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XMLTV and Windows Media Center?

The other day I was talking with one of my coworkers about Tivo and that I really didn’t like the idea of having to buy the hardware and also pay a subscription fee so that I could get the TV Listing (which is one of the few reasons you need a subscription).  I remembered an XML.com article on how create your own DIY TiVO box using Linux and XMLTV (thanks to the Freevo and MythTV projects), and got to thinking, that would be a great project for Windows Media Center.  Then Scott Hanselman had this post on a co-worker who built his own WMC Home Theater System, and I realized that we (the .Net Community) may want to jump on this opportunity.  The major downside I can see is the legal issues that may occur if a project used XMLTV.  They are screen scraping the TV Listing info from the Zap2it site, and although the license seems to allow you to use it for personal use, I’m always a bit leery about copyright issues like that.  The one solution I could see is if you could some how get the TV Listings from your local cable company.  It seems that in the US, if you have digital cable, that is one of the perks, an Electronic Programming Guide.  So, it could be in your cable feed, you just need access to it.

Anyone know of any .Net based, open source projects working on supplying TV Listings so that we could bundle it in Windows Media Center?  Anyone want to take up the gauntlet?

Published Wednesday, February 16, 2005 3:34 PM by donxml
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Scott Hanselman said:

Forgive my ignorance, since I haven't built it yet, but doesn't MCE05 include free Guide Listings?
February 16, 2005 4:31 PM

Paul Schaeflein said:

BeyondTV is written in .Net (even tho their website isn't) and peforms a similar function. I don't have Media Center, but I have BTV running on WinXP Pro just fine. (But I only have basic cable, so advanced features are not used.)

http://www.snapstream.com/Products/beyondtv/default.asp
February 16, 2005 5:13 PM

mearls@hotmail.com (Michael Earls) said:

I'm missing something. What's wrong with the listings that Media Center currently provides?
February 16, 2005 5:34 PM

Don Demsak said:

OK, I didn't realize that TV Listings were included. Since I don't have Media Center 2005, I should have read the site a little better. But, now that I did that, it does seem as though WMC does not offer TV Listings for digital cable, only over the air HDTV. Also, I don't know if the TV Listing is accessible via some sort of API, since I would like to extend this and do some TiVO like features.
February 16, 2005 6:57 PM

Jay Kimble said:

My 2 Cents - MediaPortal (http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net/)

It's written in C# and is one of the better Media Center clones (it uses XMLTV for retrieving channel guide... it does require a bit of work on your part, but it works).

At some point I may post an even cheaper media center solution...
February 17, 2005 8:47 AM

vern said:

http://www.showtell.com/mce_webguide/2/default.asp

Pretty sure it's .Net (requires .net framework)

Also allows you to connect to it remotely to add items to your schedule.

Just started using it today, but looks promising!
February 21, 2005 4:41 PM

vern said:

Also, which cable system are you on? I have Cox Digital in Phoenix, and I get the listings just fine...
Perhaps you have a configuration problem?

I am running MCE 2K5...
February 21, 2005 4:44 PM

Joe Wood said:

MCE just include free TV Listings, at least all the versions that I've seen running do. This includes digital cable providers.

There's also an API via the MCE 2005 plugin framework, all using .NET.
February 22, 2005 5:47 PM

Murray said:

Yeah, some of you are leery of what WMCE has and has not.

It Does have TV listings. They are extensive and amazingly great. They are for Cable, Digital Cable, Satellite, Antenna, and HDTV. You can control external boxes with it incase you have digital cable or satellite.

There are many improvements to be made, but I think this XMLTV project wouldn't work well with it, as the program is highly picky.
May 12, 2005 12:17 PM

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About donxml

I’m an independent consultant, specializing in .Net solutions architecture, based out of New Jersey who also doubles as an evangelist for XML, Domain Driven Design, enterprise architecture and .Net. I do not work for Microsoft, the W3C or any other big company that you may know of (at least not yet). I’ve been an indie for over ten years, and although I’ve been tempted a couple times to take a job with companies like Microsoft, I’ve haven’t found something better than my current situation. I work mostly with the large pharmaceuticals that are based here in New Jersey, and usually find myself on long term contracts. Definitely not the prototypical indie consultant, but it lets me dedicate time to my non-income generating activities like the developer community stuff, plus financing open source projects like XPathmania and MVP-XML. If you would like to talk to me about doing some contract work, just contact me via the contact page. My rates vary widely, depending on lots of different variables, but mostly distance from Jersey, and type of work. Plus, I’ve been known to donate some of my code for various projects.
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