- WinTVPVR
Had a request to be able to pass the Category of the recording so that it could be used as a directory name for the recording.
A quick test by the requestor showed that WinTV2K created the requested directory if it was not present ... so looked safe enough to include the field in DABDig and not have to worry about checking to see if the directory exists etc.
Included code and updated DABDig.dgmarker to pass the parameter (as parameter number 12). While there - added Description to the Play command for consistency.
Made WinTVPVR command line processing perform substitutions and added new substitutable parameter - $CT (Category).
Added command line substitution to WinTVCap at the same time since some WinTVPVR users use that utility instead as it is less CPU intensive.
(253b12)

- ExternalChannelChanger
(RedRat3 in particular)
One new user wants the commands for the RedRat3 to be sent individually so made it possible - including an initial and trailing command.
(253b11)

- GBPVR
Been contacted by someone who would like to see this working - so another chance to work on it (things stalled first time round back in September 2004 because that requestor moved to WebScheduler instead of GB-PVR).
Looks like entries that I add into the schedule database while the GB-PVR service is running are not being picked up - but they do work if you stop/start the service. Implies that the format is right but I need to do something else to wake it up if it is already running.

- TwinHan VisionDTV
First version for the TwinHan 2.6 software now ready to test.
(253b01)

- TwinHan VisionDTV
Had a detailed report from a user that the new TwinHan software completely changes the way that the schedule data is maintained. So - for now - TwinHan VisionDTV version 2.6 is not supported. Will be working on it over next day or so.

- General
Reported by one of the users -the main web page has become too big for ChangeDetect - so broke into two parts and re-uploaded.

- General
Added "day of week" as an available parameter substitution keyword.
Made a public release of 2.52 now that the Christmas recording frenzy is largely over.
(252b23)

- Replay Radio
Odd - 2 mentions in a few days. When I first looked I could not see an easy way in.
No obvious command line parameters and binary file that was a pain to create (but possible).
Good news though - the second requestor had spotted that they have documented a way in by passing it a formatted file. Similar idea to TVPI.
Implemented it. But - it shows up something interesting.
To get it to close a dialogue box I had to send a keystroke to it - but ZoneAlarm firewall seems to be blocking keyboard stuffing. I can understand why, but it does not seem to be configurable. This will cause a few problems for other devices so will have to do some digging around.
(252b22)

- TotalRecorder
Had a comment which lead to including a new substitution field - OutputTarget ($OT).
Then modified TotalRecorder to allow substitution to be called. Utimately all devices will have this support when invoked from command line but doing it as other changes happen in similar area. Did it in a way that will not affect existing installations - but would prefer to remove the "old" method.
The person who wanted it has written a useful page showing how he configured things.
(252b20)

- TwinHan VisionDTV
One user is finding that the recording is sometimes from the wrong broadcast type (e.g. radio rather than TV). I cannot see anything wrong with what I am doing - but looking.

- Radiator
Someone wanted to drive Radiator (radio handling software). He was able to get it working by simply using one of the existing device types and simply modifying the paths and command line. Works - but could be better.
So - put in some native support.
(252b18)

- Intervideo WinDVR3
Had a request to support WinDVR3 today. In theory it shouldn't be needed because it supports TVPI and acceptes plaintext version of the file. However, the requestor wants to record from the Composite input and it looks like WinDVR3 does not allow the source to be specified in the TVPI file - it assumes that it is the tuner.
Could write to their somewhat complicated Scheduler.xml file - requires inserting a record-set in the right place since it is organised by internal Windows user id.
Looks like the proper way to do it would be to call their Server Proxy DLL - which is what their TitanTV (TVPI) integration module does.

- ChrisTV
Had first input from someone trying to use this new support.
Two issues reported.

• His PC was set for Chinese language and the software failed to run completely.
  
• The Date/Time syntax on the PC affects the way that ChrisTV processes the schedule data
  

My suspicion is that the MS VBScript processor can not handle .vbe files when machine is set to Chinese. Have suggested some things to try to test that.
The date/time syntax is a bit annoying - but made a quick change to allow specification of dd/mm/yy or mm/dd/yy in the output file for ChrisTV. Proper way to do it is to examine and use what is configured for the PC - but will have to wait a bit before I get round to doing that. Looks like it also wants AM/PM for start time if PC configured that way. Backburner stuff for now as user can easily reconfigure the PC for 24-hour clock.

(252b16)
- DVBViewer
First feedback from tester of DVBViewer interface. Largely works - but seems a bit hit and miss. Not sure if it is me, the way it was tested or the DVBViewer software.
Made some suggestions to narrow it down.
Saw the GUI of the commercial version. Basically the same interface for scheduling (including file format) but a few extra options. One is that it can be configured re-encode radio stations (audio) to MP3 so made that configurable by station type.
For now the station type is specified to DABDig on its command line - but ultimately should work out the format of the DVBViewer channels database and determine station type automatically.
Added code to handle the timer group missing from the DVBViewer config file - it looks like it can be removed by DVBViewer on exit if no scheduled events remain.
(252b15)

- DVBViewer
Started to add support for DVBViewer. Using the free one that ships with the Technisat software. Only schedules recording for now. Might not work with the commercial version of their software.
(252b13)

- ATi MMC
Did some more work on supporting alternate recording source. Looks like some versions of the ATi software require that the tuner channel is set to 0 when recoprding from S-Video (and perhaps Composite). Odd because the registry dump that I had of one working had a non-zero number. Anyway - sent it out to test.

