Other than a simple channel listing, there isn't an official "enhanced program guide" (EPG), also known as an "interactive program guide" (IPG), with an onscreen TV schedule listing that officially comes with the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. FYI, page 33 of the manual for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card shows an "Update Program Guide" command on the regular Start menu in windows indicating that there must have been an official IPG in the works before any sort of official IPG was apparently dropped for whatever reason. Also, if you look within a settings file for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card, you will see that Creative Labs did indeed have some sort of integrated EPG included with the default software for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card complete with settings for a Videoblaster TV server on the internet for downloading the EPG TV listings data every three days. But Creative Labs dropped what was apparently to be their official EPG service and left it to the users to come up with their own solutions.

BUT THERE ARE UNOFFICIAL
INTERACTIVE PROGRAM GUIDES
AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO USE

DIGIGUIDE is an EPG that could previously be used
with the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card, but
you may want to skip to the XMLTV-based EPGs.

There are a few unofficial EPG programs available for use with the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. There are several EPGs including XMLTV-based EPGs such as PicoGuide, DVCR_EPG, TVHolic (f.k.a. TV-EPG), and the myHTPC EPG that can be used with the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. And then there is DigiGuide which can be used with XMLTV data although DigiGuide no longer officially provides data for the U.S. You can click HERE for more info on how to use DigiGuide with XMLTV. With these EPG programs, you should be able to look up what's on TV and also be able to schedule TV show recordings. You can CLICK HERE to skip ahead to the XMLTV-based EPGs.

HOW DO YOU MAKE
DIGIGUIDE WORK WITH THE
CREATIVE VIDEO BLASTER
DIGITAL VCR CARD?
 

Ruel uses this Kiosk_Like DigiGuide color
scheme with easier-to-see large text fonts
when using DigiGuide as the PC-TV EPG.

DigiGuide is suspending coverage for the United States as of May 16, 2003. However, you can still use DigiGuide by substituting XMLTV data. You can click HERE for more info on setting up XMLTV for use with DigiGuide.

Okay, how do you make DigiGuide work with the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card? Well, there is a new add-on to DigiGuide by Mel Tsai that he calls the DVCR-DigiGuide-addon which is very easy to set up and use. After installing and setting up DigiGuide, click here to get the DVCR-DigiGuide-addon and then simply unzip the contents of the DVCR-DigiGuide-addon ZIP file to the DigiGuide directory. There are instructions included in the ZIP file with details about DVCR-DigiGuide-addon if you want to read the instructions. However, once you have the DVCR-DigiGuide-addon installed, then all you have to do is right-click on a TV show in the TV listings grid in DigiGuide to get the following menu panel.

DVCR-DigiGuide-addon menu dialog panel.
You can click on "Watch on Live TV" or click
on "Schedule recording with DVCR" or click
on "Remove from DVCR schedule".

After you get the right-click menu panel, there will be three menu options that you can choose from: (1) Watch on Live TV; (2) Remove from DVCR schedule; and (3) Schedule recording with DVCR. For the first option to work, you have to have the TV up and running on the screen so you can change the channel in "live TV." The second option is self-explanatory -- if there is already an existing schedule for recording a TV show then you can remove it if you want to. The third option for scheduling a recording will also provide you with the ability to restart the TV (either restart the TV software with the TV showing up on the screen afterwards or restart the TV software in background sleep mode), or to send the appropriate keystrokes to the built-in Scheduler in the software for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card without any need to restart the TV software. FYI, if you select the restart, the restart by the DVCR-DigiGuide-addon should work with all versions of windows. When scheduling recordings, you can also select the recording quality.

DVCR-DigiGuide-addon dialog panel
to schedule individual show recordings.
Click image for full view of dialog panel.

You can also schedule "Group" recordings of TV shows which you want to be recorded on a weekly or daily basis. When you schedule "Group" recordings of the same TV show for every week or for every day of the week, you will have to click the "Group Scheduling Mode" button on the main "Schedule a Recording" dialog panel in order to get the "Schedule a Group" dialog panel.

DVCR-DigiGuide-addon dialog panel
to schedule weekly & daily recordings.
Click image for full view of dialog panel.

