|  CrazyBastard | Oct 12, 2006 1:24pm | Tv Rss Style:
Combined  RSS Feed Unique RSS Feed EZTV RSS Feed
From Rss Tv Page:
"When I first started tvRSS, I wanted to have the ability to search for TV shows, unlike any other site out there. The search mechansim that was in place is somewhat limited. Mininova and most torrent-related sites that use a simple "name" field are also limited in that respect. This is about to change.
For the last month or so, with the help of a friend, I've been developing a new method of searching for TV shows. It is finally public. It is now possible to search for more than just a simple "name."
The database structure has drastically changed. When torrents are added, the filename of the torrent (which is all that's available to parse) is processed into various "fields." These fields are: show name, filename, show title, season number, episode number, quality, release group, video format, audio format, date and "modifier."
Additionally, the RSS feeds have been revamped to support the new scheme. Every torrent is formatted properly, and is easier to read. Because of this, I've updated the old "legacy" feeds.
So, without further ado, here are the new feeds (the old feeds will always work, and should still work with old filter sets):
Standard Feeds:
EZTV: tvrss.net/feed/eztv/ [tvrss.net/feed/eztv/]
VTV: tvrss.net/feed/vtv/ [tvrss.net/feed/vtv/]
Combined (both EZTV and VTV): tvrss.net/feed/combined/ [tvrss.net/feed/combined/]
Legacy Feeds (old method):
EZTV: tvrss.net/feed/legacy/eztv/ [tvrss.net/feed/legacy/eztv/] tvrss.net/sources/eztv/ [tvrss.net/sources/eztv/]
VTV: tvrss.net/feed/legacy/vtv/ [tvrss.net/feed/legacy/vtv/] tvrss.net/sources/vtv/ [tvrss.net/sources/vtv/]
Search Feeds:
Lost - Season 2 [EZTV]: tvrss.net/search/index.php [tvrss.net/search/index.php] ... e=advanced
24 - Season 5 [EZTV]: tvrss.net/search/index.php [tvrss.net/search/index.php] ... e=advanced
And of course, search-based RSS feeds are still available.
I will add more feeds soon, so please check back. Take advantage of the search page as well. It's quite powerful.
P.S. The shows section now works as well. |
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| | CrazyHorace | Oct 13, 2006 4:37am | Ted: Automatic TV torrent downloaderPosted Jan 18th 2006 5:15PM by Jordan Running
Filed under: Video, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware Being TiVoless, I've tried a couple programs that claim to be able to automatically download the TV shows I want to see, but have always returned to doing it manually. Ted is another such program, but it has the distinction of being a cross-platform Java app. It also seems to have a clean and simple interface, but looks like it only supports one RSS feed for each show, which may cause problems if the shows you like are on the obscure side. When it finds a new episode of one of your shows, it'll automatically load it into the BitTorrent client of your choice and start the download.
BitTorrent has been around for long enough that most people are aware of what a terrific tool it is for the TV lover. As clients like Azureus and Torrent keep getting stronger and more user friendly, it's easier than ever to find and download your favorite TV shows on BitTorrent. But the fact is, relative to the easy television scheduling found in the DVR world, it could be a whole lot easier. Unless you've decided to take the plunge and build your own DVR, most BitTorrent clients don't quite size up when all you want to do is set up a recording and let the shows come to you. Instead, you have to go hunting for new torrents each week and fire up your client to download them. Luckily, things are getting easier. This week I'll show you how to set up and automate BitTorrent downloads so that you can quit your weekly search for torrents. The method I'm describing here uses the previously-mentioned free, open source torrent episode downloader, Ted. While Azureus and Torrent both have built-in RSS parsing and downloading features, Ted is the most user-friendly, simplest solution I've seen for downloading television on a schedule, and since all it does is download the torrent and open it in your favorite BitTorrent client, you can use it in conjunction with most popular BitTorrent clients. Note: Lifehacker doesn't condone piracy. Downloading and distributing copyrighted material is illegal, so proceed at your own risk. Of course, if you decide to go on, you could check out a few top Azureus plug-ins, my favorite being SafePeer, or you could try setting up anonymous Azureus. No guarantees either of these methods will keep the FCC from hunting you down and skinnng your children alive to make a point about that pirated episode of Amazing Race, though. Subscribing to pre-loaded shows - Download and install Ted (torrent episode downloader).
