program "subtitle" there (e.g. 10 2007-10-17 18:00 30 The Simpsons The Old Man and the Key [Cartoon; Comedy] snip).
All we need is for the Wiz platform to open up a bit with Topfield like "TAPS", and then hopefully we can also improve the EPG display etc.

I notice the Wiz truncates extended event descriptions which is a bit of a shame, so you may be missing out on the director/cast etc info anyway?
I also notice that this info can't be shown on recordings, (well, the "i" key does nothing, and the popup-information says something like "not supported yet).

Regards

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 18:36

tonymy01 wrote:I notice the Wiz truncates extended event descriptions which is a bit of a shame, so you may be missing out on the director/cast etc info anyway?

Without being able to download and view the data files that the bw downloads we'll never know what extra info we're missing out on - if any.

Even so, the bw's epg should make use of repeat and rating flags etc.

tonymy01 wrote:I also notice that this info can't be shown on recordings, (well, the "i" key does nothing, and the popup-information says something like "not supported yet).

I really miss this

Even though I know it's not yet supported I still try it occassionally just out of habit.

pjc3 · Post by **pjc3** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 21:01

muzzlightbeer wrote:I'm currently [sarcasm] 'enjoying' [/sarcasm] the free trial for IceTV, but I doubt I'll renew and PAY for it next year. There is hardly any info in the info box, just a brief story synopsis. We want to know who's in it, is it a repeat, can the kids watch it and when it was made.

We have our PC in the TV room and use the 'yourTV.com.au' guide for our viewing information. I thought we wouldn't need it now that we have a built in 7 day EPG - but I find I still use the web based guide. I hardly ever use IceTV now, unless I've already checked on the web.

I wonder if there'll ever be a way to select our own EPG via the BW, instead of being stuck with a choice between paying for iceTV - or a free 'now and next'.

I'm with you Muzz. Paying for Ice is really just paying for the ability to transfer recordings into the timer list with names and times. We all know what out favourite series is about but the movies etc is where you want a decent description. Even Ice remote doesn't have the info that YourTV has (which I also refer to).
Shan't be renewing at his rate

Philip

DrPhil · Post by **DrPhil** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 18:11

Its not really ICE TV's fault, BW need to make the EPG better (which I believe they will do sometime in the future).

I am hanging on to ICE for the remote feature which I really hope will be worked on as soon as the bugs are ironed out.

But there is a big wish list out there so its all a matter of priorities really.

Cheers

Phil

pjc3 · Post by **pjc3** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 19:25

DrPhil wrote:Its not really ICE TV's fault, BW need to make the EPG better (which I believe they will do sometime in the future).

I am hanging on to ICE for the remote feature which I really hope will be worked on as soon as the bugs are ironed out.

But there is a big wish list out there so its all a matter of priorities really.

Cheers

Phil

But that still doesn't justify renewing IceTV. I will wait until it is sorted then subscribe.
Philip

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 20:45

Hi,

Personally I am hoping that Beyonwiz will add a http interface to the Beyonwiz and I will be extremely happy to manage the timers via a web interface. I will also then be able to access my Beyonwiz remotely.

All this and I won't have to pay anyone for the remote access.

Regards,
Ian.

pjc3 · Post by **pjc3** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 04:49

IanSav wrote:Hi,

Personally I am hoping that Beyonwiz will add a http interface to the Beyonwiz and I will be extremely happy to manage the timers via a web interface. I will also then be able to access my Beyonwiz remotely.

All this and I won't have to pay anyone for the remote access.

Regards,
Ian.

Ian, you really are an optimist!

Philip

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:47

Hi Philip,

pjc3 wrote:
IanSav wrote:Ian, you really are an optimist!

I can dream, can't I.

I wonder how many other people would like to use a web browser to configure their Beyonwiz. It can be done at home and save time rather than using the remote control to enter text etc. It can be done from anywhere in the world for those that want to check up on their unit or have last minute changes in their viewing plans.

There was a httpd service in there for a while. I live in hope that it can be returned to service with a few additional options.

Regards,
Ian.

prl · Post by **prl** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:56

While it's not all that specific, the DP-S1 features page does give some hope on this:

Features to be Updated *
...

Configuring DP-S1 with PC through home network

Gully · Post by **Gully** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:21

prl wrote:While it's not all that specific, the DP-S1 features page does give some hope on this:
Features to be Updated *
...

Configuring DP-S1 with PC through home network

Though configuring isn't necessarily setting timers.

Some of this might not happen until BW open up the API and support WizAPs or whatever they end up being called. On the Toppies a lot of the functionality Ian wants has only happened due to that being available and users creating programs to do it.

danielicetv · Post by **danielicetv** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:29

Just to confirm, the information that is available to the Beyonwiz via the guide feed is:

Channel ID, Event ID, Title, Subtitle, Description, Time, Duration, Rating (Parental rating), Flags (these can be a combination of "Black and White", "Captioned", "High Defintion", "Repeat", "Wide Screen", "Offensive language advisory", "Violence advisory", "Drug use advisory", "Sexually explicit content advisory" and "Parental guidance advisory"), and Category (which is listed as per the ETSI standard).

Gully · Post by **Gully** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:34

Thanks Daniel.

To put the question another way, so there should be everything there that people are getting on the Toppy?

So any of the current limits are purely on the BW.

danielicetv · Post by **danielicetv** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:43

Gully wrote:Thanks Daniel.

To put the question another way, so there should be everything there that people are getting on the Toppy?

So any of the current limits are purely on the BW.

Yes.

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 20:19

What I'd like to see added to the beyonwiz's info bar and guide are:

Repeat
High Defintion
Rating (Parental rating)
Captioned

Even if it can't easily be fitted into the existing guide and info bar it could easily fit into the extended info popup window.

GarFin · Post by **GarFin** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:57

Dave? wrote:What I'd like to see added to the beyonwiz's info bar and guide are:

Repeat
High Defintion
Rating (Parental rating)
Captioned

Even if it can't easily be fitted into the existing guide and info bar it could easily fit into the extended info popup window.

+1 for Dave's idea.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 18:14

Hi,

Hopefully all of Dave's wishes and more can be folded into the new EPG formats that Beyonwiz have mentioned that they want to do.

Regards,
Ian.