Guide Data Outage - 2019 Summer Edition

Global guide related discussion. All Windows versions.
tired_runner

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#221

Post by tired_runner » Wed Jul 03, 2019 5:09 pm

garyan2 wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 9:23 pm When doing a TV Setup and it asks to install PlayReady, you can say no and then run the installer afterwards.
Right. But why does PlayReady ask to update periodically? Is this PlayReady software update or PlayReady simply updating crypto keys with your CableCARD?

Space

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#222

Post by Space » Sun Jul 07, 2019 11:53 am

Had a strange update last night...

Normally WMC downloads guide data for two lineups on my system, the OTA lineup (for local, over the air channels) and the cable lineup (FiOS). However, last night it only downloaded the OTA lineup listings. So now my guide has full listings up to 7/17@8pm, but the OTA channels have listings for two additional days (up to 7/19@8pm).

Anyone else see something like this? I'll have to keep an eye on it...

Space

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#223

Post by Space » Mon Jul 08, 2019 5:46 am

So, this happened again with today's update, only got a download for OTA listings, not for cable. Is this happening to anyone else?

I want to confirm if it is just me, or if it is a more widespread issue.

Maybe the lineup I'm using for FiOS isn't good anymore?

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Bee_Dee_3_Dee

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#224

Post by Bee_Dee_3_Dee » Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:14 am

i have spectrum cable and both OTA and cable listings DLed normal yesterday and again 2day.

Kenneth Burns

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#225

Post by Kenneth Burns » Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:38 pm

Space wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 5:46 am So, this happened again with today's update, only got a download for OTA listings, not for cable. Is this happening to anyone else?

I want to confirm if it is just me, or if it is a more widespread issue.

Maybe the lineup I'm using for FiOS isn't good anymore?
Something like this started happening to me a couple of years ago. I never figured out why. As a workaround I created a scheduled task in Windows to run mcupdate.exe -uf in the middle of the night. This updates everything as long as WMC isn't recording anything at that time. It's been working great.

To clarify, I get all my channels from cable (Suddenlink in Louisiana), but for some reason only guide data for local channels was downloading. I don't get channels over the air.

Space

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#226

Post by Space » Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:28 am

This problem seems to be affecting other FiOS users, so I am not sure if that workaround will work for this particular issue, but I will keep it in mind, thanks.

I started a new thread about this here:

viewtopic.php?f=96&t=12292

acegolfer

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#227

Post by acegolfer » Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:28 pm

Was able to set up TV again today.

JohnnyBluRay

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#228

Post by JohnnyBluRay » Sat Jul 20, 2019 12:20 pm

Anyone else seeing only Local Guide Data updates?

My overall data is good til Tuesday but local channels have data a little further out!

funkshowbrotha

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#229

Post by funkshowbrotha » Sat Jul 20, 2019 6:08 pm

JohnnyBluRay wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 12:20 pm Anyone else seeing only Local Guide Data updates?

My overall data is good til Tuesday but local channels have data a little further out!
I had this issue with my setup also. I fixed it by running MediaCenterRecoveryTask. This will cause WMC to revert to factory settings. You will need to run TV Setup again and then reconfigure your settings and scheduled recordings

The directions to run MediaCenterRecoveryTask can be found on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=96&t=9646&p=100863&hili ... sk#p100863

Space

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#230

Post by Space » Sun Jul 21, 2019 2:23 am

As described in this post, I had the same problem. It seemed to be "fixed" by running the garbage collection and force download task (not MediaCenterRecoverTask, which I would advise against as a initial attempt at fixing it, as it resets a lot of stuff). I personally allowed the cleanup to run on it's own (normally it runs every 5 days), but some others initiated it manually by running "start /wait c:\windows\ehome\mcupdate.exe -uf -dbgc" in a CMD window.