- ATi MMC
Had a request to support the ATi card with built-in FM radio.
Made a quick version to prove the principle. Waiting for feedback.
Co-incidently also had a request to be able to schedule recording from S-Video input.
Will be easy once I get to see how it is specified (have done similar thing for another device).
(252b06)

- TwinHan VisionDTV
Follow-up from posting of a few days ago ... have now made a new version that tries to calculate the record size and name offset. Setting the INI fields to 0 (or -ve) will invoke the new code.
(252b02)

- Leadtek
Had a request, via the new support forum, to allow control of the Standby field when scheduling. I did not put it in before because it only really makes sense to use if all future (at least until PC next turned on) scheduled recordings/viewings are already entered into the Leadtek scheduler. In this case this is how the user is doing it.
So added code and defaulted to old way of working.
(252b01)

- TwinHan VisionDTV
It looks like the upgrade by TwinHan to their 2.43 has changed the structure of the channel list file.
If you are having a problem since upgrading then try editing dabdig.ini as follows:
VISIONDTVFILERECORDSIZE=104
VISIONDTVFILENAMEPOSITION=69

If your problem is with the Twin Han software rather than DABDig then perhaps try a total rescan to get the new format file written by their software (and then change the dabdig.ini settings).
Thanks to Bob and Laurie for the info.
I will probably make a new DABDig that tries to adapt itself to the changing structure.

- Nebula DigiTV
I now have a Nebula DigiTV installation (i.e. with hardware) ... and I discovered that the 3.12 beta3 from Nebula does not like the combination of channel specifier and full-screen mode selection on command line at the same time.
Unfortunately I made this the default way of working.
So - when requesting DABDig is initiate live viewing, either renfigure DABDig to go back to the old stop/start method or configure for non-full-screen mode.
i.e. either set
PlayWinStyle=1
or
ViewViaCommandLine=0

- General
Made an external release - 251b20.
Removed the parts that were still in development.
If you were testing/using an earlier 2.51 release and want to keep using it then send me a note and you can have a 2.52 beta with the functionality enabled again.

- ChrisTV
Had a request to add support for ChrisTV.
I looked at this back in December 2003. Back then there was a plan for a future version to include a command line interface, but it looks like it did not happen.
However, there is now a ChrisTV scheduling agent that works of a text file - so made a new version that can write to that file. In theory it should also be possible to support live viewing that way - but it is a bit clumsy. Needs more investigation to improve it. Anyway - first version of DABDig made and passed to requestor to test.
(251b18)

- GB-PVR
Another PVR solution that has UK users suffering from the outage of the XMLTV Radio Times grabber is GB-PVR (from New Zealand).
A user posted a query which I replied to - and as a result I had a look at the database tables that it uses for scheduling recording. Didn't look very hard to add new entries into it ... so added in the basics.
Have hard-coded a few things for now - but fundamentally it looks right.
As always - now need some users to give some feedback to see if what I have done really works in their configuration.
Have also posted a note in the GB-PVR forums - just in case the developer is not happy with such an approach (for example - there could be cleaner and more supportable ways to do it.)
(251b16)

- WebScheduler
There is a problem (short-term) with the XMLTV grabber for the UK (from the Radio Times site). This lead to a user of that to ask if DigiGuide could drive WebScheduler.
WebScheduler is a utility that can drive some DVB cards - some of which are already supported by DABDig but everyone can choose whatever they want of course!
A had a quick look at it and could see that it was pretty likely that it could be driven by DigiGuide directly by using a conventional Marker Alert. Worked out the probable syntax but it turns out that WebScheduler counts months from 0 - so made a quick update to DABDig so that it could fire a modified URL at it.
Yet another hack - but will basically work. Just waiting for the requester to make direct contact so that I can send a copy to try.
(251b15)

- WinTVCap
Had a request for a few things:

• Support multi-board installations
  
• Be able to override recording quality settings per programme
  
• Do not insist on stopping WinTVCap if already running

The last one is now the default operation for DABDig because modern versions of WinTVCap can handle being run twice (for same board) - by closing first recording and starting the new one.
All done (251b12 and 251b13)

- Nebula DigiTV
New facility coming in DigiTV 3.12 which should make switching channels easier.
Available in 2 ways - added the easier one for now (command line)

- General
Had a request to allow an override of the duration of a show while adding a marker.
Could have done it all in the DGMarker file - but decided to make the duration field a simple piece of run-time maths which makes it more flexible.

(2.51b11)

- RitzDVB
Just come across some more DVB software based on DVBCore.
It has a SendMessage interface and more recently, a command line tool to use the SendMessage interface. Add to the background list of things to look at.

- VirtualVCR
Had a request to be able to suppress the "stop" of VirtualVCR if it is already running. This request comes because of a variant of VirtualVCR called "VirtualVCR Max". This stays running as a task in the task bar plus adds a basic scheduling interface (that simply puts events into Windows Scheduler) and interesting has a GUI to allow configuration of scheduled runs of XMLTV.
Done as 251b09

- FusionHDTV
Made some progress on reading/writing the scheduling database that it uses.
Still need to work out how it calculates the channel number (8 bytes of data) and what the extra attributes are that it stores. But basic function appears to work.
Done it using ADO. Made a quick and dirty version to prove the principle and passed it over to someone in Australia to test.
(251b08)

- PostProcess
Had a request to suppress the "waiting in background" pop-up message box.
Easy enough to add - so done it. Implemented it in a more general way so that it could be easy to suppress all such boxes if needed. Ensured that it still writes to the log file though.
(251b07)

- Nebula DigiTV
Had a fault report saying that DABDig reported that it could not access the timer section of the Nebula DigiTV registry - but the scheduled recordings worked fine from the Nebula GUI. My guess is that the recordings (etc) are being stored in local memory of DigiTV and only flushed to the registry on exit. The installation is probably new ... and DigiTV has never being asked to exit while there were still recordings on queue. If that is right - then the easy solution for users is to schedule something in DigiTV and then exit from it (including the sleeping module).
Have now included code to create the "missing" key. The danger is that there really is something queued using and that my entry will overwrite it or not be detected.
Ideally .. Nebula should flush out their settings to the registry a bit more frequently - but that is an old request.
Build new version to create key anyway (251b06).

