[ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

****EDIT 05Jun2010*****
Available in maemo.org appstore now. In Extras. Thanks to all who tested and voted. Please continue your vote here.
http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/Showtime/

****EDIT 25May2010*****
repackaged for PR1.2 and promoted. http://maemo.org/packages/package_in...howtime/1.2-3/
website : http://showtime.passiongarage.co.uk

****EDIT 18Mar2010*****
New Version 1.2-1 released. Check the Release Post here
User Guide is here. Please read this before you try.
*****EDIT*****

****EDIT 07Mar2010*****
New Version 1.2 released. Check the Release Post here
User Guide is here. Please read this before you try.
*****EDIT*****

****EDIT 27Feb2010*****
New Version 1.1 released. Check the Release Post here
User Guide is here. Please read this before you try.
*****EDIT*****

Happy to announce SHOWTIME 1.0 is in extras-devel Extras now.

I dont watch too much TV but I never like to miss my favourite programmes .
I could always do with an app like this to display TV channel listings with a facility to set reminder/remote record.
This does exactly that and only that.
Its not intended to be a multimedia player if you know what I mean :D

Main Highlights

• Remote record feature ( for SKY users in UK only ). I can add it to other regions if users can let me know if its available or not in their region.
  
• Adds events/alarms to your N900 under a new calendar named SHOWTIME.
  
• Can configure favourite channels or programmes.
  
• Can configure region ( countries available now are )
  UK - United Kingdom
  IE - Ireland
  AU - Australia
  NZ - NewZealand
  DE - Germany
  FR- France
  IT - Italy
  ES - Spain
  SE - Sweden
  NL - Netherlands
  DK - Denmark
  NO - Norway
  FI - Finland
  BE - Belgium
  PL - Poland
  HR - Croatia/Serbia/Bosnia/Yugoslavia
  SI - Slovenia
  RU - Russia
  MY - Malaysia
  ZA - South Africa
  SK - Slovakia
  CZ - Czech
  
• See programme listings upto a week in advance and the previous day.
  
• Orientation is configurable (Portrait/Landscape/Auto)
  
• Three modes of operation
  • daily mode - check listings by date
  • search mode - search listings for favourite programme
  • current mode - check tv listings that are current.
• Set your default mode of operation.
  
• Caches downloaded files locally and deletes them when they are a couple of days old.
  
• All settings are stored locally so its reloaded when app starts.
  
• Search for a programme for upto a week , search strings for each channel can be saved.
  
• Prime Time settings and you can set to show/hide past listings.
  
• for the fun of it, added some icon sets ;)
  but mainly because my wife spent a couple of sleepless nights with me to make them so didnt want to discard them.

countries can be added very easily as long as there is a data source in XMLTV format.

US/Canada - I know that SchedulesDirect has a service that provides data but they charge about 20$ per year. I couldnt find a free service.
You could either send me a link to a datasource or users from there could either buy a subscription or pool in to buy one and send me a link if they wish to add it to the app.

On the other hand anybody can go ahead and generate their own XMLTV data.
http://wiki.xmltv.org/index.php/XMLTVProject
just try the above link or google. basically you need to run a script on a daily/weekly basis that gets a data and upload them somewhere on a daily basis and provide me a link if you want me to add it :) , as simple as that.

Last but not the least, Andrew Flegg (Jaffa) is the man who hosts XMLTV data for UK, big thanks to him for allowing us to use the data he hosts.

As always, suggestion/comments/criticism welcome.

*EDIT*
If you have used it and like the app please help me promote it to extras by voting HERE

cheers

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

I'll be happy to test it when it will come to Extras-Testing. Thanks again for this nice app.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

a help file attached, which is also included with the app in the help section

Please read the user guide attached, it will answer most questions on usage.
Thanks

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

Hi this looks great. I dont use sky much but can i just use it as a normal sky remote (i dont have record or HD box)?

cheers

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

Is it possible to store a automatically search list?

At example, I want to store the string "LOST" in the search list. Your Application looks twice a week for the TV Program and reminds me if there is any broadcast with the string "LOST" in the Title. :rolleyes:

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

nice idea, yes possible. future enhancement ;)
I did have a search function in mind, but the app started off as a small app for my use and it now its bigger than I could imagine, so didnt have time for that and didnt think it would be as useful honestly.
I think this function could be on the top of my list for the next major release. thanks.

