tivoserver xml file information

[Hichhiker]

As I have not been able to find a decent reference to what can and cannot be placed in the show xml file for Tivoserver to send to tivo via MRV protocol, I started compiling my own list. Much of this is derived from tivoserver 0.4.4.a4 source or guesswork and or trial and error. I would not be surprised if much of this is wrong - but I am posting this here so that I am corrected and other people may share the information. Eventually I would like to automate generation of the XML description files, but one step at a time...

Please help me figure this out :-)

Overview:

Tivoserver offers a way to include some information about the show it serves via either <filename>.cache or <filename>.xml file. I could not get "cache" files to work with 0.4.4.a4 so I am just going to talk about XML files. It is my understanding that parameters for both are same, only the syntax is different.

Parameters:

• Program.Actor - String - List of actors
  
• Program.Advisory - Integer -
  
  • 1 - Language
  • 2 - GraphicLanguage
  • 3 - Nudity
  • 4 - BriefNudity
  • 5 - GraphicViolence
  • 6 - Violence
  • 7 - MildViolence
  • 8 - StrongSexualContent
  • 9 - Rape
  • 10 - AdultSituations
  
  
  
• Program.Description - String - Text description
  
• Program.Director - (!) String - Name of the director
  
• Program.EpisodeTitle - String - Episode title
  
• Program.Genre - Integer - This is a very large list, see Steve T's post below for some pointers.
  
• Program.IsEpisode - boolean -- Usual value of 1 to indicate tue
  
• Program.MovieRunTime - Integer -
  
• Program.MovieYear - Integer -
  
• Program.MpaaRating - Integer -
  
  • 0 = "No Rating"
  • 1 = G
  • 2 = G
  • 3 = PG-13
  • 4 = R
  • 5 = X
  • 6 = NC-17
• Program.OriginalAirDate - Integer - Original air date in number of days since epoch (1/1/1970). A way to convert M/D/YYYY format is (in bash for 8/1/2006): expr $(date -d"8/1/2006" "+%s") / 86400 - (obviously replace 8/1/2006 with the date you want to convert) I have verified and it works in both cygwin and Tivo's bash
  
• Program.ShowType - Integer - From Steve T's post:
  
  • 1 - Serial
  • 2 - ShortFilm
  • 3 - Special
  • 4 - LimitedSeries
  • 5 - Series
  • 6 - Miniseries
  • 7 - PaidProgramming
• Program.StarRating - Integer -
  
• Program.Title - String - Title appearing in the NPL (??)
  
• Program.TmsId - String - Format appears to be EP******#### Where EP seems to indicate episode, ****** is a 6 digit Series ID and #### is a 4 digit episode ID
  
• Program.TvRating - Integer - Here are some values I have found via trial-and-error
  
  • 1=
  • 2=
  • 3="TV-G"
  • 4=
  • 5="TV-14"
  • 6="TV-MA"
• Program.Writer - String - (?) Screenwriter for the show?
  
• RecordingPart.Begin - ?? -
  
• Recording.StartDate - Integer -
  
• Recording.StartTime - Integer -
  
• Recording.StopDate - Integer
  
• Recording.StopTime - Integer -
  
• Recording.StreamFileSize - Integer -
  
• Series.Title - String - Series title (How is this different from Program.Title??)
  
• Series.TmsId - String - SH****** where ****** is the Series ID (same as in Program.TmsId)
  
• Showing.Bits - Integer -
  
• Showing.Date - Integer -
  
• Showing.Duration - Integer -
  
• Showing.Time - Integer -
  
• Station.CallSign - String -
  
• Station.Name - String -
  
• Station.TmsId - ??
  
• Station.TmsIdfs - ??

Example XML Description File:

Lets say you have a file called myvideo.avi - in order to get tivoserver to know more about your video you create a file called myvideo.avi.xml in same directory as myvideo.avi and place following into it:

<Program.Description>This is my video of a first attempt at a program description</Program.Description>
<Program.EpisodeTitle>1x01 -  My First Crack At It</Program.EpisodeTitle>
<Program.IsEpisode>1</Program.IsEpisode>
<Series.Title>My Show</Series.Title>
<Program.Title>My Show</Program.Title>
<Program.Actor>Hichhiker</Program.Actor>
<Program.StarRating>3</Program.StarRating>
<Program.TvRating>6</Program.TvRating>
<Station.CallSign>HHTV</Station.CallSign>
<Station.Name>HichhikerTV</Station.Name>
<Station.TmsId>9999999</Station.TmsId>
<Program.OriginalAirDate>13361</Program.OriginalAirDate>
<Program.ShowType>1</Program.ShowType>

I will update this as I find more info... please post whatever info or corrections you may have

-HH

[SteveT]

You mentioned you were already looking at the tivoserver source. You should also review the mfs_ftp.tcl source.

