Final version - Freexmltv V4.0

impact · **13th April 2006, 01:02 AM**

Gentlemen, ladies, mce affectionates.....

As no probs where reported with 3.9, I have decided to package it all together with the installer and configuration utility, releasing it as version 4.0

Freexmltv is now to the point of where I wanted it to be, FTA solution, Paytv, HD (two types as requested) and a proper installer and GUI configuration.

(Many thanks to schleppel for passing on the installer script the other day, and hopefully I have created it all correctly with no real problems)

Version 4.0 is exactly the same code as version 3.0 released the other day - so if your running 3.9 there is no need to update. If your running 3.1 there is no need to update unless you want to use the HD1 or HD2 switches to make copies of channels for use in DVB-T HD programme guides.

Now the fun stuff - the installation instructions.... In brief;

1. Install Bladerunner Pro v3. Do not run BRP, do not configure MCE as described in the BRP instructions. Do not run the BRP Configurator to set anything up.... We prefer you to install BRP to the default directory on the C: drive but its not neccessary.

2. Run the Freexmltv v4 Installer - attached to this post. Again we prefer you to install FreeXMLTV to the default directory - which will be in the GuideData folder that BladeRunnerPro has setup. Follow the instructions

2a At the end of the installation, the configuration screen will be displayed to setup your region and variables for the options you want to use.

2b. The configuration utility looks in the default directories for Bladerruner.exe and Freexmltv.exe - If it can not find these programs it will display the error message at the bottom of the configuration screen, and provide a button to press for you to tell us where you installed the application (maybe your windows setup is on drive D: or whatever). Once these programs are found, these buttons will no longer be available, and you can continue with the configuration.

2c Select the FTA region you want in the first panel, if your in a lucky region, where you can pick up additional channels, you can select an additional FTA region in the second panel, or leave it clicked as No Secondary FTA stations.

2d. Select any other options you may want - HD1 or HD2 to duplicate TV channels so that they can be assigned in the MCE guide data to your High Def DVBT channels, Brief or Verbose listings (For FTA only), and any PayTV option you may want (only providing brief info on these stations)

2e When your happy - click on the Configure button

2f A list of the channels for your area will be displayed, including the HD channels if you selected that option. You may click on any of those channel names, and be prompted to supply a new name. So for those long channel names that may no real sense, here is the opportunity to quickly rename them to things like Prime. Please ensure you make the channel names unique (the configurator system checks for this) as you need to identify channels by name in MCE - so make it easy on yourself.

2g Press the Continue button once your happy with all the channel names

2h You will now be told tif the configuration was successful, along with a lot of other info – such as what the EPG.BAT file now contains and where you can find it if you want to manually change things. The configurator will warn you if your system is not set to Australian dates…. But it does not change it (Control Panel / Region)

2i) Press OK to continue and to close the application.

2j) The installer program should still be displayed, you can click on the Run EPG.BAT Now checkbox if you like, (or do it manually yourself) but at the least you are finished and can close / Finish the installation program. You do need to run EPG.bat before doing the final BRP setup within MCE - so its just as easy to click the box, watch the pretty lights, and ensure it runs properly

Digress - what the installer has done... Well the underlying Freexmltv program is still the same one as before - all the parameters you could use remain the same. But the installer has taken your input and created an EPG.BAT file with the appropriate switches (that some of you had trouble in creating). It also dis a couple of other smart things. It created, and placed the channelinfo.xml file in the correct directory, including all the neccessary changes to the station names based upon your input. The channelinfo.xml file still remains the same process as before - and you can manually edit this yourself as before. The installer program also replaced the Bladerunner.xml file to ensure that you will not try running Freexmltv twice (once through the BRP arguments and once via the EPG.Bat file), it also removed the scheduled task created by BRP and instead created a new schedule task called EPG - which runs the EPG.bat file (Remember this EPG.bat file does two things - it executed Frexmltv to obtain the xml data, and then runs BRP to create the guide.bin file)

Back to the installation....

3. Now that you have run EPG.bat for the first time, your ready to get guide data into MCE, Configure MCE as per the BRP instructions - ie. Postcode 0000 / Scan channels / assign channels to guide data.

4. Sit back - get a cold beer, and watch TV.

WARNING - If you already have Freexmltv running correctly from a previous version, this installation will overwrite your existing channelinfo.xml file - as it creates a new one... So either ensure you type the channel names back in correctly, or make a backup of the one you already have, and replace it after the installation process - you do need to run epg.bat for any changes to be picked up in a channelinfo.xml file change, and you do need to go and assign the channel again within MCE.

