4mepgsearch24m(1)                Epgsearch Version 2.4.3               4mepgsearch24m(1)

1mNAME0m
       epgsearch - Searchtimer and replacement of the VDR program menu

1mOVERVIEW0m
       EPG-Search can be used as a replacement for the default schedules menu
       entry. It looks like the standard schedules menu, but adds some
       additional functions:

        - Commands for EPG entries with 5 built-in commands like 'show repeats',
          'create search'. One can add own commands for other needs, like adding a
          VDRAdmin auto-timer.

        - Add up to 4 user-defined times to 'now' and 'next' and an optional
          favorites menu

        - Searching the EPG: Create reusable queries, which can also be used
          as 'search timers'.

        - Search timers: Search for broadcasts in the background and add a
          timer if one matches (similar to VDRAdmin's auto-timers) or simply
          make an announcement about it via OSD

        - Avoid double recordings of the same event
          * timer preview
          * recognition of broken recordings
          * fuzzy event comparison

        - Progress bar in 'What's on now' and 'What's on next'

        - Shift the time displayed by key press, e.g. 'What's on now' + 30 minutes

        - Start menu can be setup between 'Schedule' or 'What's on now'

        - background check for timer conflicts with a timer conflict manager

        - detailed EPG menu (summary) allows jumping to the next/previous
          event

        - support for extended EPG info for search timers

        - extension of the timer edit menu with a directory item, user
          defined weekday selection and a subtitle completion.

        - Timer conflict check, informs you over the OSD about conflicts

        - Timer conflict menu, show detailed information about the conflicts
          and let you resolve them

        - Email notifications about search timer updates and timer conflicts

       Parts of the sources are based on the repeating-ECG patch from Gerhard
       Steiner, who gave me the permission to use them. Thanks for his work!

1mOPTIONS0m
       -f file,  --svdrpsendcmd=file
           the  path to svdrpsend for external SVDRP communication (default is
           internal communication, so this is usually not needed anymore)

       -c path,  --config=path
           to specify a specific config directory  for  all  epgsearch  config
           files, default is '<plugins configuration directory>/epgsearch'

       -l file,  --logfile=file
           to  specify  a specific log file for epgsearch (default log file is
           epgsearch.log in the epgsearch config directory)

       -v n,  --verbose=n
           verbose level for log file. Value 0 means no logging. Other  values
           are  1  (general  messages),  2 (detailed messages), 3 (planned for
           extra detailed info for debugging purposes)

       -r,  --reloadmenuconf
           reload epgsearchmenu.conf with plugin call. This can be useful when
           testing customized menu layouts.

       -m file,  --mailcmd=file
           the external command to be used for mail delivery. The default uses
           'sendEmail.pl'. If you are using a different command or script make
           sure that it has the same parameter interface as sendEmail.pl.

1mCONTENT0m
        1.    Description
        1.1     Menu commands
        1.2     Menu search
        1.2.1     Menu edit search
        1.2.2     Menu search results
        1.3     Extended 'now' and 'next'
        1.4     Menu setup
        2.    Search timers
        2.1     'Avoid repeats' - internals
        2.2     How do we compare two events?
        2.3     How and when do we compare?
        3.    Usage from other plugins or scripts
        4.    Using extended EPG info
        5.    Replacing the standard schedule menu
        6.    Add-ons

1m1. Description0m
       At first glance EPG-Search looks like the schedules menu entry of  VDR.
       By pressing the key '0', one can toggle the bottom color keys to access
       additional  functions  (the default assignment of the color keys can be
       adjusted by setup):

   1m1.1 Menu Commands0m
       This menu displays commands that can be executed on the  current  item.
       There are 8 built-in commands:

        - Repeats: Searches for repeats

        - Record

        - Switch

        - Create search
          Switches to search menu and adds a new search with the name of the current
          item (to avoid editing the name manually)

        - Search in recordings:
          Search the recordings for a broadcast with the same name

        - Mark as 'already recorded':
          This puts the selected event into the file epgsearchdone.data and instructs
          epgsearch to avoid recording this event if an according search timer is set
          to "avoid repeats". An already created timer will be automatically removed
          with the next search timer update.

        - Add/Remove to/from switch list?:
          Controls the switch list. If there is an event in the switch list, epgsearch
          will announce it and switch to the event before it starts. To access the
          complete switch list, call 'Search/Actions/Switch list'.

        - Create blacklist:
          A blacklist is used to ignore events when using search timers. A search
          timer can be setup to ignore events from arbitrary blacklists.

       You  can  add  your  own  commands  to  this  menu  by editing the file
       epgsearchcmds.conf in the epgsearch config directory. There's a  sample
       conf  file  with  some  sample commands (see directory 'scripts', taken
       from vdr-wiki.de, thanks to the authors).