Some of the values are enumerated in /tvlib/tcl/tv/dbEnum.tcl on your TiVo. Here are a few:

namespace eval ShowType {
    variable LimitedSeries 4
    variable Miniseries 6
    variable PaidProgramming 7
    variable Serial 1
    variable Series 5
    variable ShortFilm 2
    variable Special 3
}
namespace eval Genre {
    variable ActionAdventure 1
    variable ActionAdventureGroup 1011
    variable Adult 2
    variable Aerobics 133
    variable Agriculture 134
    variable Animals 3
    variable Animated 4
    variable Anime 135
    variable Anthology 5
    variable Arabic 224
    variable Archery 136
    variable ArmWrestling 137
<...list truncated...>

namespace eval Advisory {
    variable AdultSituations 10
    variable BriefNudity 4
    variable GraphicLanguage 2
    variable GraphicViolence 5
    variable Language 1
    variable MildViolence 7
    variable Nudity 3
    variable Rape 9
    variable StrongSexualContent 8
    variable Violence 6
}

[Hichhiker]

You mentioned you were already looking at the tivoserver source. You should also review the mfs_ftp.tcl source.

Some of the values are enumerated in /tvlib/tcl/tv/dbEnum.tcl on your TiVo.

Thanks for pointers I will check them both out. Meanwhile I added Genre and Advisory enums to the post.

Thanks ;-)

-HH

[Gojira69]

namespace eval Genre {
variable ActionAdventure 1
variable ActionAdventureGroup 1011
variable Adult 2
variable Aerobics 133
variable Agriculture 134
variable Animals 3
variable Animated 4
variable Anime 135
variable Anthology 5
variable Arabic 224
variable Archery 136
variable ArmWrestling 137
<...list truncated...>

Where can one go to see a more complete set of values for this variable?

[SteveT]

Where can one go to see a more complete set of values for this variable?

Read through /tvlib/tcl/tv/dbEnum.tcl on your TiVo. It's a normal text file you can open in Notepad or whatever.

[Gojira69]

Read through /tvlib/tcl/tv/dbEnum.tcl on your TiVo. It's a normal text file you can open in Notepad or whatever.

Thank you, will do.

Is that also where I will find a more complete list of variables? If not can you point me to where I would find one? Here's what I now have...

<Program.Actor></Program.Actor>
<Program.Advisory></Program.Advisory>
<Program.Description></Program.Description>
<Program.Director></Program.Director>
<Program.EpisodeTitle></Program.EpisodeTitle>
<Program.Genre></Program.Genre>
<Program.IsEpisode></Program.IsEpisode>
<Program.MovieRunTime></Program.MovieRunTime>
<Program.MovieYear></Program.MovieYear>
<Program.MpaaRating></Program.MpaaRating>
<Program.OriginalAirDate></Program.OriginalAirDate>
<Program.ShowType></Program.ShowType>
<Program.StarRating></Program.StarRating>
<Program.Title></Program.Title>
<Program.TmsId></Program.TmsId>
<Program.TvRating></Program.TvRating>
<Program.Writer></Program.Writer>
<Recording.StartDate></Recording.StartDate>
<Recording.StartTime></Recording.StartTime>
<Recording.StopDate></Recording.StopDate>
<Recording.StopTime></Recording.StopTime>
<Recording.StreamFileSize></Recording.StreamFileSize>
<RecordingPart.Begin></RecordingPart.Begin>
<Series.Title></Series.Title>
<Series.TmsId></Series.TmsId>
<Showing.Bits></Showing.Bits>
<Showing.Date></Showing.Date>
<Showing.Duration></Showing.Duration>
<Showing.Time></Showing.Time>
<Station.CallSign></Station.CallSign>
<Station.Name></Station.Name>
<Station.TmsId></Station.TmsId>
<Station.TmsIdfs></Station.TmsIdfs>

[SteveT]

Is that also where I will find a more complete list of variables? If not can you point me to where I would find one? Here's what I now have...

I would assume the list that counts is what tivoserver supports. You can look at the code (in ShowData.cc) to see the various xmap.GetValue()s which have been coded.

[rayik]

Hichhiker, I've been playing with the cache files using alpha 3. With trial and error, I've only been able to get working Program.Description, Program.MovieYear and Program.Actor.

The funny thing about Program.MovieYear is that when on the TIVO, accessing the listing under Computer DVR, it doesn't show it. Yet transfer the program to the TIVO and it shows Movie Year just fine.

I have had no luck in getting Program.MpaaRating working at all. Have you gotten other descriptive terms to work? I've been adding the terms to the end of the cache file. (Just thinking, maybe there must be something else defined like IsMovie to get the movie descriptions to work. Something to try.)

Also, I've had no luck making xml files to work with alpha 4. Have you gotten anything to work with that?

Thanks.

****** EDIT

Got xml file working. Started by using your sample xml file.

Program.MpaaRating values are:

0 = "No Rating"
1 = G
2 = G
3 = PG-13
4 = R
5 = X
6 = NC-17

Can't get Progam.Episode to not appear as TRUE.

