Monday, January 23, 2006

256b22 available

- General
Add a simple remote execution mechanism.
Initially requires a shared folder (with the remote system where the recording is to be done).
Simply drops a file into the share containing the parameters of the request.
A batch file running in a loop can then easily find the file and get a local DABDig to action it.

Also added an "All" function for multi-device installations - example from requestor was to record the same channel from both DAB and Digital TV - i.e. belt and braces solution.
One day ... should be extended to "Any" and then let DABDig pick the one that appears to be free (and has highest priority).

(256b22)

Saturday, January 14, 2006

256b20 available

- Streaming
Added parameter substitution to Streaming and Streaming2 (via CmdOverride).

- WebScheduler
Added support for "radio" indicator in channel assignment (or channel name) so that it can trigger different URL. This allows a different capture type to be set because WebScheduler seems to have problems with automatic recording of audio only DVB-T stations.

(256b20)

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Leadtek and DVBViewer - part 2

- Leadtek Winfast
The Leadtek Winfast DTV1000 looks like it is now close to working. There were about 5 fields in the record that have either changed meaning or needed to be set-up.
Now need to parse their channel list file to perform lookups - this will be a bit complicated as the file format is a bit convoluted - but at least it is all in plain text.

- DVBViewer
DVBViewr Pro 3.2.6 is now working. I went the COM route in the end. Turned out to be quite easy. However, they take the date using the local settings of the PC. For now I have made the syntax configurable but really should do it automatically and allow an override.
Handling the new text format does not seem so important for now because the free Technisat version still seems to use the old format.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Leadtek and DVBViewer

- Leadtek Winfast
Some progress on the revised file format.
Spent some time over last couple of evenings and after a few file exchanges via email I am pretty sure that I have worked out what they have done with their new structure. It is pretty well the same as before but they have done some horrible things - e.g. storing data about the offset of the channel within a Mux and the Mux number - and then storing somewhere else an identifier for the mux and the channel.
Ultimately it will require some automatic parsing of one of their configuration file - but the stupid thing is that on a rescan the file gets re-written and part-time channels that are not broadcasting are lost from the file.

- DVBViewer
I have not had any requests from users for the DVBviewer interface since I first wrote it for someone. My guess is that there are very few users of it - perhaps only one. But a new request has come through from someone else because he could not get it to work. What has happened is that DVBViewer Pro 3.2 has a different interface. The data is pretty much the same as in the old Technisat version but is now in an XML file and has a couple of extra fields. They have also added a COM interface.
So question is - which way to go. Handle the new file format or go with COM.
Initially I thought I would stay file based but since the COM mechanism allows updates to the schedule without having to stop/start DVBViewer then it is probably the best way to go.

Friday, January 06, 2006

Leadtek WinFast queries

- Leadtek WinFast
Two requests came through today.

One from another developer who wants to see how the schedule file works so that he can build his own application. I'll have a look to see how easy it is to extract the relevant parts of my code and send it over to him.

The second was from an existing user who bought himself the new WinFast DTV1000 for Christmas ... and has found that they are using a different mechanism for scheduling to their DTV card. I've asked for some samples and will see what I can do.