Updated NowShowing.tcl should support all tivo sw versions.

[AlphaWolf]

I tweaked MuscleNerds' gutted version of NowShowing.tcl to include support for the 5.x tivo software. I haven't tested this against anything other than 5.x and 4.x, but theres no reason why it shouldn't work with anything older.

There is one bug with this in that it doesn't interpret the month correctly (it is off by one.) Should be an easy fix, but I don't feel like digging through my notes on the tivo date format right now.

IMO this is a sad way of parsing the now showing list though, I am surprised that this script is still necessary.

[CptKirk]

Do you mind my asking a few questions?

1. What other app besides TyTool (if any) uses NowShowing.tcl?
2. Will using this new version of NowShowing.tcl cause TyTool9r17 any problems? Using WinDiff to compare your new version with the version that is included with TyTool9r17 shows a massive amount of changes.
3. Why would this new version you created be better to use than the one included with TyTool9r17?

Thank you.

[AlphaWolf]

Do you mind my asking a few questions?

1. What other app besides TyTool (if any) uses NowShowing.tcl?
2. Will using this new version of NowShowing.tcl cause TyTool9r17 any problems? Using WinDiff to compare your new version with the version that is included with TyTool9r17 shows a massive amount of changes.
3. Why would this new version you created be better to use than the one included with TyTool9r17?

Thank you.

The whole intent here is higher compatibility. The copy I provided here is the only one that works with all known tivo software versions (afaik somebody made another one for the 5.x units, but it would only work with 5.x and nothing else.) If the one you use already works, don't bother with this one.

The reason this one is so different from the one you probably have is because this is based on the stripped down version made by musclenerd. He removed several components that were completely unnecessary for jdiners stuff, the result *might* be that you can refresh the nowshowing list faster, but I don't know since I've never compared it. This one also is a lot smaller and seems to be rewritten a little bit so that it is easier to understand, thus I selected it for the adaptation.

I only used this once as I needed to make a dvd of the presidential debate earlier and decided to try jdiners latest stuff, but tytool didn't work how I wanted it to (I needed to merge two separate streams, among other things due to a scheduling problem with the tivo, couldn't do them with tytool, I guess I learned earlier that this feature is called nonlinear editing) so I switched back to tydemux as I described here (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38510) where I ended up not needing this script. I am still leaving it here in case anybody wants it though.

[ertyu]

Here's the changes I require to get the correct dates on my 4.01 unit and Tytool 9r17. Just 2 lines in get_tzoffset.

[bgreen]

Here's the changes I require to get the correct dates on my 4.01 unit and Tytool 9r17. Just 2 lines in get_tzoffset.


Excellent! This works just fine in my SA2 4.01b Tivo. I'm now running the TyTool9r18 with this and the dates are now correct.

(Long time reader, first time poster. :) )

[jdiner]

IMO this is a sad way of parsing the n1ow showing list though, I am surprised that this script is still necessary.
Living proof that I am just a tad busy. This falls into the category of "it works" so it hasn't really crossed my horizon in a long time.

What would you suggest I do instead? Seems like you have a prefered method that is something "else".

--jdiner

[Jamie]

Living proof that I am just a tad busy. This falls into the category of "it works" so it hasn't really crossed my horizon in a long time.

What would you suggest I do instead? Seems like you have a prefered method that is something "else".

--jdiner
It would be easy to do this in C using the mfs library and include it directly in tserver.

[rung]

It would be easy to do this in C using the mfs library and include it directly in tserver.

That got me thinking. I wonder if it would be possible to write a native tcl compiler that wouild use the mfs library for all tivo mfs db calls? We could compile tivoweb, mfs_ftp, etc.

[Jamie]

That got me thinking. I wonder if it would be possible to write a native tcl compiler that wouild use the mfs library for all tivo mfs db calls? We could compile tivoweb, mfs_ftp, etc.
There's a lot of MFS stuff you can do in tivosh that isn't within the currenty capability of the mfs library. Allocating new fsid's and streams is one.

[AlphaWolf]

It would be easy to do this in C using the mfs library and include it directly in tserver.

My thoughts exactly. TCL scripts bother me on too many levels, best to avoid them wherever possible.

[Pete Ruttman]

Ok, I grabbed ertyu's NowShowing.tcl and the MIPS tserver and put on my tivo running 4.0.1b-02-2-240. I cannot delete shows from the Now Playing window in Tytools. I haven't been able to do this since I upgraded to 4.x but I was hoping this collection of updates might fix this issue. Does deleting work for anyone in this configuration?

I do not see anything interesting from the log window but here's the text that is dumped during the delete phase:

Deleting list from the server...
Deleting 'Really cool show'...
Connecting to '10.200.1.21'
Connected...


Done.
Clear Now Showing List...
Connecting to '10.200.1.21'
Connected...
Getting NowShowing data...
Total Size = 7595 bytes in 5.629000 seconds...
Reading list from the server...

[jdiner]

My thoughts exactly. TCL scripts bother me on too many levels, best to avoid them wherever possible.
Me too. I didn't want to do it that way in the first place. But when I looked through the MFS stuff I found no clear way to decode, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say unpack, some of the data returned when making MFS calls.

