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Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:45 am
by DSperber
I'm trying to get my second HTPC running, but am having some major problems. Help would be appreciated.

First the background...

I have a current ASUS P8Z77-v Pro motherboard HTPC (with nVidia GTX 750ti graphics and Eizo monitor via DVI) with Ceton InfiniTV 4 (4-tuner for Spectrum/TWC) and Hauppauge HVR-2250 (2-tuner for OTA/ATSC) that has been humming along fine for almost 7 years. I've been running EPG 1.0.2 Upgraded from initial 1.0.0 last September, and then 1.0.1 and then 1.0.2. Everything works perfectly.My plan is to replace the current HTPC with a new Skylake-based PC with nVidia GTX-950 graphics and DisplayPort connection to my Eizo monitor, which I finished building last week.

Two years ago I had purchased an InfiniTV 6 which was on Amazon at a special sale by Ceton, just to have a spare available in case my 4 died. Turns out I couldn't physically transfer the 4 from my old HTPC into my new machine because the new ASUS Z170-Deluxe motherboard has a plastic protective shroud near the expansion slots which interferes with an unfortunate flange in the metal bracket of the 4 card, making it impossible to physically install the card. In contrast, the 6 card has no such flange on its metal bracket and so I decided to use it in my new machine, leaving the 4 in my old machine and now having 6 cable tuners in my new HTPC. As long as I was now on the road to having a 'parallel" second HTPC I also decided to buy a new Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD PCI Express TV Tuner Card 1609 which has 4 OTS/ATSC tuners for use in the new machine.

I acquired a second cablecard from TWC for the new Ceton card, planning on returning the original one once the new HTPC "goes live" and the old HTPC gets retired for TV recording purposes. The new cablecard has been paired successfully in the Ceton 6 card and is operating properly.

This having two "parallel" HTPC's during this transition phase is fortunate, as I can bounce back and forth with the TWC and roof antenna coax cables, doing some work on the new HTPC and when failure strikes revert back to my working machine to do my daily recordings.

Ok. That's the background. Now for the problems.

(1) I installed the proper latest version of Ceton software, and all looked good per the "diagnostics" program. I ran through the preliminary WMC setup wizard dialog, but knew I'd forgotten something when I ran into a complaint about only supporting 4 of the 6 tuners in my Ceton card. Then it complained about my machine not being suitable for using cable tuners. It was then I remembered I should have first run Digital Cable Advisor, and had overlooked it.

(2) I didn't find a "Digital Cable Advisor" icon in WMC "Extras library", but downloaded the installer for DCA from the Microsoft site. I ran it, and re-booted, and now sure enough the icon was available. I ran the program and it saw and accepted all 6 of the Ceton tuners, and I'm guessing also prepared my WMC setup for cable tuner support. When I now re-ran the TV setup in WMC, sure enough all 6 tuners were accepted. And it sure looked like everything was done right, but I have a feeling PlayReady and DRM needs to be reinstalled from scratch. My plan is now to try to overcome all of this confusion by restoring a "system image" backup I'd taken before doing anything software-wise related to Ceton and WMC. This machine is "under construction" and I have no problem redoing something if I've made a real bad mistake, as I'm sure this one was.

The next time I will be sure to run DCA first, not last. I think PlayReady will then install correctly and I won't have some/all of the issues I ran into.

(3) Not knowing I was going to run into the dreaded "Video playback device does not support playback of protected content" when I tried to play a "live TV" cable channel (a sure tipoff that PlayReady and DRM are not operating properly), I next proceeded to install EPG123. I wasn't aware that version 1.1.0 had just come out, but I decided to go ahead and use it. I printed the latest EPG123 Installation and User's Guide, and tried to follow the steps starting from Step 1 on page 3. Nothing expected actually occurred, which perhaps this was a brand new clean EPG123 install and WMC had never been set up before. When I had run my WMC setup earlier (perhaps prematurely), I knew enough from my previous EPG123 usage to reject the Guide options.

Anyway, there is no "step 1: clean start" button that I could see on the GUI anywhere. But again, perhaps this is because I had never installed WMC before on this machine. Certainly was perplexing to be following instructions and step #1 is not producing the expected results.

And of course,WMC was not automatically launched either, which I think should have occurred perhaps if the "clean start" button had been pressed. Nevertheless, NOTHING happened, but maybe it didn't need to.

(4) I then opened EPG123 on my working machine and also EPG123 on the new machine, in order to check the appropriate channels in my two lineups. I also checked all of option boxes in the new EPG123 to match my options on the old machine. I don't understand what I'm supposed to see in this new version of EPG123 that is a "genuine GUI". I also set up the "scheduled task" to run nightly updates at 2AM and pushed the "create" button. To me it all looks pretty much mostly identical to the old EPG123. Maybe I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for that makes this a "genuine GUI", unless it's the underlying programming.

