UK EPG Licence Expiring

Global guide related discussion. All Windows versions.
aleclindsay

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#541

Post by aleclindsay » Tue Jan 17, 2017 10:37 pm

Added a comment on Microsoft Answers, as getting somewhat sick of this lack of guide data, and guide issues.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 84c228368e

jelockwood

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#542

Post by jelockwood » Tue Jan 17, 2017 11:30 pm

technodevotee wrote:I have added a few items to your post about guide issues
I am not seeing the file I thought I had uploaded to my Connect feedback. Did you see the file? I would not be surprised if their website is causing problems over this. :wtf:

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IT Troll

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#543

Post by IT Troll » Wed Jan 18, 2017 7:40 am

I really recommend that you guys switch to EPG123. I tried to stick with the MS feed for as long as possible but since my switch last year I have had no EPG outage and better quality data.

I understand the setup for satellite is a little tricky (I am Freeview only). However the author of EPG123 is currently working on a companion tool to make editing lineups easier.
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

technodevotee

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#544

Post by technodevotee » Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:05 am

@jelockwood No I'm afraid I can't see the file you uploaded.

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IT Troll

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#545

Post by IT Troll » Wed Jan 18, 2017 9:52 am

I suspect attachments require moderation. But as we know, nobody from Microsoft is active on the site.

Connect is a dreadful website. If you a access it on a mobile device you can't add any comments and other functions don't work correctly.
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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#546

Post by jelockwood » Wed Jan 18, 2017 10:09 am

technodevotee wrote:@jelockwood No I'm afraid I can't see the file you uploaded.
Ok, since Microsoft are clearly asleep at the wheel and sadly this forum i.e. TheGreenButton does not allow attachments I have taken a different approach. The following is a URL to a copy of the spreadsheet in my Google Drive.

See https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwD4il ... sp=sharing

I have discovered since I last updated it that a few channels have moved from DVB-T to DVB-T2 e.g. the 'Yesterday' channel. So that is one aspect that is not bang up to date.

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IT Troll

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#547

Post by IT Troll » Wed Jan 18, 2017 10:27 am

jelockwood wrote:TheGreenButton does not allow attachments...
XLSX files are blocked, possibly due to potential macro viruses. However you can attach it as a zip. You need to be in the full reply editor, not quick reply.
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

njc

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#548

Post by njc » Thu Jan 19, 2017 8:10 am

It's back, wonder how long for this time.

technodevotee

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#549

Post by technodevotee » Tue Jan 24, 2017 2:22 pm

Not long it seems.

As per https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 84c228368e, there is a new ticket here: https://connect.microsoft.com/site1145/ ... ls/3119471

Thanks foxcat70, you save me the trouble :>

jelockwood

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#550

Post by jelockwood » Thu Jan 26, 2017 11:26 pm

As has been pointed out it seems to be back for the moment.

On a different issue but still related to Microsoft's EPG. There are/have been I believe three different Microsoft EPGs, the 'legacy' one as used by Windows Vista and presumably Media Center 2005, The Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 version that I suspect most of us have been suffering with :evil: and the one used by the XBox One 'OneGuide' service.

The relevance of this is that whilst we can take a conspiracy point of view that Microsoft are deliberately sabotaging the Windows 7, 8, 8.1 EPG as the Xbox One is a current live product and Microsoft even sell a DVB-T2 tuner for it, then its EPG should be expected to be properly supported and reliable. Now I have previously used a tool called mc2xml to download EPG data for other devices in particular when the RadioTimes XMLTV feed still existed and when the Atlas feed was free and not subject to stupid limitations, however this tool can also download from other services. It can download from the Microsoft 7, 8, 8.1 EPG - obviously pointless when it is broken, from Schedules Direct - also pointless because EPG123 will be a better choice for this, but it can also download from the Xbox OneGuide.

So, this raises the interesting possibility of downloading the OneGuide EPG as XMLTV, then converting it to MXF format and then importing it in to Media Center.

Does anyone have an Xbox One ideally with the Microsoft DVB-T2 tuner and therefore knows what the OneGuide looks like for it and how good/reliable it is? How many days data does it provide? Potentially this might also provide an EPG for FreeSAT as well as the Xbox One can also do HDMI pass thru for set-top boxes, since currently EPG123 is a pain to setup for SAT services this might be an easier solution.

Note: The 'free' version of mc2xml does not enable support for OneGuide, you need to make a donation to unlock this feature.

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garyan2

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#551

Post by garyan2 » Fri Jan 27, 2017 2:23 am

Certainly good questions and I may be able to help out some ... just not answering your questions. :)

I plan on creating another tool that will convert any XMLTV file to MXF to do what you are asking, so there is that. I haven't used the conversion code in about a year since I started on EPG123 with Schedules Direct, so it'll take a while to incorporate things I've learned since. Of course, being a tool for generic XMLTV files, it is going to pretty limited in what it will be able to do. Combine it with the new epg123client coming out soon will be a pretty good package.