That being said, when the cleanup happened, I had a successful download the next attempt. But, the next day, the automatic update only updated the OTA listings once again. I watched the day after that and it was fine once again. So I'm thinking there may be server issues, and the problem may be intermittent. As of now, I have a full guide, so even if it has occurred again (I haven't been watching it the past few days), it seems to correct itself and work at least sporadically (some days it downloads both the cable and OTA listings, sometimes just the OTA listings).

JohnnyBluRay

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#231

Post by JohnnyBluRay » Sun Jul 21, 2019 9:55 pm

funkshowbrotha wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 6:08 pm
JohnnyBluRay wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 12:20 pm Anyone else seeing only Local Guide Data updates?

My overall data is good til Tuesday but local channels have data a little further out!
I had this issue with my setup also. I fixed it by running MediaCenterRecoveryTask. This will cause WMC to revert to factory settings. You will need to run TV Setup again and then reconfigure your settings and scheduled recordings

The directions to run MediaCenterRecoveryTask can be found on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=96&t=9646&p=100863&hili ... sk#p100863
Thanks for the info, this worked like a champ for me, everything is back. Thanks again!

jimij1000

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#232

Post by jimij1000 » Fri Aug 02, 2019 2:22 am

A bit off topic and not sure how to open a new one. Channel map to Frequencies not working after todays frequency changes in the Philly OTA Market. I now cannot record Channels 3 CBS (KYW), 10 NBC (WCAU), FOX (WTFX) in MCE. After doing a channel rescan I can tune to the channels and see a picture with sound but MCE will not let me record programs on those channels. I cannot even tune Channel 57 CW (WPSG). The other frequencies didn't change and I have no issues with them. Does MS need to provide a new Channel to frequency map file or update a dll? Let me know if anyone else is having MCE issues with today's frequency changes in Philly OTA market. I'll keep an eye out for EPG info for affected channels.

Thanks,
James

Steve_NY

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#233

Post by Steve_NY » Fri Aug 02, 2019 1:01 pm

jimij1000 wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 2:22 am A bit off topic and not sure how to open a new one. Channel map to Frequencies not working after todays frequency changes in the Philly OTA Market. I now cannot record Channels 3 CBS (KYW), 10 NBC (WCAU), FOX (WTFX) in MCE.
I have the same issue in NYC. CBS, NBC, FOX plus some lesser viewed channels changed their frequencies. I guess this was to be expected. We should run a pool on when it will be corrected.

Steve

jimij1000

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#234

Post by jimij1000 » Fri Aug 02, 2019 1:26 pm

Steve_NY wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 1:01 pm
jimij1000 wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 2:22 am A bit off topic and not sure how to open a new one. Channel map to Frequencies not working after todays frequency changes in the Philly OTA Market. I now cannot record Channels 3 CBS (KYW), 10 NBC (WCAU), FOX (WTFX) in MCE.
I have the same issue in NYC. CBS, NBC, FOX plus some lesser viewed channels changed their frequencies. I guess this was to be expected. We should run a pool on when it will be corrected.

Steve
Thanks Steve, I'm unhappy we have the issue and I'm not a single use case in this situation. I'll keep digging to see if I can figure out where the info is hiding in MCE. Put me in for ten that it will be awhile before it is fixed!! )


James

dmagerl

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#235

Post by dmagerl » Fri Aug 02, 2019 2:19 pm

Go into the guide and right click on the affected channel and then select edit channel, then edit sources.

You should have one source listed for each tuner in your system. 4 tuners should be 4 sources.

If you have more sources than tuners, you need to disable the sources with the bad channels.

In order to minimize recording conflicts with live viewing, MCE assigns tuners from the top of the list for live viewing and the bottom of the list for recording. If you have bad channel info in the bottom of the list, that could be why you cant record.

jimij1000

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#236

Post by jimij1000 » Fri Aug 02, 2019 6:57 pm

dmagerl wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 2:19 pm Go into the guide and right click on the affected channel and then select edit channel, then edit sources.

You should have one source listed for each tuner in your system. 4 tuners should be 4 sources.

If you have more sources than tuners, you need to disable the sources with the bad channels.

