Television Listings / TV Listings

[timcolling]

Hi -

I have a Samsung i730 with WM5. I would like to get quick and easy access to TV listings using my i730 for my area (North San Diego County, CA). I could do it by software or by going to a website using the EVDO capability on my device.

What's the best approach? I tried PTVL but it doesn't seem to successfully download the type of data that it needs from zap2it.com. I haven't found any websites that seems to do the job well in a PPC formatted screen (QVGA).

- Tim

[MTIW Podcast]

There are a couple of applications which serve the purpose of acting as a "TV Guide".
Pocket TV Browser (http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&jid=7D5ED6199BB339524BBD5X494C426644&platformId=2&N=96806&Ntt=tv%20guide&productId=23811&R=23811) $5.00
TV Guide® Mobile - 1 Year Subscription for Pocket PC (http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&jid=7D5ED6199BB339524BBD5X494C426644&platformId=2&N=96806&Ntt=tv%20guide&productId=178504&R=178504) $29.99
Pocket TV Guide (http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&jid=7D5ED6199BB339524BBD5X494C426644&platformId=2&N=96806&Ntt=tv%20guide&productId=138270&R=138270) $6.50

The links above lead to the handango.com product description page
Hope that helps

[buzzard]

I tried PTVL but it doesn't seem to successfully download the type of data that it needs from zap2it.com. I haven't found any websites that seems to do the job well in a PPC formatted screen (QVGA).

- Tim
What problems are you having with PTVL. I use it daily and don't recall having any problems with it.

[Sven Johannsen]

I just set up PTVL on my K-Jam and it works fine. There is a bit involved. You need to load PTVL of course. Then you need to go to Zapit with the code found at PVTL, sign up for an account (free). Back to the PC and enter your username and password on the desktop Weblink, get it connected. It grabs the listings and at next sync it transfers to the PPC over a new AS service called ListingData. A few steps involved. Did you get them all. Worth a few minutes for what seems to be a great free product.

[timcolling]

For those of you who have gotten PTVL to work, are any of you on WM 5?

It looks like the data download is in fact downloading data, but then it seems as if WebLink cannot process any data that it has received. Here is how WebLink looks when it's "finished" downloading:

http://colling.com/images/Clipboard01.jpg

- Tim [/img]

[Cybrid]

For those of you who have gotten PTVL to work, are any of you on WM 5?

It looks like the data download is in fact downloading data, but then it seems as if WebLink cannot process any data that it has received. Here is how WebLink looks when it's "finished" downloading:


- Tim [/img] Works fine on WM5. It seem you are having trouble with the Weblink. Check your Zap2it login, your region settings

[timcolling]

For those of you who have gotten PTVL to work, are any of you on WM 5?

It looks like the data download is in fact downloading data, but then it seems as if WebLink cannot process any data that it has received. Here is how WebLink looks when it's "finished" downloading:


- Tim [/img] Works fine on WM5. It seem you are having trouble with the Weblink. Check your Zap2it login, your region settings

I think I figured it out, but it's kind of wierd. I am using ActiveSync 4.1. I had to kill the ActiveSync processes, and then WebLink was successfully able to download the data and prepare it for syncing.

This obviously won't work for the long term. I'll try upgrading to AS 4.2 and see whether or not that makes any difference.

- Tim

[timcolling]

Hmm... Ok, I upgraded to AS 4.2 and that didn't fix the problem.

However, I think that I've narrowed the problem down now to some issue with Norton Internet Security. I'm going to focus on that now w.r.t. problem solving efforts.

Incidentally, it sounds like one of the other applications mentioned in the thread above is going to no longer be viable after Sept. 1st. Pocket TV Browser is the app, and it depends upon a data source that is apparently going to stop providing service on that date.

- Tim

[timcolling]

I will try to figure out what I need to change in Norton Internet Security to fix this problem with PTVL. In the meantime...

