Pocket TV Browser

[brownster]

Okay.. I think I have directions that newbies and us oldies can use in setting up PTVB. Take a look and give feed back. If I can make changes tonight and tomorrow then I can post a clean copy for Robert to post as a sticky.

XMLTV Support in Pocket TV Browser

Pocket TV Browser v1.77 now supports the North American ("na") XMLTV grabber for U.S. and Canadian TV listings, using Schedules Direct "Data Direct" ("dd") service. The internal name of this grabber is "tv_grab_na_dd".

XMLTV grabbers are not bundled with Pocket TV Browser, because Double Bit is not involved in the development of the XMLTV tools or the maintenance of any of its grabbers. You must download the XMLTV tools yourself, and then copy them into your Pocket TV Browser folder (normally located in C:\Program Files\Pocket TV Browser).

Pocket TV Browser v1.77 can now be downloaded for Palm and Pocket PC at HERE.

Visit the XMLTV web site to download the latest XMLTV tools (here's a link to version 0.5.48 files). After downloading the tools, you must extract the grabber utility (xmltv.exe) and copy it to your Pocket TV Browser folder.

Before you can use the North American "Data Direct" grabber, you must create an account on the Schedules Direct web site. When filling out your Schedules Direct profile, make sure that you use only alphanumeric characters for your loginname as PTVB does not like "@" or "." characters. After creating your member profile, login and select the line-ups you will want to download later, and check only those channels you want to download.

Once you have finished setting up your Schedules Direct member profile, and you have copied xmltv.exe to the Pocket TV Browser folder, you will be able to add XMLTV listings.

When you first install Pocket TV Browser on your desktop PC, the Pocket TV Manager Listing Wizard should automatically appear. Otherwise, you can click the TV icon on your taskbar to open Pocket TV Manager, and then go to the Listings tab and click the "Add" button to begin the following process. You will be selecting XMLTV Zap2It listings for your service. (I know you will be downloading from Schedules Direct, but PTVB will not know the difference since XLMTV.exe will be doing the downloading.)



The username and password that you chose earlier, on the Schedules Direct web site, must then be entered.



Pocket TV Manager will then use XMLTV to connect to the Schedules Direct server and download the list of line-ups that you added to your Schedules Direct member profile.



After selecting a line-up, you can make local name and/or number changes to any of the channels you specified in the line-up on the Schedules Direct web site.



Click Finish. If your Schedules Direct member profile contains multiple line-ups, and you want to include some or all of them in your Pocket TV Browser listings database, repeat the above steps for each desired line-up.

If you have any problems or questions about XMLTV support, visit our XMLTV forum.

[brownster]

In PTV's Provider.ini, I changed my LoginName to my email address, which is my login at Schedules Direct. Then when I launch PTVBrowser, it downloads the listings, and if I look at PTV's Listings, Properties, PTV Browser shows my email address.

that might just work. but PTVB will not allow you to enter non alphanumeric characters in the login name for newbies being able to set up SD account info and configure xmltv from within PTVB will be easier. If you click next on the listing set up screen after you enter you email address you will get an error message about the login name.

Jim

[shrink]

Jim,
You've done a beautiful job with these instructions. I think you should be "on the board" of SD
alan

[brownster]

Jim,
You've done a beautiful job with these instructions. I think you should be "on the board" of SD
alan

Thank you Alan. I am already on the message "board" of SD

Jim

[shrink]

Well I have to say that you continue to be a BIG help both here and at the Doublebit forums as well.
It's much appreciated. I think you've been responsible for a big # of subscribers from the ranks of the PTVB abandoned crew.
alan

[brownster]

Well I have to say that you continue to be a BIG help both here and at the Doublebit forums as well.
It's much appreciated. I think you've been responsible for a big # of subscribers from the ranks of the PTVB abandoned crew.
alan

Hmm... a thought, the more PTVB users that sign up for SD, the better our chances of getting the yearly subscription down to $20.00. Another thought, the more PTVB users that sign up for SD the larger our voice will be. We all need to thank Xris and Robert for giving us the ability to use login names other than our email addresses. That is what has really made the switch easier.

Jim

[wensail]

Well I have to say that you continue to be a BIG help both here and at the Doublebit forums as well.
It's much appreciated. I think you've been responsible for a big # of subscribers from the ranks of the PTVB abandoned crew.

I couldn't agree more or say it better than Alan has, Jim. Your instruction set that included links is a cinch to use. I have mastered all the steps (no challenge!) and just referred 3 PTVB-using friends to take the big step and convert to SD. They all thought they'd have to buy TV Guide or just print a daily grid from the Net somewhere. But I have evangelized SD and sent them to both forums to look over your easy steps. The modest cost is surely worth it to have 24 hours of scheduling in your hands day after day, so I'm getting thm closer to trying it out.
I am sure you are right that a good population of PTVB users will put us in a better position to get needed attention from time to time and help get the price lowered by increasing user volume for SD.

[KewlDawg]

Pocket TV Manager will then use XMLTV to connect to the Schedules Direct server and download the list of line-ups that you added to your Schedules Direct member profile.

I must be missing something.

How does XMLTV know to connect up to Schedules Direct, instead of http://labs.zap2it.com ???

I don't see anywhere, where one specifies the URL; just the user name and password.

[rmeden]

How does XMLTV know to connect up to Schedules Direct, instead of http://labs.zap2it.com ???

Version 0.5.48 of XMLTV connects to Schedules Direct. Previous versions were Z2L.

0.5.48 came out just before Z2L was shut down... so I just dropped Z2L support.

Robert

[KewlDawg]

Wow, kewl! It works!

That was much easiler than it was years ago.

Thanks all !!!!!!!

Now onto Paypay....