From: an7689@anon.penet.fi
Subject: VCR Plus+ PlusCodes:  2 of 3
Organization: Anonymous contact service
X-Anonymously-To: rec.video
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 12:24:00 GMT

                            VCRCode, Version 1.00 
                      A Program for IBM-PC Compatibles 
                 to Generate 1 to 6 Digit VCR Plus+ PlusCodes 

                      This program is brought to you by 

                               The Good Doctor

            It  is  based  on  information  appearing  in  Shirriff K, 
        Welch C,   Kinsman A,   "Decoding  a  VCR  Controller   Code," 
        Cryptologia, 16 (#3, July 1992), 227-234.  

            VCR Plus+  and PlusCode  are  trademarks  of  the  Gemstar 
        Development Corporation.   

                             The Program VCRCode 

            VCRCode  generates 1 to 6 digit VCR Plus+  PlusCodes.    A 
        quick check of the TV listings will show that  this covers the 
        vast majority of codes that anyone is likely to need.   The  7 
        and 8 digit codes occur primarily with odd starting times.   A 
        simple work around is to pick an earlier starting time on  the 
        hour  or half hour and adjust the duration accordingly.    The 
        VCR Plus+ itself can be used to add multiples of 15 minutes to 
        any program duration by pressing the ADD TIME button under the 
        VCR Plus+ cover (1 press for each 15 minutes). 

            In  some locations,  the programs of certain UHF  stations 
        routinely end up with longer codes.   The VCR Plus+ includes a 
        channel  mapping capability that can be used to overcome  this 
        difficulty.    Suppose  local channel 67's programs often have 
        longer codes and  channel 3 is unused.   Use the VCR Plus+  to 
        map channel 3 to 67  (or, more properly,  the channel assigned 
        by the VCR Plus+  to over-the-air broadcast channel 67).  Then 
        use  VCRCode to generate the appropriate PlusCode for  channel 
        3.  This will not  affect your ability to use codes printed in 
        local listings since channel 67 still maps to itself. 

            Why was VCRCode  written?    For three reasons:   (1)  The 
        VCR Plus+   will  not accept codes for shows after  their  air 
        date.   Thus, an old PlusCode can't be used to initiate weekly 
        taping.  (2)  The ease of locating a TV listing decreases with 
        the need to obtain a PlusCode.  Computers, for the moment, are 
        less  mobile and tend to stay put.   (3)  Not all TV  listings 
        contain all PlusCodes.  


                                  Using VCRCode 

            Enter VCRCode at the  DOS prompt and then follow VCRCode's 
        prompts.    The starting date (mm/dd/yy)  must be entered with 
        slashes interspaced.  The starting time (hh:00|30 a|p) is more 
        flexible  than  the prompt suggests.   If minutes are  omitted 
        they are assumed to be 00.  A hyphen or a space may be used in 
        place  of  the colon.   There need not be a space  before  the 
        am|pm  indicator,  which may be typed in upper or lower  case.  
        For example, '7:00 p' could be be entered as '7 00P' or '7p'. 

            Press  Enter  at  the  starting date  prompt  to  end  the 
        program. 


                             The File CHANNEL.MAP 
            
            When  the VCR Plus+  is used with cable or when there  are 
        many station in a broadcast area,  the channel number assigned 
        by VCR Plus+  may be different from the cable channel or over-
        the-air channel number.   When you set up your VCR Plus+,  you 
        went  through  Step  4 which established  the  mapping between 
        channel  numbers.   The file CHANNEL.MAP makes it possible  to 
        establish  similar  mappings so  that  over-the-air  or  cable 
        channel numbers can be used instead  of the VCR Plus+ assigned 
        channel numbers in VCRCode. 

            CHANNEL.MAP  is  an  ASCII file created by  using  a  text 
        editor or word processor that can save ASCII files.   The EDIT 
        program in DOS 5.0 is perfect for the job.   Even EDLIN may be 
        used.   Each record contains  two  numbers separated by one or 
        more  spaces.   In keeping with VCR Plus+  setup,   the  first 
        number  is  the  channel assigned by VCR  Plus+.   (See  local 
        listings.   In TV Guide,  the information may be found on  the 
        white  page  immediately  before the first page of  listings.)  
        The second number is the over-the-air or cable channel number. 
            
            For example,  suppose the VCR Plus+ assigns channel 14  to 
        over-the-air   broadcast  channel  67.    Then  one  line   of 
        CHANNEL.MAP should read
                                   14   67 

            If VCRCode  finds  the  file  CHANNEL.MAP  in  the current 
        directory,   it uses the information in the file to  translate 
        cable  channel or over-the-air broadcast channel numbers  into 
        VCR Plus+ assigned channel numbers.  If there is no such file, 
        VCRCode  processes channel numbers as entered in  response  to 
        its  prompt.    In  the previous example,  if  there  were  no 
        CHANNEL.MAP  file,   channel 14  should be entered  to  create 
        PlusCodes for broadcast channel 67. 

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