At the moment maybe you could live with the favourites functionality :p

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

Well, works as expected but I can't choose multiple channels to view. Pressing another channel chooses that as my favorite channel and not just selects it. When you get multi-selection working, will it be possible to have a tv-guide(like 7 channels in one list and programs displayed on a timeline?
Also, disabling the record button for all regions but UK makes sense. And capitalizing looks pretty wierd IMO. Otherwise, nice work, as I live in Sweden I actually have use of this app :D

EDIT: And portrait mode is a really nice touch.
EDIT#2: Highlight of current show airing would be a nice feature to see.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

step1. from the drop down select the channels you want to see.
when you add more than 1 channel the arrow buttons appear.
step 2. click go. will get you the current channel shown on the "pick channel" button. thats the display for which channel you are viewing.
step 3. click the previous/next arrows, you will see the next channel you chose, click go again and you get the data.

multiselection is supported, i only said multiselection highlight is disabled, which means that the chosen programmes are not highlighed when you click on them in the programme list. they are selected nevertheless and deselected when you click again.

favourites is a different thing. you can choose the channel you usually want data for and store them as favourite. so every time you dont have to select the channels manually, all you need is to choose MYFAVOURITES from the channel drop down and all favourite channels are selected, then you just need to hit go for each of them.

please read the help file, that would explain the usage, sorry if it isnt clear enough for you.

yes, show current programs would be a nice to have feature, will keep that in mind for later.

i kept the button for remote record in case we find a way for other regions, anyways clicking on it wont do anything when you select a non-UK region.

thanks for the appreciation and comments

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

Wow, now it makes sense. The favorite-feature is really useful. And now I get how the UI works too :D
For the future, could 'Your favorites' be loaded on start so you can quickly check whats on TV? And trigger downloading at the same time?

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

if you mean like an IR remote ;), answer is no.
this is channel listings viewer and in case you dont have a remote recording facility on your box, then you could use the calendar reminders to remind you.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

firstly many thanks for creating this and making it available for us :)

when testing the remote record I get the following text back from sky.
>>
We couldn't find your programme. Use the format: Title. Channel. Date DD/MM. Time HH:MM. You must use the full stops. Or just the Title for a wider search.
<<

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

can you send me the text that was sent.
As I said already in my release post that sky remote record is very unreliable through sms, it works for some programmes and doesnt work for some. Ive seen it works for most bbc channels.
Have a look at the sms text generated by the app and the format in most probability will be as per what SKY says but yet it doesnt work sometimes, sorry nothing much I can do about it, have sent a mail to sky about it but im almost certain they wont reply, they will ask me to try their ipineapple app !

anyways send me the text that you were trying to send to SKY , let me see if something was wrongly generated by the app. you can pm me if you like.

cheers

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

When i try and install this i get an error message saying about conflicting application packages :( phonon,opengl,webkit and xmlpatterns, does this mean these are missing etc? Doesnt give me any option to install them if needed, any ideas guys?

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

where can i see the text that was sent? cool ap by the way. many thanks once again for you time and effort for making it available.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

mm thats strange, have you ever installed something manually in the past ? I mean not from pplication manager ?
anyways what you could do is this
then install this app from the application manager.
let me know if it doesnt go well.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

Yes have just removed the conflicting library, never installed anything other than from app manager, it was 2 or 3 apps i had that conflicted, have removed them and now this works, didnt realise it automated the txt remote record process for you, i thought it was the proper sky remote record app ported to maemo! lol great work mate :)

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

no unfortunately not, They sell that app so wont make those api's available to us free software mortals who dont buy apples or grapes :rolleyes:

anyways, once QT mobility is ready for the messaging module for Maemo then we can automate the sms sending from the app instead of opening up the SMS gui for each message.
ATM, maemo doesnt provide good integration with the communication part of the phone ( SMS/call etc ).

I use the reminders in my N900 calendar more than remote record, since I do it on the weekend for the whole week, i dont need to use remote record.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

in your sms app of course :D

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

yes i know that but in conversations i cannot see a sent items view.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

I guess thats because all conversations are shown together for any number on the N900. both recieved and sent :)
have a look at my screeshot maybe that will help.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

Repeating reminders, such as for TV-series would be a nice feature to have. In case you run out of ideas :p

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

I can put the reminders based on the assumption the programme runs on a set frequency until a set date, which I can ask the user to input.