- General
Had a request to be able to pass the "StreamType" parameter to post-process.
Easy enough - 251b04

- Generic
Started to add in support for "generic" command-line interface.
Basically - looking at all of the currently supported command line driven applications and trying to see if I can make a generic one that could have handled any of them. Ultimately it should mean that users can add their won support for new tools more easily. Would handle basic things like stop/start tasks, send keys, use built-in timer both for waiting to start things and closing down at the end.

- Forum
First genuine query into the Forum - I guess found by following link from this Blog.
Shows up a couple of issues with the Forum message counter - but basically was fine.

- DreamVCR
Been in contact with author of DreamVCR (Windows scheduler into DreamBox). Started work on making the two work together. No command line options available yet so suggested a few.
In preparation for this - added new substitution commands for end date/time.
(251b03 built)

- ATi MMC
Had a request to be able to control ATi MMC from a remote PC (because recent DigiGuide seems to be using more CPU and making recordings stutter).
This sort of thing is more achievable with devices that support simply writing to a schedule file. In this case .. teh ATi schedule is held in the registry plus it might be necessary to stop/start tasks.
Remote control of the PC might be possible - but a relatively easy addition would be to make DABDig take a command line from a file (this is safer then pushing batch files over with the full command-line because someone could deliberately sabotage the system that way).
Including code to remain active and poll for a file is not great though because of the possibility of global variables not supporting being used twice (2nd run in loop).
Having an additional support task that listened on a port would be even better ... but would probably have to use a different programming language.
(251b02 includes ability to run using @filename)

- Multi-Device
Added code to allow dabdig.map to have mutiple device channel details within the [Default] section. Makes the map file smaller for users with something like video-capture card plus InfraRed control to set-top-box. Feedback from user - it works.
(251b01)

- General
Add link to new support forum in dabdig.ini
(251b01)

- General
Bundled up a release - 2.50b14

- TwinHan VisionDTV
Timing issue when closing tasks - if the task exits (for some other reason) between getting list of tasks and closing it down then it resulted in an uncaught exception.
Modified code to handle it.
In theory it could have happened where that I stop tasks but very small window and I think influenced by the fact that there are multiple tasks in VisionDTV and perhaps stopping one made another exit by itself later. Only reported once by one user. (250b11)

- DVICO FusionHDTV
Started working on examining and implementing - but I think that it will not be very successful because they have a background task that is checking a Microsoft format database for scheduled entries.
Might be possible to write to it (perhaps using MDAC) but quite a bit of extra work.
However, the registry is used a bit so might be able to fool the main recording task into doing things.
Has support for TVPI/TVVI files - but cannot get it to read them in. I suspect that it only takes the encrypted ones that TitanTV generates nowadays.
Live viewing/channel switching will probably have to be via keystrokes unless I can get the TVVI working.

- TVPI/TVVI
For HDTV users, need to add support for "Stream" that TitanTV can generate. Means extending the parameter set that already include PSIP-Major and PSIP-Minor.

- ProgDVB
myHTPC user request to support a Cancel function with ProgDVB.
Issue is that you cannot change channel while a recording is in progress. User without keyboard access has to do a few operations to stop the recording and then switch channels - would prefer to be able to do it all from within myHTPC (using remote control).
Putting support for Cancel in general has ramifications across all of the supported systems. However, an interim hack is to issue a /StopRecord if ProgDVB is running when trying to switch to a channel. This is not a great solution because there are side-effects .. e.g.

- if you use myHTPC (DABDig) to try to view the same channel that is being recorded then ... the recording will be stopped.
- at the scheduled end of the previous recording ... a background DABDig will kick in and issue a /StopRecord which would be a problem if the user has subsequently startsed to record something else.

Also - if recording Muted and then later you try to watch something then the Mute is still in place. Requested a specific NoMute command from ProgDVB developers.
Might be able to do soemthing though - by issuing another Mute at the end of the recording ... which should toggle it back but becuase it is a toggle command then does not handle situation where end-user chose to un-mute during the recording.

- Nebula DigiTV
One user having problems with View. Seems to select the wrong channel regardless of setting of the appropriate field in dabdig.ini
All very strange - I cannot yet work out what DigiTV is using as its key for this. It does not appear to be the LCN nor is it the LCN sort order (the number it is using is higher than the LCN) and it is not the Alpabetic sort order (BBC One is still 1).
While looking at the user's registry dump, I could see that there are many channels that are using the 2nd number in the LCN (i.e. bigger than 255). Adapted code to handle this
(2.50b05)

Also spotted that recent Nebula DigiTV software seem to not remove old timer entries from the registry - but simply clears the channel number. This could mean that DABDig would report that there is no space left but the DigiTV GUI would show that there is plenty. So - added new default (configurable) behaviour to treat timer entries with 0 for a channel number as free for re-use.
(2.50b06)

- General
Made a modification to the DG Marker so that users can enable the prompting for recording quality (modifying parameter 1).
Build 250b03

- General
Did some work on supporting a slightly different command line syntax for users with 3 devices but only wanting 2 to run ...
in this case - WinTVCap and InfraRed together or Nebula DigiTV.
Makes is slightly awkward but works.
At least - it works for me. Not working for the person that wants it but I think it will once syntax is sorted out on his installation. Build 250b01

- Forum
Basis for a support forum now established.
Open for use to see how it goes here.

