VISTA WMC Stuck on Zap2it

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Vistaar

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#81

Post by Vistaar » Thu Aug 27, 2015 4:59 pm

tillerr wrote:Turns out on my first attempt I grabbed the wrong version of TV Pack 2008. After installing the correct version there is something going on with WMC that looks promising. The downside is it looks like I have to go through initial setup again and none of my recorded programs are visible...
If you somehow managed to install the wrong version (which I doubt - I assume you mean 32-bit vs. 64-bit), then you should restore your system. (Simply extracting the file wouldn't do anything.) Are you using a CableCard or STB? I am not; but your "recorded programs not visible" sounds like a DRM issue that PlayReady might affect. You haven't mentioned checking for updates in Windows Update. The Cumulative Update (KB977864) appears to be especially important for CableCard users. Yes, you will have to go through initial setup again. If you get a "Download Failure" notification due to server issues, then you might have to repeat the TV Setup part multiple times.

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#82

Post by tillerr » Thu Aug 27, 2015 5:06 pm

Vistaar wrote:
tillerr wrote:Turns out on my first attempt I grabbed the wrong version of TV Pack 2008. After installing the correct version there is something going on with WMC that looks promising. The downside is it looks like I have to go through initial setup again and none of my recorded programs are visible...
If you somehow managed to install the wrong version (which I doubt - I assume you mean 32-bit vs. 64-bit), then you should restore your system. (Simply extracting the file wouldn't do anything.) Are you using a CableCard or STB? I am not; but your "recorded programs not visible" sounds like a DRM issue that PlayReady might affect. You haven't mentioned checking for updates in Windows Update. The Cumulative Update (KB977864) appears to be especially important for CableCard users. Yes, you will have to go through initial setup again. If you get a "Download Failure" notification due to server issues, then you might have to repeat the TV Setup part multiple times.
When I grabbed TV Pack for 64 bit by mistake it wouldn't install on my system because it's 32 bit.

I use OTA only. I'm wondering if the recorded programs aren't showing in WMC because I haven't gone through the initial setup yet or because they are a different file extension than what WMC is looking for now. The file extension previously was .dvr-ms and I seem to remember reading that this update would change that.

Should I hold off on PlayReady?

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#83

Post by Vistaar » Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:51 pm

I guess this thread is getting too long for some people to read with all the quotations etc. The procedure goes like this:

(1) Install TV Pack, restart the PC
(2) Install Playready v1.3
(3) Check for updates in Windows Update, install the updates, restart the PC
(4) Run Windows Media Center Setup

Frankly, I have no idea what you might see if you try to use WMC before completing these steps. Having completed them a month ago, I can tell you that I am able to play my old dvr-ms files; however in my case those were analog cable, not digital OTA. (My basic cable service is now Clear QAM.)

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#84

Post by tillerr » Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:58 pm

Vistaar wrote:I guess this thread is getting too long for some people to read with all the quotations etc. The procedure goes like this:

(1) Install TV Pack, restart the PC
(2) Install Playready v1.3
(3) Check for updates in Windows Update, install the updates, restart the PC
(4) Run Windows Media Center Setup

Frankly, I have no idea what you might see if you try to use WMC before completing these steps. Having completed them a month ago, I can tell you that I am able to play my old dvr-ms files; however in my case those were analog cable, not digital OTA. (My basic cable service is now Clear QAM.)
I completed step 1 earlier. I'm in the process of completing step 2 right now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for the help.

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#85

Post by tillerr » Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:59 pm

No updates available after completing step 2 so I am restarting the PC and will see how WMC set up goes.

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#86

Post by tillerr » Thu Aug 27, 2015 9:04 pm

Getting the download failure. How many times should I expect to have to retry? Should I just choose to go back or close WMC and start over?

