This is a "plugin" for the Video Disk Recorder (VDR).

Written by:                  Frank Schmirler <vdrdev@schmirler.de> 
Project's homepage:          http://vdr.schmirler.de/

Latest version available at: http://vdr.schmirler.de/

See the file COPYING for license information.

Description:
------------
With this plugin you can import the EPG of a remote VDR. It can either
use SVDRP or streamdev's VTP to download the EPG.

Requirements:
-------------
- plugin svdrpservice >= 0.0.2 (available via http://vdr.schmirler.de)

Installation:
-------------
- cd VDR/PLUGINS/src
- tar xzf vdr-epgsync-<VERSION>.tgz
- ln -sf epgsync-<VERSION> epgsync

Now compile and install epgsync (and svdrpservice) as usual and add
both plugins to the script starting your VDR (e.g. runvdr). No options
required, so simply append:

  -P epgsync -P svdrpservice

Since svdrpservice-0.0.4 you can already specify the server IP and port
on the commandline. It will then serve as the default for all plugins
using svdrpservice:

  -P remoteosd -P 'svdrpservice 192.0.2.1:6419'

Check the svdrphosts.conf (or streamdevhosts.conf) file on the remote
VDR: The IP of the VDR running epgsync must be listed or otherwise the
connection will be refused.

Configuration:
--------------
Before you can connect you have to configure the IP address of the
remote VDR. So you have to enter the plugin's setup menu first. It
offers the following options:

- Hide mainmenu entry: The mainmenu entry of epgsync allows you to
trigger an epgsync at any time. If you don't need this or if you are
using a keymakro to call the mainmenu entry you can hide it with this
option.
- Server IP: Enter the IP of the remote VDR
- Server port: Since VDR 1.7.15 the default port is 6419, before it
was 2001. If you prefer VTP, its default port is 2004. The default
value 0 uses the port configured in svdrpservice.
- Connection attempts: Defines how often epgsync will try to establish
the connection to the server. For most users the default 1 should be
sufficient. However if e.g. the client uses WOL to wake the server it
might not be available immediately. The first retry will be after 1
second. The delay will be doubled after each attempt.
- Update "now" and "next" first: Enable this option if you want to
import the "What's on now/next" entries first. It uses the SVDRP
commands "LSTE now" and "LSTE next". Especially useful for those who
start with an empty epg.data file.
- Sync channel by channel: Determines how the EPG is downloaded. See
notes below.
- EPG sync on startup: Start syncing when the plugin is started.
- Map channels by: mode "ID", the default, simply copies the EPG data
it receives, effectively mapping channels by their channel ID. In
"ID, Name" mode, if no local channel corresponds to a channel ID from
EPG, an attempt is made to find the channel by name. Finally in
"Name, ID" mode, epgsync searches for a channel by name, prefering
channels with a different ID. You can use this mode to copy EPG to
analogue channels. Note: When looking up a channel by name, case is
ignored. Both, the long and the short channel names are considered.
- Target channels: Restrict the EPG import to certain channel types.

Recommended settings
--------------------
The quick answer for the impatient:

Use "Sync channel by channel: no" if
- you connect to VTP port
- or need to be fast
Use "Sync channel by channel: yes" if
- you connect to SVDRP port
- or encounter bandwidth related problems with "no"
- or want to share the SVDRP connection with other local plugins

Use "Update now and next first: yes" if
- you start VDR with an empty epg.data
- or you selected "Sync channel by channel: yes"
Use "Update now and next first: no" otherwise

The long answer:

With "Sync channel by channel: no", epgsync will issue "LSTE" without
any arguments. The complete EPG information of the remote VDR will be
downloaded in one piece. This is fast, so the remote SVDRP port won't
be blocked too long. On the other hand it will temporarily allocate
quite a bit of memory. Besides it will request a dedicated svdrpservice
connection. This is ok for VTP as the VTP server can handle multiple
connections at a time. With SVDRP it might be an issue if there are
more local plugins which want to connect to the same SVDRP server. As
the SVDRP server processes only one connection, either epgsync or the
other plugins will win - which ever is first. The other might timeout.

"Sync channel by channel: yes" is the "economy mode". It takes
considerably longer but the connection can be shared with other local
plugins. I had no problem running e.g. remoteosd at the same time.

It depends on "Map channels by", how this mode actually works: If set to
"ID", epgsync loops through the local channel list, starting with the
first. If a schedule is available for a channel "LSTE <channel id>"
is sent, the reply is processed and the thread sleeps for a few millis.
Note that in this mode epgsync won't import the EPG of a channel
which does not have a local schedule. To always get the EPG of all
channels you should configure "Update now and next first: yes". This
will import the results of "LSTE now" and "LSTE next" beforehand.

If "Map channels by" is not set to "ID", epgsync sends the "LSTC" command
to get the remote channel list. For each channel in this list, epgsync
sends an "LSTE <channel number>", processes the reply and sleeps for a few
millis. So in the end epgsync imports the EPG of all remote channels. It
is not necessary to enable "Update now and next first".
