When is ICE TV going to support Media Center Properly and not treat it as a PVR?

Started by dJOS, September 21, 2010, 04:13:33 PM

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dJOS

Currently IceTV are imo treating 7MC like a dumb PVR (one with no intelligent features, 7MC is more like a TiVo than a Toppy etc) and as a result Ice Interactive doesn't work nearly as well as it should!

I realise this is a big ask but can you guy's please rewrite Ice Interactive so it supports the following Win7 Media Center Features properly:

*uses the built in series functions (merely maintains the list of shows/series to record - creating individual shows is a poor hack!)
*supports hard padding and other 7MC advanced options (how many recordings to keep, when to delete, tighter recording parameters etc)
*supports extra win7 meta-data with show thumbnails
*supports channel logo's

I currently use the excellent IceTV EPG Data via BigScreenEPG + BSE by Remote instead as this gives me everything I believe ICE TV should - the only thing this combo doesn't give me is the ability to use the excellent ICE TV iPhone app and have my series/show record list backed up to my ICE TV account.
My Home Theatre Project

Quad Tuner 7MC box now replaced by 2x TiVo's HD's by order of the Wife!

tvmandan

Just had a look at the apps you mentioned and they look great. It's a shame though to pay for BSE, and eventually BSE by remote when it's out of beta and the IceTV EPG data. It'd be great if there was one solution that did all of these things.

dJOS

I think BSE was $20 for 2 years which is chicken feed. :)

Btw, I'd rather use Ice Interactive but atm it's not worth using!
My Home Theatre Project

Quad Tuner 7MC box now replaced by 2x TiVo's HD's by order of the Wife!

dJOS

Just to expand a bit more on my logic for a couple of points:

Quote from: dJOS on September 21, 2010, 04:13:33 PM
*uses the built in series functions (merely maintains the list of shows/series to record - creating individual shows is a poor hack!)

7MC does not need shows that are part of Series to be individually created and then deleted when they move like a typical Toppy/Beyonwiz PVR, 7MC just needs to be told what series to record and then supplied the EPG data and if the show should be moved around it will automatically compensate for that if supplied up-to-date EPG data.

Quote from: dJOS on September 21, 2010, 04:13:33 PM
*supports hard padding and other 7MC advanced options (how many recordings to keep, when to delete, tighter recording parameters etc)

What with most MC enthusiasts these days having at least 4 tuners, Hard padding is imo a mandatory feature, this allows you to record and entire show using 1 tuner with guaranteed padding and if there should happen to be a show immediately following on the same channel it will use a 2nd tuner to record that show also with hard padding.

The up shot of this is that you can watch the 2 shows whenever you like and both are 100% complete - if you use soft-padding like Ice Interactive currently does (iirc), you have to watch the start of the second show to get the ending of the 1st show and pray that someone in your household doesn't watch and delete the 2nd show before you've watched the 1st show!
My Home Theatre Project

Quad Tuner 7MC box now replaced by 2x TiVo's HD's by order of the Wife!

tvmandan

Quote from: dJOS on September 21, 2010, 04:13:33 PM
The up shot of this is that you cant what the 2 shows whenever you like and both are 100% complete - if you use soft-padding like Ice Interactive currently does (iirc), you have to watch the start of the second show to get the ending of the 1st show and pray that someone in your household doesn't watch and delete the 2nd show before you've watched the 1s show!

I've been setting hard padding manually once the back to back recordings have been set through IceTV Interactive which is double handling the recordings. If I set them directly in media centre then I don't have them backed up on IceTV and can't really use the iPhone app. If I set them through IceTV I have to manually set hard padding. I've found the hard padding essential as when two shows are recorded back to back the is often a delay between the end of one and start of the second. I've missed some vital final lines of tv shows!

The IceTV Interactive software has had a padding section under the recordings tab for a while now but it remains blocked out so hopefully this is something that is being worked on for the next release. At least I won't have to double handle every back to back recording.

I also remember reading somewhere that channel logos were on the agenda for a future release too.......

What are the show thumbnails that you mentioned dJOS?

dJOS

Quote from: tvmandan on September 21, 2010, 10:24:25 PM
I've been setting hard padding manually once the back to back recordings have been set through IceTV Interactive which is double handling the recordings. If I set them directly in media centre then I don't have them backed up on IceTV and can't really use the iPhone app. If I set them through IceTV I have to manually set hard padding. I've found the hard padding essential as when two shows are recorded back to back the is often a delay between the end of one and start of the second. I've missed some vital final lines of tv shows!

The IceTV Interactive software has had a padding section under the recordings tab for a while now but it remains blocked out so hopefully this is something that is being worked on for the next release. At least I won't have to double handle every back to back recording.