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#87

Post by Vistaar » Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:09 am

"No updates available"? Then you did not click "Check for updates" in the upper-left corner of the Windows Update window. (Either that, or you have not installed TV Pack.) Below is my update history for the day I installed TV Pack (the highlighted item is TV Pack itself).
After installing updates and restarting the PC, run Windows Media Center Setup. I suggest that you finish setup even if you get another Download Failure, to clear out any remaining Zap2It data. After that, you can simply setup TV Signal multiple times. Evening is probably the worst time to attempt this, because thousands of people who either (a) have no guide data or (b) are dissatisfied with their guide data are home from work and running TV Setup multiple times. If you get multiple failures, and if you have ever modified your Hosts file in hopes of getting guide data, then I would suggest that you reset it: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/ ... /kb/972034. (My Hosts file is in default condition, I'm using my own zip code, and I got Rovi data a month ago.)
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#88

Post by Avalanche » Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:28 am

tillerr wrote:Avalanche, did you do anything other than add the TV Pack?
I followed the instructions on digiex.net, as linked by SteelWill in the second post of this thread. The second KB patch didn't install, said it wasn't needed or something. Step 1 says not to launch WMC or go through the setup, so I didn't do that until step 6...

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#89

Post by lees40 » Fri Aug 28, 2015 2:49 am

ronaldo47 wrote:lees40, I just wanted to let you know that I have been using a Linksys DMA2200 extender with Windows 7 for about three years. It works great. As far as I know the 2200 is the same as a 2100 with the addition of a DVD tray. I am also using multiple Xbox 360's as extenders and everything coexists just fine. I personally think that upgrading to Windows 7 is a better solution than loading TV pack on Vista.

Ron
Hi Ron, I upgraded the box to Windows 7 Home Premium. So far having problems getting media center to install play ready or find my analog channels...

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#90

Post by ronaldo47 » Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:30 am

lees40, did you do a clean install of Windows 7 or did you just update your Vista OS? I have had more success when using a clean install. When you said you could not find your analog channels, did you mean your over the air digital channels? Also, here is some information for solving PlayReady problems.

https://www.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10360

Many people are now having success getting their guides using Windows 7, but it has not worked for everyone. There is obviously something going on that is not fully understood. I have two Windows 7 computers and they both now work fine. One refused to switch to Rovi despite my trying a lot of different zipcodes. This was in July and I had not tried any of solutions people are now talking about. I sort of gave up and then it switched over to Rovi one night all by itself with no intervention from me and has been fine since. The other system responded to a combination of changing my hosts file, doing a DNS flush and deleting my ehome folder. Maybe it was a coincidence or maybe one or more of those steps actually fixed it.

Anyway, hang in there and be persistent Good luck.

Ron

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#91

Post by lees40 » Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:14 pm

ronaldo47 wrote:lees40, did you do a clean install of Windows 7 or did you just update your Vista OS? I have had more success when using a clean install. When you said you could not find your analog channels, did you mean your over the air digital channels? Also, here is some information for solving PlayReady problems.

https://www.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10360

Many people are now having success getting their guides using Windows 7, but it has not worked for everyone. There is obviously something going on that is not fully understood. I have two Windows 7 computers and they both now work fine. One refused to switch to Rovi despite my trying a lot of different zipcodes. This was in July and I had not tried any of solutions people are now talking about. I sort of gave up and then it switched over to Rovi one night all by itself with no intervention from me and has been fine since. The other system responded to a combination of changing my hosts file, doing a DNS flush and deleting my ehome folder. Maybe it was a coincidence or maybe one or more of those steps actually fixed it.

Anyway, hang in there and be persistent Good luck.

Ron
Thanks Ron,

Ok, well I got it to recognize my tuners and play ready updated successfully, however, still now getting the download error when I try to get the guide. Also I did an upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium, not a clean install.

