Guide Data Outage - 2017 Edition

Global guide related discussion. All Windows versions.
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SugarFree

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#101

Post by SugarFree » Wed May 24, 2017 2:06 pm

Guide is once again malfunctioning. A manual update returns a "guide successfully downloaded" message, but no new data appears. The guide now ends 6/1 at 9 p.m eastern, which is only 9 days from now. I've called the proper person at Rovi, and hope to hear back today or tomorrow, at which time I'll post an update.

SugarFree

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#102

Post by SugarFree » Wed May 24, 2017 5:16 pm

UPDATE: Just spoke to Rovi. They were unaware of the issue, and will reach out to MS immediately to try and resolve it. I will post any updates as they send them to me.

anotheruser

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#103

Post by anotheruser » Wed May 24, 2017 5:32 pm

SugarFree wrote:UPDATE: Just spoke to Rovi. They were unaware of the issue, and will reach out to MS immediately to try and resolve it. I will post any updates as they send them to me.
Thanks for contacting them. I'd suggest telling them that well under half of the daily updates over the last month have had any new data. Since the updates are marked as new but contain no new data, it's possible/likely that the daily data transfer between Rovi and Microsoft is failing and Microsoft is running their data processing on old data.

I hope Rovi appreciates this reflects badly on them too.

For the record, updates switched from about 8 pm EDT to after midnight which means no opportunity to check/schedule prime time with fresh(er) data. Last 3 daily updates have had no new data and actual schedule data ends 8 pm EDT on June 2.

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#104

Post by anotheruser » Wed May 24, 2017 8:50 pm

Just got an update with no new data. This is after another update with no new data earlier today.

Someone might be working on this given the extra update. I just hope they don't think they fixed it...

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#105

Post by SugarFree » Wed May 24, 2017 8:53 pm

They don't think it's fixed, which will likely take a few days. They'll let me know when it is.

anotheruser

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#106

Post by anotheruser » Thu May 25, 2017 8:45 pm

Just checked and got an update with 4 days of new data. Actual data now ends at 8 pm EDT on June 6. That's still one day short of a full on time update.

Thanks to SugarFree for contacting Rovi.

I wonder what happens tomorrow. I suspect the EPG updates might still be 1 hit wonders.

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#107

Post by SugarFree » Thu May 25, 2017 10:07 pm

AnotherUser, thanks for the info. A manual update gave me data to June 5. I passed on the info to Rovi, who said they were planning to email MS for an update tomorrow anyway, and would still do so. If it's fixed, that's great, but I'd like to know what caused it.

wifiwanderer

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#108

Post by wifiwanderer » Thu May 25, 2017 10:55 pm

Many thanks to those working to keep EPG data current. OTA Fresno-Visalia, good through 4 PM, 6 June.

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davidhp

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#109

Post by davidhp » Fri May 26, 2017 2:54 am

Thanks SugarFree for contacting Rovi, WMC is always challenging but for the last month it has been driving me crazy, updates a day or two then stops updating for two or three. I wish it could just be stabilized.

adam1991

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#110

Post by adam1991 » Fri May 26, 2017 10:55 am

But I have to ask, what does it matter if it doesn't update every day? What does it matter if it updates only every other day? As long as any given day's guide data are current, who cares if it's all the way out 12 days or only 11?

SugarFree

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#111

Post by SugarFree » Fri May 26, 2017 11:47 am

12 v. 11 doesn't matter. 12 v. 8 or 9 - - when the guide claims to be updated but is not - does. That's because it means something is wrong, and if MS doesn't know (they never do), they can't fix it. Last time that happened we went down to 2 days left. Perhaps you might have found that mattered. :)

Space

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#112

Post by Space » Fri May 26, 2017 3:14 pm

adam1991 wrote:But I have to ask, what does it matter if it doesn't update every day? What does it matter if it updates only every other day? As long as any given day's guide data are current, who cares if it's all the way out 12 days or only 11?
The less often you get an update, the less accurate the data you have is. Sometimes the networks only send out updates to the guide providers a few days before a show airs, if we only get updates every 4 days then we will never see those updates.