       The  format  of  the  file  is  the  same  as  VDR's  commands.conf  or
       reccmds.conf.  When  a command is executed the following parameters are
       passed to it:

        $1: the title of the EPG entry
        $2: the start time of the EPG entry as time_t value (like in the
            shutdown script)
        $3: the end time
        $4: the channel number of the EPG entry
        $5: the long channel name of the EPG entry
        $6: the subtitle of the EPG entry, "" if not present

       To execute a command  from  the  main  menu  you  can  also  press  its
       associated number without opening the commands menu.

   1m1.2 Menu search0m
       Here you can add, edit, delete and execute your own queries on the EPG.
       The usage and behavior of this menu is similar to VDR's timer menu.

       4m1.2.124m 4mMenu24m 4medit24m 4msearch0m

       Most things in this menu are quite clear, so only some notes on:

       - 1mSearch term:0m
           The  term  to  search  for.  If  you like to search for more words,
           separate them by blanks. Leaving this empty (combined  with  search
           mode  'Phrase')  will match anything. This is useful, if you search
           e.g. for anything that starts between  some  times  on  a  specific
           channel.

           With  'blue'  you can also select a template for the new search. If
           one  of  the  templates  is  set  to  default,  new  searches  will
           automatically get the settings of the default template.

           Note: fuzzy searching is limited to 32 chars!

       - 1mSearch mode:0m
           'Phrase'  searches  for  the expression within the EPG. 'All words'
           requires, that each word of the expression occurs in the EPG  item.
           'at  least one word' requires, that only one word occurs in the EPG
           item.  'Match exactly' requires,  that  your  search  term  matches
           exactly the found title, subtitle or description.

           With  'Regular  expression'  you  can setup a regular expression as
           search term. You don't need a  leading  and  trailing  '/'  in  the
           expression.   By   default   these   are   POSIX  extended  regular
           expressions.   If  you  like  to  have  Herl   compatible   regular
           expression,   simply   edit  the  plugins  Makefile  and  uncomment
           '#REGEXLIB = pcre' to 'REGEXLIB = pcre' (you  will  need  pcreposix
           installed,  comes  with libpcre from www.pcre.org, but it's already
           part of most distributions).

           See also epgsearch(4) 'Description of the search process'.

       - 1mUse content descriptor0m
           Some providers deliver  content  descriptors  in  their  EPG,  like
           "Movie/Drama",   "Documentation",...(available   with   vdr-1.7.11)
           Select here the descriptors  to  search  for.  Multiple  choice  is
           possible,   that   must  match  with  all  given  descriptors  (AND
           operator).

       - 1mUse extended EPG info:0m
           Only available if configured, see below 'Using extended EPG info'.

       - 1mIgnore missing categories:0m
           If set to 'Yes' this tells epgsearch that a  missing  EPG  category
           should  not  exclude an event from the results. Caution: Using this
           without any other criterions could flood your timers.

       - 1mUse channel:0m
           Search only for events in  the  given  channels  interval,  channel
           groups or FTA channels only.

           Channel  groups  (e.g.  sport  channels  or Pay-TV channels) can be
           managed with a sub-menu called with 'blue'.

           ATTENTION: After changing  the  channels  order  please  check  the
           settings of your search timers!

       - 1mUse day of week:0m
           Besides  the weekdays you can also set up a user-defined selection,
           e.g. search only on Monday and Friday.

           You'll find the user-defined selection in the list after Friday.

       - 1mUse blacklists:0m
           Blacklists are a  way  to  exclude  unwanted  events.  Select  only
           global,  one,  more or all blacklists here. If any search result is
           also contained in  one  of  the  selected  blacklists  it  will  be
           skipped.

       - 1mUse in favorites menu:0m
           Only available if turned on in setup. With this option you can mark
           a  search  to  be used in the favorites menu. The search results of
           all these searches are listed in the favorites menu.

       - 1mResult menu layout:0m
           Only available if you have defined more than one menu template  for
           search results in epgsearchmenu.conf. This option is used to assign
           a different menu layout for the search results of this search.

       - 1mUse as Search Timer:0m
           If  set  to yes, the plugin will do a background scan of the EPG in
           certain intervals and add a timer, if there is a match. You have to
           activate the 'search timers' in the setup. If set to "user defined"
           one can specify time margins with key 'blue' where the search timer
           is active or not.

       - 1mAction:0m
           Default action is creating a timer for the search results. But  you
           can  also choose to simply announce the found event via OSD as soon
           as it is found or to automatically switch to the  event  before  it
           starts.  It's  also  possible to get an announcement via OSD before
           the event starts and to switch to its channel with 'Ok'.

       - 1mSerial recording:0m
           If set to yes, the recordings will be stored in a folder  with  the
           name  of  the  broadcasting and the recordings itself will have the
           name of the episode. If there is no episode name, the date and time
           of the recording will be used.

       - 1mDirectory:0m
           Here you can assign a directory,  where  the  recording  should  be
           stored,  e.g.  'SciFi'.  Use  the  key  'blue'  to select directory
           entries already used in other search entries or given by entries in
           the file epgsearchdirs.conf (simply place your directories here one
           at each line without the leading video directory, also see MANUAL).
           If your provider delivers extended  EPG  infos  you  can  also  use
           variables  like  "%Genre%" or "%Category%" in your directory entry.
           These are replaced with the current  EPG  info,  when  a  timer  is
           created.