- General
Modified PostProcessRecord so that the comand and parameters can be kept apart. Otherwise - the quoting of the command can make make quoted parameters go wrong.
Build 249b13

- ProgDVB
By default - DABDig takes the given channel name and tries to launch ProgDVB with it. This mode can be overridden by setting ProgDVBTakeNum=1. However, the interface wiht myHTPC seems to never provide a channel name ... so the default way of operating did not work very well. To make life easier - I have changed the software (build 249b11) to act as if ProgDVBTakeNum=1 if the given channel name is empty. Should make defalt installations easier.

- General
Added a few more substitutions for PostProcessRecord and extended the facility to whereever SendKeys is called (optional in case someone was already using $ in one of their existing sequences). Build 249b09

- TwinHan VisionDTV
Had feedback that (as half expected) the 2.41 build of their system that throws up a dialogue box at the end of the scheduled recording .. does not like being aborted while the box is open.
Might be able to code around it ... but since it is difficult to get feedback about which window has really been selected then this is not really the basis of a good solution.
Since their 2.42 removes the dialogue box then makes sense to ask people to upgrade their software but apparently has introduced a problem with aspect ratio handling.
I have suggested some feedback for TwinHan that gives control over the recorded file name via the scheduled recording entry - which would be even better.

- General
Added initial support for command line substitution in PostProcessRecord command line.
VisionDTV user is starting ot use it to re-encode the recordings.
Just added 4 substitutions for now - 1 is PartialFileName for backwards compatibility (although I do not think that many are using it ... no-one has told me anyway) another is simply a way to put the escape character back in ($). The other 2 are the ChannelName and ChannelAssignment.
Later will probably add things like date/time of start of recording, title, series/episode and description so that people can write their own library files or populate the ID3 (or similar) tags in the re-encoded files.

- TwinHan VisionDTV
Been exchanging email and builds with a user of VisionDTV. This has lead to a few changes and me deciding to document the dabdig.map facility that has been in the software since 2.45 (about 1 year ago). I have explained it to a few people over the last year when it helped them simplify a lumti-device set-up but I thought that I might change it in the future. However, two aspects of the TwinHan VisionDTV implementation have lead me to making this official now. The first is because the VisionDTV software does not store anything that resembles a recognisable broadcast channel number. It is all based on internal sort order. So, matching a request to a channel is hard. This leads to the second reason ... I chose to default to trying to match the channel name. However, the channel name provided by the EPG is not always the same as the name that is broadcast over the air that is used by VisionDTV. For example ... "BBC 1" and "BBC One".
This means that for many (UK at least) users - things would not work first time wihtout making configuration changes somewhere.
So - a solution would be to release a dabdig.map with DABDig that is pre-populated with known channel names. Even if it is not complete, it should be easy enough for an end-user to work out what is missing and add in the extra parts.
This could mean that dabdig.map is always used in future releases and also that existing users of dabdig.map would get their map over-written when they installed a new build. I do not want that to happen. So what I think I will do is stick the sample dabdig.map into a new directory and then suggest that VisionDTV users copy it over or even copy it over myself when DABDig runs and there is no .map already present.

- Leadtek WinFast
Change in 249b01 worked

- ProgDVB
One user trying to use ProgDVB with TwinHan VisionPlus.
Usually it works - but looks like an issue within ProgDVB/TwinHan-drivers which results in occasional crashes.
Took opportunity to change the way that I handle ProgDVB so that it now asks it to exit at the end of a recording and if it is already running at the start of a new recording then it waits until ProgDVB exits. Means that back-to-back (or overlapped) shows are handled better ... but means that the programme should not be left running idle. This new facility can be turned off (249b02 and 249b03).

- Leadtek WinFast
Selecting CVBS not working. Never had someone to try it before. Looks like it needs to have an extra field set in the schedule file. (I guessed that it would have a value of 0 but trying now with 2) - made 249b01

- TwinHan VisionDTV
Another user is giving it a try. I think it is the lowest cost DVB-T card at the moment so will probably be a few more users on the way.
ProgDVB can also support it - so more than one way to drive it.

- General
Made a public release of current state of play - 2.48b18
(removed KWorld though as it is not ready for even limited testing until I getting the floating number date working. Not had any time to work on it).

- TwinHan VisionPlus
Had some more feedback about how they use the registry to save the last viewed channel information. Means that my speculative attempt will not work for live viewing .. it will be a bit more complicated to implement because they are using an offset from the start but numbered by type (TV/Radio). This will require additional processing of the favourites file and will need to be a new routine.

- Kworld
The problem field is the date/time - they store it as a floating point number in raw format. No built-in function to handle this ... and coding it from scratch is probably around 1000 lines of code. However, as pointed out by one of the DigiGuide forum users ... some of the bit sequence will be the same for years to come so I could write something smaller that relies on that. However, the challenge of doing a generic floating point handling routine probably means that I will try to go that route.

- TwinHan VisionPlus
A relatively new (to the UK) card at a low price. Looks like it has been available in Australia for a while and some 3rd-party software has been written for it using hte API that TwinHan make available.
The supplied software package (VisionDTV) looks pretty basic. Only 5 recording slots and a poor mechanism for storing the channel number for recordings (if the end-user changes his sort order then then entries are wrong and not fixed up automatically) ... anyway ... have included some initial support for this in build 2.48b11

- Kworld
Saw a request to have another TV/Radio card supported. Downloaded (100MB !) and investigated. Schedule is stored in a binary file on disk. Header is variable size (depending on default directory) and there is a small trailer record ... but managed to work out most of it. Started implementing.

