Big Screen Blog

On Friday (to coincide with the RTM release of Windows 7 to Technet and MSDN) – a new update for Big Screen EPG (a 3rd party EPG Importer for Windows 7) was launched – v0.4e. Registered users can download it now from http://bigscreenglobal.com – or if you want to sign up (its free) – please see the instructions as per previous post.

The changes in the version include a full/comprehensive Windows HTML Help File (as full docs have been missing in previous v0.4x releases), reinstatement of the ‘Rescan Providers Wizard’ and ‘Toggle Channel Logos in grid’ functions (also missing since v0.3x), some fixes – and some new new features for Auto Mapping of imported EPG Listings to Media Center Channels. (which will make things a lot easier for UK and DVB-S users with loads of channels).

Additionally (available via same download page) – v0.7 of a new utility BSXFix (Big Screen EPG XMLTV File Fixer) was released. This utility (as the name suggests) – will auto-repair/fix up XMLTV files that contain invalid/undeclared ‘XML Entities’ – so they can be imported into Big Screen EPG (or another XML parser) without errors. This was developed as many ‘xmltv’ online sources have been generated via ‘scraping’ HTML based web sites – and hence carried through metadata which was invalid in the context of XML (ie. usage of HTML only entities such as ‘£ ‘ etc which haven’t been properly ‘declared’ in the XML file header).

The ‘fixed’ expiry date for the ‘trial version’ has also been extended to November 1st, 2009 (about a week after the launch of Windows 7 to retail) – which gives you an extra 2 months to play with the ‘full features’ of Big Screen EPG.  Users who have already installed a previous v0.4x release can simply run the ‘reverify registration’ function to pick up the new expiry date (v0.4e release is not required to enjoy this). 

Please also note  – once your Big Screen EPG ‘trial period’ expires – this product will still continue to work – in a reduced *free* mode. (ie. it does not ‘stop working’ as incorrectly reported in quite a few blogs/forums – just to reiterate – the ‘trial’ mode is a trial of the ‘paid version’ which provides numerous additional features over the free version.)

Please see below for some more information on the Big Screen EPG v0.4e release (taken from the release notes).

Release Notes for v0.4e :

• FYI: The download size for the installer has now jumped from 2.5mb to 6.5mb. This is due to the new help file being included (which is around 4mb compressed due to it containing a lot of screenshots/diagrams and text).
• Added: Added full documentation for v0.4x (in form of Windows HTML Help File). This documentation can also be downloaded seperately.
• Added: Added ‘Auto Classification Mapping’ tab on Channel Configuration – allows similar concept to the ‘Auto Genre Mapping’ – where Classifications can be automatically assigned on a ‘per channel basis’
• Added: (Experimental) Advanced EPG Channel > Tuned Channel mapping functionality (currently testing against DVB-S UK sources) – for users with tuner types who can’t utilize ‘auto’ channel number or callsign matching (and needed to manually add listing to each channel in 7MC). Note that this is not available for STB’s (not possible with mxf functionality provided with RC or RTM releases) – but instead is for DVB-S (and DVB-S2/C/T… I think) – and uses the actual tuning locator info for matching (ie. ‘DVBx:xx:xx:xx:xx:etc’). For those that use DVB-S and have loads of channels – this will make you very happy campers (I think) – and probably save you 1000 odd remote control clicks.
• Enhanced: Reinstated/Added ‘Rescan Providers’ function so that new Channels, Genres and Classifications can be picked up from existing configured providers. For Australian users – this is important due to the release of new FTA Digital channels – which will appear over time in your XMLTV Sources (Channel Nine’s GO! is being launched today, Channel 7 will release their new channel in next 2 months and ABC will release ABC3 in December).
• Enhanced: Reinstated the ‘Toggle Channel Logos in Grid’ (due to some users wanting to be able to turn of Logos in Grid – and have them appear in info/details area only).
• Fixed: V0.4a-d was ignoring the TimeZone shift minutes setting for providers.