[Release] Data Format Documentation

[AriX]

Here's something I've been wanting for a long time, that I'm thrilled to have recently uncovered: original documentation for the 2400 baud data feed!

Here are the documents:
http://prevueguide.com/Documentation/K_Command.pdf
http://prevueguide.com/Documentation/f_Command.pdf
http://prevueguide.com/Documentation/G2_Command.pdf
http://prevueguide.com/Documentation/G3_Command.pdf
http://prevueguide.com/Documentation/D2400.pdf

Hope this helps us make better serial data format generators. Enjoy!

A few notes:
- "CG" stands for "character generator" and is an umbrella term that UV used to refer to the computers that generated TV channels (including EPG, Prevue Guide, Sneak Prevue, etc.).
- "HP" refers to the HP computer used to generate the 2400 baud data feed.
- The D2400 document was current as of ~1993, but is missing many commands which were introduced subsequently.
- The documents for the 'f', 'g2', 'g3', and 'K' commands are from ~1997. They are missing documentation of the CTRL-K command and mode 'f' ClockCmd setting which were introduced in 1998.

[hentaicrusader]

sweet when i get in a better mood i can implement this into the curday generator

[Matthew Joseph]

Ok I just came from my hibernation (yes!) to find out something.

After I stumbled upon reading the config.dat file of the software (the TVGC one) in the wiki and the F command documentation, there I found some of the characters found in the config.dat file are matched with the F command. Although the config.dat file and the F-command are different, they have the same function.

The configuration code is like this:

Code: Select all

2C010808GNAE01NNNNNNL2906YYY233606015100YNYCŽ8NNNNN1

Here are some of my findings [note that those in the parenthesis are the characters in the config.dat, link of the wiki below] (p.s. they may be accurate or not but may be subjected to revisions or corrections):

1. The first character, the "2" refers to the grid hold time, or how many seconds the grid will freeze when the three listings pause is activated.
2. The letter "E" (tenth) means the language. E means English, and based of the F command, it is the default language for the software. There are other languages including Spanish (or S) for those in Latin American countries and French (or F), mainly for Quebec viewers in Canada.
3. The "G" (seventh) means it is in grid format. In the documentation, it can be switched between the grid format and the pre-1993 scroll format, which is the "S".
4. "23" and "36" (25 and 26) refers to the promotions of primetime programming, mainly the start and the end. "23" means primetime promotions will start at 4:30 p.m., and "36" means that primetime promotions ends at 10:30 p.m. local time. Other when both are changed to "01", it will be at 5 a.m. local time.
5. The "8" (36th) means the number of colors. The default is "8", which means 8 colors, while "16" means 16 colors.
6. "29" (20th) means the start of primetime is at 7 p.m. local time. Like in the fourth one, changing to "01" means 5:00 a.m. is the start of primetime.
7. The rotations, or in layman's term the gray-colored summaries, in the config.dat file is "1", which means summaries will rotate after one listings cycle alternatively. In the documentation, "9" means after nine listings cycles, the selected rotation will appear. The default is "0", which means it will not appear in any of the cycles.
8. The "C" (second) means whether the channel name of the grid will appear by source name (ex: if the six-letter channel name is "Freefm" (or Freeform in full), then the source name is "CBNFmy") or by its defaulted six-letter channel name.
9. The "A" (ninth) refers to the "pie format" of the grid, mainly the three time bars (e.g. 2:00 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:00 p.m.) beside the clock. I still have to confirm this one since it is that setting, but the "B" is the default, which means it will set at the one I exampled. The "A" is by halves (e.g. 2:15 p.m., 2:45 p.m., 3:15 p.m.), maybe for those channels with the "Turner Time" function.

I still have to confirm others including the "L", which may have both meanings in the F-command (one is for the LaserDisc localized ads and one is local text ads editing) and whether the "C" is actually custom length of the grid than the "H" for half. Try to experiment this with the F-command to the local config.dat file.

Here's the wiki link for the config.dat article: http://www.prevueguide.com/wiki/Prevue_ ... ation_File

But that's all I know.