Guide Data Outage - 2017 Edition

Global guide related discussion. All Windows versions.
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dbailey75

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#1481

Post by dbailey75 » Fri Sep 08, 2017 3:02 pm

Ken H wrote:
dbailey75 wrote:
Anywho, tired of dealing with Rovi, waited for what 2 years for this to be fix.

Installed EPG123 on one PC last night, holly cow, all the thumb nails are correct. Will be moving the second PC over this weekend. Need to have this going before the new season start.
Yup, this is the direction most WMC users are moving. The only, and I mean only, reason I haven't done it yet is because I have Comcast and until I know for sure how they will deal with the H.264 problem, it could be a waste of time and money.
Aside from the guide outage, the other issue is the crappy quality of the guide,i.e. for college sports with Rovi, you never know what game is actually being played, just says college football, annoying, not to mention the issue with new/rerun flags are not always properly marked.

I was two lazy to jump on the epg123 train, but looks like with the gui Gary has put together, the install was easy, so very little time wasted, and $25 for the annual, not a big deal if the guide date is accurate.

And lastly, my secondary PC with the EPG123 recently installed is running a lot faster(its an old PC Mind you been using since 2010 i first gen I3-550) , I had an SSD drive I was going to install in it, again, to lazy to get to it, but now with the new guide, the PC seems zippy.

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WC_Barnstormer

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#1482

Post by WC_Barnstormer » Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:24 pm

Guide updated today and now have data thru 9/20. ED is 9/21. Zip 29501

JohnW248

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#1483

Post by JohnW248 » Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:46 pm

Guide updated here (Spectrum, Los Angeles San Fernando Valley) to Sept 23 around 2:30. Updated without running manual force on this machine (have to check others). Last update didn't run without being forced so don't know if that's indicative that msft fixed something or not.

rkulagow

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#1484

Post by rkulagow » Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:40 am

rkulagow wrote:
Robbel2005 wrote:I looked for another epg solution, free or with fee, but didn't find anything for more as 4 Belgian channels....
[I work for Schedules Direct, a pay-for-EPG service]

If you send me an email: rkulagow@gmail.com I can see if we have data available for Belgium.
I've put together a lineup for Belgium using the channels which we have data for. If you're interested in seeing it, then please send me an email.
  • NPO 1, 2 3
    La Une, La Deux
    RAI 1, 2, 3
    BBC 1, 2, 3, 4
    RTL TVI
    Canale 5
    Rete 4
    Italia 1

Arkar0000

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#1485

Post by Arkar0000 » Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:51 am

Just forced an update to Sept 24. Was ending on Friday afternoon. Spectrum Anaheim 92804

JonDeutsch

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#1486

Post by JonDeutsch » Sat Sep 16, 2017 2:21 pm

Yeesh. I'm so burned out by this that I didn't even try the below command for like 5 days of missing data (I was just scheduling time to bite the bullet to go EPG123) but when I tried it before embarking on EPG123, it worked! So... another delay in the inevitable, I guess.

Is this something that we should be running on a regular basis? Does anyone have any ideas why suddenly a forced update would be needed?
berwickl wrote:Charter Spectrum in Roswell, GA (30075). Guide data has not updated and is now all gone except for local channels. Anyone else still without data?

***CORRECTION*** I just ran: "c:\windows\ehome\mcupdate.exe -uf" and now see data populating. It can apparently take up to 2 hours, so fingers crossed I'll get everything.

JohnW248

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#1487

Post by JohnW248 » Sun Sep 17, 2017 3:53 pm

JonDeutsch wrote:Yeesh. I'm so burned out by this that I didn't even try the below command for like 5 days of missing data (I was just scheduling time to bite the bullet to go EPG123) but when I tried it before embarking on EPG123, it worked! So... another delay in the inevitable, I guess.
Is this something that we should be running on a regular basis? Does anyone have any ideas why suddenly a forced update would be needed?
This appears to be a "fix" for the MSFT bug we've referred to as the "loop". What appears to happen is that the computer tries to update and makes the connection but doesn't download the new guide because the computer and msft think the machine has the latest guide. The forced update with the -uf switch tells the msft server that even if it looks like I have the latest guide give me a new copy. The code also triggers the client machine to run client maintenance which removed old data from the data base...,this is can be run by itself with the take out the garbage switch. The reason people think this takes two hours is that is the time most machines take to run the clean up maintenance the guide will download and index before that clean up starts and the guide should be filled out. If you go into add a recording and search title, if the message is indexing guide then the machine is still loading the new guide.

