GuideTool Discussion Thread

Whiznot

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#41

Post by Whiznot » Sat Jul 25, 2015 4:53 am

Please help answer some Guide Tool questions.

I use an HD Homerun Prime to record with WMC and the new Rovi channel guide. The Rovi guide for my digital cable provider fails to include channel 834 which is the SEC Football Network. I have previously donated and installed Guide Tool which I thought might be able to add channel 834. However, when I point Guide Tool to the digital lineup for my cable provider channel 834 is missing there also.

Question 1 - Where does Guide Tool pull the channel lineup from?

Question 2 - If the incomplete Rovi lineup is the same as the faulty Guide Tool lineup does that mean the problem is with the cable provider rather than Rovi?

Question 3 - Is there a way to add channel 834 some other way with Guide Tool. Of course the HDHR is a CableCard tuner.

Thanks.

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Crash2009

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#42

Post by Crash2009 » Sat Jul 25, 2015 12:50 pm

Whiznot wrote:Question 3 - Is there a way to add channel 834 some other way with Guide Tool. Of course the HDHR is a CableCard tuner.
I have never actually had to add a channel, neither in WMC nor GuideTool. Here is some detail on how to add a channel in WMC which might shed some light on the process. The page is titled "QAM", "Digital" is covered a bit farther down the page

http://reviewhorizon.com/2011/03/how-to ... ia-center/

As STC was saying, to get started in GuideTool, click the "Tuners Button". Maybe someone else could "Fill in the blanks".

Whiznot

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#43

Post by Whiznot » Sat Jul 25, 2015 2:32 pm

Thanks for the reply Crash2009 but the linked info addressed how to add clear qam channels or OTA channels only. Channels delivered by CableCard decryption are not addresses and wmc seems to provide no way to add them.

I wish Guide Tool had better documentation. There used to be a site hack7mc.com that contained more information than the Guide Tool site but that domain was lost and is now for sale at GoDaddy.

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Crash2009

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#44

Post by Crash2009 » Sat Jul 25, 2015 4:03 pm

http://1geek1tool.com/2009/08/13/how-to ... a-channel/

It's still there. You have to dig around a bit to find what you need. I didn't see "add channels" when I looked.

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STC

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#45

Post by STC » Sat Jul 25, 2015 4:15 pm

May I add a plug for the dev, if you find yourself using GuideTool for a while, please donate!
By the Community, for the Community. 100% Commercial Free.

Want decent guide data back? Check out EPG123

ravsitar

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#46

Post by ravsitar » Sat Jul 25, 2015 6:22 pm

Whiznot wrote:Please help answer some Guide Tool questions.

I use an HD Homerun Prime to record with WMC and the new Rovi channel guide. The Rovi guide for my digital cable provider fails to include channel 834 which is the SEC Football Network. I have previously donated and installed Guide Tool which I thought might be able to add channel 834. However, when I point Guide Tool to the digital lineup for my cable provider channel 834 is missing there also.

Question 1 - Where does Guide Tool pull the channel lineup from?

Question 2 - If the incomplete Rovi lineup is the same as the faulty Guide Tool lineup does that mean the problem is with the cable provider rather than Rovi?

Question 3 - Is there a way to add channel 834 some other way with Guide Tool. Of course the HDHR is a CableCard tuner.

Thanks.
1. GuideTool pulls the data from the EPG that mediacenter downloads. What appears to happen is that WMC downloads all the guide info for all of the tv services in your zip code (OTA, Cable, Dish, DirectTV, Etc) and then simply pulls out the chosen source for use. Guidetool allows you to pick a channel (say OTA channel 2.1) and tell it to use EPG data from a different service (say pull the EPG for channel 2.1 from Comcast Cable rather than OTA). It doesn't make any new EPG or pull from a different source. It simply allows you to change what service (OTA, cable, etc) each channel is using for EPG.

2. See answer above. Guidetool doesn't get any new data from anywhere. What you see is what you're getting from Rovi (or zap2it). None of the EPG issues are due to cable companies (maybe some of the issues with cablecards are??) this is all in how microsoft made the transition from zap2it to Rovi.

dmagerl

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#47

Post by dmagerl » Sat Jul 25, 2015 6:57 pm

ravsitar wrote: 1. GuideTool pulls the data from the EPG that mediacenter downloads. What appears to happen is that WMC downloads all the guide info for all of the tv services in your zip code (OTA, Cable, Dish, DirectTV, Etc) and then simply pulls out the chosen source for use. Guidetool allows you to pick a channel (say OTA channel 2.1) and tell it to use EPG data from a different service (say pull the EPG for channel 2.1 from Comcast Cable rather than OTA). It doesn't make any new EPG or pull from a different source. It simply allows you to change what service (OTA, cable, etc) each channel is using for EPG.
And when you go to About Guide Listings in WMC, you will see a page for each guide service you are taking data from.

