Missing Images

[alhaunts]

Got up this morning to find that all images were missing from the guide. Program descriptions were there, just no images. Scheduled update from SD had completed successfully. Log file showed nothing out of the ordinary. Did a manual guide update & restarted WMC. Images are now back in the guide. Weird. This was on both of my Windows 7 pro machines running EPG123 v1.6.7.0

[garyan2]

Still some changes coming down the line for image downloads, but re: viewtopic.php?f=99&t=13648#p145586

[Space]

Just in case anyone is curious.

When you download and load the guide data using EPG123 in to WMC, the images that are associated with the programs are NOT downloaded, just the URL link to the image is included in the guide download. If the location of that image changes (the URL no longer points to the image) then you will no longer have images in your WMC guide (except for images that were previously downloaded and cached).

This means that in order to see these images in WMC, you need to have a working Internet connection at the time you try to view the image (for the first time). You can think of it like a web browser; when you visit a page in WMC that needs to display the image, it will, in real-time, download that image from the Internet. If the image has already been downloaded recently (I'm not sure how long the cached image remains cached) it will display the cached version and will not download it again from the Internet.

[alhaunts]

The issue persists. Each morning, images are missing from the guide after a scheduled update. Opening and then closing EPG123 Config restores them as Gary says. Is this a problem on SD's end that they are working to fix?

[garyan2]

SD is taking some actions to stop bad actors from downloading images whom do not have a membership. They are currently doing this by logging the IP address of successful logins. An IP address that is associated with a successful login will have access to the images for 24 hours and after that you will need another successful login to gain access again.

Is there something in your setup that can interfere with that logic? Using a VPN that gains a new IP address? If you are losing access to the images shortly after a successful login, then we need to let SD know that something isn't working right.

I made the post about restoring access because it appeared to "break" at random times before the expected 24 hours for me. I haven't seen that in a while, but I am also doing quite a bit of work whereas my logins are frequent enough that the time limit isn't a concern.

[Space]

What happens if WMC tries to get an image and SD rejects due to this protection? Will WMC try again next time or will it have cached that "there was no image" and not try again?

[garyan2]

It will keep trying until it is successful in downloading the image. That is why it is only necessary to open the configuration GUI to login to SD and then downloads will work again. You may have to close WMC and reopen to start a new session, but it will work.

[alhaunts]

No VPNs here or anything fancy. Just two windows 7 machines on the same WAN IP which do a scheduled update a few minutes apart in the early morning hours. My IP address hasn't changed in many months. It's 3 days in row now for missing images after the updates. I would have thought that the logging in to SD by EPG123 during the daily update process would reset their timer, but apparently not for me?

Al.

[garyan2]

Create a ticket with SD and let them know. There may be something else going on that their server is not accounting for.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Space]

Perhaps it would be a good data point to try to load one of the images using a regular browser? That way you can rule out any issues with WMC itself.

EDIT:

I've also been thinking about the way SD is trying to resolve this issue, I think that 24 hours may be too little time. All that is required to make this a problem is have one EPG123 update that fails to log in for some reason (SD server issues, network issues, local system issue) and then you will be without images for 24 hours. I think this should be 72 or at least 48 hours.

Also, perhaps they can implement a password/token of sorts that is embedded in the image URL. As long as this token represents a valid account, it serves up the image (with no 24 hour or other time limit).

One check they can make is if the same token is used by many IP addresses in a short period of time, in which case you can assume that the token has been compromised. In that case you send an email to the owner of the account to which that token is associated about how they shouldn't give it out to anyone, and that the system has changed their token so the old one no longer works.

[alhaunts]

Ticket submitted to SD. Will post the outcome.

[d00zah]

This has been a problem, on & off, for me, as well. Had a clean EPG123 update log in the wee hrs, but no images this morning... within ~2 hrs of the update. If SD can use any sort of diagnostic info, just ask.