Episode Titles

Started by Kirben, January 04, 2008, 02:13:11 PM

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Kirben

Many kids series on the ABC & ABC2 are still lacking episode titles, when the information is available in the ABC's online TV guide.

For specific titles, please refer to earlier threads:
ABC - Episode titles for kids series
ABC2 - Episode titles for kids series

Also could you please considering adding a basic time/date stamp for an episode title, when the episode title information isn't available.

As the episode titles are important as they are required, for repeats of TV series for be detected correct on any computer systems using Windows Media Centre. 

To give a specific example: The repeats issue I reported about Life on Mars in previous thread no longer occurs, due to the episode titles finally been added for that TV series.

Kirben

I was browsing the TV guide for next Monday, to check RollerCoaster, and noticed many kids series are still missing their episode titles.

The following kids series are still missing their episode titles (based on next Monday):
Curious George
George of the Jungle
Harry And His Bucket Full Of Dinosaurs
Kenny The Shark
Little Princess
Planet Sketch
Pocoyo
Roary The Racing Car
The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill And His Best Friend Corky
The Imp

The episode titles for all those kids series are available in the ABC1 TV guide at the ABC web site.

Kirben

Still no changes, after todays updates to the TV guide. This situation has been going on for weeks, without changes or even a response.

Why it is so difficult to always add episode titles for kids series on the ABC's channels? when the information is clearly available.

The free alternative (ozTivo) to IceTV is actually better in this area!

Mitch IceGuide

I have explained this before. We are, by neccessity, a very manullay intensive organisation. We prioritise. We made a policy long ago that short cartoons would not have episodes supplied. I'm pleased you have access to such detailed information on these cartoons and so won't miss a thing. I also love the choices available in this country - it's why I live here. Good luck.

Kirben

#4
Could you define exactly what duration you mean by short cartoons? as the Skunk Fu series on the ABC1 has always had episode titles in IceTV guide, but is listed as only 10 minutes long. Also there are currently 5 minute series (ie Peppa Pig) with episode titles, in the IceTV guide too.

Would it be more accurate to say, you don't guarantee episode titles for any cartoon series shorter than x minutes?


Would it be possible to auto generate the basic TV guide from online source (TV guide at ABC web site) or wouldn't that be allowed (by ABC) or possible (technically) ? as alternative to entering all this data manually.

Mitch IceGuide

Yes that would be a more accurate way to put it. It maybe something we can look at 'down the line'. I can see you feel strongly about this, however I feel what we are working on right now should enhance subscriber exerperience more than cartoon episode names. Stay tuned.

impact

What has always amazed me about this topic... is the fact it is abc guide data. Without bringing up the long winded copyright discussions and court cases of the past, it was noted that ABC were always happy about icetv providing their guide data.

In fact, it has been noted in these forums, that ABC supply the information to ICETV. So its not like that someone needs to watch, interpret, and work out the series order like we can all imagine might happen with the Ch7's and 9's of the world.

If ABC supply this data, why can it not be asked of them to supply full information. The information exists at ABC, in fact their programmin schedule is available with full details for months ahead at the ABC website!

As for priorities, everybody has a differing view. Mitch may not have kids, and hence its not as important as trying to do something else... Im not interested in on demand TV services through reeltime or anything similar, or other potential Icetv services - I just want a guide service that offers accuracy and completeness. When we get that CORE product working at its best, then we might talk about other things....

philzgr8

Yes while I tend to agree about the ABC content, the fact that they supply it does not of itself mean it will be in a format to support automated recording. In fact it may well be that this arrangement might be one way of actually circumventing that very process although I fail to see any particularly good reason for doing such a thing.

Jason W

On the topic of ABC episode titles, I noticed an inconsistency with this week's episode of Catalyst:

ABC1 2008-02-28  "Atom Smasher / Research Vessel Southern Surveyor / Beach Fingerprinting"
ABC2 2008-02-29  "Biggest Atom Smasher / On Board The Southern Surveyor / Beach Fingerprinting"

Mitch IceGuide

Hi. Phil is closer to the reality. Yes, ABC do 'supply' their information to us. And no, it's not in a format that allows automated transfer of all the details. So, I will say again, it is manually intensive. And for the record, I do have kids and far be it for me to bring personal experience into this forum, or I would say something like; they didn't care less what episode Bananas in Pyjamas was on what day, they just watched it, or they didn't. I don't however judge all kids by my own, and I certainly don't think this is unimportant. I simply said, it's not the top priority. That's pretty much all I can say on this and won't revisit this thread. Thankyou.

Kirben

I'm tired of hearing how younger kids don't care what episode of a kids series is been shown. The ABC provides programming for kids up to the age of 15, with shows on RollerCoaster for the older age groups. And I'm actually a person much older, who still enjoys watching cartoon series of various types.

And I noticed it isn't just the episode titles missing for many series, we aren't even getting descriptions for several kids series (ie George of the Jungle or Storm Hawks) on the ABC channels now.

I totally agree with impact, you need to focus on getting your TV guide data more complete, especially since that is what your customers are paying for.

Do I need to list the reasons episode titles are useful again?
* Episode titles are required, for Windows Media Centre systems to detect repeats correctly.
* Episode titles are extremely useful for any series with a continuing story line.
* Episode titles allow for multi-part episode to be saved and watched together.
* Episode titles allow organization of series, instead of a stack of episodes with only a difference in date.

Kirben

For the ABC channel, could you at least focus on episode titles for older kids shows for now? in particular the Rollercoaster timeslot (4:50 PM - 5:50 PM) on weekdays.

As the repeat cycle (6:00 AM - 7:00 AM weekdays) of Rollercoaster will start again soon (31st March 2008), meaning even more repeats to sort through (due to lack of episode titles).

Kirben

A year has passed, can we expect any improvements this year? many kids series continue to be listed, without any episode titles.

While many IceTV services have been added, the quality of the main TV guide fails to improve.

Kirben

#13
The amount of repeats of kids shows on the ABC's channel will be greatly increasing, with the ABC3 starting in a few weeks, and the kids programming on the ABC2 increasing at the same time. Meaning even work, to only record new episodes, of kids series, which lack any episode titles.

So could you please re-consider having episode titles, for all kids series, where available.

Kirben

Another year passes, and the amount of repeats of kids series (especially on the ABC1/ABC2/ABC3) increases even more.

Will we ever get episodes titles for all kids TV series (where available)?