           See  also epgsearch(4) 'Using variables in the directory entry of a
           search timer'.

       - 1mDelete recordings after ... days:0m
           Some recordings should only be kept for a few days, like news. With
           this feature you can tell epgsearch to  delete  them  automatically
           after ... days.

       - 1mPause if ... recordings exist:0m
           If the given numbers of recordings currently exists, then epgsearch
           will  not  create  further  timers.  After  deleting  one  or  more
           recordings it will go on generating new timers.

       - 1mAvoid repeats:0m
           If you don't want to record repeats, this feature tries to check if
           an event was already recorded/programmed and skips it. Please refer
           to the section 'Avoid repeats - internals' below before using it.

       - 1mAllowed repeats:0m
           If you like to accept a certain amount of repeats you can give here
           their number.

       - 1mOnly repeats within ... days:0m
           Give here the number of days a  repeat  has  to  follow  its  first
           broadcast. 0 is equal to no restriction.

       - 1mCompare title:0m
           When  comparing  to events then specify here if the title should be
           compared.

       - 1mCompare subtitle:0m
           When comparing to events then specify here if the  subtitle  should
           be  compared. With 'yes' epgsearch will classify two events only as
           equal if their episode names match and are not empty.  With  'allow
           empty'  two  events  may  be  equal  if  both  subtitles are empty.
           Normally you would choose "no" in this case.

       - 1mCompare description:0m
           When comparing to events  then  specify  here  if  the  description
           should be compared.

           For  comparison  all  parts  of  the  description, that look like a
           category value, are removed  first.  The  remaining  text  will  be
           compared.  If  this  is  similar  at  the  value of the next option
           (regarding the Levinshtein-Distance  algorithm)  then  it  will  be
           accepted as equal.

       - "Min. match in %:"
           The needed minimum match of descriptions in percent.

       - 1mCompare date:0m
           Sometimes  an event is repeated many times within some period (day,
           week, month,...), but one cannot distinguish the repeats  based  on
           the EPG contents. So the only information is its time.  To use this
           for comparison select the appropriate period.

       - 1mCompare categories:0m
           With  the  button  'setup'  you  can  also specify which categories
           should be compared. As with subtitles an event is different  if  it
           has no according category value.

       - 1mPriority, lifetime, margins for start and stop:0m
           Each  search  timer can have its own settings for these parameters.
           Defaults can be adjusted in the plugins setup.

       - 1mVPS:0m
           If set to yes, VPS is used, but only, if activated in  VDR's  setup
           menu and if the broadcasting has VPS information.

       - 1mAuto delete:0m
           to automatically delete a search timer if the following is true:

            * after x recordings, or
            * after x days after the first recording

           Only  complete  recordings  are  counted.  The deletion is executed
           directly after the correspondig recording

       To toggle the flag 'Use as search timer'  without  editing  the  search
       entry  you  can  use  the  key  '2'. This will call directly the second
       command of the command menu.

       4m1.2.224m 4mMenu24m 4msearch24m 4mresults0m

       This menu displays the search results. A 'T' lets you know, that  there
       is  already  a  timer  for  the  event. A 't' means that there's only a
       partial timer for it, as in standard schedules menu.

   1m1.3 Extended 'now' and 'next' and favorites0m
       By setup, one can add up to 4 additional  times  to  extend  the  green
       button,  e.g.  'afternoon', 'prime time', 'late night'. Times, that are
       already passed, are skipped (you will not get 'afternoon'  at  evening)
       with  the  exception that a time will be displayed for the next day, if
       it is less then 20h in the future.  In these menus you  can  shift  the
       currently  displayed  time  by pressing FastRew or FastFwd to move back
       and forward in time. If you don't have these keys on your  remote,  you
       can access this function by pressing '0' to toggle the green and yellow
       button to '<<' and '>>'. This toggling can be adjusted by setup.

       You can display a progress bar in 'now' and 'next'.

       Furthermore  you  can  enable  in  the setup an favorites list. You can
       configure your searchtimers ("Use in favorite list") to  display  their
       results  in  you  favorite list. This list display event in the next 24
       hours ordered by time.

   1m1.4 Menu setup0m
       4m1.4.124m 4mGeneral0m

       - 1mHide main menu entry:0m
           This hides the main menu entry 'search'. Attention: when the plugin
           is assigned to key 'green' then hiding the  plugin  will  give  you
           VDR's standard schedule menu (see below to avoid this).

       - 1mMain menu entry:0m
           If not hidden, the name of main menu entry can be set here. Default
           is 'Program guide'. Note: If you set it to something different from
           the  default then the main menu entry is no longer dependent on the
           OSD language. Setting it back to default  or  empty  restores  this
           behavior again.