This is most noticeable when there is a major event (such as the death of a celebrity, or a tragic event) and the networks change there schedule to air a "special report" or similar special programming. The schedule that the providers (Gracenote, TiVo) get are already delayed a day or two (due to needing time to process the data) before we normally get them, but add another 4 or so days of delay to that pretty much means we will never get those updates.

That is just an example of the most obvious "last minute" changes that are made, but other changes are made all the time to programming that may add more details to the episode, change what episode is airing, or update other important or less important data.

If you happen to record from channels that know and send out their accurate schedule way ahead of time, then you may never see these late updates and there wont be a problem with getting data every 4 days instead of every day. But for those networks that like to make changes to their schedule only a few days before air time, it can be a problem.

anotheruser

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#113

Post by anotheruser » Fri May 26, 2017 5:24 pm

A couple of current examples of why you might want a current guide instead of data days old.

- no detail on tonight's Dateline NBC or both tomorrow's 48 Hours. Typically details for those shows are available 1-2 days before but we're currently still a day behind normal.

- no guest info all next week for any late night talk shows on ABC or NBC, only CBS.

These are just examples. I have multiple shows on local independent stations that only get updates 3-4 days ahead. Team listings during the playoffs were missing multiple times due to update failures.

I'd rather have 5 days of fresh and current listings than 14 days of even 3 day old listings.

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#114

Post by anotheruser » Sat May 27, 2017 12:06 am

Today's update contains 2 days of new data bringing us fully up to date with actual data to 8pm EDT on June 8.

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#115

Post by adam1991 » Sat May 27, 2017 12:31 am

anotheruser wrote:A couple of current examples of why you might want a current guide instead of data days old.

- no detail on tonight's Dateline NBC or both tomorrow's 48 Hours. Typically details for those shows are available 1-2 days before but we're currently still a day behind normal.

- no guest info all next week for any late night talk shows on ABC or NBC, only CBS.
ummmmmm....so?

If you're that worried about knowing specifically what's on (instead of just recording every relevant show), you can go to the show's web site and decide from there.

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#116

Post by Space » Sat May 27, 2017 1:21 am

So if I want to record every show that has, say, "Johnny Depp" on as a guest, I should go to every website of every network everyday and search for any shows where he might be a guest?

If you don't have current, up to date, data then you can no longer do keyword-type records and expect any kind of dependability.

Plus the data from TiVo leaves much to be desired as it is, they sometimes correct errors a few days before airing. It can be the difference between not recording your show (because it was "To Be Announced" instead of the correct program) and getting more dependable recordings of the shows you want.

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davidhp

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#117

Post by davidhp » Sat May 27, 2017 4:49 am

Another reason to keep on Rovi and Microsoft to deliver the EPG as promised when it was originally purchased. Plus if we the users don't keep after them, then the problems of the past of the EPG getting down to a day or two of programing left occurs. I believe as users we paid for a program that was to update every day and Microsoft made a lot of money from our purchases, it is not unreasonable to want the program to work as it is supposed to or do you think multi billion dollar corporations should be able to ignore the promises to the users of their products and not deliver on the maintenance of the product millions of people paid for.

anotheruser

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#118

Post by anotheruser » Sat May 27, 2017 9:56 pm

Today's update contains 1 day of new data bringing us fully up to date with actual data to 8pm EDT on June 9.

That's 3 days in a row of updates with new data which is​ the longest streak in a month. The 13 days of data available about 3 hours before the start of prime time is as good as we get.

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#119

Post by Space » Sun May 28, 2017 12:17 am

It appears that they have fixed the issue. I just wish they had some way of detecting (and fixing) issues without the users having to report them every time.

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#120

Post by anotheruser » Mon May 29, 2017 3:24 am

Doesn't look "fixed". Today's update was about 6 hours later than the last few days and contains no new data.

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