VISTA WMC Stuck on Zap2it

Discuss Vista Media Center & XP Media Center Edition
columbia93

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#21

Post by columbia93 » Thu Aug 06, 2015 3:26 am

Superstitions are likely the result of the ONLY install to clean OS, extension changes and inability to uninstall warnings. That was it for me, anyway.

Good news and why I'm going to try it

- Finally have a definitive answer that Vista will not convert as is

- I do have information from a few more people who've installed this that Vista is now working with WMC and installed over SP2 fine...no clean install

- Extension change is easy fix - right click on the file and chose the option to convert to dvr-ms (old, familiar extension)

- Can't uninstall but can restore - biggest thing to keep me from installing TVP. Someone complained about video quality after TVP and a restore easily removed it.

columbia93

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#22

Post by columbia93 » Thu Aug 06, 2015 6:32 am

Okay. I downloaded and installed TV Pack 2008. Tried setting up WMC.

1. I understand the setup is different but....when I put in my zip code, no cable companies were available. It just went straight to the Windows agreement and then to download TV Setup, which failed.

2. I then installed the PlayReady program. I also tried to install the 2 updates included with the instructions but got the message they did not apply to me

3. I tried setup again and got the fail. I decided to continue on.
a. First oddity was there is now an IR button to change IR connections. I couldn't get my remote to work - IR was NOT moved from before when it did work.
b. I clicked the button and the remote started working
c. However, I no longer had a pic on my TV setup - Channel 3

4. I then went into Windows Update, ran the option to check and found 4 new updates - 1 Movie Maker security and 3 TV08. Installed all 4.

5. I decided to disable my TV tuner - just thinking it might trigger something. Reboot.

6. Black screen of death
a. Restart and "Safe" - chose "Last Known Good Configuration" - didn't work
b. Had to put the Vista disk in and run repair - took forever but the next restart worked

7. Without removing updates and re-enabling TV tuner, I tried WMC setup with the same results, except now it won't recognize my remote at all. Downloadable Guide failed.

8. Event Viewer: MC Warning: The EPGLineups package is not available. (7008.1111)
The NetworkMetadata package is not available. (7008.1111)
That last number in parenthesis changes with each warning.

Any thoughts on why it isn't working for me? Why isn't it giving me the cable companies to choose from?

Vista 64 SP2, Hauppauge 1800 TV tuner, Time Warner Cable/Set Top

SteelWill

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#23

Post by SteelWill » Thu Aug 06, 2015 9:34 am

I can only tell you a few things that are necessary for me to get mine working:
Using the hosts file entries, doing a flushdns, and rebooting. Disabling one of my two tuners (an old pci that would cause the "previous errors" error) and adding it after setting up the other. Using a zipcode known to have data. I've gone through the TV Pack install a couple of times (thank you OCD) so I've gotten an idea of what actually works on mine vs. hocus pocus. For your more severe problems I'm not sure what going on, my install didn't affect anything outside of WMC aside form a random wake from sleep I'm still tracking down.

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Vistaar

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#24

Post by Vistaar » Thu Aug 06, 2015 3:30 pm

columbia93 wrote:Vista 64
Uh oh, maybe it's the 64-bit version that gave TV Pack a bad rep. I had even fewer problems than SteelWill, but our systems are both 32-bit. (My hosts file is default, I'm using my own zip code but did try one other, no flushdns or disabling of pci tuner.) If you installed PlayReady v1.2, uninstall that and try v1.3: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download ... px?id=5445. The basic cable channels I subscribe to are all Clear QAM, so no STB or CableCard required with TV Pack; but PlayReady v1.3 seems to have solved one minor issue. Do you have the Cumulative Update installed?

mtreehugger

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#25

Post by mtreehugger » Thu Aug 06, 2015 4:38 pm

Would setting a restore point be close to the same measure of safety as making an image? I read that if system restore fails, which mine does, booting in safe mode or a clean boot usually works. I had been planning on verifying this, then downloading the TV pack, but if I need to make an image maybe I have to go that route? About how much hard disc space would I need?

dmagerl

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#26

Post by dmagerl » Thu Aug 06, 2015 6:44 pm

It wasnt 64bit that gave TVPAck a bad rep, TVPack gave TVPack a bad rap. Those of us who used it back then couldnt wait to dump it for Win7.