- Before you start adding shows to track, you need to configure Ted, which it will prompt you to do when you first run it. Configure to your liking, but be sure to keep "Try to open it in your default bittorrent client" checked.
 - Once Ted is running, it's time to add your favorite shows, which you can do by clicking the "Add Show" button. Setting up popular shows in Ted is ber-simple. Just choose one of the predefined shows from the dropdown and Ted will automatically populate the appropriate RSS feed.
 - If you're current with the show, you don't want to download every episode that pops up - you just want Ted to download the latest and greatest. You can easily do this by clicking the "Get Latest" button, which automatically loads the show's current season and episode. If you want everything you see in that feed, click the "Download all from feed" checkbox.
 - Finally, click save and you're good to go. Whenever Ted detects a new episode, it will automatically fire up your default BitTorrent client and download away.
 Easy, right? If you're using Azureus or Torrent, you'll want to make sure that you have a default download directory set so that you don't have to confirm the directory before the download begins (after all, the whole point is automation, right?). To do this in Azureus, go to Tools -> Options -> Files, then check the box labeled "Save to default directory." The very simple method given above should work easily for the nearly 30 popular television shows currently pre-loaded in Ted, but for those shows that aren't automatically populated, or to get a little more speci |
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| | JackCuStowe | Oct 30, 2006 11:17am | 
"The bottom line is that Beyond TV is, hands down, the best PVR software we've tested for the PC." Maximum PC Magazine, September 2006
(read full review) |
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Sponsor |  PinGUY | Oct 30, 2006 3:05pm | How MythTV Commercial Flagging Works
How does MythTV's Commercial Detection work? Surprisingly well. Ever wonder how it does such a good job of identifying commercials?
There are three key indicators that MythTV uses from recorded content to identify commercials.
Scene transitions are another indicator. A scene transition is a cut between one video of something and a video of something else. A simple example would be in a newscast where someone is being interviewed. While the anchor is asking the question, you may see both the anchor and the person being interviewed. When the person being interviewed starts to answer the question, the scene "cuts" to a close-up of the face of the person answering the question. In regards to commercials, there is a scene transition "cut" between each commercial. Each commercial usually is unrelated to the next. The last frame of one commercial would be totally different from the first frame of the next. Looking for patterns in scene transitions is one way to identify commercials. Five groups of 30 second scenes all grouped together may be a good indication of a block of commercials. This method works better than the blank frame method, but also isn't foolproof. There's no reason scene changes in a show might not mimic commercials, and vis-versa.
The third indicator of commercials that MythTV uses I find rather ironic. Bugs, also referred to as DOGS (Digital On-Screen Graphics), or Watermarks. A Bug is that little TV station logo in usually the bottom right corner of your screen during a TV show. I find this ironic because one of the reasons or it being there is to build channel awareness in the world of digital video recorders like MythTV. Since DVR users usually find shows by name rather than by channel, they are less concerned with which station a show is on than are other viewers. MythTV watches for these things. Because the digital watermarks are generally not shown during commercials, identifying one and then watching for it is a good indication of when a commercial break starts or stops. While much more complicated to implement than watching for the blank frame or screen transition, in theory it's probably the most effective in some circumstances. Because in practice they are hard to identify on some stations, the actual implementation can be error prone.
MythTV looks for all three of these identifiers to locate commercials. It breaks each show up into scenes, and then applys a series of score for the scene based on looking at all three factors in relation to one another, especially taking timing and patterns into account. Based on the final score of a scene, it's either (essentially) dropped into the show bucket or the commercial bucket. It's not a black/white type thing. Because of the scoring, there are a whole range of grays in the middle. You end up with scenes that looks "more" like commercials or "more" like show content, and they are then flagged as such.
I've been quite impressed at the quality of the commercial flagger that MythTV has implemented. In my experience, the system does an excellent job.
Commercial flagging is set globally in:
Utilties/Setup -> Setup -> TV Settings-> General
Do you have ideas or talent that can help increase the quality of this great tool? Check out and contribute to the MythTV commercial flagging developers' wiki.
