Looking for list(s) of upcoming movies to be shown on tv

March 14, 2015 10:04 AM

I'm looking for a website with list(s) of movies that are upcoming on tv so that I can set my dvr to record the ones that I'd like to see. I'm looking for lists that are either specific to one channel (so I can look at each channel separately), or one that could contain only the channels in my Directv package (so that I don't have to pick through ones that I can't record due to not being subscribed to the channel they're playing on). I'd be happy going through multiple lists (one for each channel, like FX, ABC, IFC, etc.), but it would be great to have a list with only the channels I get. Thanks!
posted by atm to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Similar question last month without much resolution.
posted by octothorpe at 10:15 AM on March 14, 2015

TV Guide Listings shows whats on now (and color codes movies for easy parsing). But you can click on any channel to see their schedule for the next two weeks (also color coded).
posted by pjenks at 10:34 AM on March 14, 2015

Zap2it is another tv-listing site, similar to TV Guide.
posted by box at 10:53 AM on March 14, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks for the replies. I have seen those and they are good resources. However, I should have been more specific and said that I'm looking for lists that can be limited to only movies (vs. other types of programs). I don't believe those sites have the ability to both restrict to certain channels and also restrict to only movies.
posted by atm at 11:03 AM on March 14, 2015

Response by poster: I should also have said that I'm looking for one that has a "list view" of movies upcoming, vs the typical horizontal table view like at the two sites mentioned above.

Thanks again!
posted by atm at 11:10 AM on March 14, 2015

Best answer: It's true that TV Guide can't be limited to only movies, but the single-channel page is vertical and when the color coding is turned on, it is simple to see which are movies and which are not.
posted by pjenks at 11:43 AM on March 14, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks, pjenks! That's the best solution I've seen yet, even though it does show duplicates.

It made me wonder about something else that would also be workable. Does anyone know of a downloadable .csv file that contains the upcoming tv listings? If the .csv had category info on each listing, the movies could be extracted from it.
posted by atm at 12:33 PM on March 14, 2015

Best answer: You could sign up for an account on schedulesdirect.org and then download the XML file directly and parse it using your favorite XML tooling. I use it with mythtv and it allows me to do things like define recording rules for movies I haven't seen before made in specific years, with specific genre's and ratings, etc so I have my system automatically recording shows that get put into "B movie" and "recent classics". If you are good with databases, It would totally be possible to install mythtv just so you can use its "mythfilldatabase" to populate SQL tables and work with the resulting data that way and just keep on using your existing DVR.
posted by Poldo at 1:42 PM on March 14, 2015

Response by poster: It looks like schedulesdirect.org isn't free, but if I want this bad enough, $25/year isn't all that bad. And after the setup, it's probably the best functionality I could hope for. (I do know some basic sql.) Thanks, Poldo!

I'll think about buying it, probably while using pjenks' tip on single channel listings on tvguide.com. Thanks pjenks!

And thanks to everyone else, too!
posted by atm at 10:01 AM on March 17, 2015