- WinTVPVR
Had feedback that if the new facility is used to allow how WinTV2K is windowed then it can leave WinTV in background or minimised. Not really my fault, but now added window switching and keypress sending. The keypress stuff might also help with selcting TV-Out. 2.48b06

- WinTVPVR
Made the whole command line configurable - because the -mTV controls whether or not there are normal Windows-style bars on screen. (2.48b05)
There is a registry setting that I could zap for PVR-350 to turn off local screen when using TV-Out ... not put it in yet.

- WinTVPVR
Had a request to be able to control whether or not WinTV2K goes fullscreen when viewing. I have made it a bit more configurable (2.48b04) but the real reason that the user wants it is because they go in and change to TV-Out ... so would be even better if I could force TV-Out. Needs some more research on command line options to WinTV2K

- Nebula DigiTV
3.11b4 from Nebula came out on Sunday. It includes registry polling but they forgot to save updated registry when deleting entries via web. Had note back from them saying that this is now fixed.
Because of this, I have now changed defaults for fresh installs to not require ForceExit.
Also changed default for web URL data to make channel number 3 digits.
Initiation of recording queue entry through DABDig to Nebula DigiTV web interface works if username but no password is set on DigiTV web interface.
Also removed RegBin as should always be set to 1.
2.48b03

- External Channel Changer
Added some code to invoke external software to change channel - e.g. Girder.
The basics work but not for all devices - because sometimes there is an in-line wait until the end of the show and other times the event is added directly to the device schedule. Need to make a more general solution - perhaps requeue aimed just at this device. 2.48b01

- Leadtek
Add support for selection of Leadtek CVBS and S-Video. 2.48b02

- Technotrend DVB
Modify support for Technotrend DVB-T to provide channel lookup. 2.48b02

- General
Made a release of the 2.47 code - called it 2.47b08

- Virtual VCR
Had a request to allow change of channel parameter because user is recording from a video source note TV tuner. Easy enough to do but need some more details of exactly what the command line should be - e.g. should the parameter simply be left out or does it need something else to tell it where the source is.

- Nebula DigiTV
Nebula have released a new Beta of 3.11 - primarily to get around their leap year bug.
However, also gives a chance to try out the new HTTP interface.
Made new version (2.47b06) to use their chosen syntax but issue will remain with Id/Password handling. Needs some more experimentation.
In any case - it does not seem to result in data being saved to registry, even on exit of DigiTV and DigiTV still not polling registry for updates. Sent email to Nebula.

- Leadtek
Had a request to make control over whether or not recording should be Silent.
Made 2.47b04 to provide it.

- WinTVPVR
Had a request a while ago to make the shutdown of WinTV2K configurable.
Done - with another AllowForceExit control.
Made 2.47b05 to provide it.

- ATi MMC
Had a report that ATi MMC 8.8 was going completely wrong when I entered schedule information. It now requires that the tuner settings (tint, brightness etc) are stored with the timer entry - this was optional before.
Made a 2.47b03 to provide it.

- Nebula DigiTV
Had a request from someone using Nebula DigiTV in conjunction with Total Recorder to record the "radio". This is because the file format used by Nebula DigiTV is difficult to handle on a simple audio device - has to be post-processed etc.
Problem was that Nebula DigiTV running in FULLSCREEN mode (even when for a radio channel) uses a lot of CPU. So added ability to control the windowing a bit when choosing PLAY. Not a great thing to do if PLAY is used for TV - but at least users can now choose.

- General
Published 2.46b16 (essentially same as 2.46b15 with the Matrox code removed)
Made 2.47b01 to renable the Matrox G450 eTV for anyone still testing it.

- WinTVPVR
Had a request to be able to include "###" in the command line at the end of the file name to enable auto-numbering facility of WinTV2K.
Done (2.46b15) by extending FileNameOrder to allow user to specific any characters anywhere. Could be another way of getting the recording stored into a specific directory.

- VirtualVCR
Had request to add control over forcing exit - 2.46b14

- General
Added a retry on trying to write to log - in fact it is a loop ut set to only go round once. Could make the loop exit configurable if needed in future - 2.46b14
Maybe modify the file handling in general so that all open/write/close goes through similar process.

- WinTVPVR
Might need to change default setting for RecWinStyle - had a report that running it minimised does not work. Might just make it a FAQ entry for now.

- General
A few suggestions received for catching overlapping recordings on Nebula DigiTV but more widely applicable. The principle is more wide reaching.
Also had a suggestion/request to open/close the log file on each event ... making it even less of a chance that running more than one copy will cause the trapped log contention. Made it configurable - 2.46b13

- Leadtek WinFast
Enabling the force GUi shutdown option can make the Leadtek software quit before the recording file has been closed properly (on slow machine?). So made the timer configurable. Still recommend not using the facility and explained why in updated FAQ entry. (2.46b12)

- Technotrend DVB
When launching the Technotrend application to show live TV, it does not start in complete full-screen mode. Maybe there is a command line option to do it, but trying the other way of switching to the screen and sending the key sequence to rull full-screen (F ESC). Might not work though because the title of the screen is hidden. (2.46b11 - used same version number as for previous change because I had not sent it to anyone before)

- Nebula DigiTV
Prompted by someone who is writing some software to drive Nebula DigiTV from a PDA to schedule recordings (and view existing schedule), I made a suggestion about who Nebula DigiTV could make a web interface available via simple URL.
I then added that, speculatively, into DABDig (2.46b11).