Here's the xml file that I've been playing with:

<Program.Description>At New York's Central Park Zoo, a lion (Stiller), a zebra (Rock), a giraffe (Schwimmer), and a hippo (Smith) are best friends and stars of the show. But when one of the animals goes missing from their cage, the other three break free to look for him, only to find themselves reunited ... on a ship en route to Africa. When their vessel is hijacked, however, the friends, who have all been raised in captivity, learn first-hand what life can be like in the wild.</Program.Description>
<Program.EpisodeTitle></Program.EpisodeTitle>
<Program.IsEpisode>0</Program.IsEpisode>
<Series.Title></Series.Title>
<Program.Title>Madagascar</Program.Title>
<Program.Actor>Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith</Program.Actor>
<Program.StarRating>3</Program.StarRating>
<Program.TvRating></Program.TvRating>
<Station.CallSign>HBO</Station.CallSign>
<Station.Name>HBO</Station.Name>
<Station.TmsId>9999999</Station.TmsId>
<Program.OriginalAirDate>13361</Program.OriginalAirDate>
<Program.ShowType>2</Program.ShowType>
<Program.MpaaRating>6</Program.MpaaRating>

[SteveT]

....Can't get Progam.Episode to not appear as TRUE....

In tivoserver's ShowData::ProcessMapData() routine, program.isEpisode was changed to not pick up the value from the cache or xml, but to hard-code it to true. I don't know why.

[rayik]

In tivoserver's ShowData::ProcessMapData() routine, program.isEpisode was changed to not pick up the value from the cache or xml, but to hard-code it to true. I don't know why.

My guess is that it's needed to make folders work. Perhaps if isEpisode=False then that show would not go into a folder.

[Hichhiker]

Hichhiker, I've been playing with the cache files using alpha 3. With trial and error, I've only been able to get working Program.Description, Program.MovieYear and Program.Actor.

The funny thing about Program.MovieYear is that when on the TIVO, accessing the listing under Computer DVR, it doesn't show it. Yet transfer the program to the TIVO and it shows Movie Year just fine.

I suspect this is an MRV protocol issue, I noticed some info, like date, is not shown even when browsing another Tivo. Once you transfer, it shows up fine.

I have had no luck in getting Program.MpaaRating working at all. Have you gotten other descriptive terms to work? I've been adding the terms to the end of the cache file. (Just thinking, maybe there must be something else defined like IsMovie to get the movie descriptions to work. Something to try.)

So far I have not played with movie related settings, but I would assume they are only used when the program is marked as movie.(i.e. isEpisode is set to 0) but since it seems that isEpisode is hard coded to 1, I will need to set up to re-compile tivoserver before I can try. :-/

Also, I've had no luck making xml files to work with alpha 4. Have you gotten anything to work with that?

Actually I am using Alpha 4.2 and I could not get cache files to work (only XML). One thing to check is that since the program is running in cygwin (or on some flavor of UNIX) make sure the filename case is right (I think EXACT copy of original name plus lower case .xml) Honestly I dont know if this is an issue for cygwin, but a good thing to try. Also I found that if tivoserver finds the video file before there is xml file, you may need to restart tivoserver to make it pick up. I usually copy the video file to a directory not seen by TS and create XML and move both to the right directory. That seems to work fine.

****** EDIT

Got xml file working. Started by using your sample xml file.

Heh, nevermind about the case then. Glad someone found the same file useful.

Program.MpaaRating values are:

0 = "No Rating"
1 = G
2 = G
3 = PG-13
4 = R
5 = X
6 = NC-17

Thanks, Added to main post.

-HH

[SteveT]

I suspect this is an MRV protocol issue, I noticed some info, like date, is not shown even when browsing another Tivo. Once you transfer, it shows up fine....

Along similar lines, I have noticed that some info visible in the remote list gets stepped on after transfer. For example, I append the PC filename to the episode description to help with debugging. Shows up fine in the tivoserver listing on the tivo. However, after the transfer completes, the description is reset to the original (no filename)
I strongly suspect this is due to my xml including the episode tmsid. I will test this tonight by removing the tmsid from the xml and see what results.
UPDATE: I removed the Program.Tmsid from the xml, and the description is not refreshed after the upload.

[rayik]

Playing around with Program.MpaaRating. All values I can find are:

0 = "No Rating"
1 = G
2 = PG
3 = PG-13
4 = R
5 = X
6 = NC-17
7 = AO
8 = NR
9 = U
10 = 12
11 = 15
12 = 18

(Note 2 = PG - I had a typo before - sorry)

[gibson3659]

One of these projects could be used to make an xml file creation script.

http://imdbpy.sourceforge.net/
http://search.cpan.org/~stepanov/IMDB-Film-0.22/
http://search.cpan.org/~jeffa/IMDB-Movie-0.12/

[BTUxNine]

tivo doesn't put MRV xfers into folders unless there's a valid tmsid... rbautch posts more info here:http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/sh...sid#post257557