Is there a way to get the TV listings without using Data Direct? I wasn't planning on having my box hooked up to the internet after everything is set up...

How are you planing on getting the listings into the database? Typing in the TV guide every week? I think some DVB cards can read the schedule from the digtial brodcast in Europe. But I'm not sure if that is actually usable in mythtv or not.

well, i was hoping that it was broadcast somehow with cable. There is an option you can select in the setup program that gives you an option other than Data Direct, but I haven't been able to get anywhere with it. Its called "Cable Broadcast" or something. How does a regular Tivo box get its listings. Do they require an internet connection?

It IS broadcast on cable, but I think there's more than one format, most of them proprietary. It might not be in the clear either.

forget about getting it off cable they are not going to give that info up. It's out there on a special digital channel or something, but would be a royal pain to attempt to reverse engineer even if it isn't encrypted.

A tivo requires either a phone line or an internet connection depending on which tivo you have. So yes they do call out to get the info as well, though they can do it through regular phone line instead of internet connection.

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Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

I bet it would be possible to script your myth box to dialup an analogue modem to your ISP, grab the listings and hang up the modem. It would work just like an old tivo.

mboeving: Would running a phoneline to your myth box be easier then running ethernet cable?

is your box non-networked for security or wiring logistical reasons?

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R5F1 - Dell P4 2.4Ghz 500MB - PVR250 x 2 - GeForce FX 5200 - Onboard sound/NIC 80GB ATA/250GB ATA/400GB SATA

There'd be no need to reverse engineer the cable info... if your card could get it. There's actually a standards organization (www.scte.org) which provides the format for the so-called "out of band" data which gets sent to the set top box. Unfortunately I don't know if any of the cards can decode the guide channel; it uses a different physical format than regular channels, just to make things interesting.

believe it or not, i actually dont have internet at my house. I've got intenet access at work and am rarely home... so anyways, paying for intenet hasn't been worth it to me.
is there a way to download the listings from DataDirect to a different computer and then transfer via a disk or jump drive?

If you know mySQL perhapse you could have a mythtv setup at work (on a second partition/drive). Then you could download the listings there. Write a set of scripts that would "backup" the listing info at work and "restore" the info at home. I don't know enough mySQL to do it. But it should be possible.

You should be able to download the xmltv file at work to a usbdrive, then at home run mythfilldata with a command line flag to use the file from the usbdrive.
Once you have the sequence of commands sorted out put them into a script file and make a custom menu item for it in mythtv.

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Paul Turpie
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