I'm surprised that there don't seem to be any websites that offer TV listing grids that are suitable for display on pocket pc screens!

- Tim

[ctmagnus]

Incidentally, it sounds like one of the other applications mentioned in the thread above is going to no longer be viable after Sept. 1st. Pocket TV Browser is the app, and it depends upon a data source that is apparently going to stop providing service on that date.

:confused totally:

I use Zap2it as my data source for PTVB, and afaik MSN TV (http://tv.msn.com/tv/guide/) uses it as well.

[timcolling]

Incidentally, it sounds like one of the other applications mentioned in the thread above is going to no longer be viable after Sept. 1st. Pocket TV Browser is the app, and it depends upon a data source that is apparently going to stop providing service on that date.

:confused totally:

I use Zap2it as my data source for PTVB, and afaik MSN TV (http://tv.msn.com/tv/guide/) uses it as well.

Thanks. I've downloaded PTVB now and I'm trying it with zap2it. It seems to work pretty well.

For whatever reason, PTVB with zap2it as the data source has no problem with Norton Internet Security being active, whereas PTVL with zap2it canot work unless I temporarily disable NIS. It's probably some problem with my "Network" or "Location" settings in NIS, so I'll probably look at that issue later. PTVL has a very nice grid view that PTVB doesn't offer, but if it's going to work without having to manually disable NIS, well, it wins then.

- Tim

[timcolling]

Incidentally, it sounds like one of the other applications mentioned in the thread above is going to no longer be viable after Sept. 1st. Pocket TV Browser is the app, and it depends upon a data source that is apparently going to stop providing service on that date.

:confused totally:

I use Zap2it as my data source for PTVB, and afaik MSN TV (http://tv.msn.com/tv/guide/) uses it as well.

Incidentally, the PTVB data source that I mentioned is shutting down is the Evolve service, not zap2it.

Thanks again for your help, ctmagnus. You got me started in the right direction.

- Tim

[ctmagnus]

Glad to help. :D

I had an Evolve subscription as well, but I was only getting a week of info at a time so. Zap2it grabs two weeks at a time, plus it's free. So I let the Evolve subscription lapse and went with Zap2it. Now, the only issue I have with Pocket TV Browser is that two channels I have selected on the Zap2it site don't download into Pocket TV Manager.

[Brad Adrian]

I've been using PTVL for years and really like it. However, now that I'm using a VGA device, the screen layouts for the Quick Search listings are messed up.

Does PTVB handle stored searches well?

[squint]

Anyone using PTVL with windows Vista?

I'm not having any luck syncing the info to the device. I can view it on the desktop version just fine, so it is downloading...but doesn't want to put it on my device.

I"m blaming Windows Mobile Center...

[disconnected]

Supposedly, Zap2it Labs won't be supplying listing data after September first, so PTVL won't work after that anyway. :(

[ctmagnus]

Are there any other listing sources?

The new TV season starts rsn!!1! :multi:

[buzzard]

This thread over at Aximsite mentions a possible alternative but it sounds like a work in progress.

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/water-fountain/217759-free-ptvl-finally-gone.html?highlight=ptvl

[Brad Adrian]

...so PTVL won't work after that anyway. :(
PTVL does still work, but since Zap2It is gone, you have to pay a subscription fee to a company called Schedules Direct. It costs $30/year. That's not too bad, considering PTVL is the only product I've found that includes searching, program details, etc. Plus, it's been free for the past five or six years I've been using it, so I won't complain.

[ctmagnus]

Actually, in one of the links in the replies to one of my posts, there is mentioned a way to grab your listings for free from Zap2It. Unfortunately, it's not very user friendly. I have a large xml file on my system that I think is the most recent (as of yesterday) tv listings for my area, but I have no idea how to convert that xml file to the .tvdb file that Pocket TV Manager uses. :roll:

Speaking of :roll:, I think I'll go grab a cinnamon roll granola bar!