29-August-2006

*** NOTE: As of today, Rex 1.x DOES NOT WORK, as the TV guide providers
have begun obfuscating the data. ***


Here's the situation. The web site that Rex gets data from,
yourtv.com.au, has begun scrambling the start & finish times of shows.
Right next to this code, they've inserted this URL in a comment:

http://yourtv.com.au/legal/?action=copyright

So it's pretty clear this deliberate effort to stop us.

The obfuscation isn't hard to unscramble. However, the fact that they've
bothered to take this step implies that (a) they've noticed, (b) they
care, and (c) they're prepared to do something about it. And while I'd
like to help ensure the continued employment of whomever they've hired
for this job (hello!), I'm pretty sure that would take more time than I
have.

It might be worthwhile to switch to a different data source. I do have
another grabber that uses a different source, and will see if this looks
feasible.

But from what I hear the best alternative may be OzTivo:
http://www.tvguide.org.au/

Sorry about the data poisoning -- I should have made Rex not overwrite
data when the new information looks bogus.

Max.

P.S. The yourtv.com.au Legal/Copyright page is largely bullshit, as far
as I can tell. It reads like a contract ("The end user agrees...") but
nobody here has a contract with them. And Australian copyright law sure
doesn't give them the right to impose arbitrary limitations on what
we're permitted to do -- if indeed TV guide data is protected by
copyright law at all.

-------------------------------------------------------

26-July-2006

Hello Aussies,

Here is a new details-aware Australian TV Grabber based on the now-
defunct NineMSN one by Michael 'Immir' Smith. (Actually, I wrote two, but
this one works better.) I've been running it for a week with no problems, 
so here it is for anyone who's interested.

I've named the script "Rex" because there are quite a few different 
things calling themselves "tv_grab_au".

Rex should be a drop-in replacement for the Immir tv_grab_au. It has the 
exact same Perl dependencies. You will however need to configure it (e.g. 
"rex.pl --configure"). And to make Rex work with mythfilldatabase, you 
probably need to rename it to "/usr/bin/tv_grab_au" or symlink it (e.g. 
"ln -s /home/mythtv/tv_grab_au/rex-0.4.1.pl /usr/bin/tv_grab_au").

Some differences from Immir's version:

* There's no option to NOT download details (i.e. no "slow" and "fast"
  options). Rex fetches details for every program on every channel you
  subscribe to.

* Rex deliberately runs slower, to avoid hammering anyone's server. 
  A day's worth of free-to-air, for example, takes about 20 minutes.

* There's no ability to specify "duplicate" channels. This is mainly
  because I don't need it and I haven't bothered figuring out how to
  implement it. If this omission causes heartache, though, I can
  probably add it.

I'm not sure how viable this script will prove in the long-term. But for
now, it works.

Please let me know of any bugs or problems.

Download from: http://www.whuffy.com/tv_grab_au/

Many, many thanks to Michael, who kindly invited people to hack his
tv_grab_au (and, even more kindly, devoted so much time to writing and 
maintaining it in the first place). I am likewise more than happy for 
people to modify and/or distribute Rex.

Max Barry
http://www.maxbarry.com/
July 2006