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Crash2009

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#48

Post by Crash2009 » Sat Jul 25, 2015 10:44 pm

Question 3 I'm gonna take a guess, and see if this is what you mean. If I was going to add a channel (using GuideTool), that wasn't available in WMC's EPG, I would start by first clicking lineup and set to all lineups. Then, look for the channel in the channel list, then put a checkmark in the box.

As a matter of fact, I have done this a few times, and it works great. I only had to do this twice, is my reason for forgetting. We get all the channels for the winter, and then just a minimal package for the summer. Recently I have not been editing channels much due to using the 2 backups. summer-backup and winter-backup.
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Whiznot

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#49

Post by Whiznot » Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:40 pm

Thanks for all the replies, especially ravistar. My Guide Tool questions are answered.

BTW, I donated to the developer a couple of years ago when I first used Guide Tool. At that time I had an HD Homerun that tuned clear qam and the wmc epg setup needed a lot of help. Subsequently, my provider encrypted all channels and I had to upgrade to the CableCard HD Homerun Prime which was trouble free until the switch to Rovi.

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Crash2009

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#50

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Jul 26, 2015 12:44 am

Here is a feature that comes in handy. Delete channels from your guide. We get around 640 channels. Many of them are duplicates, and some are even in triplicate. Also since I have no interest in the Home Shopping Club (QVC I think) why should I have to skip through 10 channels of QVC to find what I am looking for. A few more examples of channels I never watch that I have deleted from the guide are STIGOLD, STZIB, STZK. The point is....deselect any channel you don't want to see anymore and deselect all the duplicates. I just found a couple that I had missed last time. SPMNHD and SPROUTH, why do I need 2 PBS Kids? I don't even need 1.

I have my guide trimmed down from 640 channels to 160 channels. I'm not really loosing anything except for a bunch of crap that gets in the way. I think I could trim it even more, I don't even watch or record some of the 160 that I have. I could leave it on the History or Weather Channel for weeks, and not feel like I missed something.
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Crash2009

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#51

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Jul 26, 2015 2:41 am

Once you get your guide trimmed down to a manageable size......

Do a backup.

You must pay the 5 or 10 bucks to the developer to get the backup/restore feature.

edit out all the xxx channels such as Juicy, Hustler, and Playboy so the kids cant even see the listings, quickly put them back in when the wife wants to watch a porno.
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Mike88

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#52

Post by Mike88 » Sun Jul 26, 2015 4:36 am

ravsitar wrote: 1. GuideTool pulls the data from the EPG that mediacenter downloads. What appears to happen is that WMC downloads all the guide info for all of the tv services in your zip code (OTA, Cable, Dish, DirectTV, Etc) and then simply pulls out the chosen source for use. Guidetool allows you to pick a channel (say OTA channel 2.1) and tell it to use EPG data from a different service (say pull the EPG for channel 2.1 from Comcast Cable rather than OTA). It doesn't make any new EPG or pull from a different source. It simply allows you to change what service (OTA, cable, etc) each channel is using for EPG.

2. See answer above. Guidetool doesn't get any new data from anywhere. What you see is what you're getting from Rovi (or zap2it). None of the EPG issues are due to cable companies (maybe some of the issues with cablecards are??) this is all in how microsoft made the transition from zap2it to Rovi.
I'm curious. For the same ZIP code how can Rovi have Cable data for a channel such as ABC yet may be missing Dish's data for ABC?

IOW does Rovi (or Zap2it) get Cable ABC data from a different source from where they get Dish's ABC data?

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Crash2009

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#53

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Jul 26, 2015 12:45 pm

Whiznot wrote:Question 3 - Is there a way to add channel 834 some other way with Guide Tool. Of course the HDHR is a CableCard tuner.
and then there is..... "Add/Tune a channel that doesn't exist in the lineup" This might force the tuner to tune the channel. Guide info will likely be unavailable, so watch "Live only", possibly manual recording will work. Here is the source of that idea... https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Fo ... itpromedia

This is the frequency my Ceton Tuner pulls the channel in with.....

In GuideTool.....

