Gary Ryan

Well, it has happened that a miniseries had an 'SH', or I wouldn't have added the exception I don't think. More to the point, anything that is a miniseries should never be generic... the whole thing about being a miniseries is that all episodes are already defined and completed before the first episode is even shown. But agree, it should be a rare event and the only ones that may care are the ones recording it. Worst case is they will record the same episode multiple times.

RE: "hasExtendedCastAndCrew" If you recall back in the day, when you looked at movie details, it would download a bunch of cool information about the movie. You would get a full synopsis, a review, a list of similar movies, and more cast & crew names with character names as well. This was when MS was providing a service through AMG (now Rovi allMovies). You may also remember that the extended information was short lived and if you went back to the same movie later, you would just see what was available...

I try to keep options to a minimum for my users, even though I still ended up with 3 different methods of presenting season and episode information in WMC. I do have some undocumented configuration options, but those are for unique situations and aren't needed for the typical user. I believe the answer is "No", not too many people read the instructions, but swear they followed it to a 'T'. I haven't fully dove into the new API yet. There are some things I need to work out, specifically for the tokens...

Yah, it took me a while to find the isGeneric flag and see how it worked. Once I figured it all out, I started developing EPG123 in earnest and then bring it to the public. It was driving me nuts up to that point. I think EPG123 is the only program that uses it, so I can put that feather in my hat. The definition for the <previously-shown> element is flexible and up to the author on what it means and how to interpret it. I don't even bother populating a date, but I will provide it with an empty value...

Steve, I've seen a recent example of your MXF file (don't know which version) and it is pretty good. Much better than what I saw back in November. The key to creating a great MXF file, though, is using the isGeneric flag. The isGeneric flag is used for those, well, generic programs that don't have episode specific information. It will tell WMC that though this program may not be properly identified, it will be treated as unique and will always be considered "new". The isGeneric flag also allows you...

Ah, well internally the ID isn't used... it doesn't make it past loadmxf.exe. If you want to see the WMC database in all its glory, you can download the epg123 portable package and run epg123Client.exe -x . The -x switch gives some additional buttons. In the toolbar above the leftside listview, there is a button called 'Store Explorer'... click that and see everything. Point 4: certainly understand the approach, and for EPGC it is probably the best way to reach commonality for multiple sources. Looks...

Within the MXF file? An easy way to think of it the ID is only referenced within that specific MXF file. It must be unique only to that file. The UID needs to be unique and constant between all MXF files... that is the UID that will be used within the WMC database. I'm looking at one of your MXF files right now, and you're pretty much okay. My notes: GuideImages - id can be simpler for the reason above (i1, i2, ...) and no need for a uid. SeriesInfo - I wouldn't bother with the shortTitle, any descriptions...

Within the MXF file? An easy way to think of it the ID is only referenced within that specific MXF file. It must be unique only to that file. The UID needs to be unique and constant between all MXF files... that is the UID that will be used within the WMC database. I'm looking at one of your MXF files right now, and you're pretty much okay. My notes: GuideImages - id can be simpler for the reason above (i1, i2, ...) and no need for a uid. SeriesInfo - I wouldn't bother with the shortTitle, any descriptions...