I also remember reading somewhere that channel logos were on the agenda for a future release too.......

If 7MC was supported properly you wouldn't have to do that kind of thing!

Quote from: tvmandan on September 21, 2010, 10:24:25 PMWhat are the show thumbnails that you mentioned dJOS?

This is what I mean (btw, note how awesome channel logos are compared to just boring numbers!):



and here is the extra Meta-data you get including plots etc (you get the Ice Description + the extra info):

My Home Theatre Project

Quad Tuner 7MC box now replaced by 2x TiVo's HD's by order of the Wife!

tvmandan

You're right the show thumbs would be great and the channel logos look excellent and make it much easier to work out which channel you're looking at.

How do you get the extra meta-data? I'm using Yammm to get meta-data for my movies collection in the native movies section of 7MC and I notice that whenever I click on a movie it fills out details like full plot etc supplied by AMG and appears to be getting this info off the internet from some windows 7 source not from Yammm. Which program gets extra meta-data for tv shows in the tv guide?

Cheers, Dan

dJOS

Quote from: tvmandan on September 21, 2010, 11:40:50 PM
How do you get the extra meta-data? I'm using Yammm to get meta-data for my movies collection in the native movies section of 7MC and I notice that whenever I click on a movie it fills out details like full plot etc supplied by AMG and appears to be getting this info off the internet from some windows 7 source not from Yammm. Which program gets extra meta-data for tv shows in the tv guide?

Cheers, Dan

There is a US Region Flag that can be enabled in 7MC and it gets the extra data and show/movie thumbnails via Microsoft's own servers (AMG is the original source tho).
My Home Theatre Project

Quad Tuner 7MC box now replaced by 2x TiVo's HD's by order of the Wife!

tvmandan

Do you know how to enable this flag so that I get thumbnails for tv shows?

dJOS

my memory is a bit faulty but I think you change your windows region to the US.
My Home Theatre Project

Quad Tuner 7MC box now replaced by 2x TiVo's HD's by order of the Wife!

webgeorge

I hope someone at ICE TV is taking notes here, if they are then those missing links will come together very nicely.  Thanks for starting this post and I hope lots of people chime in and agree your suggestions are needed in the next release!

Fingers crossed. :-)

dJOS

Quote from: webgeorge on September 22, 2010, 07:13:39 PM
I hope someone at ICE TV is taking notes here, if they are then those missing links will come together very nicely.  Thanks for starting this post and I hope lots of people chime in and agree your suggestions are needed in the next release!

Fingers crossed. :-)

No Worries, I hope they take notice too as I really like Ice TV's Guide service and have been a customer for many years (originally owned a Toppy 5k with IceBox1).  8)
My Home Theatre Project

Quad Tuner 7MC box now replaced by 2x TiVo's HD's by order of the Wife!

zoszos68

Quote from: tvmandan on September 22, 2010, 03:11:07 PM
Do you know how to enable this flag so that I get thumbnails for tv shows?

I haven't found a way to get TV show Thumbnails yet but I found a programme to put in channel logos.

Its called my channel logos. Download from here http://mychannellogos.com/dl.aspx
there is a 64 and 32 bit version.
When you run it for the first time it will see your settings as Australia and download the logos for Australia (well most of them).
Then on second use you will get the settings box. if no logos have been assigned then hit auto populate and it should assign them.

You will have to close Media Center if it is open then reopen to see the logos.
If you need more help just ask.
Kevin

dwebkombi

Quote from: zoszos68 on September 23, 2010, 01:08:28 AM
Quote from: tvmandan on September 22, 2010, 03:11:07 PM
Do you know how to enable this flag so that I get thumbnails for tv shows?



Its called my channel logos. Download from here http://mychannellogos.com/dl.aspx


THis is what I use and it is awesome.
I stopped using BSE because remote recording wasnt available at the time, and I needed interactive to do that. You are correct that interactive is a very primitive program and could be much more useful.
I do all my series records thru W7MC and dont bother with interactive due to the poor padding and other issues you guys are listing.

I reckon I will checkout BSE again, and unless interactive improves will be reviewing my ice subscription

agent86oz

Looks interesting but the main feature I want is hard padding. It did not seem to do that funtion. I would buy it just for that. Everythign I record has 10 minutes or more hard padding as anything less and windows 7 will ignore and cut the program even if you have 3 spare tuners. The microsoft option of stop 10 minuites when possible is stupid, if it is on the same channel it does not understand to use the spare tuners. The padding on most Windows 7 computers seems to only kick in at 10 min or more, setting less seems to fail also.

The padding options in ICETV have been sitting there greyed out for a long time now ;-)