When getting show information it comes from several things in many ways it is stitched together. Now while I did not spend a great deal of time on it, it appears to me that the only reasonable way to do it would be to reconstruct the structure in use. But that can and, as has been shown here in this very, does happen.

Is there more that you guys know that I do at this point about getting data out of the MFS? I would love to go all C on the server.

--jdiner

[Jamie]

Is there more that you guys know that I do at this point about getting data out of the MFS? I would love to go all C on the server.
It's not that hard. I'll take a stab at it.

[rc3105]

take a look at the tystudio tyserver code, it's allready done... ;)

[Jamie]

take a look at the tystudio tyserver code, it's allready done... ;)
Not to mention the mfs_streams program that is already included in the mfs_vplay_tserver package. There are little details, like getting the format in just the form that tytools wants, getting the timezone right on all software versions, etc, but, as they say, it isn't rocket science (or as difficult as mpeg decoding/encoding). Just a small matter of programming.

[Greubin]

Here's the changes I require to get the correct dates on my 4.01 unit and Tytool 9r17. Just 2 lines in get_tzoffset.


Finally finshed my 4.01b upgrade via the newbie guide. Setting up TyTools is my last step for now. After installl of nowshowing.tcl and tserver I was getting an "cannot obtain list" from tytool. Using your nowshowing.tcl fixed the problem.
Thanks to all for keeping DDB a valuable Tivo resource :D

[Jamie]

I posted a version of tserver here (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39487) that includes an embedded NowShowing list generator. The main benefit is that it is faster than the tcl version. It also supports deleting recordings, unlike the tcl script in this thread.

I've tested it with 4.0.1b and 5.1.1b. jdiner tested it with some 2.X and 3.X releases.

To use it, just run tserver with no arguments. You can still specify a NowShowing tcl script with the -s option, but if you do that, you won't get the performance benefits of the internal NowShowing list generation.

Deletion uses tcl code compiled into the program. You can override it with the -d option.

tserver -u will give you the usage info.

Let me know if you encounter any problems.

[rung]

Deletion uses tcl code compiled into the program. You can override it with the -d option. Do you mean you call a tivosh process with a temporarily generated tcl file? Or is there another way to access tivosh features?

Thanks,
Rung

[Jamie]

Do you mean you call a tivosh process with a temporarily generated tcl file? Or is there another way to access tivosh features?
I didn't want to have to write to the file system. Too many possibilities for things being misconfigured where that would fail. So I feed the script to tivosh on stdin. "tivosh - args" works. look at the internal_DeleteShowing() function in tserver.c.

[pahunt]

The new tserver seems to work perfectly on my UK SA running 2.5.5 and the speed improvement is really nice. Thanks.

[Pete Ruttman]

Thanks so much! With the new tserver I can delete shows directly through tytools. Great work.

Pete

[tivo-taro]

Here's the changes I require to get the correct dates on my 4.01 unit and Tytool 9r17. Just 2 lines in get_tzoffset.

Hi ertyu:

Thanks, it works very well for TyTool date fix. But, still FTP displays the different date as same as the date previously TyTool date (before correction) displayed. Do you know how to correct date for MFS_FTP?

Regards: tivo-taro

[Harry5150]

Thanks for the fix. It solved my "no refresh problem".

[ronsch]

Greetings all,

I am a relative newbie when it comes to serious hacking. I recently installed tserver and nowshowing.tcl from Tytool9r18 in /var/hack/bin. That has broken the "now playing feature" of Tivoweb, which is in /var/hack/tivoweb-tcl. What are my options for fixing this?

Edit: Never mind. After a hang and a reboot it seems to be working again.

[darrin75]

embedded NowShowing list generator



Jamie can you explain exactly what this does??

[hayreass]

While you are waiting for Jamie's response, I can perhaps shed a little light, and thank Jamie for the new tserver in the process.

Thanks Jamie.

It eliminates the need for NowShowing.tcl
If you use the new tserver, you just start it in order to display and extract via TyTool.
No need to mess with 2 files.
I've been using it for several months, and it even helped speed up my downloads.

[Jamie]

While you are waiting for Jamie's response, I can perhaps shed a little light, and thank Jamie for the new tserver in the process.

Thanks Jamie.

It eliminates the need for NowShowing.tcl
If you use the new tserver, you just start it in order to display and extract via TyTool.
No need to mess with 2 files.
I've been using it for several months, and it even helped speed up my downloads.perxactly!

[satguymtl]

Forgive another relative-newbie here. I haven't had time to play with this for a few months and come back to find some nice changes have been made.

If I understand correctly, for my Series 1 DTiVo I just have to download and untar the bzipped mfs_vplay_tserver\bin.ppc archive to my PC, then FTP the new tserver binary over to wherever the old one is on the TiVo? Then I can just rm NowShowing.tcl? Set permissions, start her up, and extract?

Also, while I have you here: the newest TyTool is 9r18 - I can just replace the existing file and it should work fine with the new tserver, right?

TIA,

[satguymtl]

Answered my own question. :) Figured I had nothing to lose by trying it anyway, and that's it, it works!

Thanks Jamie - through a 10bT hub it's running maxed out at 1.10 MBps, faster than ever - I'll dig behind the rack later and run directly off my router.