Media Center EPG Cutover

Global guide related discussion. All Windows versions.
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Superevilllama

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#201

Post by Superevilllama » Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:26 am

I changed them to several different iterations posted here. You can find the host file in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc. Edit the file in notepad. A few posts back have a few different IP combos. Didn't work for me either.

DOS4EVER

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#202

Post by DOS4EVER » Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:42 am

To those wanting to modify your HOSTS file:

1. Open a command prompt as Administrator. It should open in C:\Windows\System32.
2. Change directory to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc.
3. Type "notepad hosts". Notepad should open the HOSTS file as an administrator.
4. Type the following at the bottom of the file:

65.55.186.113 data.tvdownload.microsoft.com
72.246.56.59 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

5. Save and close notepad.
6. Back in the command prompt type "ipconfig /flushdns".
7. Go back to Media Center and cross your fingers.

This procedure is hit or miss (it didn't work for me at all). I believe you just have to keep trying to download TV data over and over again. That's the only thing that worked for me after about the tenth try.

DOS4EVER

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#203

Post by DOS4EVER » Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:49 am

Superevilllama wrote:I changed them to several different iterations posted here. You can find the host file in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc. Edit the file in notepad. A few posts back have a few different IP combos. Didn't work for me either.
Yep, same here. On my HTPC it worked after I did an mcupdate. I then tried it on a virtual machine for testing purposes and nothing worked except downloading the TV data over and over until it eventually succeeded. Annoying, but it worked.

Superevilllama

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#204

Post by Superevilllama » Tue Jul 14, 2015 1:12 am

Success! Damn. I've used MCE since 2005 and this was the biggest headache I've had in 10 years. Ended up resetting MCE to default using the recovery task. Was able to get guide data and TV setup data with no tweaks to the host file. Good luck everyone!

lurch66

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#205

Post by lurch66 » Tue Jul 14, 2015 1:43 am

DOS4EVER wrote:
Superevilllama wrote:I changed them to several different iterations posted here. You can find the host file in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc. Edit the file in notepad. A few posts back have a few different IP combos. Didn't work for me either.
Yep, same here. On my HTPC it worked after I did an mcupdate. I then tried it on a virtual machine for testing purposes and nothing worked except downloading the TV data over and over until it eventually succeeded. Annoying, but it worked.
Sorry to ask I think I am just loosing my mind. how do you preform a mcupdate? this post describes it as part of windows task scheduler. we shall see if it works.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/12 ... puter.html

DOS4EVER

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#206

Post by DOS4EVER » Tue Jul 14, 2015 1:55 am

Open a command prompt and go to the C:\Windows\ehome directory. Then type "start /wait mcupdate -u". Wait until the icon disappears on your taskbar and then try Media Center again.

Windom

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#207

Post by Windom » Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:23 am

Is anyone else finding the new guide data from Rovi to be severely lacking compared to what we had with Zap2it? There are many shows that used to have descriptions that included guests appearing or show topic that just aren't there in Rovi. Several I've noticed so far are Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight and Tavis Smiley. This is going to make keyword recordings miss a lot of stuff they would have picked up in the past.

What's the deal? Doesn't Rovi get the same data provided to it from the TV networks as Zap2it?

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JohnG

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#208

Post by JohnG » Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:29 am

Windom wrote:Is anyone else finding the new guide data from Rovi to be severely lacking compared to what we had with Zap2it? There are many shows that used to have descriptions that included guests appearing or show topic that just aren't there in Rovi. Several I've noticed so far are Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight and Tavis Smiley. This is going to make keyword recordings miss a lot of stuff they would have picked up in the past.

What's the deal? Doesn't Rovi get the same data provided to it from the TV networks as Zap2it?
I have noticed the exact same thing. Their guide data is not nearly as detailed as Zap2it's was.

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#209

Post by Windom » Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:49 am

I just tweeted to Rovi about how the descriptions for a lot of shows were missing. They responded very quickly: "Our client services team is aware of the situation with WMC and is working on a resolution."

So hopefully the situation will improve.

webminster

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#210

Post by webminster » Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:51 am

Yeah, I mentioned above missing and in some cases now very generic descriptions where zap2it had usable data.

I now just noticed a very peculiar thing in my Guide display. On a couple of channels (like CW and NBC), there are "empty" spots. Not "no data" cells, but honest-to-God "holes" where the background (e.g. playing program) shows right through. I've never seen my WMC instance do this before, the guide has never had transparent cells in it.
-Alan

DOS4EVER

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#211

Post by DOS4EVER » Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:53 am

Windom wrote:I just tweeted to Rovi about how the descriptions for a lot of shows were missing. They responded very quickly: "Our client services team is aware of the situation with WMC and is working on a resolution."

So hopefully the situation will improve.
Cool. That's good support right there.

webminster

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#212

Post by webminster » Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:56 am

Windom wrote:I just tweeted to Rovi about how the descriptions for a lot of shows were missing.
Hope you pointed them to this thread, so they could see how desperately horked up their situation is... ;)
-Alan

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JohnG

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#213

Post by JohnG » Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:58 am

I just emailed them and in their automated response they gave a phone number to call. I am going to call them tomorrow and see if that helps at all. Maybe if enough of us email and call something will get done.
Thank you for your interest in Rovi's solutions. This is an automatically generated response to let you know that we received your inquiry. Please do not reply to this message. We will forward your information to the appropriate contact for follow-up.

