Free Pocket PC TV Guide v1.2 Released

[Paul Martin]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://pda.familie-dewit.com' target='_blank'>http://pda.familie-dewit.com</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Pocket PC TV Guide v1.2 is a program for pocket pc to get the latest tv schedules very quick and easy on your mobile phone or handheld so that you are always informed about what's on TV, wherever you are. Includes Dutch and International tv schedules like Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Eurosport and many more."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/tvgids-706199.gif" /><br /><br />Looking for a TV listing program, especially for Dutch programming? This free app does require the <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer_pocketpc/">Flash Player Plugin</a>. Though it's translated as Pocket PC TV Guide, it's Dutch name of TV GIDs actually looks more interesting. You can download it <a href="http://pda.familie-dewit.com/tvgids.zip">here</a>. If it's useful to you, you can find a donation link on <a href="http://pda.familie-dewit.com/">Vidal's website</a>.

[WorksForTurkeys]

any idea where it pulls it's data from? this becomes a concern now that labs.zap2it.com is no more.

[ctmagnus]

any idea where it pulls it's data from? this becomes a concern now that labs.zap2it.com is no more.

:confused totally: I have no problems accessing the service.

[WorksForTurkeys]

any idea where it pulls it's data from? this becomes a concern now that labs.zap2it.com is no more.

:confused totally: I have no problems accessing the service.


http://labs.zap2it.com/ztvws/ztvws_login/1,1059,TMS01-1,00.html

MPORTANT MESSAGE:
For several years we have offered a free TV listings service to hobbyists for their own personal, noncommercial use. In October of 2004 we posted here an open letter saying the future of Zap2it Labs was at risk because of certain growing misuses of the Zap2it Labs data. Unfortunately this misuse has continued and grown. These misuses, combined with other business factors have led to the decision to discontinue Zap2it Labs effective September 1, 2007.
We thank those users who have honored the terms of the agreement, and we suggest you consider the many TV listings options offered by the commercial licensees of TMS TV listings data.
If you would like to discuss how to license TV listings for commercial use, please let us know by e-mail ([email protected]) and include your company name, telephone number and the best time to reach you. We will respond to your inquiry as soon as possible.
We anticipate this decision will generate discussion and invite you to respond via the Zap2it Labs forum. We will do our best to respond to relevant questions posted on this forum in a timely manner.

[ctmagnus]

D'oh! And I didn't even need to login to see that message. :oops: Guess you're right.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to my subscription that expires September 12.

[WorksForTurkeys]

D'oh! And I didn't even need to login to see that message. :oops: Guess you're right.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to my subscription that expires September 12.

my subscription expired last month; I saw the note when I logged in to renew,

[maikii]

My Pocket PC Listings program (PTVL) (using Zap2itlabs) won't work today (cannot download the listings). I don't know why, since my zap2it subscription is current, and they won't stop working until September.

Anyone know what's going on? Is there another program that will work (for US listings)?

[Catman51]

You are right, just tried to download updated listings for PTVL and it's no go.
This really stinks, because I love this program.
Hoping there's another similar one out there. Off to search....

[WorksForTurkeys]

I just received an error message about "Bad XML"; maybe they changed the format and xmltv can't handle it?

[WorksForTurkeys]

Here's the full error from xmltv:

C:\Program Files\Pocket TV Browser>xmltv tv_grab_na_dd --share d:\
Timezone is -0400
using config filename ./.xmltv/tv_grab_na_dd.conf
Fetching from DataDirect: Fetched 0 k/bytes in 38 seconds
##################################################
loading data:
WARNING: error parsing DD xml:
syntax error at line 1, column 0, byte 0 at /PerlApp/XML/Parser.pm line 187

Partial XML follows:
500 Can't connect to datadirect.webservices.zap2it.com:80 (connect: Unknown erro
r)


ERROR: Bad XML from DD, cannot continue

so it looks like their webserver is down. I also get a 404 error when I try to connect directly, so I guess their appserver needs to be bounced.

[ctmagnus]

I just tried downloading ptvb listings. I didn't get any error messages; it just trimmed my listing file down from what it had when I downloaded last to what's left between now and the furthest date of the last download.

[ctmagnus]

Btw, there used to be a listings program from iirc the creators of GigaBar, GigaTask, etc. Is that sitll around? Doing a quick search on PocketGear only comes up with the $30 TV Guide app.

[WorksForTurkeys]

fyi, from the xmltv wiki (xmltv is the underlying engine which downloads the listings and parses them into a format that PTVB can work with):

Tribune Media has announced the termination of it's Zap2IT Labs service on September 1st. This will disable the tvgrabna_dd grabber. Discussions are underway for alternative data sources for US/Canada data

so the demise of labs.zap2it.com affects more users than just the PTVB community. as long as the new source (whatever it is) is incorporated into the tvgrabna_dd grabber of xmltv, the output should work with PTVB.

[erinsabs]

Not Again :cry:
I used PTV Browser from guideremote.com last year and loved it! The interface was loads better then PTVL and I didn't mind spending $10 a year for the service. Then, all of a sudden, they shut down. Took me awhile but I found PTVL. Don't really care for the interface, feels a bit clumsy but I've grown accustomed to it. And now, they are shutting down too!

What I really loved most about these two programs was the ability to add reminders to my calender.

This sucks....

[ctmagnus]

Have any replacements for these programs/sources sprung up yet?

[erinsabs]

Go here, it's $15, but you can pretty much use any program you like, I had trouble setting up xmltv, but the forums are extremely helpful. http://www.schedulesdirect.org/

[buzzard]

Go here, it's $15. http://www.schedulesdirect.org/

More accurately it's $15 every six months as a subscription. There's a statement at the site that if they get enough people the price might be reduced but the problem with getting enough people is that if the price is too high you won't get enough people. They were at $15 every three months as of 9/1/07 so they're making some progress.

[erinsabs]

thanks for clarifying buzzard :D