SYNOPSIS

tv_grab_it --help

tv_grab_it [--config-file FILE] --configure

tv_grab_it [--config-file FILE] [--output FILE]
           [--days N] [--offset N] [--quiet]
           [--slow] [--verbose] [--errors-in-xml]
           [--backend SITE1[,SITE2[,SITE3]]]          [--cache-slow]

DESCRIPTION

Output TV listings for several channels available in Italy. The grabber relies on parsing HTML so it might stop working at any time. The data comes from different backends. This is to minimize blackouts in case of site changes but also to extend the number of channels. If the grabber can't find the data with the first backend it will try the second one, and so on. You can specify your order of preference using the --backend option.

Currently configured backends are (in default order):

mediaset - grabs data from www.mediaset.it

skylife - grabs data from www.skylife.it

raiit - grabs data from www.rai.it

mediaset_guidatv - grabs data from www.mediaset.it/guidatv

mediasetpremium - grabs data from www.mediasetpremium.it

iris - grabs data from www.iris.it

boingtv - grabs data from www.boingtv.it

la7 - grabs data from www.la7.it

First run tv_grab_it --configure to choose which channels you want to download. Then running tv_grab_it with no arguments will output listings in XML format to standard output.

--configure Prompt for which channels, and writes the configuration file.

--config-file FILE Set the name of the configuration file, the default is ~/.xmltv/tv_grab_it.conf. This is the file written by --configure and read when grabbing.

--gui OPTION Use this option to enable a graphical interface to be used. OPTION may be 'Tk', or left blank for the best available choice. Additional allowed values of OPTION are 'Term' for normal terminal output (default) and 'TermNoProgressBar' to disable the use of XMLTV::ProgressBar.

--output FILE write to FILE rather than standard output.

--days N Grab N days. The default is 7.

--offset N Start N days in the future. The default is to start from today.

--quiet Suppress the progress messages normally written to standard error.

--slow Downloads more details (descriptions, actors...). This means downloading a new file for each programme, so it's off by default to save time.

--cache-slow If you use the --cache option to speed up thing when you grab data several times a week, using this option you will cache only the --slow data, so you shouldn't miss changes in schedules.

--verbose Prints out verbose information useful for debugging.

--errors-in-xml Outputs warnings as programmes in the xml file, so that you can see errors in your favorite frontend in addition to the default STDERR.

--backend Set the backend (or backends) to use. See the examples.

--version Show the version of the grabber.

--help Print a help message and exit.

CAVEATS

If you use --quiet you should also use --errors-in-xml or you won't be warned about errors. Note also that, as opposed to previous versions, this grabber doesn't die if it cannot find any data, but returns an empty (or optionally containing just warnings) xml file instead.

The backends' data quality differs a lot. For example, mytv was very basic, yet complete and uses the least amount of bandwidth. Skytv has a lot of channels, but unless you use it with the --slow option the data is not very good (and in this case i would be VERY slow). wfactory is a good overall site if you don't need the whole sky package.

EXAMPLES

tv_grab_it --backend skylife --configure

configures tv_grab_it using only the backend skylife

tv_grab_it --backend skylife,wfactory --days 1

grabs one day of data overriding the default order (could also be --backend skylife --backend wfactory)

tv_grab_it --cache --slow --days 3

grabs the full data for the next three days using the default backend order and using a disk cache.

RECOMMENDED USAGE

tv_grab_it --cache --slow --cache-slow --errors-in-xml

AUTHOR

This grabber is currently unmantained.