Sign the petition to get Zap2it data back!

[icepick]

We are all getting the short end of the stick here because of the change to Rovi. I started a petition on change.org to get zap2it back.

Lets tell microsoft we want things to work again!

Sign the petition

https://www.change.org/p/satya-nadella- ... enter-pc-s

[STC]

Not a Clippers fan I gather.

[icepick]

not into soccer, no

[icepick]

7 supporters so far. Please share the petition with anyone you think will be receptive. Lets get 100 supporters by the weekend!

[blueiedgod]

Why not just post what issues you have with the tuners/channel on the Microsoft page and let them have Rovi fix it?

[STC]

not into soccer, no

I said that because you used lower case for Steve Ballmer.

NVM....

[Space]

If they can fix Rovi, I would rather that option, as there is more of a chance they will continue the service for a longer period of time (since Xbox also uses the same data). I hope that it is taking so long to get the movie data working because they are waiting to see if they can get a feed from Rovi with movie ratings. Although it is more likely that it is taking so long because they only have one person working part time on hundreds of issues.

[billroden]

Why not just post what issues you have with the tuners/channel on the Microsoft page and let them have Rovi fix it?

Where might this be? Do you have a link to that site so I can report any issues?

Thanks

Bill

[icepick]

not into soccer, no

I said that because you used lower case for Steve Ballmer.

NVM....

I get it now, honestly I have no idea about sports and team ownership etc. I knew that Clippers was a Bball team though so I said soccer to point out my lack of sports knowledge, not trying to be combative. As far as lack of capitalization, the internet has made me a lazy typist...

Now back on the tracks

Why not just post what issues you have with the tuners/channel on the Microsoft page and let them have Rovi fix it?

I actually am in the midst of a ticket with Rovi, they are saying the problem is not lack of them supplying the data, but that the data is not getting displayed on wmc. I guess they are saying it's not their fault, although they want to know as much about the problem as i can tell them from an end users perspective.

I don't know where the responsibility lies TBH. Was Rovi's contract just to supply data and M$ is responsible for editing WMC to accept and utilize the data properly? Is the data that Rovi is supplying somehow the wrong format and that's why it doesn't work right? Is M$ trying to break WMC? Is this an innocent mistake or a ignorant failure?

If I were Rovi I'd be crawling up M$'s ass to fix this. It looks horrible on their part. I don't know a great deal about programming, but I think the easiest fix would be for Rovi to make their data mirror the data that Zap2It supplied. This problem must have been well known prior to the changeover.

[icepick]

BTW

20 supporters now, the petition to me is a squeaky wheel, hopefully they grease it whether or not they give us zap2it back. I just want a properly implemented fix asap.

[richard1980]

This is the second post I have seen recently about a petition to get Zap2it back as the EPG provider. I would actually encourage people not to sign this petition. Zap2it data was flawed (though not nearly as flawed as Rovi data), and trading one flawed dataset for another flawed dataset doesn't make things right.

[marvin-miller]

Hi Folks!

After some more time with Rovi it's clear that they are a very sub-par solution. Generic listings, incorrect listing for Series (wrong episodes), incorrect icons, Movies without the proper Metadata set, it goes on and on.

Someone created a petition and I linked to it from my complaint on the EPG guide complaint website at Microsoft. I keep getting emails telling me that people have signed the petition due to my post - I like that a lot and could use some more. It makes me feel good.

You can my complaint here;

https://connect.microsoft.com/site1145/ ... ls/1696345

along with the link to the petition at the bottom. Please do this and please tell others to do this. Let's send a very clear message to Microsoft that they gave us the shaft (see link above for more details).

[Moderator note: topic merged]

[marvin-miller]

I actually am in the midst of a ticket with Rovi, they are saying the problem is not lack of them supplying the data, but that the data is not getting displayed on WMC. I guess they are saying it's not their fault, although they want to know as much about the problem as i can tell them from an end users perspective.

Not a chance. I'm seeing tons of series listings populated with generic data, incorrect icons, missing metadata (movies not being called movies in the right WM fields and on and on etc.

This is not a case of data not being displayed on Media Center, this is a case of junk data being sent to Media Center from Rovi.

Or, put more simply, garbage in garbage out.

