Prevue Guide Forums

Splitting this off of the TV Guide Hollywood Genlock thread mostly because I'd rather keep anything regarding Hollywood in its own thread.

Into the recent week, we at the Prevue Guide Discord managed to get our hands on the Hollywood software, the name given to the 'TV Guide Channel' software, which ran on Windows NT instead of AmigaOS. Since then we've figured out quite a bit, and I'll include some of what we've got so far:

1. The software isn't fully emulatable. When we got our hands on the software, we discovered that the card that was mentioned in the TVG Genlock thread is paramount for it to run at all. As far as I can figure out, the software utilizes various API calls and stuff that's only tailored for that specific card, and because of that (and the fact that there isn't an emulator nor API replacement for said card, this pretty much concludes that it requires the actual unit to work. That doesn't mean we've tried getting it to work some other way. If you install Hollywood but choose "Software Only" in the setup, you can get a very limited 'PC Prevue/Prevue Jr.'-esque guide where the listings are shown through individual pages rather than scrolling from bottom to top.
   
   On the topic of the specific video card, If anyone is willing to help out and work on a workaround, you are free to do so. As of writing I've located the source for what I can assume might be the driver, but also the sample software. Along with this a document documenting its API. You can find a link to them here.
2. Killswitch The software has a killswitch date if it's set to December 21, 2020. From what I could gather it deletes some local files, however I can't be 100% on this yet.
3. DataIt stores most of its data in SQL. As of the writing of this thread, we've figured out how to modify some of it, particularly the listings. Here is some progress:
   
4. The error in this image might've been generated on the satellite feed, and not the actual guide itself. This might also explain the 'PLEASE STAND BY' wallpaper as well.
   

I'll update later with more, but for now i've included what I've been able to figure out so far and find the most interesting.

Reserving the first reply to add some other information when I get the chance including explaining how the SQL database works for those interested (the image of the software showing the "PREVUE" channel was mine).

I will mention, for anyone here interested in Hollywood, please join the Discord server for the forums. There is already extensive information including how to get it up and running on a Windows XP VM that is not yet posted on the wiki or forums, and information on the actual hardware. We'd love to see you there!

Everyone on the Prevue Guide Discord has been continuing to work on Hollywood and we've made a few things to help out anyone looking into running Hollywood.

1. PajamaDarkness has created a very nice site linking to the current Hollywood hard drive images we have over at http://ftp.park-city.club/frix/hollywood/, including two mirrors of the software
2. I've put together an installation tutorial video on how to install Hollywood standalone on anything running Windows XP that can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmhsxftwZR0

twckelby wrote: ↑Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:44 pm Everyone on the Prevue Guide Discord has been continuing to work on Hollywood and we've made a few things to help out anyone looking into running Hollywood.

1. PajamaDarkness has created a very nice site linking to the current Hollywood hard drive images we have over at http://ftp.park-city.club/frix/hollywood/, including two mirrors of the software
2. I've put together an installation tutorial video on how to install Hollywood standalone on anything running Windows XP that can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmhsxftwZR0

I tried putting everything together but I can't get SQL to work among other things...

CPLANAS1985 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 27, 2020 2:15 am

twckelby wrote: ↑Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:44 pm Everyone on the Prevue Guide Discord has been continuing to work on Hollywood and we've made a few things to help out anyone looking into running Hollywood.

1. PajamaDarkness has created a very nice site linking to the current Hollywood hard drive images we have over at http://ftp.park-city.club/frix/hollywood/, including two mirrors of the software
2. I've put together an installation tutorial video on how to install Hollywood standalone on anything running Windows XP that can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmhsxftwZR0

I tried putting everything together but I can't get SQL to work among other things...

Are you sure you're using Windows 2000/XP?

PajamaDarkness wrote: ↑Fri Nov 27, 2020 6:36 pm

CPLANAS1985 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 27, 2020 2:15 am

twckelby wrote: ↑Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:44 pm Everyone on the Prevue Guide Discord has been continuing to work on Hollywood and we've made a few things to help out anyone looking into running Hollywood.

1. PajamaDarkness has created a very nice site linking to the current Hollywood hard drive images we have over at http://ftp.park-city.club/frix/hollywood/, including two mirrors of the software
2. I've put together an installation tutorial video on how to install Hollywood standalone on anything running Windows XP that can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmhsxftwZR0

I tried putting everything together but I can't get SQL to work among other things...

Are you sure you're using Windows 2000/XP?

Windows 10 Pro N 64 Bit 20H2 (Intel HD Graphics 2000)

CPLANAS1985 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 28, 2020 4:22 am Windows 10 Pro N 64 Bit 20H2 (Intel HD Graphics 2000)

You may need Windows NT or XP to run the Hollywood software. Otherwise, Vista, 7 or 10 will not allow to run the software due to technical specification and software restrictions.

If you want to run throught NT or XP, run through virtual machine or have a real installer of NT or XP if you have.

Matthew Joseph wrote: ↑Sat Nov 28, 2020 5:17 am

CPLANAS1985 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 28, 2020 4:22 am Windows 10 Pro N 64 Bit 20H2 (Intel HD Graphics 2000)

You may need Windows NT or XP to run the Hollywood software. Otherwise, Vista, 7 or 10 will not allow to run the software due to technical specification and software restrictions.

If you want to run throught NT or XP, run through virtual machine or have a real installer of NT or XP if you have.

Just want to add to this: Use VMware Workstation Player if you run it in a VM. I haven't gotten it to work properly under VirtualBox.

IowanEASFan wrote: ↑Sat Nov 28, 2020 11:58 pm

Matthew Joseph wrote: ↑Sat Nov 28, 2020 5:17 am

CPLANAS1985 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 28, 2020 4:22 am Windows 10 Pro N 64 Bit 20H2 (Intel HD Graphics 2000)

You may need Windows NT or XP to run the Hollywood software. Otherwise, Vista, 7 or 10 will not allow to run the software due to technical specification and software restrictions.

If you want to run throught NT or XP, run through virtual machine or have a real installer of NT or XP if you have.

Just want to add to this: Use VMware Workstation Player if you run it in a VM. I haven't gotten it to work properly under VirtualBox.

I have ZERO experience with such... I'm out of luck!!!

twckelby wrote: ↑Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:44 pm [...]

1. PajamaDarkness has created a very nice site linking to the current Hollywood hard drive images we have over at http://ftp.park-city.club/frix/hollywood/, including two mirrors of the software

[...]

Most of those links are now broken.