Index: shepherd
===================================================================
--- shepherd (revision 33)
+++ shepherd (revision 34)
@@ -271,9 +271,13 @@
 	$comm .= " --debug" if ($debug);
 	$comm .= " @ARGV" if (@ARGV);
-	print "SHEPHERD: Excuting command: $comm\n";
-
-	chdir "$GRABBER_DIR/$grabber/";
-	system($comm);
-	chdir $CWD;
+
+	if ((defined $opt->{dontcallgrabbers}) && ($opt->{dontcallgrabbers})) {
+	    printf "SHEPHERD: not calling grabber because of --dontcallgrabbers option, but will instead use existing $output\n";
+ 	} else {
+	    print "SHEPHERD: Excuting command: $comm\n";
+	    chdir "$GRABBER_DIR/$grabber/";
+	    system($comm);
+	    chdir $CWD;
+	}
 
 	# soak up the data we just collected
@@ -737,5 +741,5 @@
                             next if ($field eq "stop_epoch");
                             if (!defined $new_prog_entry->{$field}) {
-                                printf "REC#5b:      adding field \"%s\"\n",$field;
+                                printf "REC#5b:      adding field \"%s\"\n",$field if $recdebug;
                                 $new_prog_entry->{$field} = $match_prog->{$field};
                                 # TODO (FUTURE): should we add to programme description to say where we got what data from?
@@ -745,10 +749,32 @@
                 }
 
+		#
                 # 6.  write out new entry
+		#
+
                 printf "REC#6: writing out programme entry\n" if $recdebug;
-                #delete $new_prog_entry->{'start_epoch'};
-                #delete $new_prog_entry->{'stop_epoch'};
                 &cleanup($new_prog_entry);
+
+		# scrub programme for known bogosities
+
+		# oztivo typically inserts blank 'director' details into 'credits' .. scrub them
+		if ((defined $new_prog_entry->{'credits'}) &&
+		    (defined $new_prog_entry->{'credits'}->{'director'}) &&
+		    (defined $new_prog_entry->{'credits'}->{'director'}->[0])) {
+		    my @director_list = $new_prog_entry->{'credits'}->{'director'}->[0];
+		    for my $i (0 .. $#director_list) {
+			delete $new_prog_entry->{'credits'}->{'director'}->[$i] if ((defined $director_list[$i]) && ($director_list[$i] eq ""));
+		    }
+		}
+
+		# want to keep epoch start/stop for our own processing, but stop XMLTV whining about it in write_programme
+		# so temporarily remove them & reinsert them back afterwards
+		my ($orig_start_epoch,$orig_end_epoch) = ($new_prog_entry->{'start_epoch'},$new_prog_entry->{'stop_epoch'});
+		delete $new_prog_entry->{'start_epoch'};
+		delete $new_prog_entry->{'stop_epoch'};
+
+		# write out
                 $writer->write_programme($new_prog_entry);
+		($new_prog_entry->{'start_epoch'},$new_prog_entry->{'stop_epoch'}) = ($orig_start_epoch,$orig_end_epoch);
 
                 # 7a. remove all programmes that end before this endtime
@@ -823,4 +849,5 @@
 my %amp;
 BEGIN { %amp = ( nbsp => ' ', qw{ amp & lt < gt > apos ' quot " } ) }
+
 sub cleanup {
     my $x = shift;
@@ -829,10 +856,9 @@
     elsif (ref $x eq "ARRAY") { cleanup(\$_) for @$x }
     elsif (defined $$x) {
-	$$x =~ s/&(#(\d+)|(.*?));/ $2 ? chr($2) : $amp{$3}||' ' /eg;
-	# $$x =~ s/[^\x20-\x7f]/ /g;
-	$$x =~ s/(^\s+|\s+$)//g;
-    }
-}
-
+	$$x =~ s/&(#(\d+)|(.*?));/ $2 ? chr($2) : $amp{$3}||' ' /eg; # scrub html
+	# $$x =~ s/[^\x20-\x7f]/ /g;	# disabled (we want to keep non-std chars)
+	$$x =~ s/(^\s+|\s+$)//g;	# strip leading/trailing spaces
+    }
+}
 
 # -----------------------------------------
@@ -1339,4 +1365,5 @@
 	      'configure'	=> \$opt->{configure},
 	      'mirror=s'	=> \$opt->{mirror},
+	      'dontcallgrabbers' => \$opt->{dontcallgrabbers},
               'debug'           => \$debug);
 }
@@ -1581,5 +1608,6 @@
     } else {
 	if (!ref($arg)) {
-	    CORE::die((sprintf "DIE at line %d in file %s: %s\n",$line,$file,(join("",($arg,@rest)))));
+	    printf STDERR "DIE at line %d in file %s\n",$line,$file;
+	    CORE::die(join("",@rest));
 	} else {
 	    CORE::die($arg,@rest);