After completing all the checks and channel numbers, I pushed the "save and exit" button, fully expecting the familiar command prompt window to appear and all of the first-time download stuff to appear, for all the channels and programs. Well, 0 channels and programs got downloaded!! I will post the log (below) which reflects several attempts at "save and exit", but each run seemed to be similarly unsuccessful.

Furthermore, each attempt showed "search reindexer already running", which may be the result of the very first start. I don't know why it was still running, perhaps because there were 0 channels and 0 programs to index?? Maybe a bug? I don't know, but it didn't look right and certainly I still don't have any Guide data or any named channels in WMC.

(5) I investigated what might have been accomplished in WMC, so I went into TV -> Guide -> Edit Channels. There were almost 10000 channel numbers, but no channel names. Remember I did not ask WMC to get Guide data (because EPG123 was anticipated to do that). Nevertheless, I dilligently checked the same channel numbers I'd checked in EPG123, to see if I could tune to them in "live TV".

Well, when I tried to play one of these channels I'd just checked, sure enough I now got "Video playback device does not support playback of protected content" and something about the graphics driver becing at fault. Well obviously this is nonsense, but I did do some research and ran into the strong suggestion that it is PlayReady and DRM which is broken and needs to be reset. Hence my decision to just start all over, by restoring the "system image" I'd begun from and to slowly re-do everything again but this time in the proper sequence. I suspect that running DCA first is a critical first step before any WMC setup is begun. I don't know why this didn't just appear for me, but as I said the DCA icon was not in Extras Library so I couldn't actually run it anyway... until I downloaded the installer from the MS site.


Ok. For now, what I'm asking for is an opinion about what happened with my EPG123 v1.1.0 install which didn't retrieve any SD info for the channels I checked. Why does it show info for 0 channels and 0 program downloaded? Is this because of my fundamental WMC problems, and will all run much better the second time after I redo my WMC setup?

Where is the "clean start" button, or is that not presented because there was nothing to clean out since I'd never run WMC before?

Did I do anything wrong or inappropriate? Or will this all just run properly once I get WMC and PlayReady and DRM all working correctly?

Ok. Right now it's time to do the "system image" restore to get me back to where I was yesterday afternoon, before doing anything. Then tomorrow I will slowly begin again.

Here is the log from this evening's failed attempts to get WMC Guide data installed through EPG123 v1.1.0.

