XLTV Plugin...A Few Thoughts..

by **hvs69** on Thu Feb 09, 2006 5:56 pm

Hi Badubo,

As I have started integrating your xltv plugin into my skin, I have encountered a few issues and thought of a few features that I wanted to bring it to your attention. BTW, this plugin works wonderfully in its current state and thanks for providing all the support.

Once again, thanks for this great plugin. I am hoping that you can implement these changes in the future release.

by **badubo** on Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:33 am

Currently for MT, when your plugin writes the EPG data file it grabs the channel information from MT database. I would like an option to have that information grabbed from the original xmltv database. This is because the MT database does not have the channel number whereas xmltv file has that number. This will allow the channels to be sorted in the order of "channel number" rather than "channel name" in the EPG.

You can adapt the order (number and EPG ordering) in the favorite tab.
I cannot use the xmltv file because of the use of favorites. In favorite, they must (due to implemention ) have numbers 1,2,... and, as you can select the channels you want (and not put all channels in the same favorite) if I use the xmltv number, there will be holes.

I would also like to see an option of turning off channel logos in the EPG grid. Because of the size of the grid the channel logo on my RPTV cannot be seen clearly and I would like to turn that off. I like the channel logos to be shown separately outside the EPG grid.

I can add the possibility to not put logo in the xmltv (but i will be always or never, not "by channel")

When I go into the Skin Editor or Setup (F2) screen, I believe your plugin mutes the wav output of the pc and minimizes the MT window.

I use the mute application, not directly the wav output (but probably that MT use the wav output)

I think your plugin sends a toggle command to the sound device. Very many times, this leads to the system muting off when the MT window is active and turns back on when I go into the Skin Editor or Setup mode. I am not sure why it happens.

I don't understand exactly the problem, can you give more information ?
If it appends only when using the setup/skin editor, I think that such problem is not crucial as you are in "design" time and not in real use.

Is it possible to send discrete mute/unmute commands rather than toggle between these two states ?

no, because, MT (and other applications) use a toggle not a on/off

For Record function, is it possible to have options like ("Record Daily", "Record Weekly", "Record Once" etc.). I know that this would mean that your plugin has to Scan the EPG on a regular basis and update the scheduled tasks. This feature would make this system so close to a set-top PVR box

it's in my wishlist. I hope to have some time to create a completely new EPG (no more the one bundled with xlobby) so that I can have more information about programs.
Such features that should be possible :
- recording all programs that contains a list of word
- recording all episodes of a serie
- having a second chance :if the system failed to start a recording, it can check if there is a rediffusion on the same channel and automatically schedule it

This is a minor visual enhancement. Can you associate a skinnable graphic (png) to Channel>Now>Pc field ? This would allow us to see a nice progress bar for each show.

ok, as I made it for XMpc, it is not a big challenge

by **hvs69** on Fri Feb 10, 2006 6:38 pm

badubo wrote:
Currently for MT, when your plugin writes the EPG data file it grabs the channel information from MT database. I would like an option to have that information grabbed from the original xmltv database. This is because the MT database does not have the channel number whereas xmltv file has that number. This will allow the channels to be sorted in the order of "channel number" rather than "channel name" in the EPG.

You can adapt the order (number and EPG ordering) in the favorite tab.
I cannot use the xmltv file because of the use of favorites. In favorite, they must (due to implemention ) have numbers 1,2,... and, as you can select the channels you want (and not put all channels in the same favorite) if I use the xmltv number, there will be holes.
OK Understood.

I would also like to see an option of turning off channel logos in the EPG grid. Because of the size of the grid the channel logo on my RPTV cannot be seen clearly and I would like to turn that off. I like the channel logos to be shown separately outside the EPG grid.

I can add the possibility to not put logo in the xmltv (but i will be always or never, not "by channel")
That is what I exactly want, all logos turned off.

When I go into the Skin Editor or Setup (F2) screen, I believe your plugin mutes the wav output of the pc and minimizes the MT window.

I use the mute application, not directly the wav output (but probably that MT use the wav output)

I think your plugin sends a toggle command to the sound device. Very many times, this leads to the system muting off when the MT window is active and turns back on when I go into the Skin Editor or Setup mode. I am not sure why it happens.

I don't understand exactly the problem, can you give more information ?
If it appends only when using the setup/skin editor, I think that such problem is not crucial as you are in "design" time and not in real use.
I am not sure either when and why it happens. I am hoping that it will be during design time only. I will let you know if it occurs during normal usage.
Is it possible to send discrete mute/unmute commands rather than toggle between these two states ?

no, because, MT (and other applications) use a toggle not a on/off

For Record function, is it possible to have options like ("Record Daily", "Record Weekly", "Record Once" etc.). I know that this would mean that your plugin has to Scan the EPG on a regular basis and update the scheduled tasks. This feature would make this system so close to a set-top PVR box

it's in my wishlist. I hope to have some time to create a completely new EPG (no more the one bundled with xlobby) so that I can have more information about programs.
Such features that should be possible :
- recording all programs that contains a list of word
- recording all episodes of a serie
- having a second chance :if the system failed to start a recording, it can check if there is a rediffusion on the same channel and automatically schedule it
This would be great. Inherent EPG in Xlobby is still under development and I am not sure when Steve is going to get to it. If your plugin can do EPG and all the other features, Fantastic
This is a minor visual enhancement. Can you associate a skinnable graphic (png) to Channel>Now>Pc field ? This would allow us to see a nice progress bar for each show.

ok, as I made it for XMpc, it is not a big challenge

Thanks. I will be looking forward to all the features.

One more thing, while we are at it. Yesterday just before I went to bed, I pressed the record button using your plugin feature. I was under the impression that it would only record the current show. However, recording was still going on until morning. Maybe a bug ?[/b]

by **badubo** on Fri Feb 10, 2006 7:06 pm

One more thing, while we are at it. Yesterday just before I went to bed, I pressed the record button using your plugin feature. I was under the impression that it would only record the current show. However, recording was still going on until morning. Maybe a bug ?

if you used the record button (not using the EPG) you are using the live record mode. It will not stop until you press the stop button.
You can make it stopping automatically after X minutes by successive press on the record button