SchedulesDirect.org News

New Feature: QAM maps

2011-12-26T20:42:43-08:00

As part of our commitment to you, our subscribers, we have started offering QAM maps.

What's QAM? QAM is a method of digitally encoding television programs in a format suitable for transmission over coax cable. When you connect a digital tuner to a cable system and run a "channel scan", the device is searching for unencrypted television signals.

Most cable providers will make your local over-the-air stations available - some providers may give you your entire basic digital package. Some give you nothing.

What's a QAM map? A QAM map is a text file in channels.conf format containing the call sign, the QAM frequency, the XMLID, the channel number and the program ID for that call sign.

Please see the detailed announcement for additional information.

Membership fees going up on Sept 1

2011-08-30T21:42:43-07:00

Despite our best efforts to keep our operating costs as close to zero as possible, a steady decline in membership since mid-2009 has finally pushed us to the point that the Board of Schedules Direct has determined that we must raise our annual membership fee. As of Sept 1, the annual membership fee will be raised to $25, with the 2-month trial membership adjusted accordingly to $6.

Though we don't know the exact cause of the decline, we suspect that it is a combination of the increasing prevalence of TV DRM which is incompatible with open source applications like MythTV, and alternate sources of guide data (most of which are neither legitimate nor legal).

Additionally, we are still waiting to hear back from the IRS about our application for 501c3/charitable tax exempt status, which we chose as a milestone before deciding whether or not we should accept donations, which would offset our operating costs and allow us to expand the kinds of support we offer to the community.

Please remember that your membership fee is not a purchase of guide data. We exist to provide support to the free and open source projects that you use and love, and encourage you to show your support by becoming members, even if you are not actively using the tools and information your SD membership provides.

Governoring Board of DNNA issues a stay of execution!

2011-07-30T13:11:32-07:00

Well, we didn't see this coming.... Digital Networks North America has decided to continue the guide service to ReplayTV devices.

Owners of ReplayTV devices can now obtain their data from Replay, WiRNS (with SD), or Perc Data,

For more information monitor the XMLTV ReplayTV FAQ, WiRNS web site, WiRNS PlanetReplay Forum, and AVS ReplayTV Forum.

RepayTV Server Shutdown

2011-06-18T09:11:31-07:00

Digital Networks North America has decided to stop sending guide updates to ReplayTV devices, including "lifetime" subscribed units on 7/31.

DNNA says the units will be able to "Manually Record" tv shows after the 7/31 shutdown. ReplayTV support has told some community members that all servers will be shut down on 7/31, preventing setting the system clock. In this case, "Manual Record" probably just means pressing the "record" button to record for a period of time, not a manually scheduled recording.

One of our approved applications, WiRNS has the ability to send guide data obtained from us to a ReplayTV device. Because of this, many people are thinking Schedules Direct is a direct plugin for the ReplayTV server, but we are not.

For the ReplayTV 4k/5k units, setting the time is cryptographically restricted and the WiRNS community is working to solve that problem. Hopefully DNNA or DirectTV will release the key. Without a clock, there's no point in scheduled recordings.

ReplayTV 2k/3k/Showstopper units have a different complication as they are dialup only and that dialup service may also stop. While not cryptographically signed, they require a dialup connection to set the clock unless a special patch is applied directly to the hard disk.

Schedules Direct is not directly involved in the ReplayTV efforts, but of course we're here to help. For more information monitor the XMLTV ReplayTV FAQ, WiRNS web site, WiRNS PlanetReplay Forum, and AVS ReplayTV Forum.

AT&T blocking our emails (fixed)

2011-02-20T09:05:37-08:00

It seems AT&T is accusing us of spam and blocking our emails. We are trying to resolve the issue. For more information see the post in our FORUM

As of 2010-02-23 this has been resolved per both AT&T and our logs

"We have normality. Anything you still can't cope with is therefore your own problem" --Trillian HHGTTG

Schedulesdirect.org on new server

2010-08-26T11:10:22-07:00

Last night we moved the web site to new hardware. Everything should be stable once again.

Schedulesdirect.org server outage (reprise)

2010-08-21T10:49:53-07:00

The server went down again, but this time came back after a reboot. We already have database replication running to the new servers and this outage certainly boost the migration priority.

Schedulesdirect.org server outage

2010-08-11T22:36:00-07:00

Tuesday evening, the SchedulesDirect.org web server locked up and wouldn't reboot. We were down for about 28 hours. During this time, data downloads continued to function, but members couldn't change lineups. We regret any inconvenience. For more information see this forum post.

Software update causing problems

2010-07-17T05:00:00-07:00

Earlier this week, Tribune applied a long awaited upgrade to their servers. Unfortunataly, it's causing some of our applications (and the SD web app) a few problems. We are working with Tribune to resolve the issues. For more info, see this forum post.

Changes to our Board of Directors

2010-03-02T04:00:00-08:00

After almost 3 years serving on our board, Daniel Kristjansson has decided to resign in order to spend more time focused on his family (and hopefully on some MythTV development). We thank him for all of the work he's done, and wish him well in whatever he takes on next.

Kevin Odorczyk will be replacing Daniel as Board Secretary.

It is also with great pleasure that we welcome Chris Pinkham to the board. Chris is also a long time MythTV developer, so he shares the same love of Open Source Software as the rest of us, and is very familiar with the communities that Schedules Direct supports and interacts with.