You should expect to hear back from us shortly.

In the meantime, should you wish to reach us by telephone, please feel free to call us at 1-866-686-8947.

Sincerely,
The Rovi Team

lurch66

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#214

Post by lurch66 » Tue Jul 14, 2015 3:03 am

unfortunately I have tried all the suggestions in this thread to no avail. I will try it again in a couple of days and hope for the best.

Mike88

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#215

Post by Mike88 » Tue Jul 14, 2015 4:57 am

DOS4EVER wrote:Open a command prompt and go to the C:\Windows\ehome directory. Then type "start /wait mcupdate -u". Wait until the icon disappears on your taskbar and then try Media Center again.
Does performing an mcupdate keep the existing recording schedule intact?

lurch66

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#216

Post by lurch66 » Tue Jul 14, 2015 5:02 am

I have now submitted feedback to Microsoft and we shall see what happens. I also up voted a few of the other post to hopefully get Microsoft to fix the problem!!

https://connect.microsoft.com/site1145/ ... ls/1543250

mlcarson

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#217

Post by mlcarson » Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:08 am

This cutover was a complete disaster for me. Somehow DirecTV channels got mixed in with the Los Alamos, NM guide listings. I had to rerun the setup and that cleaned the DirecTV channels up but it also screwed up a lot of other things. Here are the missing stations and I'm not talking about missing guide data but the stations no longer show up at all in the guide so are not tuneable.
68 - TWC
70 - GSN
71 - Evine Life
72 - BET
77 - Aggie
80 - HSN2
90 - LC
91 - SONL
97- Comcast Denver
100 - BabyFirst TV
108 - El Rey
118 - Oxygen West
122 - Cooking Channel
124 - Jewelry TV
126 - Retirement Living
136 - Ovation
138 - UP
162 - Reelz
172 - NUVO TV
174 - FYI HD
175 - BBC World News
176 - Destination America
181 - Hallmark Movie
184 - INSP
188 - Daystar
192 - KASA-COZI TV
194 - KCHF HD
197 - KTELMOVIES
198 - KTEL-MeTV
This is with a HDHomerun Prime. The View app shows the above channels so they are there and working.

There are some OTA channels missing too but at least WMC allows you to add those channels back. There's no guide for these OTA channels even when selecting via the Guide Tool utility where there was with Zap2it. Now even Tivo is getting these channels wrong most of the time by mixing up the subchannels but it's better than nothing.
16.1 Movies!
16.2 GET TV
16.3 HITTV

A lot of the stations that have eastern and western feeds now have the wrong time zone. It seems like if there's a choice of timezone that it's wrong.

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Ladislaus

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#218

Post by Ladislaus » Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:29 am

Ugh. This whole thing is a mess. <sigh>

This is a reply I received from Optimum (Cablevision) late last night:
Thank you for your reply.

You are correct, the channel realignment did not impact your dual illuminated channels in the 700 range. I would recommend contacting Rovi directly to report the issue you are experiencing. Since it is not our product we are unable to correct the issue with their guide. From what your [sic] explaining it sounds like the Rovi guide is mimicking the Optimum guide which no longer includes the 700 range, I regret to inform you there may not be a fix available.

I understand the change we made to our service appears to have created the issue you are experiencing. I apologize for the inconvenience this has created to your viewing experience.

Sincerely,
*********
Optimum Customer Support
Reading this line did not buoy my spirits in any way:
From what your [sic] explaining it sounds like the Rovi guide is mimicking the Optimum guide which no longer includes the 700 range, I regret to inform you there may not be a fix available.
As a result, I tweeted the following:
@OptimumHelp Telling #CableCARD users its our problem when @RoviCorp drops 700s channel range from your (@optimum) guide isn't helping us.

We'll see if there's any reaction from either Optimum (Cablevision) or Rovi. (Feel free to re-tweet the above.) I will post updates, if any, as I receive them.

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Ladislaus

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#219

Post by Ladislaus » Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:46 am

Has anyone had any success setting up an "automated" guide data import process from Zap2it (à la zap2xml, for example)? This, of course, includes "turning off" [whatever that means/implies] WMC's automatic/built-in guide data download (mcupdate) from Rovi. It would be best, in my opinion, if we could continue to use mcupdate (and its automation), but instead have it download from Zap2it instead of Rovi.

Suggestions? Thoughts? Solutions?

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Beerman

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#220

Post by Beerman » Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:35 pm

This really sucks. There are a number of channels I'm not getting and Cox, of course, is no help. They'll try to help with their DVR but not with the cable cards. They say that's a MIcrosoft problem.
I'm going to try dealing with them again but I don't expect any help. However, if their DVR isn't giving me all the channels I'm paying for, I'll keep getting credits until they tire of me....$5 at a time!

I should add that I've tried EVERYTHING listed here with no luck. Should I remove the new hosts file info that was given early on in the thread or leave it be?

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