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Topfield v2.0 manual

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Table of contents for the manual

  • Page 1

    v2.0 user guide[...]

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    [...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 1 Introduction to iGuide iGuide is a Topfield Application Program (TAP) providing a grid-style Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) for the Topfield TF5800 DVB-T PVR, incorporating now-and- next information, series-link timers which provide the abilit y for all episodes in a series to be recorded automatically, and cross-channel re[...]

  • Page 4

    v2.0 user guide Page 2 Starting iGuide If iGuide is installed in the /ProgramFiles/Auto Start director y it will be loaded whenever the TF5800 is switched on; this is the recommended option. It can also be started manually, if installed elsewhere, through the usual Topfield TAP loading interface. iGuide ’s support files are stored in a directory [...]

  • Page 5

    v2.0 user guide Page 3 Note that there is a TAP called CRID available from bdb’s stable, which finds and adds series link data to progr amme descriptions when broadcast by a channel. If this TAP is running alongside iGuide , then iGuide uses this extra data to make its s eries link pattern matching more accurate and quicker. If possible, please i[...]

  • Page 6

    v2.0 user guide Page 4 7. Contiguous programme recordings Recordings are automatically padded at either end w ith user-definable values. However, if two programmes are to be recorded following each other on the same channel, there’s no possibility of padding. This means that, if the programmes each record into their own file on disk, the end of t[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 5 iGuide : c ontrol screens 1 . The EPG Grid Screen The EPG Grid screen shows programme information for seven to ten channels at a time, over a certain time window (the size of which can be chosen as des cribed below). The channels displayed are taken from, and ordered by, the current EPG View (see below). Access the EPG grid s[...]

  • Page 8

    v2.0 user guide Page 6 [REC]: If the programme currentl y selected in the grid has a s eries-link recording, pressing [REC] enters the Edit Pattern screen (see below) for this series-link. If that’s not the case and the currently selected programme has a recording, pressing [REC] tries to turn this into a series-link recording. If that’s not th[...]

  • Page 9

    v2.0 user guide Page 7 2 . The Recordings and Timers Screen The Rec ordings and Timers screen shows subfolders in the current folder, recordings available to play in the current folder, and upcoming timers w aiting to happen, ordered by time. At the top of the Recordings and Timers screen is a line representing the hard dis k, separated into two re[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 8 [LEFT/RIGHT]: This causes the number of minutes displayed for a recording to go down/up, so as to change the play position – changing the ‘minutes viewed’ this wa y allows quick navigation to known points in a recording. Note that the display for a completed r ecording need not jus t show the number of minutes already v[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 9 If the currently selected recording/timer is an upcoming timer that is not part of a series link, pressing [OK] enters the Recording/Timer Edit screen (see below). Note that playback will start at: the current thumbnail position (if a new thumbnail has been chos en more recently than the ‘m inutes’ playback changed; other[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 10 3 . The EPG View (‘Welcome’) S creen The EPG View screen shows any EPG views currently created, and indicates the language each will display in. Two pseudo-views are al so displayed and available here: “Freeview line-up” (or “Freeview holynieath” as in the image, if y ou’ve chosen Welsh for the displa y languag[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 11 REFRESH RECORDINGS: Causes iGuide to rebuild its list of recordings against what’s on disk, to make sure that all recordings exist and are in the folders it thinks they are. This is us eful if other TAP s are moving files around unbeknow nst to iGuide , but should actually never be necessary in the general run of things. K[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 12 recording by deleting it a second time from the recordings/timers s creen when it is viewed there. KEEP CONTIGUOUS RECORDINGS...: apart; together : The apart setting places recordings of programmes in succession on the same channel in separate recording files. This is easier to handle, but means that padding between the two [...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 13 KEEP RECORD ING INFO FOR …: After a recording has been viewed and deleted iGuide will keep information about it for a certain number of days in order to stop a repeat of the show being recorded (assuming it was recorded via series link defined as unique – see below). This option allows you to define how long to keep such[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 14 JUMP PERIOD: The number of minutes forward or backward that IntuiLeap will initially use when starting a home-in navigation. Defaults to five minutes. BACKGROUND IMAGE/SOUND: Allows the user to choose whether or not to have background music (or silence) in iGuide pages, and whether or not to vie w the currently broa dcast pr[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 15 5. The Modify EPG Views Screen The M odify EPG View screen lists the current user-defined EPG views and allows certain actions to be taken out on them. The Modify EPG Views s creen is entered from the Configuration screen. [EXIT] will navigate to the EPG Views screen. [OK]: If in ‘select’ mode, drops the currently select[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 16 7 . The Series-Link Pattern Edit Screen iGuide implements series links by creating patterns that match on to programmes in the EPG. Generally the defaults will match successfully, but the settings can be adjusted in this screen. [RED]: After confirmation (by pressing [YELLOW]; any other key cancels) deletes the current serie[...]