Zap2It was far, far more mature, they populated all their metadata fields correctly and for the rare times I saw generic program descriptions it was very likely due to the broadcaster....not Zap2It,

Let's face it, it's pretty clear that every year on the year with Zap2It the data would stop updating......on almost the same day every time.....It's pretty easy to discern from that regularity that renegotiation was under way between Microsoft and Zap2It. I'm quite sure that Zap2It was sticking it to Microsoft on an annual basis.

I have no problem with that, Microsoft has been screwing it's customers for years for every cent they can get and I've seen it first-hand, to the tune of millions, with their enterprise software. I could tell you horror stories where ONE customer paid millions in licensing fees only to find out within one week that the product was arbitrarily discontinued - no warning, no advance notice, nothing. They just abandoned the customer with no thought to him whatsoever.

Look at how they notified us of the provider change on this very forum - one single post. Here's what's happening, this is what you are getting, that's it. They abandon the thread even though it grows to more then 20 pages of complaints. We are only here to serve Microsoft by paying them. That's our sole function in their eyes - it's been this way for last two decades I've dealt with them on the Enterprise level and it's nothing new.


Thing is, with respect to the changeover to Rovi, they chose a sub-standard provider and it will be based on cost alone. The end user will not have factored into it at all. Microsoft's obligation to provide us with quality EPG data is something we PAID for when we bought the O/S. That's it. They're obligated to do it.

As far as I'm concerned, they've reneged on the agreement that they OWE us for what we PAID when we bought the O/S. I paid MORE for the O/S because of Media Center support. They charged me EXTRA for that. I've already paid for the service and I'm entitled to it.

If you want to renege on the agreement then please refund me the difference that I paid when I bought the O/S over the lesser version without Media Center.

[icepick]

Right on Marvin, that's how I'm feeling about it as well. I wonder if this will end in a class action law suit that will wind up with a law firm or two getting rich and us winding up with a check for $0.42 and a still broken product?

I trust the community of end users will derive a solution that will be far better than what we have now and maybe better than ever...

For now I've resigned to daily deletion of a dozen or so repeat episodes.

Last I checked it appears that M$ has decided to simply apply the current date to the OAD field of reruns regardless of the actual OAD.

[DavidinCT]

In my area, everything is recording, guide data works, It seems fine for me now. Some sub channels are not accurate but, I added them to my guide but, NEVER WATCHED THEM. So this time around, I didn't even set them up (SD X.2 channels, not even HD so don't really care)

Although it took a few weeks of pain to get there but, it's better now.

I was going to sign but, when I come down to it, No matter how much you want to change, Putting this up is a BAD idea. Rovi is what is on the Xbox one, that is what they are using for guide data, They combined this to save money, so they are no longer paying for something that ONLY WMC is using. They don't have to support it any more on this aspect because WMC users are the BETA testers for the DVR for the Xbox one...(think about it).

The thing here, is, Xbox one is their flagship product right now, I don't think they would put SUB standard information or product on there because, they KNOW, when it comes to gamers, the word of mouth spreads very quickly and they are very loyal. I think we are going through growing pains, WMC 2005 was like this as I remember (in the beta program) shows would not record, information was not 100% accurate. It was a mess, just like this was.

If Microsoft put this back, you could expect the life of guide data from Microsoft (for free to note), to end a LOT sooner than 2020....

*IF* anything, in time, Rovi will get BETTER than Zap2it ever was. They clearly have an INTEREST in the issues and like I said, I am pretty sure we are the beta testers for the Xbox one (THIS IS GOOD)

Think about this, do you want WMC to end sooner than later ? Microsoft CLEARLY has said WMC is done.

[mlcarson]

What difference does it make if it ends sooner rather than later if the guide data is crap? Microsoft should have just created a utility for us to import other guide data sources like Schedules Direct rather than having to rely on a sub par provider. Even you admitted that some of your channels are inaccurate. You're just lucky so far that those are channels you don't watch.

My experience is that they show little interesting in fixing anything but I'm in a small community that they don't care about. I suspect that eventually they'll get the channel lineups fixed but I doubt that you'll ever see the guide data itself fixed.