       - 1mStart menu:0m
           Select the starting menu 'Schedules' or 'Now'

       4m1.4.224m 4mEPG24m 4mmenus0m

       - 1mOk key:0m
           Choose here the behavior of key 'Ok'. You can use it to display the
           summary  or  to  switch  to  the  corresponding  channel. Note: the
           functionality of key 'blue' (Switch/Info/Search)  depends  on  this
           setting.

       - 1mRed key:0m
           Select  if  you  like  to have Standard ('Record') or 'Commands' as
           assignment for key 'red'.

       - 1mBlue key:0m
           select if you like to  have  Standard  ('Switch')  or  'Search'  as
           assignment for key 'blue'.

       - 1mShow progress in 'Now':0m
           In  the  menu  'what's on now' you can display a progress bar, that
           displays the progress of the current item.

       - 1mShow channel numbers:0m
           Select this if you like to have a  leading  channel  number  before
           each item in the EPG menus.

       - 1mShow channel separators:0m
           Display  channel  group  separators  between  channel  in the menus
           'Overview now',...

       - 1mShow day separators:0m
           Display a day separator between events on  different  days  in  the
           schedule menu.

       - 1mShow radio channels:0m
           Also list radio channels.

       - 1mLimit channels from 1 to:0m
           If  you  have  a large channel set you can speed up things when you
           limit the displayed channels with this setting. Use '0' to  disable
           the  limit. If the current channel is above the limit, the limit is
           ignored and all channels will be displayed again.

       - 1m'One press' timer creation:0m
           If set to 'yes'  a  timer  is  immediately  created  when  pressing
           'Record', else the timer edit menu is displayed.

       - 1mShow channels without EPG:0m
           Display channels without EPG to allow switching or create a timer.

       - 1mTime interval for FR/FF [min]:0m
           In  the  menus  'now',  'next', 'user def 1', ... you can shift the
           displayed time by pressing FastRew, FastFwd on your remote control.
           Adjust the amount of minutes to jump here.

       - 1mToggle Green/Yellow:0m
           If you don't have FastRew, FastFwd on your remote control, set this
           to yes. When pressing '0' in the menus, this toggles the assignment
           of the color keys and assigns e.g. '<<' and  '>>'  to  'green'  and
           'yellow'.

       - 1mShow favorites menu:0m
           A  favorites  menu  can display a list of your favorite broadcasts.
           Enable this if you  want  an  additional  menu  besides  'Now'  and
           'Next'. You can choose between displaying this menu before or after
           the  menus  with  user-defined  times.  Any search can be used as a
           favorite. You only have to set the option 'Use in  favorites  menu'
           when editing a search.

       - 1mfor the next ... hours:0m
           This  value  lets  you  adjust  the  timespan  used  to display the
           favorites.

       4m1.4.324m 4mUser-defined24m 4mEPG24m 4mtimes0m

       - 1mUse user time 1..4:0m
           Add up to 4 user-defined times besides 'now' and 'next'.

       - 1mDescription:0m
           Name of the user-defined  time,  e.g.  'Afternoon',  'Prime  time',
           'Late night'.

       - 1mTime:0m
           The associated time of the user-defined time.

       4m1.4.424m 4mTimer24m 4mprogramming0m

       - 1mUse VDR's timer edit menu:0m
           When  programming a standard timer epgsearch uses an extended menu,
           that also supports a directory item, user defined weekday selection
           and subtitle completion. If you are using a patched version of VDR,
           that also has an extended timer edit menu and like to use this menu
           rather than epgsearch's then set this option to 'Yes'.

       - 1mDefault recording directory:0m
           This entry will be used in standard timer  programming  as  default
           directory.  You  can  also  use  EPG  category  variables (e.g. 'My
           Movies~%Category%~%Genre%'). When the timer edit menu  is  launched
           epgsearch  tries  to replace all variables with the values found in
           the description of  the  event.  If  not  all  variables  could  be
           replaced then the directory item is left blank.

       - 1mAdd episode to manual timers:0m
           When  manually  adding  a timer epgsearch can automatically add the
           episode name to the timer file resulting in a  sub-folder  for  the
           later  recording,  that is named with the episode name. Choose here
           how this should be done. 'smart' tries to recognize if  this  makes
           sense.  Therefore  it  checks the length of the event and skips the
           subtitle if the event has more than 80min.

       - 1mDefault timer check method:0m
           Manual timers can be checked for EPG changes. Here  you  can  setup
           the  default  check  method for each channel. The following methods
           exist:
              * no check
              * by event ID: checks by an event ID  supplied  by  the  channel
           provider.
              * by channel and time: check by the duration match.

           Not  all  channels  provide a proper event ID, so you can setup the
           default for each channel here. When  programming  a  manual  timer,
           this default use used in epgsearch's own timer edit menu.

       4m1.4.524m 4mSearch24m 4mand24m 4msearch24m 4mtimers0m

       - 1mUse search timers:0m
           If  yes,  the  plugin  makes  a background scan of the EPG and adds
           timers if it finds matching entries. This applies only to  searches
           that are marked with 'use as search timer'.