Code: Select all

[2/13/2017 1:38:00 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:38:00 AM]  Activating the epg123 configuration GUI.
[2/13/2017 1:38:00 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:38:03 AM] [ INFO] epg123 is up to date. version: 1.1.0
[2/13/2017 1:38:03 AM] [ INFO] Successfully queried the Task Scheduler for status. status: No task is scheduled to run..
[2/13/2017 1:38:24 AM] [ INFO] Token request successful. serverID: 20141201.web.1
[2/13/2017 1:38:24 AM] [ INFO] Status request successful. account expires: 2017-04-21T07:19:18Z , lineups: 2/4 , lastDataUpdate: 2017-02-13T02:33:21Z
[2/13/2017 1:38:24 AM] [ INFO] system status: Online , message: No known issues.
[2/13/2017 1:38:25 AM] [ INFO] Successfully requested listing of client lineups from Schedules Direct.
[2/13/2017 1:38:25 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-CA57315-X.
[2/13/2017 1:38:25 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-OTA-90292.
[2/13/2017 1:39:30 AM] [ INFO] Successfully created the daily update task in Task Scheduler for 02:00.
[2/13/2017 1:39:30 AM] [ INFO] Successfully queried the Task Scheduler for status. status: Ready.The task has not yet run. Exit: 0x00000001.
[2/13/2017 1:51:09 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:51:09 AM]  Beginning epg123 update execution.
[2/13/2017 1:51:09 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:51:09 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved TMDb configurations.
[2/13/2017 1:51:09 AM] [ INFO] epg123 version 1.1.0 , DaysToDownload: 28 , PrefixEpisodeTitle: True , AppendEpisodeDesc: True , TMDbCoverArt: True , LogoOverride: True , AutoAddNew: True
[2/13/2017 1:51:10 AM] [ INFO] Token request successful. serverID: 20141201.web.2
[2/13/2017 1:51:10 AM] [ INFO] epg123 is up to date. version: 1.1.0
[2/13/2017 1:51:10 AM] [ INFO] Successfully requested listing of client lineups from Schedules Direct.
[2/13/2017 1:51:10 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-CA57315-X.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-CA57315-X has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-OTA-90292.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-OTA-90292 has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Entering getAllScheduleEntryMd5s() for 28 days on 0 stations.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Exiting getAllScheduleEntryMd5s(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Entering buildAllProgramEntries() for 0 programs.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Exiting buildAllProgramEntries(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Entering buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Exiting buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Entering getAllMoviePosters() for 0 movies.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Exiting getAllMoviePosters(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Entering getAllSeriesImages() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Exiting getAllSeriesImages(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Entering writeMxf().
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Exiting writeMxf(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Entering writeImageArchive().
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] Exiting writeImageArchive(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] [ INFO] 0 files deleted from the cache directory during cleanup.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] [STATS] Generated .mxf file contains 0 services, 0 series, 0 programs, and 0 people with 0 image links.
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] ====================== Beginning epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] [ INFO] Import=True , Match=True , NoLogo=False
[2/13/2017 1:51:11 AM] [ INFO] import filename = epg123.mxf
[2/13/2017 1:51:12 AM] [ INFO] Successfully imported .mxf file into Media Center. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 1:51:13 AM] [ INFO] Completed the automatch of lineup stations to tuner channels.
[2/13/2017 1:51:14 AM] [ INFO] SUCCESS: Attempted to run the scheduled task "Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\ReindexSearchRoot".
[2/13/2017 1:51:14 AM] [ INFO] Successfully started the ReindexSearchRoot task. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 1:51:14 AM] [STATS] epg123Client mxf load and database reindex execution time was 00:00:02.5116000.
[2/13/2017 1:51:14 AM] ====================== Completed epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 1:51:16 AM] [STATS] epg123 update execution time was 00:00:06.8328000.
[2/13/2017 1:51:59 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:51:59 AM]  Activating the epg123 configuration GUI.
[2/13/2017 1:51:59 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:52:01 AM] [ INFO] epg123 is up to date. version: 1.1.0
[2/13/2017 1:52:01 AM] [ INFO] Successfully queried the Task Scheduler for status. status: Ready.The task has not yet run. Exit: 0x00000001.
[2/13/2017 1:52:01 AM] [ INFO] Token request successful. serverID: 20141201.web.1
[2/13/2017 1:52:01 AM] [ INFO] Status request successful. account expires: 2017-04-21T07:19:18Z , lineups: 2/4 , lastDataUpdate: 2017-02-13T02:33:21Z
[2/13/2017 1:52:01 AM] [ INFO] system status: Online , message: No known issues.
[2/13/2017 1:52:02 AM] [ INFO] Successfully requested listing of client lineups from Schedules Direct.
[2/13/2017 1:52:02 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-CA57315-X.
[2/13/2017 1:52:02 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-OTA-90292.
[2/13/2017 1:52:23 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:52:23 AM]  Beginning epg123 update execution.
[2/13/2017 1:52:23 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:52:23 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved TMDb configurations.
[2/13/2017 1:52:23 AM] [ INFO] epg123 version 1.1.0 , DaysToDownload: 28 , PrefixEpisodeTitle: True , AppendEpisodeDesc: True , TMDbCoverArt: True , LogoOverride: True , AutoAddNew: True
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] [ INFO] Token request successful. serverID: 20141201.web.1
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] [ INFO] epg123 is up to date. version: 1.1.0
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] [ INFO] Successfully requested listing of client lineups from Schedules Direct.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-CA57315-X.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-CA57315-X has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-OTA-90292.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-OTA-90292 has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Entering getAllScheduleEntryMd5s() for 28 days on 0 stations.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Exiting getAllScheduleEntryMd5s(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Entering buildAllProgramEntries() for 0 programs.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Exiting buildAllProgramEntries(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Entering buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Exiting buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Entering getAllMoviePosters() for 0 movies.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Exiting getAllMoviePosters(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Entering getAllSeriesImages() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Exiting getAllSeriesImages(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Entering writeMxf().