DVCR-DigiGuide-addon is very versatile and very smart in how it operates. For instance, the DVCR-DigiGuide-addon can detect if there is a previously scheduled recording going on or if what you are trying to schedule will conflict with another recording.

You can resize DIGIGUIDE to fit your screen.

FYI, to help to make the Text Fonts look larger in DigiGuide, I am using a KIOSK_LIKE DigiGuide color scheme with easier-to-see large text fonts. You can also use the commands CTRL-plus (+) and CTRL-minus (-) [ try pressing down the CTRL key with the plus (+) and the minus (-) keys on the number keypad ] to increase and decrease the size of the text fonts in DigiGuide -- be sure to also click the setting for "Use large fonts in DigiGuide user interface" in the DigiGuide settings (from the toolbar, click Tools, Customize, then click the View tab, and then check the box for the setting).

Note that Hocky's X-EPG is "donationware" meaning if you use the X-EPG software, then please make a donation via the X-EPG website. Hocky is the user who created X-EPG and who deserves compensation for all the hard work he has done in developing X-EPG. FYI, you should be able to use X-EPG with any .TVPI-compatible EPG program.

For DigiGuide using DABDig/DGscript and X-EPG, this is what you should download:

1. DigiGuide (30-day free trial, £6.99 annual subscription)
2. DABDig add-on for DigiGuide (freeware)
3. DGscript add-on for DigiGuide (freeware)
4. DABDIG.INI file for DABDig (free text .INI file)
5. SCRIPTING.INI for DGscript (free text .INI file)
6. X-EPG (click "Files" and then click "X-EPG for Creative Digital VCR") (donationware)

First, download, install, and set up DigiGuide. DigiGuide should install into its default location in the  C:\Program Files\DigiGuide\  directory. Second, download DABDig and unzip the contents of the DABDig ZIP file into the DigiGuide directory. Third, download DGscript and unzip the contents of the DGscript ZIP into the DigiGuide directory. Fourth, download the DABDIG.INI file to the DigiGuide directory. Fifth, download the SCRIPTING.INI file to the DigiGuide directory. Sixth, download and install the latest version of X-EPG using the automated installation set-up program for X-EPG. You should be installing X-EPG in the default directory for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card's software located in the  C:\Program Files\Creative\VideoBlaster Digital VCR\  directory.

Note for DABDig and DGscript, you don't need to read the instructions for those add-on programs. Just unzip the ZIP files for those programs into the DigiGuide directory and download my DABDIG.INI and SCRIPTING.INI files to the DigiGuide directory. I personally got confused reading the documentation for those programs when I initially tried setting up DigiGuide to use those add-ons. Special thanks go to Paul Webster who is the author of the DABDig add-on who assisted in getting DigiGuide and the DigiGuide add-ons to send the scheduling information to the software for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. So, we already did the hard work for you in making sure the DABDIG.INI file and the SCRIPTING.INI file are properly set up to work using the very stable TVPI method of transferring TV scheduling information via X-EPG to the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. The only setting you will need to change is in the DABDIG.INI file. Open the DABDIG.INI file with NOTEPAD and change the  TVPIUTCOFFSET=  setting where that setting tells DABDig the timezone you are in. The different timezones for North America are the following:

 TVPIUTCOFFSET=-10:00    Hawaii
 TVPIUTCOFFSET=-09:00    Alaska
 TVPIUTCOFFSET=-08:00    Pacific
 TVPIUTCOFFSET=-07:00    Mountain
 TVPIUTCOFFSET=-06:00    Central
 TVPIUTCOFFSET=-05:00    Eastern
 TVPIUTCOFFSET=-04:00    Atlantic (Canada)

From within DigiGuide, you can right-click on a TV show in the TV listings grid to get the following menu dialog panel:

DigiGuide menu dialog panel. You will click
"Record program in VideoBlaster DVCR".

Click "Record program in VideoBlaster DVCR" on the menu panel. Then a DGscript dialog panel should pop up with some numbers on it and the title of the TV show you clicked on the TV listings grid. Click OK.