           Search   timers   will   always   be   created   local,   even   if
           SVDRPDefaulthost is set to a different host.

       - 1mUpdate interval:0m
           The update interval of the background scan  for  search  timers  in
           minutes.

       - 1mSVDRP port:0m
           For  VDR  versions through 1.7.14, the default SVDRP port was 2001.
           Starting with vdr-1.7.15 it was changed to 6419. If you want to use
           a port other than the default, set it here to get the search timers
           working.

       - 1mDelay threads:0m
           The start  of  the  Searchtimer-Update  Thread  and  the  following
           Conflict  check  can  be  delayed after VDR-Ready between 0 and 300
           seconds (Default is 10 secs).

       - 1mDefault Priority:0m
           Default priority of generated timers.

       - 1mDefault Lifetime:0m
           Default lifetime of generated timers.

       - 1mMargin at start/stop:0m
           Default margins of generated timers.

       - 1mAllowed Errors:0m
           Allowed errors before a recording is marked  as  incomplete.   (not
           available in vdr 2.4)

       - 1mNo announcements when replaying:0m
           suppress event announcements while any replay is active.

       - 1mRecreate timers after deletion:0m
           epgsearch  remembers  by default which timers where already created
           by search timers and will not recreate them if they  were  removed.
           To disable this behaviour set this to 'Yes'.

       - 1mCheck if EPG exists for ... [h]:0m
           If you get EPG content from external providers it is possible, that
           something  fails  and  some  recordings  are skipped because of the
           missing EPG. With this function one can check if EPG content exists
           for the next ... hours. With '0' the check is disabled.

       - "Warn by OSD:"
           Set this to 'Yes' to get warned via OSD.

       - "Warn by mail:"
           Set this to 'Yes' to get warned  by  email.  Please  configure  the
           email account in 'email notification'

       - "Channel group to check:"
           select  hier the channel group to check. Perhaps you have to create
           it before in 'channel groups'

       - 1mIgnore Pay-TV channels:0m
           Set this to 'Yes' if you don't want  to  have  events  from  Pay-TV
           channels when searching for a repeat.

       - 1mSearch templates:0m
           Here  you  can  manage  search  templates  which  can  be used when
           creating a search.

       - 1mBlacklists:0m
           Here you can manage  blacklists  which  can  be  used  to  suppress
           unwanted events within a search.  A blacklist can also be marked as
           global.  Since  the  default  setting  of  a  search timer for 'use
           blacklists' is 'only global', this  is  a  simple  way  to  exclude
           unwanted events form all search timers, except: If the search timer
           has  the option 'use blacklists: none' no blacklists are taken into
           account. Also the search for repeats within  the  OSD  ignores  any
           blacklists.

       - 1mChannel groups:0m
           Here  you  can  setup  channel  groups (e.g. Sport channels, Pay-TV
           channels) that can be used as criterion in  searches. The same  can
           be done in the search edit menu.

       1mImportant22m:  if  you  get  your EPG from external sources make sure that
       search timer updates are disabled while your EPG is updated. The reason
       for this is that epgsearch will remove timers without  events  assigned
       to them. This situation can exist while the new EPG is feeded to VDR. A
       simple  way to disable search timer updates is to use the SVDRP command
       SETS in your EPG update script:

       svdrpsend plug epgsearch SETS off

       <your EPG update script>

       svdrpsend plug epgsearch SETS on

       4m1.4.624m 4mTimer24m 4mconflict24m 4mchecking0m

       - 1mIgnore below priority:0m
           If a timer will fail with a priority below  the  given  value,  you
           won't  get  an  OSD  message  about  this  and the conflict will be
           classified as 'not relevant' in the conflicts overview.

       - 1mIgnore conflict duration less ... min.:0m
           If a conflict will last only the given minutes it will not  produce
           an  OSD  message  and  the  conflict  will  be  classified  as 'not
           relevant' in the conflicts overview.

       - 1mOnly check within next ... days:0m
           Here you can specify the day range that  should  be  used  for  the
           conflict check.

       - 1mCheck also remote conflicts:0m
           If  SVDRPPeering  is  active,  conflicts  for remote timers will be
           checked, if set to "yes". For this to work epgseach-plugin  has  to
           be active on the remote host too. Default is "no".

       - 1mAfter each timer programming:0m
           This  performs a conflict check after each manual timer programming
           and - if the new/modified timer is involved in a conflict - pops up
           an OSD message about it.

       - 1m"When a recording starts:0m
           Set this to 'yes' if the conflict check should be performed when  a
           recording  starts.  In the case of a conlfict you get immediately a
           message that informs you about it.  The message is  only  displayed
           if the conflict is within the next 2 hours.

       - 1mAfter each search timer update:0m
           Specify here if you want to have a conflict check after each search
           timer update. If set to 'No':

       - 1mevery ... minutes:0m
           performs  a  conflict check in the background every ... minutes and
           informs about relevant conflicts  via  OSD.  Set  this  to  '0'  to
           disable this feature.

