XMLTV

What is XMLTV?

   (Copied from http://wiki.xmltv.org/index.php/Main_Page)

XMLTV is a few things with the same name.

    XMLTV is a very popular XML based file format for describing TV listings. see XMLTVFormat

    XMLTV is an interface contract between programs the emit guide data and programs that consume it. see HowtoWriteAGrabber and HowtoUseGrabbers

    XMLTV is a perl module that helps to create XMLTV formatted documents. see XMLTVModule

    XMLTV is a collection of tools to obtain, manipulate, and search TV Listings. see XMLTVProject

 

My participation in the project XMLTV

     My involvement in the XMLTV project was almost by accident, I needed to get television programming to feed my TiVO AR, and I came across several tools that used XMLTV files for this purpose.

     After Some research, I discovered that there was a "grabber" (A tool that is responsible for collecting the schedule for a specific area), developed by Mr. Christian A. Rodriguez, to generate programming for the AMBA (Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area).

     Unfortunately, the Grabber (known in the group as TV_GRAB_AR) no longer worked, due to changes in the data source, and Christian was busy with other projects to be able to devote to this (after all, this is a hobby for most of us).

     As many of these projects, XMLTV is based on the philosophy "itch and scratch" in the sense that people who do these things usually respond to a personal need (or desire).

     And the fact that is that "it itched me" J

     I contacted Christian and asked for his OK to try to modify the tool, and got to work. Soon the tv_grab_ar was running again, which I uploaded to the repository of XMLTV, and waited for approval.

     Soon it was OKed, and my PERL script became part of this project, as Christian no longer had time to dedicate to this, they offered me take care of the tool maintenace on a regular basis, which I was more than happy to accept J

     That was almost 5 years, several times I had to update it due to changes in the data source, and several others simply to add new functionality.

     Every once ina while I get an email from a user with a suggestion or just saying thanks, and those are probably the best emails.