In order to minimize recording conflicts with live viewing, MCE assigns tuners from the top of the list for live viewing and the bottom of the list for recording. If you have bad channel info in the bottom of the list, that could be why you cant record.
thanks for the reply, I tried that with no luck. I then did a full (run setup again). I couldn't tune CBS, NBC, FOX and CW. I ran a scan for additional channels and was able to then at least tune/watch those channels live except for CW. The recording issue is still the same. I see the virtual channel numbers are still the same and are now mapped to what I believe are the new "real" broadcast channels/frequencies. I'm still digging into the registry to see if when one hits the record button MCE issues a new channel tune request before starting the record function. Hence the record plumbing is looking for the old frequencies and timing out as no signal is received. My thought is, it's part of the guide data that is pulled down or that it is buried somewhere in the MCE software/registry hive(s).

Thanks,
James

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garyan2

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#237

Post by garyan2 » Sat Aug 03, 2019 12:47 am

You will probably get better results if you do settings->TV->TV Signal->Scan for More Channels and click the [Delete All] button and then the [Scan again] button. The delete all will remove all the old frequencies that MS/Rovi is saying is there and the real scan will only give you the frequencies that actually exist.

WARNING: Any VHF channels you may have will then need to be manually added. I think MS assumed that when everything went HD, that only the UHF frequencies would be used... bad assumption. Tuner scans will see the VHF channels, but will not add them to your scanned lineup.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

jimij1000

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#238

Post by jimij1000 » Sat Aug 03, 2019 4:30 pm

garyan2 wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 12:47 am You will probably get better results if you do settings->TV->TV Signal->Scan for More Channels and click the [Delete All] button and then the [Scan again] button. The delete all will remove all the old frequencies that MS/Rovi is saying is there and the real scan will only give you the frequencies that actually exist.

WARNING: Any VHF channels you may have will then need to be manually added. I think MS assumed that when everything went HD, that only the UHF frequencies would be used... bad assumption. Tuner scans will see the VHF channels, but will not add them to your scanned lineup.
I will try that later today.

What I did figure out this morning was to follow dmagerl'a suggestion but I failed at my first attempt as I have 6 tuners and didn't scroll down far enough to realize that I had 12 listed tuners for each channel source. I also found an excellent source of info from the FCC that shows virtual channel to physical channel for the country. https://www.fcc.gov/media/television/tv-query

After another look I realized the channels with issues had 6 of the old channels/frequencies mapped to the virtual channel and six additional channels/frequencies mapped to the virtual. Again I'll try the TV->TV Signal->Scan for More Channels and click the [Delete All] button and then the [Scan again] button.

Steve_NY give that a try and see if it fixs ya!!

James

JohnW248

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#239

Post by JohnW248 » Sat Aug 03, 2019 7:26 pm

Any one else notice that the guide data is starting to truncate again?? My data for TCM is now ending on Aug 14. Everything is downloading but the amount of data is low, perhaps TCM isn't supplying much in advance to Rovi or we're on the brink of another issue. Just something to watch for right now.

al.rob

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#240

Post by al.rob » Sat Aug 03, 2019 11:45 pm

dmagerl wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 2:19 pm Go into the guide and right click on the affected channel and then select edit channel, then edit sources.

You should have one source listed for each tuner in your system. 4 tuners should be 4 sources.

If you have more sources than tuners, you need to disable the sources with the bad channels.

In order to minimize recording conflicts with live viewing, MCE assigns tuners from the top of the list for live viewing and the bottom of the list for recording. If you have bad channel info in the bottom of the list, that could be why you cant record.
This worked for me. For each of the channels that changed frequency, there were two sources listed. I have only one tuner. One of the sources was the channel at its old frequency, and the other one was at the new frequency. For each channel that didn't work, I unchecked the box for the old frequency, and then moved the priority up to the top for the channel at its new frequency. Now I can view and record on the channels that moved as part of the repack. Thank you for your help. Evidently when you rescan for more channels it adds them in but makes them lower priority than the one that was there, which no longer works.

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