  • Page 19

    v2.0 user guide Page 17 Note that iGuide provides channel groups so that series links can span multiple channels. To choose a channel group, select a s tandard broadcast channel, and then press [CH+]. This will select the first appropriate channel group for the bas e channel. [CH+] and [CH-] will take y ou through appropriate channel groups , and/o[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 18 UNIQUE: A programme is said to be unique if its description and title are different to those of other programmes matching the same pattern. Us ing the “UNIQUE” setting you can choose to s top any future “copies” (repeats) of a programme getting timers set for them, once one version of that particular episode has been[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 19 Note that this time applies to the recording from the next full hour after it finishes. That is to say, if a pattern has an expiry time of 1 day 3 hours, and a programme finishes recording at 1.25pm on a Tuesday, then the next full hour is 2pm, so it will be automatically deleted 1 day 3 hours later at 5pm on the Wednesday. [...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 20 9 . The Edit Skin Screen This screen allows the look and feel of iGuide to be edited. The colour of various parts of the display screen can be changed, and background images and skin files loaded and previewed. Key actions: [OK]: Preview any changes made. [YELLOW]: S aves the current s tate of iGuide ’s skin and exits; inc[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 21 LOAD SKIN FROM FILE: This option (navigated again through [LEFT/RIGHT ARROW]) lists skin files found in the iguide directory . Skin files can be either native iGuide files (with a .skn extension) or MyStuff skin files (.mcf extension) from which iGuide makes an educated guess as to appropriate colour schemes. Press OK to pre[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 22 T he Now-and-next Banner During play back of a recording or viewing of a broadcast programme, pressing the [INFO] or [OK] keys w ill bring up the Now and Next banner. If there are no on-screen graphics at the time, pressing [UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT] or [CHANNEL UP/DOWN] will also bring up the banner. The banner shows infor mation[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 23 When viewing the now/next banner during playback, information about the currently playing recording is displayed. This is s imilar to the now /next banner displayed for a broadcast programme, with the addition of a red caret on the progress bar at the point at which the recording is currently being played. The current record[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 24 Edit Mode There are a number of circumstances in which things need to be edited – EPG View names, pattern titles and keywords, for example. A t these times iGuide enters Edit Mode, allowing text to be entered via the remote control. Text is entered using the number keys in a system similar to that of a mobile phone. Press [...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 25 iGuideSMS Quick Guide: iGuide provides a mechanism to allow ti mers to be set remotely via SMS text. This requires that a mobile phone with an RS 232 GSM modem interface be attached to the Toppy’s serial port, and that the iGuideSMS companion TAP – bundled with iGuide – be running. To install iGuideSMS simply place the[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 26 Date: the date of the broadcast, in the form dd/mm/yyy y or dd/mm. This could also be one of: today, tomorrow, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, sunday; or an abbreviation of one of those terms. Note that weekday names are ass umed to refer to days beyond today – if toda y were Tuesday , then ‘ tue?[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 27 The Support Files iGuide requires a number of support files to aid its configuration. Some are compulsory, others are not. If a compulsory file does not exist one will be created. All exist in the same directory as the iGuide TAP or, just to make it neater, in an iguide directory which is itself in the same directory as the [...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 28 The iguide.igc configuration file A ty pical .igc may have the following content: 108| NAVIG|0|full page| PADBEFORE|2|3 mins| PADAFTER|3|5 mins| NAN_TIME|5|10 secs| KEEP_REC|0|30 days| RT_MODE|1|apart| EPG_W|4|180 mins| KEY_SET|1|maximal| PAGESZ|0|7| RCONTIG|0|together| ALPHA|0|by time| SUMGMTOFF|13|+1| WINGMTOFF|12|0| MIS|0[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 29 Block 2: current options settings NAVIG|0|full page| PADBEFORE|2|3 mins| PADAFTER|3|5 mins| NAN_TIME|5|10 secs| KEEP_REC|0|30 days| RT_MODE|1|apart| EPG_W|4|180 mins| KEY_SET|1|maximal| PAGESZ|0|7| RCONTIG|0|together| ALPHA|0|by time| SUMGMTOFF|13|+1| WINGMTOFF|12|0| MIS|0|no| SMS_RESP|3|originator and iGuideSMS master| SMS_[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 30 Block 6: Channel group definitions 5| All channels|1|*| All BBC channels|2|*BBC*|Cbeebies| All ITV channels|1|*ITV*| Channel Four group|4|Channel 4|E4|More 4|Film4| Channel Five group|1|Five*| This block specifies the channel groups, being groups of channels across which a series link pattern could match. A channel is said t[...]

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    v2.0 user guide Page 31 The iguide.skn configuration file The iguide.skn file consists of 13 lines separated b y comm as or w hitespace: Background image Bar colour Highlight colour on bar Bar colour when selected Highlight colour on bar when selected Bar colour when selected for movement Text colour on bar Text colour on selected bar Text colour a[...]

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    If you spot any problems or bugs with iGuide v2.0 , or have any sugges tions for improvements or future features, please let me know. toppy@nicford.co.uk Many thanks. © Nic Ford, March 2008 Offered as freeware without warranty of any kind.[...]