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Users of the excellent Windows Media Center EPG tool Big Screen EPG will be glad to know that Niall has released a beta of a new version that supports Windows 8 Consumer Preview as well as Windows 7. The news version has new online TV series database and a new UI.

The beta is an update to the existing setup package and you can get the tool from the download page  (ou need to register register)

This new v1.5a release provides the following enhancements / new features :

  • (Optional) Windows 8 CP Support for both x32+x64 versions (and like will support final release of Windows 8). A separate replacement .exe is provided for this platform (see install notes).All EPG and related features of Big Screen EPG in Windows 7 are now working with Big Screen EPG on Windows 8 (including support for increasing the default number of tuners) – however do note there are some problems with Win8 CP itself (see release notes) with regards to Scheduled Tasks and Network shares.
  • New Online updating TV Series Database: The new version will now download ‘metadata files’ for tv series – so you can get the latest updates without having to get a new version of Big Screen EPG. The new database has 2500+ new tv shows + artwork including 2012/2011 titles (and available for download after you install the new version).image
  • New UI to make increasing number of tuners much easier – previously was a command line option only :
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  • Enhanced Metro(ish) style User Interface –  this is still a work in progress – but I’ve tried (where doable) to enhance the UI to use metro style buttons and layout. There’s a few bits which still look a little ugly.Here’s the new start page for example :
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  • Some Bug fixes :– Fixed Support for following XMLTV providers :- Schedules Direct sources now properly parses the Episode ID.
    – Added additional support for xmltv_ns with extraction of ‘Part’ numbers
    ie. “2 . 23 . 0/2 “ + “2 . 23 . 1/2

    – Fixed Add Provider Wizard bug where it was ignoring selection of Enabled/Disabled Channels – plus enhanced some other logic (such as supporting server based presets without passwords).

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