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< TAP and patch development ~ DescExt firmware patch (like DescriptionExtender) |
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| R2-D2 |
 Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:38 pm |
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Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 12149
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The DescExt firmware patch reorganises the data returned in TYPE_TapEvent structures by TAP_GetEvent() and TAP_GetCurrentEvent(). The eventName and description fields are combined, which will (in normal usage) have the effect of allowing more of the description to be passed to the TAP. The genre is also added. TAPs can easily detect whether the patch is running, in order to adjust their interpretation of the data. TAPs that are unaware of the patch will (safely) get less description.
The new structure is:Code: typedef struct
{
word evtId;
dword startTime;
dword endTime;
word duration;
byte runningStatus;
char eventNameDesc[253]; // Replaces eventName and description
byte genre; // New element
byte genreSub; // New element
byte descOffset; // New element - usually zero without patch
byte parentalRating;
byte satIdx;
word svcId;
word orgNetId;
word tsId;
} TYPE_TapEventDE;
HDFW enables users to temporarily patch their firmware, which can be helpful for testing purposes.
The example TAPs in quickEPG.zip show code before (quickepg1.c) and after (quickepgDE.c), to illustrate the changes needed to utilise the patch (the code in quickepgDE will cope if the patch is not detected). The example is based on Topfield's example quickEPG TAP but adds two extra lines in the display: the start and end of the short description (to show where it cuts off). There is also data about the number of characters of event name and description, and the genre information in brackets. Here are the key bits:Code: // Initialise in TAP_Main() probably...
HasDE = PatchIsInstalled((dword*)0x80000000, "De");
// In the code retrieving events...
if(!HasDE)
{
offset = 128;
genre = 0;
genreSub = 0;
}
else
{
offset = _evtInfo[idx].descOffset;
genre = _evtInfo[idx].genre;
genreSub = _evtInfo[idx].genreSub;
}
nlen = strlen(_evtInfo[idx].eventNameDesc);
desc = _evtInfo[idx].eventNameDesc+offset;
dlen = strlen(desc);
Note: latest version (V6) can currently be found here. |
Last edited by R2-D2 on Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:27 am; edited 5 times in total |
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| janilxx |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:03 am |
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Posts: 724
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R2-D2 wrote: As far as I know, genres are: Code: 0x00 = Unclassfied
0x01 = Movie/Drama
0x02 = News
0x03 = Show/Game
0x04 = Sports
0x05 = Children
0x06 = Music/Dance
0x07 = Arts/Culture
0x08 = Social
0x09 = Education
0x0a = Leisure
0x0b = UNKNOWN
0x0c = UNKNOWN
0x0d = UNKNOWN
0x0e = UNKNOWN
0x0f = user(??) defined
Specification allows two level deep genres. You have here first level.
For example 0x01/0x03 = Movie/Drama - science fiction/fantasy/horror
See http://webapp.etsi.org/action/OP/OP20060428/en_300468v010701o.pdf
Page 38, table 28.
Is it so that Toppy itself supports only the first level? Stupid Topfield coders  |
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| janilxx |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:21 am |
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Joined: 17 Aug 2005
Posts: 724
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How would this patch work together with DescriptionExtender TAP?
I mean there will be many TAPs that supports DE and won't be updated anymore and longer descriptions should still be available for them (via DE).