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#92

Post by tillerr » Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:47 pm

Vistaar wrote:"No updates available"? Then you did not click "Check for updates" in the upper-left corner of the Windows Update window. (Either that, or you have not installed TV Pack.) Below is my update history for the day I installed TV Pack (the highlighted item is TV Pack itself).
After installing updates and restarting the PC, run Windows Media Center Setup. I suggest that you finish setup even if you get another Download Failure, to clear out any remaining Zap2It data. After that, you can simply setup TV Signal multiple times. Evening is probably the worst time to attempt this, because thousands of people who either (a) have no guide data or (b) are dissatisfied with their guide data are home from work and running TV Setup multiple times. If you get multiple failures, and if you have ever modified your Hosts file in hopes of getting guide data, then I would suggest that you reset it: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/ ... /kb/972034. (My Hosts file is in default condition, I'm using my own zip code, and I got Rovi data a month ago.)
Vistaar, you're right. I didn't hit the Check for updates button. I did find that before doing WMC setup and some updates were applied. I restarted the computer and then went into WMC setup. Multiple times I tried the TV setup and it continued to fail. It said something about a failed download previously and that was preventing it. Is this the same as your experience and so I should keep trying or is there a partially downloaded file somewhere that I should delete? I never did modify any host files and I'm using my own zip code.

I'm wondering if I should uninstall the TV Pack and other updates from yesterday and start over. Thoughts?

Thanks.

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#93

Post by Vistaar » Fri Aug 28, 2015 2:10 pm

tillerr wrote:Multiple times I tried the TV setup and it continued to fail. It said something about a failed download previously and that was preventing it. Is this the same as your experience and so I should keep trying or is there a partially downloaded file somewhere that I should delete? I never did modify any host files and I'm using my own zip code. I'm wondering if I should uninstall the TV Pack and other updates from yesterday and start over.
Yes I have seen the download failure notification several times myself (screenshot on page 3, post #58), as have many Windows 7 and 8 users. I'm quite certain that is a server issue - not a problem at the user end. You now have just as good a chance of downloading TV setup data as lees40, who has upgraded to Windows 7 but now reports "download error" in a post just above yours. Like ronaldo47, I would say "hang in there and be persistent." If you're impatient, you could try any of the "solutions" in the 80-page "Media Center EPG Cutover" thread, but I did not resort to any of them myself and cannot recommend any particular one. Should you restore your system to a point before TV Pack was installed? Not if want guide data for your Vista WMC.

BTW does recorded tv now show some or all of your recordings?

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#94

Post by mtreehugger » Fri Aug 28, 2015 2:15 pm

I went through the whole process again last night with the same disappointing result. I'd hoped that downloading the 2 updates cited in "the link," which I skipped the 1st time, might make a difference this time, but in both cases my computer told me those updates didn't apply to my system. When I checked for updates the only ones available had been downloaded hours previously and I was not able to make updater check for updates again (did I somehow fail to see that option?)

I was reconsidering an update to win7 until I read that this isn't even necessarily a fix.

It looks like Vistaar is the only one who didn't have a fight on his hands.

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#95

Post by tillerr » Fri Aug 28, 2015 2:19 pm

Vistaar wrote:
tillerr wrote:Multiple times I tried the TV setup and it continued to fail. It said something about a failed download previously and that was preventing it. Is this the same as your experience and so I should keep trying or is there a partially downloaded file somewhere that I should delete? I never did modify any host files and I'm using my own zip code. I'm wondering if I should uninstall the TV Pack and other updates from yesterday and start over.
Yes I have seen the download failure notification several times myself (screenshot on page 3, post #58), as have many Windows 7 and 8 users. I'm quite certain that is a server issue - not a problem at the user end. You now have just as good a chance of downloading TV setup data as lees40, who has upgraded to Windows 7 but now reports "download error" in a post just above yours. Like ronaldo47, I would say "hang in there and be persistent." If you're impatient, you could try any of the "solutions" in the 80-page "Media Center EPG Cutover" thread, but I did not resort to any of them myself and cannot recommend any particular one. Should you restore your system to a point before TV Pack was installed? Not if want guide data for your Vista WMC.