       - 1mif conflicts within next ... minutes:0m
           - 1mevery ... minutes:0m
               if  you like to have a more frequent check and OSD notification
               when a  conflict  appears  within  the  given  time,  use  this
               feature.

       - 1mAvoid notification when replaying:0m
           Set  this  to  'yes'  if  the  don't want to get OSD messages about
           conflicts if you currently replay something. Nevertheless  messages
           will be displayed if
            the first upcoming conflict is within the next 2 hours.

       Also  have  a  look  at  epgsearch(4),  section 'Working with the timer
       conflict menu'.

       4m1.4.724m 4mEmail24m 4mnotification0m

       Please  make  sure,  that  'sendEmail.pl'  is  in  the  path  of   your
       executables     and     that     the    'epgsearchupdmail.templ'    and
       'epgsearchconflmail.templ'   exists   in   epgsearch's   configurations
       directory!

       - 1mSearch timer notification:0m
           Enable  this,  if  you  want to get an email notification, when the
           search timer background thread has

             - created a new timer
             - modified an existing timer
             - deleted a timer, that was void because of EPG changes or other user
               actions.

           (Also requires 'Use search timers' in the search timer setup to  be
           activated.)

       - 1mTime between mails [h]:0m
           For  search timer notifications one can set the minimum distance in
           hours between the mails.  As soon as this time has  elapsed  a  new
           mail  is  sent  after the next search timer update.  A value of '0'
           means no delay and will cause immediate mail delivery.

       - 1mTimer conflict notification:0m
           Enable this, if you want to get an email notification  about  timer
           conflicts.  The notification will only include 'relevant' conflicts
           as specified in the timer conflict  setup.  epgsearch  will  always
           send  a  new  notification  if  there  is any change in the current
           conflicts.

           (Also requires 'After each  search  timer  update'  or  'every  ...
           minutes' in the conflict check setup to be activated.)

       - 1mSend to:0m
           The  mail  address  of  the  recipient.  Note: Some providers (like
           Arcor) don't allow the same address for sender and recipient.

       - 1mMail method:0m
           You can choose between:

             - sendEmail.pl: this is a simply script shipped with epgsearch, that allows
               mail delivery also on systems without a configured mail server. Please
               copy it to your $PATH
             - sendmail: requires a properly configured mail system

       - 1mEmail address:0m
           Your full(!) email account address to be used for sending the mail.

       - 1mSMTP server:0m
           The name of your SMTP server to be used for sending the mails.

       - 1mUse SMTP authentication:0m
           Select 'yes' if your account needs authentication to send mails.

       - 1mAUTH user:0m
           Specify the accounts username if your account needs authentication.

       - 1mAUTH password:0m
           Specify the accounts password if your account needs authentication.
           Note: The password is saved as plain text. You have to make sure on
           your own that your system is safe and no VDR  configurations  files
           are visible to non authorized persons.

       After  the  account  setup,  check  if it works with 'Test'. If you are
       using 'sendEmail.pl' for mail delivery, there should be something  like
       'Email  sent  successfully'  at  the  end  of the test output. The test
       function is not available for method 'sendmail'.

       Also have a look at epgsearch(4), section 'Email notifications'.

1m2. Search timers0m
       This is quite the same as VDRAdmin's auto-timers, but needs no external
       software. When you create a search, you can give it an option to use it
       as search timer. Now the plugin scans EPG  entries  in  certain  update
       intervals  (->setup)  in the background and creates timers if there are
       matching entries. If you don't like to get a new timer, but  only  want
       to  be  informed about the event set 'Announce only (no timer)' to yes.
       Since these search timers are quite useful for serials, you can set the
       option 'serial recording' in  a  search,  which  creates  timers  whose
       recordings  are  stored  in  a  folder  with the serials name and whose
       entries are named with the episode name. If there is no  episode  name,
       the plugin names the recording with a date/time string.

       To  use  search  timers,  you also have to activate them in the plugins
       setup.  Also edit the SVDRP port, if you  are  not  using  the  default
       2001.

       If you want to trigger a background scan manually simply

       touch /etc/vdr/plugins/epgsearch/.epgsearchupdate

       This  can  also  be  part  of  your  shutdown script. (Add here a sleep
       afterwards to give the plugin the time to finish the scan.)

       For  more  info  about  searchtimers  please  refer  to   epgsearch(4),
       'Description of the search process' and 'How do Search Timers work?'

   1m2.1 'Avoid repeats' - internals0m
       This  section  explains the feature 'Avoid repeats' for a search timer.
       Sometimes one cannot avoid  double  recordings  of  an  event  only  by
       setting the corresponding search criterions.

       Therefore  the feature 'avoid repeats' tries to check before creating a
       timer, if the same event was already recorded in the past or  if  there
       is  a  timer  that  records the same event. If so, there will be no new
       timer for the event.

   1m2.2 How do we compare two events?0m
       To check if two events are the same there are  many  possible  settings
       for  a search timer. You can choose the title, subtitle, description or
       extended EPG categories within  the  description  of  an  event  to  be
       compared with the elements of another event.