For the guide source, I thought XBox OneGuide has always been Rovi so it looks exactly like Win 7,8,8.1 ... just something I think I heard in these forums.

Now for my real reason for chiming in. I've heard quite a few times how difficult setting up EPG123 for FreeSat is over there, but I have no idea what those difficulties are. I am certainly willing to work to find a solution for everyone but I have nothing to work with. I have asked in the past for someone to describe the issues/challenges, take screenshots, anything so that I can start working out a plan of attack. Maybe there is someones blog? some website? a YouTube video? anything for me to get some understanding.

This is just me asking everyone to help me find a way to help you.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

technodevotee

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#552

Post by technodevotee » Fri Jan 27, 2017 11:13 am

Well, my PCs with terrestrial tuners are currently using MS guide data and still only have data on all channels until 4th February.

As far as I can see there haven't been any MS guide updates for quite a while and in my opinion, that is not really enough to describe it as being 'back'.

But I'm using epg collector on my Living Room PC which only has satellite tuners and, while not perfect, at least it gives me a week's worth of reliable data every time I run it.

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#553

Post by jelockwood » Fri Jan 27, 2017 11:28 am

technodevotee wrote:Well, my PCs with terrestrial tuners are currently using MS guide data and still only have data on all channels until 4th February.

As far as I can see there haven't been any MS guide updates for quite a while and in my opinion, that is not really enough to describe it as being 'back'.

But I'm using epg collector on my Living Room PC which only has satellite tuners and, while not perfect, at least it gives me a week's worth of reliable data every time I run it.
My Media Center also on terrestrial i.e. UK FreeView is showing Feb 8th 2017 as the guide end date which would only be 12 days instead of 14 so perhaps yes it has failed yet again already but your systems also seem to have their own problem.

technodevotee

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#554

Post by technodevotee » Fri Jan 27, 2017 12:06 pm

The same problem on all FOUR PCs?

The end date is showing as eight of Feb but there is actually only data on the BBC channels I use until the early hours of the fourth. This is part of the problem for me... even when it is 'working' it is just so damned flaky.

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#555

Post by technodevotee » Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:09 pm

I now have an expiry date of 11th Feb on all PCs but there is still no data in some channels after 4th Feb

jelockwood

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#556

Post by jelockwood » Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:22 pm

technodevotee wrote:I now have an expiry date of 11th Feb on all PCs but there is still no data in some channels after 4th Feb
Me too. There have always been some channels missing from the Microsoft EPG completely, and some channels which whilst listed contain no data, this is partly while I compiled my spreadsheet. However either I had no noticed some additional channels not containing data or these have recently stopped containing data. If you have Media Center set up as normal it will try and use in-band EPG data if it cannot get it from Microsoft so this can hide the fact Microsoft are not providing data.

I have now discovered as an example that Spike, movies4men, and all repeat all the radio stations are lacking data. However the normal terrestrial channels are working. I am currently using EPG Collector to fill these in whilst using the Microsoft EPG for normal channels.

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#557

Post by technodevotee » Tue Jan 31, 2017 10:48 am

One thing I really don't understand about this guide data outage business is that end date shown on my Living Room PC doesn't tie up with the expiry date.

I currently have a guide end date of 04/03/2017 and all my satellite listings have an expiry date of 11th Feb but there is no data in some channels after 4th Feb on Astra 28.2 and data until at least the 20th Feb for some other channels on Astra 19.2.

Over the past year or so, I have often seen that when they are all showing as expired Astra 28.2 and Hotbird 13 had no data but Astra 19.2 had almost a month's worth.

Being as the in-band guide loader is disabled I just can't figure out where the data is coming from.

At the same time, someone else says they haven't had any guide data on Astra 19.2 since 24th December.

aleclindsay

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#558

Post by aleclindsay » Wed Feb 01, 2017 1:15 pm

Sutton Coldfield Terrestrial data expiring still on 11th of February, so clearly not updating again. I know that Microsoft should be handling this issue as they are the people that sold us the software, and in a large sense prompted us to buy the hardware ecosystem, htpc and xboxes etc... but I cannot help wondering just what the hell is going on at Broadcasting Dataservices Limited. (Or whatever their real name is). I feel it is about time someone stepped out of the shadows and explained why this service is continually failing.

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#559

Post by IT Troll » Wed Feb 01, 2017 4:35 pm

I don't think the problem lies with BDS. The US is also having problems and that uses data from Rovi. Whilst Tivo, which also gets data from Rovi, is updating fine.

The rep from Rovi also confirmed that Microsoft no longer look at Connect.
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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#560

Post by jelockwood » Wed Feb 01, 2017 4:46 pm

As the Media Center EPG is once again MIA this would be a good opportunity for someone with an Xbox One to see if its OneGuide is also affected.

If the OneGuide is still being propagated properly then this as per my recent post opens up the possibility of using the OneGuide via the mc2xml tool to replace the Media Center guide.

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