The loop issue appears to happen randomly, I have several MC machines and some will update and then fail while others might update for that guide issue--to reason I can find where it works or doesn't but the forced update does get the guide and that machine may work for awhile.

Space

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#1488

Post by Space » Mon Sep 18, 2017 12:30 am

I don't believe that this is a fix for what some call "the loop". "The loop", as I understand it, is a condition by which every day, a data file is downloaded, but the only difference between that data file and the previous days data file is that the timestamp on the file has changed, the contents of the file is identical. Also, when this issue is occurring, it appears to affect all users equally.

This is not a situation where WMC thinks that it already has the latest guide, but really does not. Although once the days data file has been downloaded, WMC will think it has the latest update, but this is because it DOES have the latest update. It is just that the latest update from Microsoft contains old data. There is no manual intervention that you can do on your WMC machine that can fix "the loop".

The issue you describe (which can be fixed with manual intervention) seems to be a separate issue, but I don't believe it is the one that is know as "the loop".

superdave6653

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#1489

Post by superdave6653 » Mon Sep 18, 2017 4:28 pm

Comcast
Salt Lake City

Guide End Date is 9/26/17 @ 4:00 AM with no prime time data after 9/24

Fed up frustrated and heartbroken but it is about time to dump both WMC and Comcast in favor of an alternative solution... DirecTV. I am absolutely convinced that Comcast will NEVER fix their H264 problems....and they don't seem to have any interest in offering more than 6 pay channels in HD let alone any channels in 4k.

I still believe the MS WMC EPG solution is the best out there ...when it works. Which is why I am still reluctant to dump it. But having the best EPG with unwatchable H264 programming from Comcast is still a fail even if it isn't MS's fault.

otfrdok

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#1490

Post by otfrdok » Mon Sep 18, 2017 5:06 pm

8 days left.

AChanceFind

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#1491

Post by AChanceFind » Mon Sep 18, 2017 8:17 pm

I too am down to 8 days w/ end date of 9/26 3am and it has not updated in at least 5 days.

I believe user "space" is correct. When I am lucky I am able to watch the EPG download from the WMC icon in the windows system tray (this feature comes and goes which I think is a Windows bug), but you can also examine the logs in the Windows event logs under media center which is a little more tedious.

I have tried both the manual update with the -uf flag and triggering updates from both within WMC and using the icon in the tray. In all cases what happens is sometimes I will see it downloading and processing EPG files (takes a few minutes) but then no new data shows up in the guide. In other cases it immediately detects that the that the "EPG is already up to date" and the whole process takes like 5 seconds. I believe it has been mentioned that "the loop" is an issue on outside our own computers but is on the Rovi/MS side.

User "'Sugafree" seems to be the only one with an "in" to get them to do "something" that corrects the issue immediately as I have seen it announced here and then go do an update and it works immediately (so I do not think there is a ton of bandwidth strain on the server giving out the updates).

I too am afraid that once we stop having anyone with an "in" to Rovi/MS then this will just be left to die as I do not think anyone is truly paying attention no matter how loud voices get on here or at the MS's own dead "connect" site. WMC is suppose to work until the year 2020 but it's a free end of life product and their own terms say they can quit anytime; I do not think they are afraid of anyone bring up a lawsuit because there is nothing to prove in regards to "damages", nor do they care about how this affects "reputations". I recall a few years ago Rovi discontinued their OTA guide transmissions which worked on many TVs (e.g. Sony Bravia circa 2008) and thus rendered all those TV's guides features dead --I don't think that affected any reputations and Rovi continues doing whatever they do as it's just the pace of technology.