       This  comparison  is always done case-sensitive and for the whole term.
       But the description of an event makes an exception of this.  First  all
       text  within  the  description  will  be  truncated  that looks like an
       extended category entry, e.g. 'Rating: tip'. An extended category entry
       is a line of text beginning with max. 40 signs,  followed  by  ':'  and
       ending with max. 60 further signs.  The reason for this cutting is that
       some  categories  like  the  rating  of  an  event  are not part of the
       description of the repeat of the same event.

       The remaining text will now be compared by length. If the difference is
       bigger then 90%, then we rate the description  of  the  two  events  as
       different.  If  not,  we apply the Levinsthein-Distance-Algorithm (LD),
       which makes a fuzzy text comparison. We accept the description  of  the
       events  as  equal, if LD returns a match of more then 90%.  Since LD is
       quite  runtime  intensive  (O(mn)),  you  should  not  choose  'compare
       description'  as  the  only comparison criterion, but combine it always
       with other criterions.

   1m2.3 How and when do we compare?0m
       As already mentioned each search timer update checks search timers with
       this feature for recordings in the past or an  already  existing  timer
       for the same event.

       To  remember  past  recordings  epgsearch stores their info in the file
       epgsearchdone.data. You can have a look at the contents  of  this  file
       calling  'show  recordings done' in the 'actions' of the searches menu.
       This file only stores info about recordings  that  are  complete,  i.e.
       that  started  and stopped just in time. So a broken recording will not
       be stored in this file and epgsearch will automatically try  to  record
       the  next  repeat,  if  there  is  any.  Starting  with  vdr 2.5.x also
       recordings with errors are not stored. If you would  like  to  allow  a
       certain amount of errors, you can raise the value of "Allowd Errors".

       1mHow to use it?0m

       As you see, the whole feature depends on the quality of the EPG.  After
       creating such a search timer, you should first check if it does what is
       intended.  Therefore  the menu of search results has an additional mode
       for the key 'blue' named 'Timer preview'. Here you can see, what timers
       the next update would create. Existing timers  are  labeled  with  'T',
       future timers with 'P'.

       Hint:  If  the  programming  results  in  a conflict simply disable the
       conflicting timer in the timers menu. The  next  search  timer  update,
       will try to program a different timer for the same event, if it exists.

       1mWhen it works not correctly :-)0m

       To  get  a  better control of the programming or not-programming of the
       timers when using this feature a log file was introduced. When starting
       epgsearch with the command line option '-v n' where n is the log  level
       than  you  get additional info in the file epgsearch.log. Available log
       levels are 0 (no logging) to 3 (extended logging). See also the  manual
       for the command line options.

1m3. Usage from other plugins or scripts0m
       See epgsearch(4).

1m4. Using extended EPG info0m
       Some  EPG providers deliver additional EPG information like the type of
       event, the video and audio format, cast,... in the content summary.

       Note: This is different from  the  content  descriptors  introduced  in
       vdr-1.7.11,  that  are  delivered as extra data with a common standard.
       Unfortunately not all providers deliver this data,  or  the  set  wrong
       descriptors.  So  you can use the approach of 'extended EPG info' here,
       which is a way to extract that info from the content summary.

       Using tvm2vdr or epg4vdr you can import this into  vdr.   To  use  this
       information  with  search  timers one has to configure it with the file
       epgsearchcats.conf in the epgsearch config directory. The format of the
       file is as follows:

        ID|category name|name in menu|values separated by ','(option)|search mode(option)

        - 'ID' should be a unique positive integer
           (changing the id later on will force you to re-edit your search timers!)
        - 'category name' is the name as delivered by the EPG provider, e.g. 'Genre'
        - 'name in menu' is the name displayed in epgsearch.
        - 'values' is an optional list of possible values
        - 'search mode' specifies the search mode:
          text comparison:
          0 - the whole term must appear as substring
          1 - all single terms (delimiters are ',', ';', '|' or '~')
              must exist as substrings. This is the default search mode.
          2 - at least one term (delimiters are ',', ';', '|' or '~')
              must exist as substring.
          3 - matches exactly
          4 - regular expression
          numerical comparison:
          10 - less
          11 - less or equal
          12 - greater
          13 - greater or equal
          14 - equal
          15 - not equal

       Sample files for epgsearchcats.conf are delivered with  the  plugin  in
       the directory 'conf'.

       Simply  copy  the  one that fits for you to the epgsearch configuration
       directory filename epgsearchcats.conf and  then  have  a  look  to  the
       search timers edit menu (after a restart of VDR).

       Since  setting up a new epgsearchcats.conf is a lot of work, I've added
       a small tool 'createcats', that makes the biggest part of the  job.  It
       should  have  been  compiled  with the plugin and exists in the sources
       directory.

       See createcats(1) for information about how to use it.