There's one theory that it was a very buggy pre-release of win7 WMC that had to be delivered for OEM contractual obilgations. System builders had to ensure that their hardware worked with WMC before Win7 hit the market.

mtreehugger

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#27

Post by mtreehugger » Thu Aug 06, 2015 6:59 pm

Is this why I need TV Pack today: Whenever I've tried to manually "Download TV Setup Options," it tells me "Download Failure. The download of new options could not be completed. The existing TV setup options will be used as you continue through TV signal setup. Select Next to continue." I suspect that if I could manually download the setup options I'd be able to get Rovi rather than Zap2it, and I've seen suggestions aimed at correcting the download failure.

columbia93

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#28

Post by columbia93 » Thu Aug 06, 2015 8:20 pm

SteelWill - are you using Vista? Someone said that Vista and XP use a different method for obtaining guide information and, since it isn't supported anymore, Vista and XP will never work with the conversion.

I know that a guy on a different forum with Vista 64 was able to get it to work. Sounded like it worked fairly easily for him, too. Because Setup is different with TVP, I don't know if the fail I'm getting now is a "good" fail, meaning at least now I'm on the right track and just need to wait it out, or if there is still something wrong that will prevent it from ever working.

Again, the updates in the tutorial wouldn't install for me. I couldn't find a working download of the Cumulative (KB958653). What updated for me was
KB2494132
KB2579692
KB2628642
KB2424434 (Movie Maker)

FYI - I think the problem with the 2009 Cumulative is that it was prior to SP2. Probably not going to show up for those of us who've updated beyond that point.

ogahm

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#29

Post by ogahm » Thu Aug 06, 2015 9:51 pm

My attempt at how-to resolve this issue, feedback appreciated. Windows Vista 64 Ultimate SP2.
Write down or take screenshots of your series (Recordings>View Scheduled>Series) See notes at the end.
Go to this website: (From second post in this thread, THANK YOU Steelwill!)
http://digiex.net/guides-reviews/guides ... guide.html

1. Close Media Center and run the Windows Media Center 2008 update X86 or X64. Rar files, I used 7zip, it doesn't load other programs. (This update complained it wasn't for this system, but ran anyway.)
2. Run the PlayReady update, reboot. None of the other updates on that page would run for me, so:
3. Run Windows Update, it will show you are up to date, but click on the link to look for new updates, takes 5-10 minutes, there should be 5 updates. Load the updates and reboot.
Open MC, run signal setup. At the point after it asks for your zip code there should now be many more choices (they look like "Denver Suburbs (Comcast Digital Cable)").
After finishing setup I opened the program guide it was populated correctly. Settings>TV>Guide>About Guide settings shows ROVI!

Notes:
I tried going to MS.com and downloading the updates, but those updates kept telling me that it doesn't apply to this system and aborting. So I ran the one from the above website, and though it also complained, it ran anyway.

You may want to look at the series you are recording and right them down. This update left me with no series :evil: , but they are in:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\Recording\Recordings.xml file. The file is there but now, the series appear to be in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\mcepg1-0.db which is where Win 7/8 keeps it (I think, I'm going on the fact this file updates every time I add a recording/series). So you will have to manually re-input your series and recordings through MC.

You can actually open the file C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\Recording\Recordings.xml in notepad and though it is very cryptic, you can get the data about your series from it, search on SeriesID and you'll see the name of the series. Searching on ChannelNum and PrototypicalStartTime also helped.
You cannot open the mcepg1-0.db file this way, it's too large, and when it finally opened, it's encoded.
P.S. The MC now looks slightly different, has some features I'll have to get used to on the guide (left and right mouse arrows) and it looks a little different. But I also noted that the annoying popping sounds on all my recordings are gone, so this process has resolved another long standing issue. Good luck all. :D So so happy!

