UK EPG Licence Expiring

Global guide related discussion. All Windows versions.
jelockwood

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#501

Post by jelockwood » Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:01 pm

IT Troll wrote:MS UK EPG runs out on Saturday.

https://connect.microsoft.com/site1145/ ... ls/3104428
Yep, just noticed this last night. I have as usual added myself to the Connect thread, this time also with a relatively caustic comment to boot.

g0141

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#502

Post by g0141 » Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:51 pm

Same here, again no update to guide for few weeks now. so after the guide being down for umpeenth time, i've finally given up. Tried others, mediaportal, next pvg, etc but much prefer the look and easiness of media centre. So finally moved to use EPG123 for the guide data. So far working great. . . within media centre. Glad I switched ! Shame on you Microsoft.
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Scallica

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#503

Post by Scallica » Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:25 pm

Nice artwork. What WMC theme is that?
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IT Troll

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#504

Post by IT Troll » Mon Oct 10, 2016 8:20 pm

Unbelievable that this is still not fixed and not even an acknowledgement from Microsoft.

Switching to EPG123 is the best option to free yourself from Microsoft's stranglehold.
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

Wheeker

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#505

Post by Wheeker » Tue Oct 11, 2016 8:06 am

I made the leap to EPG123 recently as well & glad I did. To be honest almost a year ago I switched to EPG Collector (Freesat) & found it to work perfectly. However EPG123 provides far more detail, most importantly accurate Series & Episode numbers. Also it is great to check through the Movie Guide & find there is Artwork displayed for every single upcoming Movie. Well worth the SD annual sub.

nasman

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#506

Post by nasman » Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:09 pm

Mine updated today until 27/10 but not all channels had EPG data....

jelockwood

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#507

Post by jelockwood » Tue Oct 18, 2016 11:43 pm

OMG.

Already down to 10 days guide data so it did not last even a week before breaking again. :(

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IT Troll

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#508

Post by IT Troll » Wed Oct 19, 2016 10:10 am

Could it be more fragile?
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

jelockwood

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#509

Post by jelockwood » Wed Oct 19, 2016 10:19 am

For what it's worth the latest thread on Microsoft's Connect site is here -

https://connect.microsoft.com/site1145/ ... ls/3107144

roswellgrey

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#510

Post by roswellgrey » Tue Oct 25, 2016 3:51 pm

guide end date.JPG
3 days left .....

(the Dark Side of this farce is beckoning ...)

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IT Troll

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#511

Post by IT Troll » Tue Oct 25, 2016 5:49 pm

Heads up in case you missed the thread. MS are planning to hack about with the UK/Europe channel lineup data.

The good news is they can't make it any worse (given that it is not working at all at the moment).

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 96&t=10423
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

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#512

Post by roswellgrey » Fri Oct 28, 2016 7:48 am

Well, it has "updated" until the 3rd November

08:10:50 - Retrieving EpgListings.
08:10:50 - Processing EpgListings.
08:10:50 - Retrieving EpgListing.enc.
08:10:51 - Extracting 120086_ListingData.mxf.
08:10:51 - Processing 120086_ListingData.mxf.
08:10:59 - Processing of EpgListings is complete.
08:11:03 - Update successful
epg-no-data2.JPG
But with most, if not all, of the data apparently missing
epg-no-data1.JPG
I think the small amount of data available in the epg is OTA grabbed (cannot be 100% sure of this but it makes sense)

( As an aside, I regretfully give up on this - I have wasted way too much time over the last year.
So, bb Media Centre ... I am sad to leave you as you were the best in class, but when your service provider obviously doesn't care, it is time to vote with your feet .....
)

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IT Troll

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#513

Post by IT Troll » Fri Oct 28, 2016 8:12 am

roswellgrey wrote:( As an aside, I regretfully give up on this - I have wasted way too much time over the last year.
So, bb Media Centre ... I am sad to leave you as you were the best in class, but when your service provider obviously doesn't care, it is time to vote with your feet .....
)
You don't have to give up. There is always EPG123.

Setup can be a little tricky for FreeSat (not actually tried this myself) but Freeview is a breeze. High quality, reliable EPG is still possible.

If you don't use Media Center, what will you use and where will you get your EPG?
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

roswellgrey

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#514

Post by roswellgrey » Fri Oct 28, 2016 9:22 am

[ Sorry Mods for taking this OT - my fault ... ]

Over the last year or so, whilst the epg has been playing up (here in the UK), I really thought MS would just give the 90 days required notice and kill off the MS epg.
Obviously, this has turned out to be a wrong assumption of mine, especially in light of Jon's (MS) recent post about updating the channel lineup
However, thinking this was going to happen, I have been running all the freely available alternatives on another box (one at a time) to see how they behave and to see how they fit our needs.

