Series link in EIT data

fat-tony

I posted a request on a UK board to see if I could get some detail on the carriage of series link info on Freeview. One of the contributors kindly posted an XML dump of some now and next (EIT p/f) data for a BBC1 programme last night:

<programme channel="233a.1004.1044" start="20110119190000 +0000" stop="20110119193000 +0000">
    <!--locator uri="dvb://233a.1004.1044;978a@2011-01-19T19:00:00Z/PT00H30M" -->
    <!--crid type="0x31" uri="crid://fp.bbc.co.uk/23UZI4" -->
    <!--crid type="0x32" uri="crid://fp.bbc.co.uk/KCIWIS" -->
    <title lang="en">The One Show</title>
    <desc lang="en">With Alex Jones and Alexander Armstrong. Ruth Jones talks about her new drama 
about Carry On actress Hattie Jacques and Matt Allwright investigates postcodes and insurance premiums. Also in HD. [S]</desc>
    <!--content id="0xA0" user="0x00" -->
    <category lang="en">Lifestyle</category>
    <language>en</language>
    <!--component content="0x01" type="0x03" language="eng" -->
    <video>
      <present>yes</present>
      <aspect>16:9</aspect>
    </video>
    <!--component content="0x02" type="0x03" language="eng" -->
    <audio>
      <present>yes</present>
      <stereo>stereo</stereo>
    </audio>
    <!--component content="0x03" type="0x10" language="eng" -->
    <subtitles type="teletext">
      <language>en</language>
    </subtitles>
  </programme>

The CRID type 0x31 crid://fp.bbc.co.uk/23UZI4 is the programme identifier and the CRID type 0x32 is the series identifier crid://fp.bbc.co.uk/KCIWIS.
I am aware of these CRIDs from the Humax Foxsat PVR, but they are carried differently on Freesat as they are in a compressed format. When you click on a Series Link the Humax notes the series CRID and searches for it in the schedule and marks unique instances of the programme CRID. At 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the programme the Humax watches the now and next data (EIT p/f) to start the recording when the broadcaster indicates the programme is now running. On Freeview the CRID information is confirmed to be in uncompressed format (except for the HD multiplexes where it is compressed with the same algorithm as Freesat).

Just thought it might be of interest in the context of Saorview and where it might be going EPG-wise.

Apogee

Good stuff. What program did they use to capture the XML dump?

fat-tony

Apogee wrote: »

Good stuff. What program did they use to capture the XML dump?

No idea! Looks somewhat similar to the output I get from DVBviewer's Transedit.

Apogee

fat-tony wrote: »

No idea! Looks somewhat similar to the output I get from DVBviewer's Transedit.

Could you ask the person to confirm what program they did use? It would be useful in case if series link info is ever added to Saorview.

fat-tony

I can ask ok, but I know Transedit will be fine as it parses out most of the SI info already.

MACHEAD

Apogee wrote: »

Good stuff. What program did they use to capture the XML dump?

Looking at the program description, it looks like it's the 'One Show', BBC1 Mon - Fri. 19:00.

fat-tony

Apogee wrote: »

Could you ask the person to confirm what program they did use? It would be useful in case if series link info is ever added to Saorview.

Leaving aside "The One Show" for the moment;)...
The application used to produce the analysis of the EPG data was DVBguide, which is a command line utility for generating XML versions of EPG data. The version specifically used to parse out the now/next data in the previous post was a special one from the author "pclare", but he assured me that the schedule data in the Freeview EPG was identical to the now/next data.