- General
Even if 3rd-parties do not add their own web (or other remote) interface to their software, their is no real reason why I could add some ability into DABDig. This would enable the other devices plus might be interesting to do.
I sent an email out to the DABDigNews mailing list to see if anyone was interested.
Text was:
Remote scheduling via email or web

Over the 2 years that DABDig has been available there have been only two or
three users that have requested the ability to submit schedule requests
while out back to their home recording equipment.

I have thought about doing it a few times, but expected that the various
manufacturers would include this ability themselves - or users might uses
Windows Terminal Server or remote control software like VNC to achieve
complete remote control of their home PC.

A few of the devices that I support with DABDig do have a web interface or a
planning to release one soon ... e.g. TiVo (via TiVoWeb), DigiGuide (planned
for next version), myHTPC, Nebula DigiTV (planned for next version).
Some others allow some sort of remote control via client/server (but you
need to install their software on your remote PC) ... e.g. Nebula DigiTV,
DigiGuide (planned for next version).

So - why would I add it to DABDig?
Apart from it being an interesting thing to do, the reason would be that
some users might want to do it but do not know how to set it up or their
software manufacturer has no intention of including it in their software ...
unless perhaps they buy something new. Or, users might not be allowed to
install their own software on remote (probably work) PCs. Or, firewalls
might block things, but scheduling via email (e.g. when hearing about a
program while at work) might be possible.

What do you think?
Would you use such a facility?
Do you already do something like this?
Do you have an always on connection back at you PC with the recording
hardware?

- Technotrend DVB
The changes I made to switch channels for live viewing worked. (246b10)
Basically it is a simplified command line.
ALso - since this is an immediate switch then changing NOWOFFSET to -1 has the useful side-effect of removing the delay when trying to view a program that has already started. Should not be done for all devices because some will not accept a time that is before "now".

- Technotrend DVB
Since this currently works by looking up station names then I need to have a look at including some extra diagnostics (or at least info in the web page) and also work out why myHTPC is not sending the station name .. hopefully just a config problem in default myHTPC set-up.

- AVerTV DVB
Had a request to rename the recorded file after completion. This is because the AVerMedia stuff does not allow direct control of the file name and invents a name based on current day/time.

- Technotrend DVB
Do not forget to work out how to support switching channels for live viewing.

- mythtv
Might be able to support scheduling into the this Linux application ... have offered and am waiting for any takers. Reason - the Ananova site no longer offers TV listings which means that UK users are without a fast source (Radio Times is slow when getting listings with details). However, DigiGuide running under Wine on Linux might be a workable way to schedule things for that user base.
Meanwhile, XMLTV folks trying to write a new grabber to get the data from the site I gave them a while back but I suspect that this might start blocking access if too many people use it.

- Nebula DigiTV
Had a report that when DigiTV exits (perhaps should really be referring to it minimising) focus is not returned to myHTPC. Maybe I could force it to be restored by waiting until end of scheduled programme and then setting focus to configurable program.
Might be something that could be done by end-user themselves with the postprocess function .. if there is some sort of "setfocus" command line executable.

- Nebula DigiTV
Had another look at setting the output directory per recording - for people that want the station name included in path. Problem remains with setting it back to the right value at the end because DigiTV keeps copy of the registry on start-up and writes it back on exit ... so would have to stop DigiTV at the end of the show which is dangerous since it might not have closed the recorded file etc. (2.46b09)

- General
Just worked out why auto-detection not working on initial install for some devices. Problem was that when I introduced the RegUnable field into dabdig.ini to handle non-English Windows I had not allowed for having no configuration for this field - which would be the case on first run since dabdig.ini would not yet have been created. Fixed in 2.46b05 and possibly important enough to put in 2.45 unless I release 2.46 soon.

- General Scheduling
Found the real cause for the problem that someone was having with the Windows Scheduler ... the command line length.
Looks like WMI has a limit of around 260 characters (interestingly not 255/256). So - removed the code that puts in quotes (since it makes it slightly longer) and used a "DOS-Legal" directory name instead ... which should make it shorter again.

- Matrox
Someone wants to test the Matrox stuff - so sent a new version (2.46b02) with running of PC-VCRScheduler included.
Looks like he has a different version of the software because it installs to a different location - maybe this version of the Matrox software that is being used will not crash the machine ...

- Matrox G450 eTV
Removed the ability to use this code in 2.45b45 to make it a public release.
Too dangerous to release to anyone but Beta testers because it seems to crash the PC if the Matrox software is running at the same time.
Started a 2.46 release set and reinstated support in there.

- General Scheduling
It is possible to make DABDig use the Windows Scheduler. This has a potential benefit of allowing suspended PCs to be woken up. However, the WMI interface that I use can not set the flag to request a wake up. A bit of digging around revealed another way of doing it. So - will probably add support for this way and then also make some more generic code so that the Windows Scheduler can be used for devices that I currently do use it for (i.e. devices that have their own scheduling). The benefit of this is that all devices might get suspend/hibernate/resume support. If it is to be used for waking up the PC then should also include some extra code to make the event a few minutes before the real scheduling to give time to start up. Might also need to allow username/password to be specified for XP systems that start from cold boot.
Also - put quotes around command when scheduling to Windows Scheduler.

- General
Made 2.45b45 public release.

