Setting up the Prevue Channel Listings Sender

[PajamaDarkness]

I've noticed that some people have been having a lot of trouble getting nwgatwcfan's 'Prevue Channel Listing Sender' to work with WinUAE. In this thread I'll be teaching you how to set it up and use the program properly.

This thread only focuses on emulation specifically with WinUAE, however it should work with a physical Amiga 2000 with an RS-232 null-modem cable.

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What you'll need:

- VSPE (Virtual Serial Port Emulator) (optional, use if you're emulating an Amiga)
(I have only tried this on the x86/32-bit version of VSPE, as the 64-bit version costs $25. (rounded up from $24.49)

- WinUAE (only program this was tested with. FS-UAE or a physical Amiga should also work)

- Prevue Guide setup (mentioned later in thread)

- Prevue Channel Listings Sender (of course)

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STEP 1 - Setting up VSPE

1 - Download VSPE from here. Extract the zip file and install it.

2 - After launching the program, click on the "New Port" button on the top. This is listed next to the Save button.

3 - Choose "Connector" from the dropdown menu. It should automatically be chosen. Then, click next.

4 - Choose whatever COM port you'd want VSPE to emulate, or you can go with whatever is assigned from the start. Then, click finish.

You're finished with setting up the Serial port, now you'll need to setup the software within WinUAE.

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STEP 2 - Setting up WinUAE & the Prevue Guide software.

1 - Install WinUAE if you already have not.

2 - Setup a Prevue Guide enviroment. Explained over on tin's thread about getting emulation up and running. (read the first part: "GETTING THE BASICS UP AND RUNNING")

3 - Once you've gotten everything installed and all that, instead of starting the emulation, navigate to the "I/O ports" tab of the WinUAE window. From there, select whatever COM port you've set up beforehand. Once you've gotten that, start the emulated Amiga.

You should now be at the Amiga Workbench prompt, eventually leading into the scrolling listings.

Now it's time for the part you've been waiting for...

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STEP 3 - Sending listings to WinUAE

1 - Once you get to the Prevue listings, hop out of WinUAE (middle mouse button. do not close!!)
and download the Prevue Channel Listings Editor (if you have already not done so) and extract it.

(If this is the first time you've used this program, after launching you should see a popup about choosing a configuration folder. Choose whatever folder you'd like to keep the configuration in and press OK. If you have opened the program in the past, you can skip this.)
You should now be in the program.

2 - Click on the "Commands" tab on the top of the program and click "ClockUpdate". If the clock has updated to the correct time in WinUAE, then that means you are now ready to add in the listings!

3 - Click the "Channel Lineup" tab on the top. From there, enter the "Current Day of the Year" number at the top in the blank space next to "Julian Day".
Below that, input whatever as a SourceID (needs to be 3 letters followed by some numbers, 000 for example).
Ch Name will be your channel name. Maximum is about 2-6 characters (I believe?)
Ch# will be the channel number your listings'll be on.
As for all the other text boxes, atm I have no clue what these do and I usually just enter the example information:

Code: Select all

F1: 18
F2: 1
F3: 17
F4: 1
F5: 20
Timeslot Mask: 255 (for each of every box)

4 - Once you're done with that, click "Add Ch". The channel will be added to the program's memory and it will be displayed in a large field in the window. Click on "Send Curday" to send the program to the guide. The listings should now go from "Please Stand By for your Local Listings" to the time and dates looping.

5 - Navigate into the "Channel Listings" tab. This is where you'll be able to add listings.
Enter your Source ID into the specific text box. Click on the arrow in the Date next to "Julian Date" and click the current day. You should now see the same number from the top of the screen on the bottom.
Under "TimeSlot" check your current time and choose a time slot where the current hour is listed. You may need to scroll down to find it (for example, if the current time is 12:00 AM, then I would find "12:00 AM" in the TimeSlot list.) For Flag 1, input "18". Choose whatever type of program you'd like (if unsure, choose "None") and enter the Program Title. Once you have finished, click "Store to Memory", and then "Send 1 Listing" (if you have made multiple listings, then choose "Send All". You should now see your listings inside WinUAE.

And with that all being said, you have finished!
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Sorry if this looks confusing. I'll (eventually) make a video and will edit my post to include the link.

Hope this helped!

[Matthew Joseph]

I am having problems with the sender, it will not update the clock date (it shows a white flickering dot on the timeslot bar) yet reset commands will work, and it also wont send listings? Am i using the wrong ADF File? Does it work for you?

First things first, welcome to the Prevue Guide Forums, grumpz!

For me the trick to making it work is editing the curday.dat to the current date in the header (e.g. if today is February 4, then the julian date is 35), put the channels and blank all programming so that the sender can send the program schedule on each channel, saved it and I transfer the edited curday file to the ADF. Then I fill up the entire programming day on each channel (and doing it right, which I'll explain it below) using the sender program and followed each instruction how to send the listings and it worked. There are still bugs on the "Channel Lineup" thing on the sender software that's why I manually add every channel on the curday.dat file in the meantime as a temporary fix.

Now let me look at your problem regarding to this....

First, regarding to the date and the clock. If the date is "January 1, 1970", it means that the clock and date doesn't corresponds with the right date and time of the computer clock. See wcfield's answer here for a fix.

Second, about the ADF. The ADF that you're asking is the correct file.

Third, in the "Channel listings" tab on the sender software, did you click twice on the current date in the "Julian date"? The reason why I'm asking this is that if you double click the current day (or any date) on the "Julian date" prior to adding the program in the channel, it should display the julian date on the extra white box (the one after the buttons like "send to memory" etc.) or else the listings will not work. This only occurs once after initializing the software (even after reopening it) and in the succeeding entries the julian date will appear the same.

Here are examples of this one:

No julian date set to the program listing.

pvgsendera.png (74.95 KiB) Viewed 7446 times

Program listing has set and the correct julian date has been set. Listing can now be sent.

pvgsenderc.png (77.7 KiB) Viewed 7446 times

Fourth, is the source ID in the same tab filled with six-characters? I mean "HBOW00", not "HBOW"? Try to fill the source ID with six (e.g. if WNBC, then the source ID must be "NBC001", or if TVGC, "PREV00"). Put zeroes if the source ID's name is minimum to that maximum six-characters. For reference, in the "Channel lineup" tab, on the "Source ID", you must also fill the Source ID with six-characters so that the listings memory can understand the source ID.

Here is an example on the "Channel listing" tab using the SourceID:

Correct SourceID tag. Notice the "0" next to the "NBATV" SourceID name.

pvgsendere.png (7.29 KiB) Viewed 7446 times

The former and the latter are normal, since the developer nwgatwcfan is still learning how to code the listings sender software using #C. I tried to follow up if there is a new update but there is no response (even in the entire forums generally since many of the members are now m.i.a. or busy).

[Matthew Joseph]

I dont know how to make multiple programs for the same channel, i changed the timeslot but it just replaces what i had.

Somewhat you need to use various timeslots for different programming in the same SourceID channel in the sender in order to receive the entire program schedule on the SourceID channel. Its like making a program schedule on the same channel using the curday.dat file, but easier.

[tin]

@grumpz if you happen to revisit this page to see what's going on, apologies from me I dealt with some spam in a particularly heavy-handed manner and your account was collateral damage. My apologies, I didn't spot anything legit in a sea of bot accounts. From what I can see I don't think there's anything I can do to reverse that. Please re-register if you do see this, and hopefully catch you on here soon.