Pages Related to MythTV Commercial Flagging MythTV Commercial Detection |
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| | CrazyHorace | Nov 11, 2006 12:07am | BeyondTV looking for beta testersPosted Nov 8th 2006 12:47PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: News, Beyond TV
 Snapstream has put out a call for beta testers for BeyondTV version 4.5. Snapstream has a long history of inviting users to beta test each release, so I can only assume that they've lost a few of their regular testers, or they're really looking for some serious feedback for the next release of their PVR software.
BeyondTV 4.5 is described as having "some very cool new features," but there's no word on what those features are. In recent releases BeyondTV has added support for HDTV, automated DivX compression, and searching for programs by category. I've had some problems with that DivX compression feature, so I've gone back to using Windows Media compression for now (allowing me to store hundreds of hours of programming on a 250GB hard drive), but BeyondTV seems to get a bit better at DivX with each new release.
Personally I'd love to see Snapstream implement XviD support. And there's been high hopes of a merger between BeyondTV and Beyond Media (a separate program for music, pictures, videos, weather and all those other things that Windows Media Center does natively). I doubt we'll see a combined BeyondTV and Beyond Media product until version 5.0 at the earliest though.
Oh yeah, and if you're beta testing Snapstream's community-based Columbus project, there's a special email address to use if you want to sign up for the BeyondTV beta. Either that means Columbus will be integrated into the next release, or there's just less paperwork to fill out since you're already in the system.
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| | CrazyHorace | Nov 14, 2006 10:31pm | BeyondTV version 4.5 Beta is Here:
Snapstream has put out a call for beta testers for BeyondTV version 4.5. Snapstream has a long history of inviting users to beta test each release, so I can only assume that they've lost a few of their regular testers, or they're really looking for some serious feedback for the next release of their PVR software.
This is a PUBLIC BETA so please only post to the Public Beta Forums
forums.snapstream.com/vb/forumdisplay.php [forums.snapstream.com/vb/forumdisplay.php]
Dear SnapStream Beta Tester,
We have come to a close of the Beyond TV 4.5 beta program. All blocker
issues for this release have been addressed and would like for you to install
this build. This build has not been timebombed and if no major issues are
reported with this build it will be the build that is released later this
week. Please install this build and report any issues you have with it.
To give you a little insight on future betas, Vista support will come
after Beyond TV 4.5 has been released and hopefully before Windows Vista is
released to consumers. Windows Media Player 11 support should be in that
version also. Thanks to all users who have reported issues with
interoperability with both of these products.
Download Links
Download links can be located in the "Download Items" section of the new
Beta Program at beta.snapstream.com [beta.snapstream.com].
Thanks,
SnapStream Beta
Release Notes - Beyond TV - Version 4.5 GM
** Bug
* [BTV-2596] - DVD Burning doesn't fit text correctly at 800x600
* [BTV-2600] - Remove reboot check in component installer.
* [BTV-2603] - Load & path query string values broken on Library.aspx
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| | CrazyBastard | Nov 16, 2006 4:42pm | Home Theater
Sony Grand WEGA 55-in. SXRD Rear Projection 1080p HDTV $3000 /// Every approach to HD has drawbacks, from plasma's tendency to burn images into the screen to LCD's flickering refresh rates. The best HDTV we've seen this year delivers the highest resolution available-1080p-as well as vivid colors and crisp detail. The catch? Its bulky, humpbacked profile prevents wall-hanging. But at this low price (by HDTV standards), we'll splurge for a TV stand. sonystyle.com
Upgrade: Wish List 2007 Winter is a harsh mistress, unleashing cold snaps, ice storms--and a happy, brief blizzard of holiday products. Here's our guide to the best gear to give, get or simply pine for this year, in categories ranging from high-tech foul-weather clothing to a high-def home theater setup for chilling out inside.
By Erik Sofge
Photos by Michael Heiko Published in the December, 2006 issue. « Previous Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next »
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| I am Very Impressed With beyond TV 4
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Avatar: The Last Air Bender Bleach Chobits Cowboy Bebop Dragon Ball GT Dragon Ball Z Full Metal Panic FullMetal Alchemist Hunter X Hunter Love Hina Naruto Rurouni Kenshin Samurai Champloo TriGun Yu Yu Hakusho Yu-Gi-Oh!