DigiGuide DGscript dialog panel
(click the picture to see full view)

(I have been using the ClickOff program to automatically click the OK button on the DGscript dialog panel.) After you click OK on the DGscript dialog panel, then you should get the X-EPG dialog panel. Since this may be your first time in using this process, you may get a couple dialog panels telling you that the DABDIG.INI file is being updated -- just click OK on those dialog panels until you get the X-EPG dialog panel.

X-EPG dialog panel (click the image for full view).
X-EPG will work with .TVPI -compatible EPGs.

You can select the recording quality you want to use. And if you have Windows XP, you can select whether you want to restart ("Reset DVCR on Schedule") the software for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. Since DigiGuide is an EPG that is external to the software for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card, then the software for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card has be turned off and restarted. Otherwise, the software for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card will not be able to read the new scheduling information. Don't do the restart / reset if you happen to know that the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card is recording a show right now. If there is a recording going on right now, then uncheck the box for "Reset DVCR on Schedule" and then click the "Schedule" button. Then later on you should do the restart by quitting the software for card. You can do this by activating the software with your remote control and then selecting "Quit" on the main menu. Or you can right click the icon for Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card in the system tray and selecting quit. You may want to set up an icon on your desktop or in your Start menu that has the following command so you can do the manual restart of the software after manually quitting the software:  "C:\Program Files\Creative\VideoBlaster Digital VCR\bt1.exe" /M
Be sure to include the  /M  parameter at the end of the command line.

I should mention something about DABDig. So far, DABDig has been described on this webpage as merely one of the tools for helping DigiGuide generate the .TVPI file that X-EPG catches and sends on to the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. DABDig is a more highly versatile tool that other people use with DigiGuide for controlling different TV Tuner cards. If you wish to learn more about DABDig, you may want to join the DABDig newsgroup over at Yahoo.

Okay, you can use DigiGuide to set up recording schedules for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. But what if you want to use different software such as a XMLTV-based EPG? Well, you can check out the next few XMLTV-based EPGs.

XMLTV-BASED EPG
SOFTWARE PROGRAMS
FOR USE WITH THE
CREATIVE VIDEO BLASTER
DIGITAL VCR CARD

DVCR_EPG is a user-created XMLTV-based EPG.

A fair warning to those users who want to use a XMLTV-based EPG: You will have to be persistent and patient if you want to install one of these XMLTV-based EPGs.

For the XMLTV-based DVCR_EPG, you can click HERE to get DVCR_EPG from Prot0vision. DVCR_EPG is user-created freeware designed by Prot0vision for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. DVCR_EPG is free software and assumes that you have the free XMLTV program. (See the next paragraph for PicoGuide where one version of the program includes the XMLTV program.) You may also want to click here to get a ZIP file containing a .BAT file by Lester Jacobs. Note: In order to get DVCR_EPG to work, make sure that the  StorageDirectory=  setting in the BT1.INI file for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card's software has a directory name that ends with a "\" slash and that there are no trailing spaces after the directory name. DVCR_EPG is the prettier of the EPG programs and is intended to be used with the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. Use your keyboard's arrow keys as well as the enter key to manuever around the EPG schedule grid.

PicoGuide is a user-created XMLTV-based EPG.

PicoGuide is another XMLTV-based EPG that when combined with Hocky's X-EPG can be used with the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. PicoGuide was developed by a user named Rattlehead. Like X-EPG, Rattlehead's PicoGuide is also "donationware" -- so if you use PicoGuide, then please also make a donation to Rattlehead via the PicoGuide website. Rattlehead also deserves any contribution to help him with the further development of PicoGuide. You can click HERE to get PicoGuide (donationware) and you can click HERE to get X-EPG (donationware) for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. PicoGuide can be used by itself, but you will also need to get the latest version of Hocky's X-EPG if you want to use PicoGuide to schedule recordings for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. Hocky's X-EPG picks up the .TVPI file which is generated by PicoGuide and then sends that information to the Scheduler in the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. PicoGuide assumes that you are using the XMLTV program. (One version of PicoGuide includes the XMLTV program.) FYI, when you navigate and manuever around PicoGuide, you will have to use your keyboard's arrow keys as well as your enter key.

Fasttech's TVHolic is a user-created XMLTV-based EPG.

