| ECS-L Home Automation and Security Archives |
| Subject: From: Date: | TVL support for "other" channel lineups Mark Gilmore Thu, 06 Jan 2000 16:21:47 -0500 |
Here's my stab at new TVL setup directions, with additions
made for the support of "other" (local) lineups (feedback/
corrections welcome). Those using existing .CHN lineups may
ignore this message.
BTW, please ignore my request for lineup names
(I think this is a better approach):
2.10 TV-Listings
This cfg supports the ability to announce, view, and/or record
desired TV shows as they air (per downloaded/weekly TV listings).
The TV-GUIDE Event maintains a separate window listing all shows
currently airing (including shows which started in a previous
time slot). This list is re-generated every 1/2 hour. Using this
window, you may permanently removed unwanted shows, and designate
others as "favorites" (to be announced, viewed, or recorded).
The TV-LISTING Event maintains another window listing the entire
TV-listing file. As with the TV-Guide window, shows may be deleted
and designated as favorites.
To enable TV-Listing support:
1) In your web browser, select http://tv.excite.com/listing and
click "VIEW ANOTHER LINEUP".
2) If you do NOT see your local programming source in the "CHANNEL
LINEUPS" menu, then enter your zip code at the "ZIP CODE" prompt
and press <Enter>.
3) Select your programming source from the "CHANNEL LINEUPS" menu,
and click SUBMIT. The resulting web page ADDRESS will then
designate a "lineup" name (e.g. "C-BAND").
4) If the displayed lineup is NOT one of the following:
TZ-E Eastern time zone (broadcast or cable)
TZ-C Central time zone (broadcast or cable)
TZ-M Mountain time zone (broadcast or cable)
TZ-P Pacific time zone (broadcast or cable)
TZ-A Alaska time zone (broadcast or cable)
TZ-H Hawaii time zone (broadcast or cable)
C-BAND C-Band
4DTV 4DTV/C-Band
DITV Direct-TV
DITVUSSB Direct-TV & USSB
ECHOST Dish Network
PRIMST PrimeStar
Then:
a) Copy TZ-E.CHN to {lineup}.CHN. For example, if the lineup
is "XYZ", then you would copy TZ-E.CHN to XYZ.CHN.
b) Edit {lineup}.CHN and:
1) Add any channels which are not in the file, using
the EXACT names as they appear in the web page.
2) Change the channel #s so as to match your lineup.
3) Make SURE that all channel names start in the 8th
column (follow the existing format).
5) Modify the Text-Line of the "TVL.BAT" ITEM such that denotes
your
your lineup name (the default being TZ-E).
6) Edit {lineup}.CHN and insert an asterisk ("*") before every
channel
that you want to appear in your listings. For example, you might
change a line as follows:
02 ABC (before)
*02 ABC (after)
Do NOT make ANY other changes. Channels withOUT an asteric will be
removed from your listings.
7) Set the TVL-ENABLED Item to TRUE. This will cause ECS to begin
downloading the listings for 8 days (starting with the current day).
Thereafter, the TVL Event will download these listings every
Saturday at 4AM. This download should take around 30 minutes at
56K baud (while waiting, you may continue).
8) When the listings have been downloaded, COPY TVLNEW.TXT (pending
listings) to TVL.TXT (current listings). This step is only required
when you download them "manually" (normally, the "TVL DL" Event
does this on Sunday at 12AM).
9) Every half-hour (and at startup), the TV-Guide Event will
re-generated a TV-Guide window listing all TV shows currently
airing (including shows which started in a previous time slot).
Favorites shows are marked via an asteric ("*") next to the
show name.
To SELECT the channel that a show is aired on, double-click
the show (or select the show and press <Enter>).
To DELETE a show, move to that show's line and press <DELETE>.
ALL lines with that show's name will forever be purged from your
listings.
To ANNOUNCE a show when it airs, select the show & press "A".
To VIEW show when it airs, select the show & press "V".
To RECORD show when it airs, select the show & press "R".
To only mark a show as a favorite in the TV-Guide window withOUT
announcing/viewing/recording it, select the show and press "F".
NOTE: After pressing any of the above keys, wait for the "click"
sound before continuing.
Favorites are saved to TVLFAV.TXT in the format below.
This file may be manually edited in order to customize the
default entries or to make corrections.
The example entries below would:
o Announce any show that contains "NCAA" in the title.
o View any show whose name begins with "Super Bowl".
o Record any show whose name begins with "World Series"
and airs Sunday at 7PM on CBS via CBand transponder
G6-19.
-----------------------------------------------------------
C Date Weekday Time Len Chan# Channel Show
* ***** ********* ****** *** ****** ********** ****
A ----- --------- ------ --- ------ ---------- ~NCAA~
V ----- --------- ------ --- ------ ---------- Super Bowl~
R ----- Sunday 07:00P --- G6-19 CBS World Series~
-----------------------------------------------------------
Unwanted shows are saved in TVLDEL.TXT (in the same format as above).
If you delete a show by mistake, you can edit this file to remove it.
10) To ANNOUNCE/VIEW/RECORD shows which are NOT currently displayed
in the TV-Guide, use the TV-LISTING window (same keys apply).
NOTE: Favorites are NOT marked in this window.
Notes:
For recording purposes, we assume that the receiver output is
fed into the VCR input.
C-BAND & 4DTV channels are set via the SAT:0...9/ENTER IR signals
in the CBAND CHAN SET Event. All others are set via the CBL:0...9
signals in the CABLE CHAN SET Event. THESE EVENTS MAY REQUIRE
MINOR CHANGES PER THE SPECIFICS OF YOUR SYSTEM (we can help you
with this as required).
Before selecting a program or starting a recording, we first
issue a warning announcement and wait 60 seconds. You may abort
any pending viewing/recording by clicking the VCR:STOP button
in the VCR REMOTE Group. For convenience, you will probably
want to add other ways of doing this.