Channel just disappeared from EPG !

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Mike88

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Channel just disappeared from EPG !

#1

Post by Mike88 » Sat Sep 01, 2018 6:42 pm

I went to watch an OTA recording that should have recorded last night & it was not there. This is a weekly recurring program but it never got recorded last night.

I looked & it was not scheduled to record next week either. Turns out the channel was missing from the EPG. It was there last weekend when I verified the upcoming schedule. Apparently sometime during the last several days it just disappeared.

The channel in question is Chicago's WTTW sub-channel 11.2. However I still had 11.1, 11.3, & 11.4.

I did a complete TV setup again to make sure I didn't miss any channel reassignments and the channel came back. I thought it used to be called WTTW2 or similar but now it's called "Prime". FWIW 11.2 is WTTW Prime, but I don't recall ever seeing it called just "Prime". Makes me wonder if a name change caused the problem.

I did a guide update but there was no data, and today there still isn't. The channel does indicate the correct frequency & does show the correct programming if I watch it. But no EPG data and hopefully this will get corrected.

Could a daily guide update have deleted it for some reason?
Has anyone else ever had a channel just disappear from the EPG?

Space

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#2

Post by Space » Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:49 am

I have channels appear and disappear from the guide all the time. Fortunately, they are only channels that have really been removed from my provider's lineup or new channels added to the lineup. I've never had a channel be removed by accident (knock on wood).

So it is certainly possible that someone at TiVo/Rovi made a mistake and it was removed from your lineup. TV Setup should not have brought it back unless 1) They realized the mistake and added it back to your lineup, in which case it should have been added in your next regular update even without running TV Setup, or 2) You chose a slightly different lineup then you had been using.

As for the missing guide data for that channel. That could be a mistake they made when adding the channel back to the lineup (or perhaps it was always wrong in the lineup you chose (if you chose a different lineup)). Hopefully they will fix this problem (you can email them) or you may be able to fix it yourself by editing the channel and selecting the correct listing for the channel (assuming the listings for that channel are in the guide, but just not properly associated with the channel) using the "Edit Listings" option. It may be the case that the listings for this channel do not exist in the data that was downloaded, in which case you will have to wait for Rovi/TiVo to fix the problem.

You can find instructions to edit the listings associated with a channel here. These instructions are for assigning the SD listings for a channel to the HD channel, but the general idea is the same. When scrolling down the list of network names, just look for the one that appears to be the one you are looking for. Remember, it may not be there at all, in which case TiVo/Rovi has to fix the problem.

dmagerl

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#3

Post by dmagerl » Sun Sep 02, 2018 2:10 am

It's missing from my line up too, so it's not just you.

Mike88

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#4

Post by Mike88 » Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:27 am

The data for 11.2 has always been there, except now, so I'm presuming it's a TiVo/Rovi issue. I also get this channel on Dish via it's OTA tuner & they have the EPG data. IOW the data does exist.

Channel 11 is PBS. Another PBS channel closed down after the FCC auction & IIRC channel 11 was going to take over some the programming, so that might have caused a glitche.

I just tried updating the guide & it has the same ending date as it did yesterday so apparently it's stuck. I'll keep checking & if the problem channel doesn't get updated in the next few days it will be time to contact TiVo/Rovi.

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#5

Post by Mike_TV » Wed Sep 05, 2018 10:19 pm

Same here. A quick Google search turned up this thread. Is there a web form for Rovi guide problems or just an email address?

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#6

Post by Mike88 » Wed Sep 05, 2018 10:50 pm

Space wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:49 am You can find instructions to edit the listings associated with a channel here. These instructions are for assigning the SD listings for a channel to the HD channel, but the general idea is the same. When scrolling down the list of network names, just look for the one that appears to be the one you are looking for. Remember, it may not be there at all, in which case TiVo/Rovi has to fix the problem.
This is an OTA HD channel & there is no SD equivalent. The guide has been updated a couple times but still no data for this channel. Guess it's time to contact Rovi.

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#7

Post by Space » Thu Sep 06, 2018 2:44 am

There is a web form, but last time I checked it requires TiVo customer ID info (since it is designed for TiVo hardware customers), so using the email avoids that problem.

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#8

Post by Mike88 » Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:14 am

I emailed Rovi/Tivo late yesterday afternoon (9-5-18) about the situation & I did a manual guide update a little while ago in the early hours of the morning and the missing data got restored. Don't know if the email did it or if it would have happened anyway when the guide does its automatic update. The scheduled recording also got re-instated, so all is well.

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#9

Post by dmagerl » Fri Sep 07, 2018 12:02 pm

Its still missing for me. Time for me to contact them too.

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#10

Post by Mike88 » Sun Sep 09, 2018 1:03 am

dmagerl wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 12:02 pm Its still missing for me. Time for me to contact them too.
Please let us know if you have success.

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#11

Post by Mike_TV » Sun Sep 09, 2018 11:10 am

dmagerl wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 12:02 pm Its still missing for me. Time for me to contact them too.
I had to redo "Setup TV Signal" again for it to show back into the guide. You might give that a try. After redoing the setup, WTTW 11.2 Prime now shows up and works fine.

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#12

Post by Space » Sun Sep 09, 2018 1:38 pm

Mike_TV wrote: Sun Sep 09, 2018 11:10 am
dmagerl wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 12:02 pm Its still missing for me. Time for me to contact them too.
I had to redo "Setup TV Signal" again for it to show back into the guide. You might give that a try. After redoing the setup, WTTW 11.2 Prime now shows up and works fine.
It should not be necessary to do this if you are choosing the same lineup as you were using, but WMC has all kinds of strange bugs, so I guess it's possible that it is not automatically picking up the new channel listing.

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#13

Post by Mike88 » Sun Sep 09, 2018 2:48 pm

When I did the "Setup TV Signal" I was hoping it would bring back 11.2. It did, but without the guide data. It also labeled the channel "Prime" instead of the usual WTTWP.

After the data got restored the channel got re-labeled back to the normal WTTWP.

I didn't think a guide update had the ability to change the actual channel lineup. IOW delete or rename a channel, or perhaps reinstate it. If an update can change the channel lineup wouldn't that make doing a channel re-scan unnecessary? Not that I would trust it to do so.

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#14

Post by Space » Sun Sep 09, 2018 5:41 pm

To be honest, I don't have experience with OTA, only cable lineups with a CableCard, and yes, they are updated automatically.

I'm not sure how OTA lineups are handled, but I would assume they are similar to cable lineups, perhaps with the difference being that if a channel does not exist (a scan did not detect it) then the guide entry would be disabled. But like I said, I have no experience with OTA, so can't really say how it works or if scans are done automatically or require manual intervention.

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#15

Post by dmagerl » Sun Sep 09, 2018 8:05 pm

You dont have to scan at all with OTA. If you're happy with what's in the guide, when setting up TV and it says its scanning for channels, you can just hit cancel and skip the scan. It speeds up the TV setup process tremendously.

Still havent heard nor seen anything from my email I sent to rovi.

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#16

Post by dmagerl » Thu Sep 13, 2018 3:34 pm

I sent an email to lineup@tivo.com 6 days ago. Its still missing.

I use the Milwaukee and vicinity lineup instead of the Chicago lineup because it includes both Chicago and Milwaukee stations, so that might be why yours was fixed and why I havent had any luck.

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