W7 Media Centre TV Guide downloads OK but doesn't update ?

[Boo]

Hi,

I hope nobody minds that I also posted this question on the MS Technet forums.

I have a longstanding installation of Windows 7 Ultimate on my media centre PC and recently the internet tv program guide stopped updating for no apparent reason.

I have the guide set to update automatically but I have also performed manual downloads which give the response that the download completed OK. However the tv program details have not updated to show the most recent programs, all that is visible is programme data for up to the 29th October. The guide info also does not update.

I tried rescanning the TV signals but that didn't help, I also went through the "Set Up TV Signal" procedure again from scratch which successfully found all 4 tuners on my DVB-T cards and discovered the program guide fro my locality (South of England, UK), however the problem remains.

I did a Windows Update to W7SP1 and all the latest security packs but that has not fixed the problem, all it did was prevent me seeing system restore points prior to the update

Finally, I deselected WMC in the Windows Features selection dialogue and rebooted before re-selecting it but that doesn't seem to reset any settings or anything and needless to say it hasn't worked either.

Any ideas would be much appreciated,

Boo

[mark1234]

I noticed last night that my 7MC machine was down to 10 days of guide data, which fits in with what you're seeing.

I wouldn't worry about it at the moment. There are occassional blips where there is less than the full fortnights worth of data available. It's not going to be something you can fix, MS/BDS just need to sort it out in the background.

If there is still no new data come Tuesday then it'll be time to start hitting the panic button.

[richard1980]

It sounds to me like you are downloading the latest guide listing. I'm not sure what you are expecting, but you have 8 days of listings. Give it a few days...I'm betting your provider just hasn't released a new version of the listings yet.

FWIW, I only have 11 days of listings.

[CyberSimian]

If there is still no new data come Tuesday then it'll be time to start hitting the panic button.

I was under the impression that Windows 7 can read the EPG data transmitted with the TV signals in the UK. Tune to live TV and wait 5-10 minutes. The interesting question is whether this could be used to record series for an extended period of time (4-5 weeks, say) without downloading the EPG via the internet. Whilst recording programmes during the first week, would MC accumulate the EPG for the second week from the TV signal, and schedule programmes to record during that second week, and so on for the ensuing weeks?

I have a trial Windows 7 installation in another partition on my HTPC, but the 30-day trial period has expired, since when I have not allowed it to connect to the internet, just in case it decides to disable itself (hence no downloaded EPG). (Don't fret -- it is a full retail copy of Windows 7 that I purchased from PC World, but I have not yet decided on which PC to install it permanently, so I have not activated it.) By tuning to live TV, an 8-day EPG magically appears after 5-10 minutes. Of course, it is not as informative as the downloaded EPG, but it is sufficient to schedule recordings other than by keywords that use the extra information contained in the downloaded EPG.

My "production" system is Vista, so I am going to be well and truly ****ed if the downloaded EPG is not corrected. I manually downloaded the EPG this morning, but I have no entries beyond 29th October.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[Boo]

Well, my listings days are down to 6 now, and no change. Does no-one here have any ideas about why WMC might be ignoring its guide downloads ? I really don't want to spend a day re-installing W7...

Thanks,

Boo

[STC]

If you put your lineup ID into Zap2its webguide, out of interest, how many days ahead does their calendar go to? As of today, mine is to the 5th Nov, and so is my MC HTPC. They seem to be in sync.

[richard1980]

Zap2it doesn't provide listings for the UK. I think a company called Broadcasting Dataservices (BDS) provides the listings for the UK. But it's still a good idea to look at the data provider's website and see if the listings match WMC.

[STC]

Ahh roger that ole' bean

Just to comment further. MC becomes in sync if you force an update. It can be -1 day if you check without doing an update.

[njc]

If it's any consolation both my HTPCs and my laptop, all running W7, are showing their UK listings running until 31st October.

[mark1234]

Boo, don't waste your time reinstalling Windows. That might even knock you from 7 days of data to zero. This is not a problem with your machine, it's a MS/BDS issue and once they resolve it your PC will just pick up the fortnight's worth of data again.