But if you want me to set the reminders based on the real data, then I can only do it for max 7 days in advance, and also this will require i download the data for that channel for 7 days, i really didnt want to do it just so that we save bandwidth and so that it wont abuse the site that is providing data, imagine if all users have 10 favourite programmes on different channels then every week 10*7 = 70 files get downloaded every week per user. The first method seems doable , and its easy to implement as well.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

i had looked in there but it only showed me the reply but not the sent sms. Is there somewhere else i can see the sms that was sent. I will aslo try sending another now and copy it before sending.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

Yeah, I think most episodes of The Simpsons, Family Guy etc. Air the same time every week, so setting up a weekly alarm would be a solution. If you download the data for today, and the data for day 7, and compare to see if the show indeed air at the same time might be a solution? Of course you have to choose that this TV-show airs the same time every week, so it doesn't always download the day 7 data(when you just want one reminder).

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

well what Im saying is some programmes are every alternate day or sometimes they come at different time , maybe day1 and day7 always have the same time, so really they are speculation and wont be accurate :).

I want to avoid getting any data the user hasnt asked for, especially for setting future reminders, but Ill see if we can work around it.:cool:
for now Im happy to add an enhancement in a future release a configurable reminder option so you can input the frequency and a last date.

cheers

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

Yeah, that would be great, I could just check manually one week ahead to see if they air the same time.
It feels like this app has lots of potential :D

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

this program idea is great! just thought of today how nice it would be to have a program guide in my N900. is there a tv-listing for germany yet?
I would rather wait for it to appear in extras-testing, as i dont fell enough comfortable with linux to clean up eventual hazards as long it is in extras-devel.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

This is is extras-testing now.
please help to promote this app to EXTRAS by voting HERE if you like it.
thanks

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

just tried this

Heroes.bbc2_wales.06/02.22:00


Sky Remote Record: We couldn't find your programme. Use the format: Title. Channel. Date DD/MM. Time HH:MM. You must use the full stops. Or just the Title for a wider search.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

ive mentioned this already that its unreliable this remote record not because of the app but because of the data and the sky remote record system which I think behaves funny that it accepts sometimes and sometimes it doesnt. Its more like best effort processing :)
since this is not some official app from SKY neither are we using thier api's(which arent available anyways) there could be some mismatch of data.

in your example i think the _ is the issue. the data that is coming from the source may not always match what SKY has.
remove the underscore while sending the msg, it will work for now :)

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

Can we implement this calendar in somehow?

http://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/

As it pretty much as all the upcoming TV shows.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

yep, i can confirm that it work now without the underscore.

Great app man!

wel done.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

thanks, since you liked it, your vote is valuable to put it through to extras :)

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

Sorry, the app is designed to be built around XMLTV data. its a more universal way for all regions to represent channel listings data.
I dont want to add individual website data scraping or adding different data formats for each region/channel as part of the app its not maintainable and will lead to irregularities in usage and more bugs as well.

Let me know if this website can provide XMLTV data. I worked my way around the site you mentioned but didnt find any source of data.

Thanks for pointing me to the website it does look nice though ( maybe we can make another app to display that data as it is and integrate it with the calendar on Maemo :) )

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

something is wrong with the german data provider for showtime. you only get data for today. all dates in the past or future result in "no data for this channel"

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

How about utilising the same feature that over the air HDD Recorders do with the Series ID? If you locally store such entries then when downloading a feed simply highlight any with a matching ID. For programmes broadcast for only part of the year e.g. Top Gear, Dr Who etceteras, this would be even more impressive

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

Could you upload the .po file for translation?

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

can you specify which channel, ill try to have a look myself at the source of data if its missing there.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

sorry for my ignorance, but is THIS the place to start looking ?

Re: [ANNOUNCE] ....its SHOWTIME !
 

I tried several channels.

channels with only data for today:
3SAT
ZDF
ARD
SAT_1
Kabel_1
RTL.de
....(not tested more)

channels with no data at all:
PRO_7