BTW does recorded tv now show some or all of your recordings?
Vistaar,

I tried to download TV data about 20 times in a 5 minute span with no luck. Not sure if that makes a difference or not. My question about restoring to a point before the TV Pack was installed was meant as a starting over point (go through the steps again afterward) not to stay at that point at hope EPG info showed up anyway.

The only way recorded program info showed up in WMC was for me to find the files in Windows Explorer and one by one double click on them so they would then play in WMC. After double clicking on each one they would appear in my Recorded Program section. I still have not found a way to recover the scheduled recordings I had in WMC before this update/installation.

I'm not sure if my impatience ruined this whole process or not but I became frustrated this morning and when I received a download failure for TV info I chose to continue instead of going back as it said it would use the previous info if possible. I scanned channels and all that only to have a fraction of OTA channels from before the update and still no EPG data.

Unless you think I screwed something up by doing this I will either continue to hit the Back button and try the TV info download again and again and again.

Thanks again for all of your help in this .

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#96

Post by mtreehugger » Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:43 pm

Tilerr, it sounds to me like your computer decided it would take it upon itself to just uninstall playready PC, just like mine did. If I'm right, then if you reinstall it you will get those extra channels back (tho for how long I can't say).

Vistaar, are you suggesting that in order to get WMC to point to Rovi that setup must be run at a time when most folks are sleeping or at work? If that were the case, then where does TV Pack come into play? I mean, if the reason we're getting the setup download failure is due to a busy server somewhere on the net, TV Pack would have no bearing on this at all, right?

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#97

Post by tillerr » Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:04 pm

mtreehugger wrote:Tilerr, it sounds to me like your computer decided it would take it upon itself to just uninstall playready PC, just like mine did. If I'm right, then if you reinstall it you will get those extra channels back (tho for how long I can't say).

Vistaar, are you suggesting that in order to get WMC to point to Rovi that setup must be run at a time when most folks are sleeping or at work? If that were the case, then where does TV Pack come into play? I mean, if the reason we're getting the setup download failure is due to a busy server somewhere on the net, TV Pack would have no bearing on this at all, right?
When I attempt to install PlayReady again it only gives the option to remove so it must be on my computer still. Just not sure why I'm not getting all of my channels as I was before the installs.

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#98

Post by mtreehugger » Fri Aug 28, 2015 6:53 pm

tillerr,

After installing Playready, I then have to run setup. I always get the download error and am forced to take the option of using existing data or whatever, and after going through that process my tuner finds the extra channels that Playready gave me.

This time around I'm avoiding system restore if I can, but I'm pretty much out of options here. I'll have to try Vistaar's idea of running setup at a time when the internet is most quiet.

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#99

Post by tillerr » Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:25 pm

mtreehugger wrote:tillerr,

After installing Playready, I then have to run setup. I always get the download error and am forced to take the option of using existing data or whatever, and after going through that process my tuner finds the extra channels that Playready gave me.

This time around I'm avoiding system restore if I can, but I'm pretty much out of options here. I'll have to try Vistaar's idea of running setup at a time when the internet is most quiet.
I have run setup in WMC after installing PlayReady and still only get a fraction of the channels I did before installing TVPack. Not sure what to do here other than continue trying to get setup to run.

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#100

Post by mtreehugger » Sat Aug 29, 2015 1:00 pm

i just ran setup multiple times in multiple zip codes (that have been reported as recognized by Rovi) at a time when server usage should be low, and got the download failure every time. i actually first noticed the download error back in january, so i've been getting it since well before Zap2it went away. Now when I look at "provider credits" I no longer see Zap2it, so my WMC has no guide provider. (this happened earlier too--after my first trial of tv pack)

i also tried to install tv pack again, but this time got a message that said something to the effect of "the update does not apply to your system." apparently this is what vista tells us when we already have the update. it looks like the only way to uninstall is to go back via system restore (since i didn't make an image).

if i knew it would work i'd upgrade to win7. i'll wager that it won't work, though, so i'll keep my money, thank you.

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