I pulled a copy of DVBguide and analysed the RTENL EPG. Here's a snippet of now/next data from RTE 1 - the first line is a copy of the command line with the Greystones relay frequency (722 MHz) and an EPG timeout of 60 seconds. Definitely no CRID data present:

DVBguide -c722000 -e060 -w

<programme channel="2174.3e9.44d" start="20110124223500 +0000" stop="20110124231000 +0000">
<!--locator uri="dvb://2174.3e9.44d;1f@2011-01-24T22:35:00Z/PT00H35M" -->
<title lang="en">Would You Believe</title>
<desc lang="en">Mari Steed is on an emotional journey to piece together the missing links of her past, a life tainted by separation, loss and tragedy.</desc>
</programme>
<programme channel="2174.3e9.44d" start="20110124231000 +0000" stop="20110124234500 +0000">
<!--locator uri="dvb://2174.3e9.44d;20@2011-01-24T23:10:00Z/PT00H35M" -->
<title lang="en">Mrs. Brown's Boys</title>
<desc lang="en">It's the week of Dermot's fiancée Maria's hen party and Agnes Brown and her friend Winnie are so excited about going. until daughter Cathy tells her they are not invited because they are too old. Determined to attend, Mrs. Brown schemes to crash the event and show the girls that Agnes and Winnie are not too old to party.
episode_title: Mammy Rides Again.</desc>
</programme>

I think the Transedit utility in DVBViewer Pro is equally good and a hell of a lot easier to use.

fat-tony

Here's Transedit's xml version of the same data as DVBguide:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <Terrestrial__EUR__722000>
    <ServiceID HValue="0x044D" Name="RT&#201; One">
      <EventID HValue="0x001F" Name="Would You Believe">
        <StartTime String="24/01/2011 22:35:00"/>
        <Duration String="00:35:00"/>
        <RunningStatus Value="4" Name="running"/>
        <FreeCAMode Value="0" Name="not encrypted"/>
        <Descriptor HValue="0x4D" Name="Short Event">
          <Language String="eng"/>
          <CharacterTable HValue="0x05" Name="Latin alphabet No. 5"/>
          <EventName String="Would You Believe"/>
        </Descriptor>
        <Descriptor HValue="0x4E" Name="Extended Event">
          <DescriptorNumber Value="0"/>
          <LastDescriptorNumber Value="0"/>
          <Language String="eng"/>
          <CharacterTable HValue="0x05" Name="Latin alphabet No. 5"/>
          <Text String="Mari Steed is on an emotional journey to piece together the missing links of her past, a life tainted by separation, loss and tragedy."/>
        </Descriptor>
      </EventID>
      <EventID HValue="0x0020" Name="Mrs. Brown's Boys">
        <StartTime String="24/01/2011 23:10:00"/>
        <Duration String="00:35:00"/>
        <RunningStatus Value="1" Name="not running"/>
        <FreeCAMode Value="0" Name="not encrypted"/>
        <Descriptor HValue="0x4D" Name="Short Event">
          <Language String="eng"/>
          <CharacterTable HValue="0x05" Name="Latin alphabet No. 5"/>
          <EventName String="Mrs. Brown's Boys"/>
        </Descriptor>
        <Descriptor HValue="0x4E" Name="Extended Event">
          <DescriptorNumber Value="0"/>
          <LastDescriptorNumber Value="1"/>
          <Language String="eng"/>
          <Item_0>
            <CharacterTable HValue="0x05" Name="Latin alphabet No. 5"/>
            <Description String="episode_title"/>
            <CharacterTable HValue="0x05" Name="Latin alphabet No. 5"/>
          </Item_0>
          <Item String="Mammy Rides Again"/>
          <CharacterTable HValue="0x05" Name="Latin alphabet No. 5"/>
          <Text String="It's the week of Dermot's fianc&#233;e Maria's hen party and Agnes Brown and her friend Winnie are so excited about going. until daughter Cathy tells her they are not invited because they are too old. Determined to atte"/>
        </Descriptor>
        <Descriptor HValue="0x4E" Name="Extended Event">
          <DescriptorNumber Value="1"/>
          <LastDescriptorNumber Value="1"/>
          <Language String="eng"/>
          <Text String="nd, Mrs. Brown schemes to crash the event and show the girls that Agnes and Winnie are not too old to party."/>
        </Descriptor>
      </EventID>

STB

So the program was Mrs Brown Boys afterall, Would you believe ........