It is quite unlikely that for example Improbox or Jag's EPG will be updated anymore. And how about e.g. mei2archive and UKAS and TAPs like that. |
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| R2-D2 |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:49 am |
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Posts: 12149
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janilxx wrote: Is it so that Toppy itself supports only the first level? |
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| R2-D2 |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 7:01 am |
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janilxx wrote: How would this patch work together with DescriptionExtender TAP?  |
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| R2-D2 |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 7:54 am |
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| OK -- I'm going to add the sub-genre. It's a conceptually small change to make (the byte alignment is coincidentally just right!), but has a knock-on of lots of other small changes to the patches so it will take a while. Once finished, the genre will be moved to eventName[253] and the sub-genre will be at eventName[254]. Ideally the two nibbles could be recombined to occupy the same byte, but there isn't room to add the extra instructions. I'll also add the full list of genres to the example TAP. |
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| R2-D2 |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 2:14 pm |
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| Sub-genre added -- patch, example TAPs and code updated. The structure will remain static now. |
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| dvbgeek |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 2:40 pm |
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 168
Location: Sweden
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R2-D2 wrote: janilxx wrote: Is it so that Toppy itself supports only the first level? No, it's that the Toppy only seems to use the first level (shown in the EPG). Actually, I think the sub-genre could be added, with a slight modification to the patch -- it might lose another byte of the description, though (space for extra code is very tight on the patch for some firmwares).
FYI, when harvesting EPG with eit2mei/DE (through the native EPG) on the TF5700 HDMI, it sometimes gets the first-level genre for a programme (ex. Movie/Drama) and sometimes the second-level (ex. science fiction/fantasy/horror) but never both levels for the same programme as far as I can see. |
_________________
Model: TF5700PVRt HDMI (ID 13426) / Firmware: 2.84 with recommended patches
Autoload TAPs: Power Down / TF5000Display / eit2mei - mei2archive - DescriptionExtender / MyStuff / TAP Commander (always the latest version of everything) |
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| R2-D2 |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 2:45 pm |
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dvbgeek wrote: but never both levels for the same programme as far as I can see. |
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| Toni |
| Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 10:04 am |
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Regular contributor
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 40
Location: Finland
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| Did I understand correctly, that this patch doesn't actually display as much data from event description as DescriptionExtender does? With this patch event name and description are both stored into one variable that can hold up to 251 characters? Otherwise it seems like a great idea to do a patch instead of a tap. |
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| R2-D2 |
| Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 10:40 am |
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Toni wrote: Did I understand correctly, that this patch doesn't actually display as much data from event description as DescriptionExtender does?
The demo TAP shows the character usage on the displayed EPG data, if you're interested. Run it without the patch and see how many descriptions get clipped to 127 bytes. |
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| DX |
| Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 9:11 pm |
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R2-D2 wrote: TAPs can detect whether the patch is running by examining descOffset -- if it is zero the patch is not active (and so the description will actually be at offset 128).
I'm having trouble with this bit. On my normal unpatched system descOffset seems to contain garbage values if the description length is less than 127 chars. Checking the value against strlen(eventNameDesc)+1 helps but it still occasionally goes wrong.
I'm running 5.13.40 with various taps (Description Extender, crid, eit2mei, mei2archive, Surfer and MyStuff), but nothing out of the ordinary.
Any suggestions? Or will support need to be an ini file option? |
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| R2-D2 |
| Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 9:54 pm |
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DX wrote: I'm running 5.13.40 with various taps |
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| R2-D2 |
| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 10:22 am |
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DX wrote: Any suggestions? Or will support need to be an ini file option? |
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| DX |
| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 11:17 am |
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I already test genre and genreSub - great minds and all that 
My current attempt at auto-detection also checks all the entries returned by TAP_GetEvent before I start processing the data and if any of them fails I know there is no patch. This further reduces the chances of false positives.
In tests using all the above I no longer see false positives, but although the odds are long the possibility still exists. It's probably more likely outside the UK where short descriptions under 127 characters are more common, and where only now/next is broadcast reducing the number of entries checked.
My other thought (not implemented) was if I detect Description Extender is loaded assume the patch isn't. I don't know if this check is worth it.
My inclination at the moment is to go with an in file option as it's easy for me and anyone patching the firmware shouldn't have problems updating an ini file by adding "AutoDetectDEP=1". I'll build and upload new test versions of eit2mei, mei2archive, and SeriesLink with this included in the next day or two. |
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