1 Click the tuner button as STC has suggested, and ED and Scallica previously confirmed.
2 Enter Call Sign and Number

3 Anybody know what to enter into ATSC/QAM Parameters? or, Is this a waste of time?
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thess

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#54

Post by thess » Mon Jul 27, 2015 5:00 pm

Agree with @Crash2009, and have same issue with HDHomerun Prime CC. I need to select program #2 on new channel.
All I get is program #1 when I enter the QAM channel. GuideTool does not appear to allow any alternate sub-program designation.

I will gladly donate $$ to GuideTool if it can solve this problem!

TIA

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#55

Post by ravsitar » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:57 pm

Mike88 wrote:
ravsitar wrote: 1. GuideTool pulls the data from the EPG that mediacenter downloads. What appears to happen is that WMC downloads all the guide info for all of the tv services in your zip code (OTA, Cable, Dish, DirectTV, Etc) and then simply pulls out the chosen source for use. Guidetool allows you to pick a channel (say OTA channel 2.1) and tell it to use EPG data from a different service (say pull the EPG for channel 2.1 from Comcast Cable rather than OTA). It doesn't make any new EPG or pull from a different source. It simply allows you to change what service (OTA, cable, etc) each channel is using for EPG.

2. See answer above. Guidetool doesn't get any new data from anywhere. What you see is what you're getting from Rovi (or zap2it). None of the EPG issues are due to cable companies (maybe some of the issues with cablecards are??) this is all in how microsoft made the transition from zap2it to Rovi.
I'm curious. For the same ZIP code how can Rovi have Cable data for a channel such as ABC yet may be missing Dish's data for ABC?

IOW does Rovi (or Zap2it) get Cable ABC data from a different source from where they get Dish's ABC data?
I think what's happening is that when the packages are assembled for each zip code, some services (OTA, Cable, etc) aren't pulling all of the data in properly. That's why the OTA in my area is missing channels and guide data, but the cable one isn't and they're both from Rovi. Essentially each service is an export from a huge database of channels. If the proper channels aren't selected, the export isn't correct.

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#56

Post by al_wilson2 » Tue Jul 28, 2015 2:29 am

Whiznot wrote:Please help answer some Guide Tool questions.

However, when I point Guide Tool to the digital lineup for my cable provider channel 834 is missing there also.
You can always try a different provider. How many providers does guide tool show in the drop down menu? You could probably use Dish or DirecTV to get the SEC info. Or just set that drop down to "all lineups", sort by name, then scroll down to SEC. Guide Tool will let you use multiple lineups.

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#57

Post by al_wilson2 » Tue Jul 28, 2015 2:35 am

Another way to check your lineup, to see if Rovi corrected it, is go to http://roviguide.com/. This is an online Rovi guide, and it seems to match exactly what I was seeing in media center.

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#58

Post by al_wilson2 » Tue Jul 28, 2015 2:57 am

Just a quick note for all, if you rerun setup.

WMC does not do a channel scan during setup for strictly an OTA setup. It configures the available channels from the OTA guide. In other words it configures your channels based on the incomplete guide instead of what your tuner actually sees. To ensure that you get all of your channels, immediately run a channel scan after setup. Then use Guide Tool http://1geek1tool.com/guidetool/ to configure your listings.

If your setup includes QAM, then WMC automatically does a channel scan during setup.

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#59

Post by circusdog » Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:26 am

Does this tool work on Vista Ultimate joined to a domain? I have been trying for a week with no success. I ran both WMC and the tool as admin, I ran it logged in as local admin, I let it open WMC, I changed WMC window size, turned off the firewall, uninstalled any other add-ins, used localhost, 127.0.0.1, actual IP. Still makes complaints about not connecting.

I need something to work, b/c I have no guide data at all since Sunday night.

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#60

Post by al_wilson2 » Wed Jul 29, 2015 7:27 pm

gildavis wrote:Does this tool work on Vista Ultimate joined to a domain? I have been trying for a week with no success. I ran both WMC and the tool as admin, I ran it logged in as local admin, I let it open WMC, I changed WMC window size, turned off the firewall, uninstalled any other add-ins, used localhost, 127.0.0.1, actual IP. Still makes complaints about not connecting.

I need something to work, b/c I have no guide data at all since Sunday night.
Not sure, but https://mymce.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/ ... ia-center/ states that it works on Vista. Maybe try an older version of the tool? What about trying to run the tool from another PC, and have it connect to the media PC? Try running netstat -an from the command prompt, with Media Center running. See if you have the below entry. When I open WMC, this entry pops up. When I close WMC, it goes away. Guide Tool uses port 5733.

TCP 0.0.0.0:5733 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING

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