- AverTV DVB
The "correction" to the spelling mistake that I made in 2.45b42 was wrong.
It was AVerMedia who spelt it wrong and my correction of their spelling in my code meant that my automatic detection failed!
Modifed the code to allow for their current spelling and what I think is correct and therefore what they might change to in the future.
More importantly - a tester for the AVerTV stuff now on board. So chance to finish things off. I had made a mistake in one of the routines for copying modified records .. used ChrB instead of Chr. I thought I was being safe by using ChrB but, even though there was no error returned, there was no data copied either. Meant that the crucial record was not being inserted.
Corrected and made 2.45b44

- VirtualVCR
I did not have support for PLAY with Virtual VCR (i thought that it was only Capture software).
Following a question on myHTPC forum ... I added support (2.45b43). Possible that the command line is not quite right - so waiting for feedback. I could imagine problem with the Duration. I have hard-coded including the duration but there might not be one.
Also noticed that the VirtualVCR site has moved so changed the link from the web site.

- AVerTV DVB
2.45b42 just corrected a spelling mistake that would have effected automatic detection of AVerTV DVB device.

- Technotrend
Added code (2.45b41) to parse the channel list file. Made it as configurable as possible in case they change the order of the fields in future.
Still need to work out how to support switching channels for live viewing.

- Technotrend
The very early days code for the Technotrend DVB card via their own software had some testing today in Germany.
The calculation of the internal channel number from the EPG number was the right idea, but there was a different registry prefix for this user. So - made the prefix selectable via a new field (Type).
Need to work out how to full automate this - must be able to get a clue from elsewhere in the configuration data.
Also - possible that the EPG number does not really match the channel number, so try parsing the channel line-up data file.
Still need to work out how to support switching channels for live viewing.

- Nebula DigiTV
Made a new 2.44 (2.44b15) release. Just copied over one of the existing 2.45 changes.
DId it because Nebula seem to have made an official 3.10 now and they have left in the change to the way that Last Channel details are stored. So made this new bahaviour the default because I expect new downloaders of DABDig to also have latest official Nebula code. The way that it works is configurable in DABDig anyway.

- WinTVCap
Viewing was not working for one user with WinTVCap enabled. He tried to get it going by also enabling WinTVPVR but (as expected) this resulted in problems since both would be competing for same resource when recording.
DABDig already knew that WinTVCap could not do live recording, so it launched WinTV anyway. Problem was that the user had WinTVCap and WinTV2K in different directories so DABDig could not launch it.
Easy change for user - copy WinTVCap to the WinTV directory.
Changed software anyway to add a new optional configuration item to specify where WinTV2K is when using WinTVCap. Also added a FAQ entry to cover it just in case someone else hits same issue. Build 2.45B39 but not released.

- TiVo
Problem with doing things too quickly ... I realised soon afterwards that the channel number that I use for Recording is probably not the same as the one used for Viewing, because it is to go in via a different interface ... so made the different numbers selectable with optional "/" divider ... 2.45b38

- TiVo
Saw a request to intiative live viewing on TiVo .. so made quick speculative update ... 2.45b37

- TVPI/TVVI
Had a request to make configurable the time delay before sending the keystokes. I presume that the TVPI handler is loading very quickly and he wants to save a second of the display on the screen, but could also be a benefit for people who either have it loading very slowly or who want to study the on-screen dialogue box before continuing (especially when trying for the first time).
Done as 2.45b36 - just replaced a hard-coded 3000 (milliseconds) with a new INI file setting which defaults to 3000.

- Nebula DigiTV
Feedback - the changes that I made for handling View/Record differences in channel numbering worked fine ... although I put the wrong version in the zip file initially which confused things for a while.

- General
Looks like there are some users in Germany - a HTPC community around http://htpc-board.henriks-home.com/ has some questions posed on using DABDig with ProgDVB and DVBsVCR2. I offered some help in my best English.

- Technotrend
Back in March I did some brief investigation into what was then a new release of teh Technotrend software that allowed the cards to be driven to make recording via command line.
There were reports that the software was not stable and no-one specifically asked for it ... so I did not persue it further.
However, request came up yesterday on myHTPC ... so I dug out the old material and put a quick version together and declared it available to people who ask by email. What I don't know yet is the syntax for the channel ids and exactly how to convert meaningful channel numbers into the syntax that Technotrend require ... but basics work.
Someone with one of the devices is trying it out.

- Nebula DigiTV
Looks like things might have slightly changed again in the 3.10 Beta concerning how I force it to tune to a particular channel. Modified the code to add a new configuration item so that both old and new way can be used and waiting for feedback from a Nebula user ... although my testing implies that it will work fine.

- Leadtek WinFast
Feedback from the Leadtek WinFast PVR user ... looks like 2.45b31 worked for him.

- Leadtek WinFast
Made a new build (2.45b31) with updated Leadtek WinFast code ... to support the curretn PVR software from Leadtek.
Not finished yet - still need to do work on the profile handling .. but I reckon basics are OK.
Sent it to the requestor. I also verified that the TVPI mechanism still seems to work, so highlighted that as a fallback.

- General
Made a few icons for use with the multi-device enabled DABDig.dgmarker ... radio/sat dish/TV enough to show the principle.
Will have to write some words to explain it in the web page. Enabling it by default is harder though because not foudn icons put up the warning triangle in DG and I cannot test for file existance in pure JavaScript.

- Nebula DigiTV
New facility in Nebula DigiTV to "sleep" on start-up - so added option to use that when restarting after scheduling a recording. Put it into 2.45b30 (internal) and 2.44b14 (public).

- TiVo
Had a request to be able to drive 2 TiVo boxes. Quickest way to add this was to make a TiVoWeb2 like the existing Stream and Stream2. Was easy enough. Pushed it out as 2.45b29.

- Leadtek WinFast
The writing out of schedule data is working with WinFast PVR. Now have to handle the profile data that moved from registry to file.

- General
Have a think about supporting multiple instances of same device - perhaps through different INI file per instance. Reflecting the capability in the EPG GUI in a good way would be a bit of a challenge ... the day of writing my own GUI seems to be looming.