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Vistaar

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#30

Post by Vistaar » Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:01 pm

columbia93 wrote:Someone said that Vista and XP use a different method for obtaining guide information [than Windows 7 and 8] and, since it isn't supported anymore, Vista and XP will never work with the conversion...I know that a guy on a different forum with Vista 64 was able to get it to work...I couldn't find a working download of the Cumulative (KB958653)...I think the problem with the 2009 Cumulative is that it was prior to SP2.
I believe that "someone" is absolutely correct - but Vista with TV Pack is an exception because it uses the same method as Windows 7, which is why SteelWill and I installed it (obviously upgrading to Windows 7 is another option)...You mean Windows Update hasn't given you Cumulative Update for Media Center TVPack for Windows Vista (KB977864) from 2010? If not, see my link in post #12...Maybe you should post at that "different forum"...Have you installed PlayReady v1.3?

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Vistaar

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#31

Post by Vistaar » Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:25 pm

mtreehugger wrote:Would setting a restore point be close to the same measure of safety as making an image? I read that if system restore fails, which mine does...
I would still recommend an up-to-date image, just as I did on page 1 of this thread. If you had been forced to restore Vista from a factory image in recent years as I was, you would know how important an up-to-date image really is. (It took me a week to update Vista, reinstall software, etc.) An image is your best protection against both viruses and crappy antivirus software that you might be tempted to install (it was the latter that proved to be my downfall). Let's not turn this into a "how to use imaging software" thread. If you search at Vista Support Forums, you could find many old threads or start one of your own. It might be a good idea to investigate why system restore is failing before proceeding further.

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#32

Post by mtreehugger » Thu Aug 06, 2015 11:13 pm

I keep forgetting to state that I have Vista 32 bit SP2. I wish someone could answer my question about whether the WMC setup failure is the reason I can't get Rovi or not. If folks can run WMC setup but still can't get Rovi, then I'm thinking I should be looking at TV Pack (after I get a current image, that is).

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Vistaar

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#33

Post by Vistaar » Thu Aug 06, 2015 11:29 pm

Welcome ogahm! It's good to hear from someone having success with the 64-bit version. One thing:
ogahm wrote:2. Run the PlayReady update
I did not do that, but got Rovi guide listings anyway. Later installed PlayReady v1.3 directly from Microsoft. The link in post #24 is the 64-bit version.

columbia93

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#34

Post by columbia93 » Fri Aug 07, 2015 2:12 am

I finally have a guide!

Vista 64 SP2

I installed TV Pack 2008 (KB953272) and PlayReady 1.2 then ran Update checker again and installed 4 updates - 1 for Movie Maker and 3 for TV Pack. Some more futzing and I got black screen of death. Got myself out of that. Still no Guide.

Cumulative 2009 will not run with SP2. Since we can't download from Microsoft, I found this site that has several updates:
https://bcrawfordjr.wordpress.com/categ ... es/page/2/

I found 2 Updates that would install with my system - KB956147 & KB977864. Still no Guide.

Someone suggested uninstalling PlayReady 1.2 and installing PlayReady 1.3 instead. I did this. Still no Guide

I went back to another thread on this site that has you change the hosts file. It didn't work for me before TV Pack install but decided to try it again - clear, easy instructions can be found here:
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 327#p94327

Before I actually tried it, I decided to try a different IP someone had recently given. I followed the instructions, brought up the notepad, pasted the 2 IPs into the bottom of the notepad and then replaced the (red part with the green part)

72.246.56.59 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com to 23.14.84.178

So, I copied THIS to the bottom of my hosts notepad...

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


I now have a working guide for Vista 64 SP2!

