IT & INTERNET - [MediaCenter Alerter]
I use Windows Media Center to watch TV & movies. The Media Center has an electronic program guide (EPG) which contains an overview of all TV shows that will be broadcaster within the next two to three weeks. Media Center updates the EPG every few days, so it always has the most recent information.
You can search the EPG for certain TV shows by using the Media Center search function. Just type the name of a show (or just a part of the name) and Media Center will show a list with all matching TV shows. So searching the database is quite easy, but what if you are looking for a specific program/movie? In the Media Center EPG you would have to search every few weeks for that specific movie. There is no function that allows you to build a 'watch list', a list with movie titles you want MediaCenter to look for.
So I've started to investigate if it is possible to access the Media Center EPG database from my own software. Guess what? The EPG database turns out to be a real database that can be accessed with SQL queries!
A screenshot of the software can be seen in the image below. You can maintain a list with programs to watch. Once a match was found, the show and all the necessary details (date/time/broadcasting channel) will appear in the listbox at the bottom of my program.
The software will query the database each time Windows starts. A popup screen is shown if a new matching program is found.
Due to legal issues this software is not available for download. I just use this software for personal use. On the Internet you can find plenty of information how to extract data from the EPG-database.