- Leadtek WinFast
Looks like their binary file format for WinFast PVR is essentially the same as the binary registry format with a 4-byte header. Perhaps all WinFast models with new software will use this format so make it general.
The header on the first record says where the first free record is. However, file is not necessarily sized for maximum to have to be careful.
Looks like they have also moved the codec information from registry to binary file as well - more work then.

- Leadtek WinFast
Had a report of things not working with Leadtek WinFast PVR. Not one that I have tried before (I have it working with basic Leadtek WInFast .. not PVR version). Quick download and install shows that it seems to have stopped using the registry and is now using a local file - WFSCHDL.dat
Will experiment further.

- General
A bit more work on mult-device handline. A request to be able to have different DigiGuide icons when recording from different devices. Not too hard - made a quick update to the marker file and passed it over to see if it the sort of thing he wanted. This would allow a user to see what is scheduled where in a multi-device installation.
Ultimately I guess I will have to build a real GUI .. but I want the EPG writers to do the intelligent scheduling etc.

- Leadtek WinFast
Had an email from someone who is having problems when DABDig tries to access the registry.
Replied with some thoughts from airport while waiting for a plane.
Need to double-check the registry code for that device because I did change things in that area a while ago and havne't specifically tested WinFast since.

- General
Added in code to allow an INI-style file to override the channel number. Checks channel name (if present) and uses it to rewrite a given channel number. A generic overwrite can be overwritten with a device specific one.
Idea is to have less mass editing of channel numbers iwhtin DigiGuide listings. Means that people could automate the generation of the file or even share between users.
Want to do some more work on it though - to make sure that multi-device handling works well enough.

- TiVo
Looks like the manrec module does not always like leading zero for hours or minutes - so made new version (244b12) that does not pad the front.

- Device Steering in general
Added new code to 2.45 over the week-end. Allows device/channel list to be presented with a Preferred Device for this recording. Made matching DABDig.dgmarker that adds the list of devices to the menu if trying to record from a multi-device channel. Initial feedback from SciDoctor (who requested it) is that it works fine.

- TiVo
Had a request from an existing user ... asking if it could be possible to schedule recordings into a (hacked) TiVo. Looks like it is pretty straight-forward via the manrec application. This is a TCL module that runs like other TiVo Web modules .. within the TiVo. Basics done and sent over to him to try out (245b20).

- Nebula DigiTV
Nebula replied during the week to say that they thought that my suggestion concerning registry handling was OK and that they will look at putting it in soon after 3.10 is released. They also confirmed that the multi-device stuff does not change the way that scheduling works. DigiTV makes its own decision on which card is free for use at the time of recording/playing.

- WinTV PVR
Mike says that Play is working fine but Record is just leaving hte WinTV2K application minimised and doing nothing ... but works find when he runs the same command from command line. Will make selectable the way that I window it.

- Nebula DigiTV
Nebula notes for 3.10 say that they plan to remove DigiSvc (spotted by Stuart).
So - change code to not rely on DigiSvc to start DigiTV when new entry put in schedule - added to 245b19.
Changed some of the registry handling code to be extra careful when checking for presence of some registry values.
Also need to find out how they plan to add support for multiple devices - sent them email to ask.

- WinTVPVR
Mike now has one and found a problem. The file name that I pass in is not quoted.
This is consistent with what I do with WinTVCap (part of which is used for the WinTVPVR application) ... but looks like the WinTVPVR version has to be quoted because it takes embedded space as end of parameter. Made a 244b10 as in interim so that I do not have ot release 245 yet.

- AVerMedia AVerTV DVB-T
Started adding some code ... the recording shcedule is stored in a binary file. Not too hard to work out enough. Basic version sent to tester. Cannot test that the scheduled events get picked up without having the hardware but it looks promising.
Their scheduler reads the data on startup - so will need a stop/start to pick it up. Have included the code for that but disabled by default for now.

-myHTPC
Added some details about DABDig into the plug-in section on myHTPC. I wasn't listed as an author previously so couldn't publish into that area. Now needs someone to add a link to it from the plug-in page.

- Matrox G450 eTV
Another tester feedback ... looks like his set-up is different or I missed something. The original problem with their scheduler crashing the machine persists on his system. Waiting for some registry dumps to check it.

- Matrox G450 eTV
Over the weekend, went to see someone with the Matrox card. Found couple of small changes to make concerning registry handing. Issue remains though with trying to determine how to make an active PC-VCR/PC-VCRScheduler recognise the updates. If you scheudle without them running then it works fine.
Made Beta 10 available and had feedback that it worked (apart from when the Matrox software is running - as expected).

- ATi MMC
Comment from DigiGuide forum that the file name is not being set correctly. Code looks right - but perhaps something has changed with more recent versions of ATi MMC. Will make a new configurable item to choose different formats for some of the fields and see if that helps or hinders and will adapt the code based on feedback.

- myHTPC
The instructions that I wrote in April have a typing error - a critical "." v "-" error.
Have correct in my copy of the readme - but need to upload to the myHTPC site and the old password that I had in APril doesn't work any more. Contacted Pablo to another one.

Saw a few comments asking about scheduling into Matrox G450 eTV. Volunteered to help and quickly had 4 people interested enough to help in the investigation and testing.
Cannot load the eTV software onto local PC - too many checks for hardware being present - so relying on others to collect data and then try things out.
Once the first registry dumps came through it took about 20 minutes to have the basics coded. Unfortunately it crashs the eTV software.
Might have to go to see someone that has one of these TV cards to get to the bottom of it.