After eliminating all the others for one reason or another, my "needs-fit" solution is now tvheadend.
Once you have learnt the way it works, and hence learnt how to configure it, it works very well.
The 7 day OTA Freeview EPG is good enough for us, is free, and is there by default, so no external grabbing is required.

I do appreciate that there are EPG alternatives available (like epg123) in order to keep using Media Centre (and kudos to the effort that has gone into that), but this epg situation has become quite annoying to me.
I have lost a lot of faith in MS over this (I mean, how hard can it be to keep an epg feed updated ?), and as such it is time (in my case) for a change .... it will make me feel happier, and stop my ear getting bent so much :)

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IT Troll

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#515

Post by IT Troll » Fri Oct 28, 2016 9:51 am

I totally get the need to move on after a year of bad experiences. If you have found a solution that works for then that is great. When I have looked at alternatives they come with a mix of advantages and disadvantages. It depends how these balance out for you. The following are a few general examples - not specifically aimed at tvheadend.

Advantages
  • Dynamic refresh rate switching
    Multichannel whole MUX recording
    Improved recording padding options
    5.1 Surround from Freeview HD (HE-AAC switching/bitstreaming)
Disadvantages
  • 7-day EPG
    No series recordings
    Cannot play shows currently being recorded
    Skip forwards/backwards during playback is not available or unresponsive
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

1024MAK

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#516

Post by 1024MAK » Sat Oct 29, 2016 8:09 am

Okay, conflict of interest post time...

I hope they do fix the EPG data. BUT not until after Sunday night. Otherwise the manually timed recordings that I have programmed may conflict if any series programmes get added as a result of a guide update, or it may cause the computer to run out of space on the partition that I use for recorded TV.

As I'm 500 miles away at the other end of the country, I won't find out until late on Sunday...

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IT Troll

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#517

Post by IT Troll » Sat Oct 29, 2016 8:46 am

1024MAK wrote:As I'm 500 miles away at the other end of the country, I won't find out until late on Sunday...
Sounds like you need some remote access. You might want to look into My Media Center or Remote Potato.
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

nasman

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#518

Post by nasman » Sun Oct 30, 2016 12:00 pm

I have used Media Center since the very beginning (well from 2005) and have upgraded my server with better TV receivers etc as I have gone along.

Over the last year - I have run out of steam and can longer justify the amount of time I have spent this year trying to get TV to work especially the EPG. When I first started using Media Center, the big draw for me was being able to record live TV and watch recorded TV in separate rooms using extenders.

Over these 12 years - I can honestly say that I have had some good years of uninterrupted TV service and have had little server maintenance to do.(I practice preventative maintenace and upgrades) - Having 4 DVB-S tuners in my media center sine 2010 was awesome.

I know there is an end of life for Media Center (2020) AND I applaud the community for its efforts to keep this alive (EPG123) - but I'm done...

I tried EPG123 but couldn't get the epg data to map to my channels successfully using Freesat and Free to Air on SKy. (Again this was probably because I gave up a little early as I had spent too much time tinkering previous to my EPG123 install..)

I use EMBY for movies and I swear by it, I also played with LIVE TV using HDHomeConnect - but found it limited as it DVB-T.

So - I'm going to take a One year holiday from Media Center and wait for technology to catch up. To this end I have bit the bullet and ordered SKY Q multiroom.....

When I looked back to rationalize why I was such a die hard Media Center fan - I realized that part of it was that I was a home cinema enthusiast.. BUT the reality was that all I really wanted to do was record my favourite TV programmes and series and then watch them at a time and location of my choosing...

Now I understand that paying for SKY tv is not for everyone - but I can afford to pay for this and look at it as more of renting TV recording equipment over a period of time.

I'll still run Emby on Media Center and keep my photos on Media Center -I use Harmony remotes and Chromecast as well so switching from SKY Q and to Emby on Media Center is not a problem.

So that's me - I got beaten by an EPG.. BUT sometimes in life you have to accept that you are beaten and move on. I hope this helps others rationalise where they stand and I feel each and everyones pain.

TV viewing has moved on - Media Center was ahead of its time - but maybe time has caught up.

Jason-R

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#519

Post by Jason-R » Mon Oct 31, 2016 12:16 pm

Have added my support to the Microsoft Forum and the connect pages (just to make sure)... Hope Microsoft get this fixed soon :(

KingBelly

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#520

Post by KingBelly » Mon Oct 31, 2016 5:31 pm

JFJon Fincher replied on October 31, 2016See post history
Microsoft
ReplyIn reply to KLE_H's post on October 29, 2016
I don't have an ETA yet - once I have more data, I'll pass it along.
--Jon, MSFT

Latest post above re no EPG fiasco (again!)

Thanks to Dephead2004, looks like Microsoft Community Windows 7 Forum is best place to post to chase this up.

nasman sad to see you go, can understand your frustration. Begrudge paying Sky to be honest. They just keep creeping prices up!

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