Discussion:
[Xmltv-devel] Changes to Atlas access
Robert Eden
2016-06-07 03:42:21 UTC
Permalink
MetaBroadcast provides paid APIs for developers. A free trial is
possible for up to 10 users and up to 3 months. Our APIs are not a
good fit for those who wish to download data for personal use, eg for
an eyeTV, MythTV or other similar devices. Indeed, this use has been
specifically forbidden in our API terms for more than two years.
Wow... most XMLTV users have been forbidden by the terms for two
years??? Anyone notice that? Atlas could avoided a while lot of hassle
by letting us know!

Robert
Nick Morrott
2016-06-08 05:09:13 UTC
Permalink
Post by Robert Eden
MetaBroadcast provides paid APIs for developers. A free trial is
possible for up to 10 users and up to 3 months. Our APIs are not a
good fit for those who wish to download data for personal use, eg for
an eyeTV, MythTV or other similar devices. Indeed, this use has been
specifically forbidden in our API terms for more than two years.
Wow... most XMLTV users have been forbidden by the terms for two
years??? Anyone notice that? Atlas could avoided a while lot of hassle
by letting us know!
It is difficult to comprehend that there has been no mention of this
until recently, and that explicit mention of "incompatible" PVR
software has only *just* been mentioned.

I don't understand either how it's *more* efficient to continually
poll the Atlas service every time you need data, rather than once a
day early in the morning.

All power to Schedules Direct for providing a service that end-users
actually want and for making it affordable.

Once someone has written a listings app, I'm having trouble grokking
the wider appeal of the "valid" use case of only accessing what's on
currently (or in 2 hour blocks), or the lack of cached endpoints that
can provide a day's listings without affecting the QoS of their
platform.

The soon-to-be-retired Radio Times data service has performed almost
flawlessly since I started using it in 2004. But as with all things
that *just work*, they have to be replaced...

MB are not interested in paying subscribers for a continuation of the
RT service either. Currently a single XMLTV user must pay £1,200/year
(after the initial 3 month trial) for continued access to the Atlas
service under the new terms.

Artisan cake in London sure is expensive :)

Cheers,
Nick
Gary Buhrmaster
2016-06-08 05:35:04 UTC
Permalink
....
Post by Nick Morrott
Post by Robert Eden
Wow... most XMLTV users have been forbidden by the terms for two
years??? Anyone notice that? Atlas could avoided a while lot of hassle
by letting us know!
It is difficult to comprehend that there has been no mention of this
until recently, and that explicit mention of "incompatible" PVR
software has only *just* been mentioned.
I have no actual evidence, but I suspect this is the straw problem
(associated with a camel's back).

Just as zap2it labs was willing to provide personal guide data
in the US (even though it "competed" with their commercial
guide service) as long as the volume was low and only used
for personal open source products, eventually someones
decided to ignore licenses and to use the data in bulk (for
commercial-style activities), and zap2it was forced to stop it
for all(*).

Using the past adjustments in the terms of service simply covers
MB actions today, but if everyone "played by the fair use rules" the
looking the other way might likely have continued.

And this is why we can't have nice things.




(*) Yes, it is always more complex than simple summaries,
but the abuse was claimed to be real.
Karl Dietz
2016-06-08 05:52:50 UTC
Permalink
Post by Nick Morrott
MB are not interested in paying subscribers for a continuation of the
RT service either. Currently a single XMLTV user must pay £1,200/year
(after the initial 3 month trial) for continued access to the Atlas
service under the new terms.
You can always start a service similar to schedules direct, that
bundles the contracts into a bigger package and takes care of the end
user support. Just be sure to add a dedicated feed that is designed
for the xmltv use case.

Although notice that the Atlas API fee is not the only payable fee.
According to
https://metabroadcast.com/blog/getting-full-uk-listings-data-from-atlas-it-s-easy
You have to pay for Atlas usage, the RT data and "fees payable to
Red Bee Media on behalf of ITV".

Regards,
Karl
h***@gmail.com
2016-06-08 08:27:19 UTC
Permalink
Post by Nick Morrott
All power to Schedules Direct for providing a service that end-users
actually want and for making it affordable.
Wholeheartedly agree. Much thanks are due to Robert and the Schedules Direct guys.
Post by Nick Morrott
Artisan cake in London sure is expensive :)
True dat :-)

Geoff
Paul Webster
2016-06-08 20:39:09 UTC
Permalink
FYI MetaBroadcast blog about this from mid-May
https://metabroadcast.com/blog/changes-to-atlas-access
where they suggest SD as a possible replacement (and state that they have not made contact).

Paul Webster
Post by h***@gmail.com
Post by Nick Morrott
All power to Schedules Direct for providing a service that end-users
actually want and for making it affordable.
Wholeheartedly agree. Much thanks are due to Robert and the Schedules Direct guys.
Post by Nick Morrott
Artisan cake in London sure is expensive :)
True dat :-)
Geoff
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h***@gmail.com
2016-06-08 21:25:22 UTC
Permalink
Post by Paul Webster
FYI MetaBroadcast blog about this from mid-May
https://metabroadcast.com/blog/changes-to-atlas-access
where they suggest SD as a possible replacement (and state that they have not made contact).
Paul Webster
Your point? FYI MetaBroadcast only mentioned SD after people from this list told them about it.

Do you prefer chicken or egg?
Paul Webster
2016-06-08 21:44:41 UTC
Permalink
Post by h***@gmail.com
Post by Paul Webster
FYI MetaBroadcast blog about this from mid-May
https://metabroadcast.com/blog/changes-to-atlas-access
where they suggest SD as a possible replacement (and state that they have not made contact).
Paul Webster
Your point? FYI MetaBroadcast only mentioned SD after people from this list told them about it.
Do you prefer chicken or egg?
I wasn't trying to make a particular point - just highlighting their blog since I do not remember seeing it mentioned here. It has quite a lot of detail and I thought it might be of interest that they were telling their users to look at SD.


Paul

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