WARNING2: I have tested it, a couple of others have - I warned you that its not neccessary to upgrade to this version, so if it already works for you - back everything up first.... just in case.... There may be a problem in the installer, and if there is I will fix it as quick as I can....

You should check your control panel / scheduled tasks to ensure that there is no longer any BRP scheduled task, and that an EPG scheduled task has been created.

Feedback appreciated - let me know how it goes.......
ENJOY!

Akuma · **13th April 2006, 05:15 PM**

Fantastic work... Have some rep points!

That was the most painless guide install I've ever done. Everything working first time, thought my old EPGRunner would screw it all up.

Just out of intrest are we in general still afflicted with the old "One Off" recordings disappearing after a guide update problem? I haven't been paying attention recently.

impact · **13th April 2006, 05:29 PM**

Generally one off manual recordings should work.... there are conditions where it may fail - but in practice, I have not encountered any problems with one off recordings. The only real issues I am aware of are;
- Sometimes after the guide data loads, you can not set up a new item to schedule because of an internal error in not finding it in the guide data... Strange your looking at it !!!! Either way... the fix for that is to reboot, then you can access the guide data correctly and place any recordings. I gnerally see this on the items that have been newly added.
- When in View Recordings, and you group them by title... MCE can confuse itself by grouping titles together wrongly and showing the incorrect name... I have accidentily deleted House once, because it was called something else when I was looking at it grouped, of course looking at the programs in date order - everything is sweet.

- These bugs are true for all the EPG solutions todate that are home grown.... those that use BRP. I believe these problems dont manifest themselves from solutions such as ICETV as the headend data is properly identifiable and hence internal program numbers required for MCE can be generated.

These are the only bug bears left in EPG solutions todate really... Mostly liveable - or realising the alternative is nothing....

But I am glad that this solution is working and presented you an easier way to do things.... Very glad...

Enjoy

GlenR · **13th April 2006, 05:40 PM**

Nice to see you've finally got to the end of FreeXMLTV development Impact. Sounds like all the pain is gone and it will be smooth EPG sailing, especially for the newbies.

I hope you don't mind, but with no pay TV I'm still running v2.5. It never misses a beat and has given me no problem from day one so I'm not going to risk an upgrade. Don't want to test the MCE gods too much.

Just wanted to say thanks for your efforts.

Now, what's coming that's new and different?

You teasing us all again? Tart.

tweekin · **18th April 2006, 10:04 PM**

Thanks Impact,

Great work, am just doing a reinstall so the timing was excellent.

Cheers Brad.

davidgol · **22nd April 2006, 06:21 PM**

just installed BRP and FreeXMLTV4.0 on freshly rebuilt system. Went off without a hitch. More importantly, I don't think it could actually be made any simpler. really. it's now mouse clicks only. no notepad required.

well done gents :-)

ViperWK · **22nd April 2006, 07:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidgol

just installed BRP and FreeXMLTV4.0 on freshly rebuilt system. Went off without a hitch. More importantly, I don't think it could actually be made any simpler. really. it's now mouse clicks only. no notepad required.

well done gents :-)

Same here.....

Hats off to you guys , this is absolutely brillant...

After reading up on how to set EPG's, it all sounded very messy and compilicated to me (being a MCE newbie) , but this was very straight foward to set up, and more importantly it works like a charm...

I just installed the Bladerunner Pro installation onto my system, then installed FreeXMLTV4.0 , then followed some simple prompts during its install (like what region i was in etc etc )... and it did the rest and that was it

...

It even set up an automatic scedule to keep updating the guide data regularly...

Straight foward !

Painless... !

And it Works !

I love it ....

cheers Russs

impact · **22nd April 2006, 10:50 PM**

Thanks guys... I am glad it works for you that easy...

v1 releases were to get it up and running
v2 added new features
v3 added the paytv
v4 finally gave the simple GUI installation that was always intended - but priorities in life always interupt the progress of some things.

Most of all, I am glad that you find it easy and useful.

keep_smilyn · **23rd April 2006, 11:48 AM**

We are sick of reconfiguring channels over and over again with each and every upgrade and change of BRP & FreeXML. Is there not a way to update the XML without compromising all existing channel configurations in MCE.

I think I will continue to use the FreeXMLTV version 3 to avoid re-configuring everything all over again. If only there was an easier way to upgrade each time.

Nadia

lost · **23rd April 2006, 03:04 PM**

Thank you very much for this. I'm technically incompetent and have devoted lots of hours to making the EPG work. It had stopped again this morning...and then I found this. Worked perfectly.

Thank you.