I love WMC and believe it is one of the best products MS has ever put out and they are idiots for treating users like this, but at some point they have decided they don't want DVR business. I only watch a few shows that I care to record and hope I can use WMC until it's full 2020 life span but at some point DVR'ing is an obsolete thing and I will give up on all of it as it's not worth the aggravation as most shows do show up online streaming somewhere.

tac73fd

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#1492

Post by tac73fd » Tue Sep 19, 2017 12:51 pm

I have set up a 5am Sunday "task" in the task scheduler(ehome/mmcupdate -uf -dbgc) , and it gives me 8 days of guide data on all Comcast and antenna channels to 8pm the next Monday night.
I'm wondering if I should set it up to run every day.
It currently ends 9\25\17 at 8pm.

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Bee_Dee_3_Dee

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#1493

Post by Bee_Dee_3_Dee » Tue Sep 19, 2017 1:52 pm

Guide End Date: 9/26/2017 6:00 AM
Cable Provider: Spectrum Indiana
Sys Tray Icon: Update Errors Reported

Edit: And the same End Dates as ^^ for 4 Extenders (Xbox 360's). All is still running smoothly on PC (Win7) and Extenders (3 MOCA + 1 CAT 6); including np with thumbnails in all EPGs.

cargalmn

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#1494

Post by cargalmn » Tue Sep 19, 2017 4:41 pm

Mine runs out at 6pm central on 9/25/2017. Here we go again...

{sigh}

rickmktg

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#1495

Post by rickmktg » Tue Sep 19, 2017 5:17 pm

Went to add the new shows that start 9/25 and found the Guide wasn't updated past 7:30PM on 9/25, although it says 6AM on 9/26. Since it's 6 days away, that means it's not updating. Since it's not updating, we're again the circle jerk with Rovi and Microsoft, with Microsoft taking no responsibility for anything. Oh what fun again!

Called Rovi, they sent me to a "senior support technician". In other words, "overflow, leave a voicemail" which I did.
Moved to W10 and NPVR in December 2019. Bye.

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Bee_Dee_3_Dee

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#1496

Post by Bee_Dee_3_Dee » Tue Sep 19, 2017 7:20 pm

rickmktg wrote:Went to add the new shows that start 9/25 and found the Guide wasn't updated past 7:30PM on 9/25, although it says 6AM on 9/26. Since it's 6 days away, that means it's not updating. Since it's not updating, we're again the circle spin with Rovi and Microsoft, with Microsoft taking no responsibility for anything. Oh what fun again!

Called Rovi, they sent me to a "senior support technician". In other words, "overflow, leave a voicemail" which I did.
Indeed. ("...we're again the circle spin with Rovi and Microsoft.")

It's just like M$ and Rovi think that we like the EPG this way for three years. Just like some ppl like banging their heads on a low ceilings. Drinking spoiled milk. YUM! Camping in poison ivy. Getting a paper-cut. And having their arm trapped in a vending machine. ;) But for everyone else there's EPG123. :D

What i truly dread is switching from Win7 MC to Win8.1 MC or Win10 MC. (Because Win7 has ROCKED so much for so long until EPG crapolla and even then worth putting up with it.) Hopefully by then SiliconDust HDHomeRun will have a 6-Tuner Cable card product available. That would make all the trouble worth it including paying for EPG123 if need be. :) (I'm luving the new football season with a 6-tuner Ceton for the 1st time versus the last four years with just a 4-Tuner Ceton. :) Can't imagine having less than 6 tuners ever again.)

mainertodd

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#1497

Post by mainertodd » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:37 pm

Sigh. This is pathetic.

jimi1000

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#1498

Post by jimi1000 » Wed Sep 20, 2017 3:26 am

No listings for many days again. Plus my normal weekend update for true data for late night shows is not updated with late night talk show guests. Something is up again. my guide is good through 9/26.

Anyone else seeing issues?

Jimi

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#1499

Post by Shattuck » Wed Sep 20, 2017 6:10 am

Down to 6 days. cablevision, stamford CT. Is there anyone left who can contact Microsoft and or rovi?

notecgirl

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#1500

Post by notecgirl » Wed Sep 20, 2017 6:15 am

My guide is not updating again, also. I have tried JohnW248's suggestion from a few weeks ago which worked then but not this time around. Guide ends on Monday, September 25 at 7:00pm Central time (St. Louis/Charter Spectrum). I have not tried the change the zip code thing. I have no idea what else to do.

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