In my area, everything is recording, guide data works, It seems fine for me now. Some sub channels are not accurate but, I added them to my guide but, NEVER WATCHED THEM. So this time around, I didn't even set them up (SD X.2 channels, not even HD so don't really care)
..
If Microsoft put this back, you could expect the life of guide data from Microsoft (for free to note), to end a LOT sooner than 2020....

[icepick]

Think about this, do you want WMC to end sooner than later ? Microsoft CLEARLY has said WMC is done.

Then they should hand the keys over so we can handle our own guide listing data.

[Venom51]

I actually am in the midst of a ticket with Rovi, they are saying the problem is not lack of them supplying the data, but that the data is not getting displayed on WMC. I guess they are saying it's not their fault, although they want to know as much about the problem as i can tell them from an end users perspective.

I don't know where the responsibility lies TBH. Was Rovi's contract just to supply data and M$ is responsible for editing WMC to accept and utilize the data properly? Is the data that Rovi is supplying somehow the wrong format and that's why it doesn't work right? Is M$ trying to break WMC? Is this an innocent mistake or a ignorant failure?

If I were Rovi I'd be crawling up M$'s butt to fix this. It looks horrible on their part. I don't know a great deal about programming, but I think the easiest fix would be for Rovi to make their data mirror the data that Zap2It supplied. This problem must have been well known prior to the changeover.

There is likely some truth to that. We use Rovi and Tribune for our IPTV solution that the company I work for develops and owns. There are difference in the fields supplied to us from both of them. They both require a completely separate and different ingest mechanism to get the correct data into the correct fields in our DB. Rovi does indeed provide detailed information for every show. We just have no choice but for Microsoft to sort it out. The problem however will lie in the status of whether the Xbox one is getting the correct information already. IF it is that's probably as far as they will bother looking to fix anything.

[DavidinCT]

Think about this, do you want WMC to end sooner than later ? Microsoft CLEARLY has said WMC is done.

Then they should hand the keys over so we can handle our own guide listing data.

WAY too many patents. Microsoft would NEVER just hand over WMC to another person or company. Instead of voting to change back to Zap2it, maybe you should be asking for a tool to use any provider you want AT YOUR OWN COST

What difference does it make if it ends sooner rather than later if the guide data is crap?

So, I assume you would prefer WMC with NO GUIDE data ? If you find a way to hack in data (as others are trying), it's a lot of work to keep it going, you might not be able to run live TV setup ever again and you would PAY FOR IT OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET.

Microsoft should have just created a utility for us to import other guide data sources like Schedules Direct rather than having to rely on a sub par provider. Even you admitted that some of your channels are inaccurate. You're just lucky so far that those are channels you don't watch.

My experience is that they show little interesting in fixing anything but I'm in a small community that they don't care about. I suspect that eventually they'll get the channel lineups fixed but I doubt that you'll ever see the guide data itself fixed.

I hear ya, A nice little tool to import and format data from other sources would be nice, no question about it (read above).

At this point, unless your going to hack in 3rd party data, your best bet is to report issues with guide issues to Microsoft and ROVI, They do seem to care and I still HONESTLY feel we are the PUBLIC beta test for the Xbox one DVR that is coming in a few months....This would be good as they would be willing to address these issues.

If you think your going to get 1-2K users and Microsoft is going to change back to Zap2it, you are dreaming. Microsoft would STOP guide data to WMC before doing that.

You would need 500K people for them to EVEN look at it. Maybe at a global standpoint there MIGHT be that many WMC users but, on this site, I don't see it. I really wish there was

It's hard when you look at it, When Microsoft says they are done with something, THEY ARE DONE, they are a MULTI BILLION dollar global company, a few thousand people complaining wont make them change their mind.

I want to have hope for something like this to happen but, with EVERYTHING that was posted all over twitter, petitions, Facebook, to Microsoft's sites over the last year + on WMC coming to Windows 10 and their excuse is to add a DVD player, means stuff like this against Microsoft, does not work.... Even more for a product that has been stopped from 2009....

Sad to say...

[STC]

If you find a way to hack in data (as others are trying), it's a lot of work to keep it going, you might not be able to run live TV setup ever again and you would PAY FOR IT OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET.

Actually, rolling your own guide with Zap2it data may turn out to be the de facto method. I won't mind spending a few bucks a year for decent quality data.
Time will tell if Rovi and MS get it together or not, although the clock is ticking...