       Internals: epgsearch scans the summary of an  event  for  the  category
       name  followed  by  ':  '  for all categories that have a corresponding
       value set in the search timer. The search is case  sensitive  regarding
       the category name as also the value.

1m5. Replacing the standard schedule menu0m
       To  use  this plugin as a replacement for the default green key, simply
       put the line

        Green   @epgsearch

       in your keymacros.conf. If you don't like to get another  plugin  entry
       in  your  main  menu,  first  hide  it  by setup. Then you could use my
       launcher-plugin and put the line

        Green @launcher x

       in your keymacros.conf, where x is the position of the Epgsearch plugin
       within launchers menu listing.

       Another approach is using a patch to VDR that replaces  vdr's  standard
       schedule  menu  with epgsearch (vdr-replace-schedulemenu.diff.gz in the
       patches subdir, thanks to the author  Uwe/egal@vdrportal).  When  using
       this patch the entry should look like

        Green Schedule

       This  patch  is  already  included  in some patch collections, like the
       Bigpatch.

1m6. Add-ons0m
       epgsearch  delivers  2  'mini'-plugins.  Both  require   an   installed
       epgsearch (but epgsearch can be hided in the main menu):

       - 1mepgsearchonly:0m
           For  those  who  only  want to use the search feature and/or search
           timers or simply want to have a separate main menu  entry  for  the
           search  feature.  This  plugin  creates  a main menu entry 'Search'
           which calls epgsearch search menu.  Activation in VDR start  script
           with "-Pepgsearchonly".

       - 1mconflictcheckonly:0m
           The  timer  conflict  check  can  also have its own main menu entry
           which displays epgsearch conflict overview menu.  It  has  a  setup
           option  to  display an information about the last check directly in
           its  main  menu  entry.   Activation  in  VDR  start  script   with
           "-Pconflictcheckonly".

       Have fun!

       Christian Wieninger

1mAdvanced description0m
       See epgsearch(4) or read online

       <http://winni.vdr-developer.org/epgsearch/README.DE>

       <http://winni.vdr-developer.org/epgsearch/README>

       <http://winni.vdr-developer.org/epgsearch/MANUAL>

1mSEE ALSO0m
       "epgsearch.conf(5)",  "epgsearchcats.conf(5)", "epgsearchcmds.conf(5)",
       "epgsearchdirs.conf(5)",                       "epgsearchmenu.conf(5)",
       "epgsearchuservars.conf(5)",                   "epgsearchdone.data(5)",
       "epgsearchswitchtimer.conf(5)",          "epgsearchblacklists.conf(5)",
       "epgsearchchangrps.conf(5)"

1mFILES0m
       4mepgsearch.conf0m

       Searchtimers. See "epgsearch.conf(5)".

       4mepgsearchcats.conf0m

       Categories, advanced epg. See "epgsearchcats.conf(5)".

       4mepgsearchcmds.conf0m

       EPG-commands,    like    the    commands    in    commands.conf.    See
       "epgsearchcmds.conf(5)".

       4mepgsearchdirs.conf0m

       Pre-defined patches which can be selected while editing an searchtimer.
       See "epgsearchdirs.conf(5)".

       4mepgsearchmenu.conf0m

       Configuration of the OSD menu layout. See "epgsearchmenu.conf(5)".

       4mepgsearchuservars.conf0m

       User defined variables. See "epgsearchuservars.conf(5)".

       4mepgsearchdone.data0m

       The done-data. See "epgsearchdone.data(5)".

       4mepgsearchswitchtimers.conf0m

       The switchtimers. See "epgsearchswitchtimer.conf(5)".

       4mepgsearchblacklists.conf0m

       The blacklist. See "epgsearchblacklists.conf(5)".

       4mepgsearchchangrps.conf0m

       The channelgroups. See "epgsearchchangrps.conf(5)".

       4mepgsearchtemplates.conf0m

       Templates for searchtimers. See "epgsearchtemplates.conf(5)".

1mAUTHOR (man pages)0m
       Mike Constabel <epgsearch (at) constabel (dot) net>

1mREPORT BUGS0m
       Bugreports (german):

       <http://projects.vdr-developer.org/projects/plg-epgsearch>

       Mailinglist:

       <http://www.vdr-developer.org/mailman/listinfo/epgsearch>

1mCOPYRIGHT and LICENSE0m
       Copyright (C) 2004-2010 Christian Wieninger

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published  by  the
       Free  Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
       option) any later version.

       This program is distributed in the hope that it  will  be  useful,  but
       WITHOUT   ANY   WARRANTY;   without   even   the  implied  warranty  of
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR  A  PARTICULAR  PURPOSE.   See  the  GNU
       General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
       with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
       51  Franklin  Street,  Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA Or, point
       your browser to http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html

       The author can be reached at cwieninger@gmx.de

       The project's page is at http://winni.vdr-developer.org/epgsearch

       The MD5 code is derived from the RSA Data Security, Inc.  MD5  Message-
       Digest Algorithm.

perl v5.40.0                      2025-02-05                      4mepgsearch24m(1)
