Do i have to install interactive?

Started by deeceem, January 22, 2010, 10:56:12 AM

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deeceem

i dont want web access etc, and would like to minimise programs running in the background. do i still need to install it to get guide updates?

thanks

abpfischer

As far as I know you do not need it as you can just use the MCE guide on Windows 7 which works straight up as opposed to previous Windows Media Center Versions. i.e. no need for ICETV if all you want is a guide and ability to schedule recordings for free.

bodogbodog

Quote from: abpfischer on January 22, 2010, 11:14:03 AM
you can just use the MCE guide on Windows 7 which works straight up as opposed to previous Windows Media Center Versions. i.e. no need for ICETV if all you want is a guide.

You get what you pay for - the free guide is unreliable (at best)

There is a good comparison and discussion on this topic over at the Media Center forums @ http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/windows-7-media-center-os/37790-eit-v-ice-tv-guide-head-head.html
Beyonwiz V2: 4 HDTV Tuners, 16gb SD + unRaid 10TB NAS + IceTV Skippa (for old times sake - make me an offer and it's yours!)
Beyonwiz V2: 2 HDTV Tuners - spare

tonymy01

#3
Wow, that topic doesn't cover half of it.
Lets try to itemise the issues with broadcaster EIT:
1.  The stations are often worse with updating it than ICE is (incorrect shows listed when changes are made to the schedule, some of those changes being made/announced many days in advance).
2.  The stations like to SHOUT AT YOU WITH UPPERCASE TITLES (yes Nein, that is you)
3.  The stations like to give generic names, like FRIDAY NIGHT MOVIE, WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS (yes Nein, you again).
4.  The stations don't take advantage of extended EIT (which can support text descriptions of up to about 3000chars.   Short Event Descriptors can only support 250ish chars *shared* between show title name and show description).... some are using extended these days... I think Ten uses it just to stick a silly copyright string in.   This often leads to quite truncated descriptions (mind you, I notice descriptions truncated on my W7 media centre when ICE likes to provide a few pages of description for some things  :D, but nothing like "This is a story of a dog and his partn" )
5.  The stations tend to not use EIT to flag repeats, parental ratings and other details that ICE definitely tries to data fill (ok, some of this info is in some of the EIT these days, and ICE plonks some of the info in as part of the extended program description rather than as actual flags.. well, I think).
6.  The stations often don't get anywhere near 7 days worth of data sent
7.  The stations only broadcast their own EIT, so you need to channel surf all broadcasters to get the EPG datafilled (and the EIT standards typically have a 10second repetition rate for Now&Next, blowing out to 30 or so seconds for current day and up to 7 days, so you can't just channel surf quickly to data fill, typically you need to be on each broadcaster for at least 30 or 40seconds).

Getting the picture?   And who knows what Freeview Phase 2 will be about, where they introduce a homogeneous EPG for all compliant boxes... will this mean they ditch the "7 day" (I say that loosely) EIT and go back to just Now&Next?
Regards
Tony

Beyonwiz DP-S1 & Topfield 5K (using PerlTGD to upload ICE EPG/timers for the 5K, normal ICE interactive for the Wiz).

OzRob

If I read the title correctly, the OP is asking about IceTV Interactive, not about the IceTV data as a guide source. AFAIK you need to install the IceTV Interactive application in order to get the IceTV guide data into Windows 7. During install, however, you have the option to install just the guide fetching stuff and leave out the online interactivity. So you do need the program running in the background if you want to fetch guide data, but you can turn off most of the stuff it does.

deeceem

thanks ozrob, that's what i wanted to know. I didnt see the option to turn off web access etc but will check again.

bodogbodog

#6
Quote from: deeceem on January 23, 2010, 11:45:22 AM
I didnt see the option to turn off web access etc

I'm pretty sure that if you turn off web access you won't get guide updates
Beyonwiz V2: 4 HDTV Tuners, 16gb SD + unRaid 10TB NAS + IceTV Skippa (for old times sake - make me an offer and it's yours!)
Beyonwiz V2: 2 HDTV Tuners - spare

lukem

The Win7 application uses HTTP to retrieve the EPG therefore you will need to allow it internet access.

mjdoz

Quote from: abpfischer on January 22, 2010, 11:14:03 AM
As far as I know you do not need it as you can just use the MCE guide on Windows 7 which works straight up as opposed to previous Windows Media Center Versions. i.e. no need for ICETV if all you want is a guide and ability to schedule recordings for free.

You do need to install the application and have it running in the background if you want to receive the guide data.  You have the option of setting "Guide Only" which stops the interactive functionality - eg you cannot see what is scheduled to record or make chnages to this via the ICETV site which is what I think you were asking.

I do not see any chnage in the PC speed even when ICETV is downloading or updating the guide.  In "Guide Only" mode I suspect that the PC will only logon to ICETV once a day rather than every 30 minutes when you are using Interactive.

Michael