[mark1234]

Just noticed that someone has raised a Connect ticket for this. Best thing you can do is pile on and mark it as important and say you can reproduce the issue.

https://connect.microsoft.com/site1145/ ... t-updating

[Boo]

Boo, don't waste your time reinstalling Windows. That might even knock you from 7 days of data to zero. This is not a problem with your machine, it's a MS/BDS issue and once they resolve it your PC will just pick up the fortnight's worth of data again.

Just noticed that someone has raised a Connect ticket for this. Best thing you can do is pile on and mark it as important and say you can reproduce the issue.

https://connect.microsoft.com/site1145/ ... t-updating

OK, thanks for all the replies, I will obviously hold off the reinstall (phew!) and have added my name to the Connect ticket.

Thanks again,

Boo

[CyberSimian]

Having been away for a few days, I have just tried downloading the EPG again. Looking more closely at the EPG, I notice that there is no EPG information beyond the time at which the clocks in the UK go back one hour (end of daylight saving time in the UK). Coincidence? I think not! As far as I remember, there was no problem last year when DST (aka BST) ended.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[mark1234]

I was under the impression that Windows 7 can read the EPG data transmitted with the TV signals in the UK. Tune to live TV and wait 5-10 minutes. The interesting question is whether this could be used to record series for an extended period of time (4-5 weeks, say) without downloading the EPG via the internet. Whilst recording programmes during the first week, would MC accumulate the EPG for the second week from the TV signal, and schedule programmes to record during that second week, and so on for the ensuing weeks?

It's looking like this could work. With the current guide update issue I can see a clear deliniation between the Freeview channels and subscription channels off Virgin. The Virgin channels rely on the guide downloads, and they all run out of data at the weekend, but the Freeview channels have continuing data up to a week away. Series recordings are also being set based off the Freeview guide data.

Not all the ITV channels seem to have data a week away, but that's not exactly a big loss, and I may even be getting confused between what channels are on Freeview/Virgin.

[rannydoscoe]

Bleurgh. Stumbled across this thread, but had already done the clear out and rebuild of tuners and the EPG over the weekend. 2xDVB-T and a DVB-S here. DVB-T picks up a week of listings, but the DVB-S does not, so about 5 days of listings left on those.

As a consolation, at least my ever diminishing list of scheduled recordings loads very quickly...

[nebens]

Nothing more to add than just to say it's the same problem here, down to last 5 days of guide data and "get latest guide" actions do nothing. Living in London.

Hope this gets sorted out before what's left of my guide data runs out on Sunday 30th.

Are there any UK users around here who do have 14 day guide data? Or is this problem affecting all UK MC users?

[martinu]

I'm having the same problem on my Windows Vista Media Centre PC. On Tasks | Settings | TV | Guide | About Guide Listings the end date is given as 18:00 on Sunday 30 October 2011. Let's hope MS and BDS fix the problem before the end date, otherwise I'll have to start entering programmes manually (channel, date,times) as I had to do with my VHS recorder!

[Pixelz]

I tried a manual update last night and received guide data until November 1st. Still not a full 14 days worth, but at least it includes data beyond the end of daylight savings time now. (Headend 120086 Crystal Palace, BTW).

Now if only BDS would mark series consistently.

[martinu]

Looking at the events in the Event Log "Applications and Services | Media Center" I see that the events and statuses are the same when it's failing as when it succeeded in the past:

- MCUpdate started
- Download PackgeTask.SubTasksComplete successfully downloaded package directory
- Download PackgeTask.SubTasksComplete successfully downloaded MCESpotlight
- Download PackgeTask.SubTasksComplete successfully downloaded package ClientUpdate
- Next scheduled download of listings guide is [tomorrow at 3AM]
- MCUpdate terminates

Could it be that the download and installation of updates is completing successfully but there's nothing new being provided in the downloaded files - a problem with BDS who provide the information.


For me, the headend ID is 120053 from the Oxford transmitter.

[Boo]

I tried a manual update last night and received guide data until November 1st.

Me too, but I believe this is EPG data, not the BDS guide ?

Now if only BDS would mark series consistently.

+1.

Boo