TVHolic (formerly known as TV-EPG) by Fasttech is a new user-created XMLTV-based EPG which has developed a devoted following for this freeware EPG. You can use TVHolic with Hocky's X-EPG. Or you can use TVHolic with the Asha perl script which doesn't require restarting the software for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. You may want to check out Kmallick2000's instructions on using Fasttech's TVHolic (under the TV-EPG name) for set-up information. You can click HERE for more information on how to set up TVHolic as your EPG.

myHTPC EPG is another XMLTV-based EPG
that is built into the myHTPC frontend interface

Another XMLTV-based EPG worth checking out is the very elegant myHTPC EPG module which is built into the myHTPC frontend interface. The myHTPC EPG module generates a .TVPI compatible file which can be caught by Hocky's X-EPG or by the Asha perl script to schedule a recording for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. And the myHTPE EPG module can generate a .TVVI file which can be caught by Doug's myView program. (FYI, you will have to associate the myHTPC.TVVI file with the myView.exe program). You can click here for more information about the myHTPC EPG module which is a part of the myHTPC frontend interface. And you can click here to check out myHTPC including screenshots of myHTPC.

With any XMLTV-based EPG, if you get a botched download of TV listings data, you will have go into the directory for the XMLTV program and the XMLTV-based EPG, then delete the downloaded XML files, and then start the download again.

OTHER EPG TIPS

For any of these EPG software programs, you may want to assign a windows shortcut hotkey command to the EPG so you can activate the EPG at anytime. However, you may want to minimize any other windows non-TV program that may be running if you activate a half-screen (or partial-screen) EPG while watching TV. If any other windows non-TV programs are running and are not minimized, then you may want to have the EPG maximized to fill the whole screen when activated while watching TV.

For DVCR_EPG and PicoGuide, you may have to manually turn off and restart the software for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card in order for the new recording schedule information to be read by the Scheduler for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. However, if the software does not restart, such as with Win98 users who are using X-EPG, then you may need to turn off and then restart the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR software to load the new or additional recording schedules.

PEEK AT SAGETV EPG

Here is a sneak peek at the SageTV EPG which is
integrated into the SageTV PVR software program.

I've also been playing with the SageTV PVR software program on my Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. SageTV includes a built-in integrated EPG which is very nice as to how it operates in changing channels and setting up recordings. The SageTV EPG is a paid-subscription EPG that uses TV listings data which is officially supplied by Tribune Media's Zap2it. The SageTV EPG service is now FREE as of May 19, 2003. The folks at Frey Technologies (the makers of SageTV) may possibly say the SageTV EPG service is cheaper than buying the TV Guide print magazine at the newsstand (a little over $8 per month) and cheaper than the TiVo EPG monthly subscription cost ($12.95 per month). You can click here if you want to see how I got SageTV to work with the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card.

BUILT-IN SCHEDULER IN THE
CREATIVE VIDEO BLASTER
DIGITAL VCR CARD

Please note that whether or not you use an EPG, the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card does have its built-in onscreen Scheduler function to manually schedule your recordings -- the Scheduler is easy to use and I would say that it has a basic elegance as to how it looks and operates in full-screen TV mode. (Click here for a discussion about the Scheduler.)

You can still manually schedule TV recordings
with the built-in Scheduler found in the software
for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card.

So, you can still manually schedule all of your TV show recordings if you want to using the built-in Scheduler capability found in the default software for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. When you manually schedule recordings, you would manually schedule the times for the recordings and that would include manually typing in the names of the shows.

Note that the EPGs discussed on this page are third-party software and are not official software for the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card. So, if you send any questions to the folks at Creative Labs, they will most likely tell you to manually schedule your TV recordings since Creative Labs does not support an official EPG / IPG.

If you're like me, then you may find yourself using the Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card with the built-in scheduler and with an EPG to schedule shows to be recorded and then watching the "time-shifted" recordings of your favorite shows during your own personal "primetime" schedule instead of at the TV shows' regularly scheduled times. The Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card with a good EPG are a good combination that should satisfy most TV watchers.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE MAIN PAGE FOR INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION OF EPG / IPG WHEN BUILDING YOUR OWN PC-TV PERSONAL VIDEO RECORDER SYSTEM USING THE CREATIVE VIDEO BLASTER DIGITAL VCR CARD.

Happy PC-TV Watching!
Ruel