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Vistaar

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#35

Post by Vistaar » Fri Aug 07, 2015 5:28 am

columbia93 wrote:I now have a working guide for Vista 64 SP2!
Sounds good! I'm surprised you had to hunt down KB977864 because I got that one from Windows Update with 32-bit Vista. On the other hand, I did not get a Movie Maker update, but I never use Movie Maker anyway.

To hear GreenButton members tell the tale, you'd think nobody ever got any guide data without tinkering with their hosts file, but I'm here to tell you that my hosts file is in default condition and I've had Rovi guide data for more than a week.

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#36

Post by SteelWill » Fri Aug 07, 2015 9:42 am

If any of you guys run into, or better yet solve, the random wake issue I'm getting I'd love to hear about it. My machine woke at 3AM, 5AM, and 7:20AM yesterday morning and just now this morning. I've verified it starts only after setting up your tuner (and not after just installing the TV pack), and I can tell it's touching mcepg2-0.db on at least some of the wakes from the modified date, but there's nothing listed in the event viewer, not even the actual wake event, both mcupdate tasks are disabled, and guide updates are disabled in WMC. Powercfg returns a generic and unhelpful RTC alarm when I happen to catch it. I think I'm about ready to move on from Vista to Win7 over this.

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#37

Post by dkrom » Fri Aug 07, 2015 1:43 pm

mtreehugger wrote:Is this why I need TV Pack today: Whenever I've tried to manually "Download TV Setup Options," it tells me "Download Failure. The download of new options could not be completed. The existing TV setup options will be used as you continue through TV signal setup. Select Next to continue." I suspect that if I could manually download the setup options I'd be able to get Rovi rather than Zap2it, and I've seen suggestions aimed at correcting the download failure.
mctreehugger- try changing the URL in the registry at:
HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/MediaCenter/Service/EPG/discSvc/

to

https://data.tvdownload.microsoft.com/d ... esMetaInfo

This fixed being able to connect and setup for me as an XP WMC user. Then try to setup your machine. You'll probably be successful and get a guide to download, but the guide will be mostly empty. Then you'll know you need the TV pack.

mtreehugger

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#38

Post by mtreehugger » Fri Aug 07, 2015 2:12 pm

mctreehugger- try changing the URL in the registry at:
HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/MediaCenter/Service/EPG/discSvc/

to

https://data.tvdownload.microsoft.com/d ... esMetaInfo

This fixed being able to connect and setup for me as an XP WMC user. Then try to setup your machine. You'll probably be successful and get a guide to download, but the guide will be mostly empty. Then you'll know you need the TV pack.[/quote]

_________________________________________________

I am able to make it "download" the guide currently, and it's empty except one channel. As an XP user your WMC is different, howver, a registry edit is fairly easy to reverse, so I'll give this a shot in the next day or so and report my results.

THANKS!

mtreehugger

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#39

Post by mtreehugger » Fri Aug 07, 2015 4:37 pm

It's all so confusing to read my part of this thread. I can download guide data, but that's with Zap2it. I'm hoping that getting past the setup options download failure will cause WMC to switch to Rovi via a successful setup options download.

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#40

Post by joefriday » Fri Aug 07, 2015 9:49 pm

Just joined to say thanks for all the great information provided in this thread. I couldn't get my Vista MCE to update guides even though it was a brand new install (long story, had to rebuild the HTPC). using the recommendation to install TV pack got things working again. Note that initially I only installed the TV pack (after sp1 and a few other minor updates). It worked but then got a copying prohibited screen on some channels today, so I installed a few other updates and now (almost) everything is working great. Here are screen shots of all my updates:


Image

Image

Now the only thing not working right is the "genre" menu under movie guide. I can see now playing movies and on next movies, but "no movies found" under the genre selection. Doesn't even bring up the styles of genre to choose from. Anyone else experience this problem?

Once again thanks a million for getting my MCE working again.

EDIT: to clarify, I DID NOT have to modify the urls as some have had to do in order to get MCE to update the guide listings

Joe

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