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Exiting writeMxf(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Entering writeImageArchive().
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] Exiting writeImageArchive(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] [ INFO] 0 files deleted from the cache directory during cleanup.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] [STATS] Generated .mxf file contains 0 services, 0 series, 0 programs, and 0 people with 0 image links.
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] ====================== Beginning epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 1:52:24 AM] [ INFO] Import=True , Match=True , NoLogo=False
[2/13/2017 1:52:25 AM] [ INFO] import filename = epg123.mxf
[2/13/2017 1:52:25 AM] [ INFO] Successfully imported .mxf file into Media Center. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 1:52:26 AM] [ INFO] Completed the automatch of lineup stations to tuner channels.
[2/13/2017 1:52:26 AM] [ INFO] INFO: scheduled task "Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\ReindexSearchRoot" is currently running.
[2/13/2017 1:52:26 AM] [ INFO] SUCCESS: Attempted to run the scheduled task "Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\ReindexSearchRoot".
[2/13/2017 1:52:26 AM] [ INFO] Successfully started the ReindexSearchRoot task. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 1:52:26 AM] [STATS] epg123Client mxf load and database reindex execution time was 00:00:01.9656000.
[2/13/2017 1:52:26 AM] ====================== Completed epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 1:52:29 AM] [STATS] epg123 update execution time was 00:00:05.6316000.
[2/13/2017 1:54:47 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:54:47 AM]  Activating the epg123 configuration GUI.
[2/13/2017 1:54:47 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:54:48 AM] [ INFO] epg123 is up to date. version: 1.1.0
[2/13/2017 1:54:48 AM] [ INFO] Successfully queried the Task Scheduler for status. status: Ready.The task has not yet run. Exit: 0x00000001.
[2/13/2017 1:54:49 AM] [ INFO] Token request successful. serverID: 20141201.web.2
[2/13/2017 1:54:49 AM] [ INFO] Status request successful. account expires: 2017-04-21T07:19:18Z , lineups: 2/4 , lastDataUpdate: 2017-02-13T02:33:21Z
[2/13/2017 1:54:49 AM] [ INFO] system status: Online , message: No known issues.
[2/13/2017 1:54:49 AM] [ INFO] Successfully requested listing of client lineups from Schedules Direct.
[2/13/2017 1:54:49 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-CA57315-X.
[2/13/2017 1:54:50 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-OTA-90292.
[2/13/2017 1:55:39 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:55:39 AM]  Beginning epg123 update execution.
[2/13/2017 1:55:39 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 1:55:39 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved TMDb configurations.
[2/13/2017 1:55:39 AM] [ INFO] epg123 version 1.1.0 , DaysToDownload: 28 , PrefixEpisodeTitle: True , AppendEpisodeDesc: True , TMDbCoverArt: True , LogoOverride: True , AutoAddNew: True
[2/13/2017 1:55:39 AM] [ INFO] Token request successful. serverID: 20141201.web.1
[2/13/2017 1:55:39 AM] [ INFO] epg123 is up to date. version: 1.1.0
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] [ INFO] Successfully requested listing of client lineups from Schedules Direct.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-CA57315-X.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-CA57315-X has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-OTA-90292.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-OTA-90292 has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Entering getAllScheduleEntryMd5s() for 28 days on 0 stations.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Exiting getAllScheduleEntryMd5s(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Entering buildAllProgramEntries() for 0 programs.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Exiting buildAllProgramEntries(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Entering buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Exiting buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Entering getAllMoviePosters() for 0 movies.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Exiting getAllMoviePosters(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Entering getAllSeriesImages() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Exiting getAllSeriesImages(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Entering writeMxf().
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Exiting writeMxf(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Entering writeImageArchive().
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] Exiting writeImageArchive(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] [ INFO] 0 files deleted from the cache directory during cleanup.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] [STATS] Generated .mxf file contains 0 services, 0 series, 0 programs, and 0 people with 0 image links.
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] ====================== Beginning epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] [ INFO] Import=True , Match=True , NoLogo=False
[2/13/2017 1:55:40 AM] [ INFO] import filename = epg123.mxf
[2/13/2017 1:55:41 AM] [ INFO] Successfully imported .mxf file into Media Center. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 1:55:42 AM] [ INFO] Completed the automatch of lineup stations to tuner channels.
[2/13/2017 1:55:42 AM] [ INFO] INFO: scheduled task "Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\ReindexSearchRoot" is currently running.
[2/13/2017 1:55:42 AM] [ INFO] SUCCESS: Attempted to run the scheduled task "Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\ReindexSearchRoot".
[2/13/2017 1:55:42 AM] [ INFO] Successfully started the ReindexSearchRoot task. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 1:55:42 AM] [STATS] epg123Client mxf load and database reindex execution time was 00:00:01.9812000.
[2/13/2017 1:55:42 AM] ====================== Completed epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 1:55:44 AM] [STATS] epg123 update execution time was 00:00:05.7096001.
[2/13/2017 2:00:00 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 2:00:00 AM]  Beginning epg123 update execution.
[2/13/2017 2:00:00 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 2:00:01 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved TMDb configurations.
[2/13/2017 2:00:01 AM] [ INFO] epg123 version 1.1.0 , DaysToDownload: 28 , PrefixEpisodeTitle: True , AppendEpisodeDesc: True , TMDbCoverArt: True , LogoOverride: True , AutoAddNew: True
[2/13/2017 2:00:01 AM] [ INFO] Token request successful. serverID: 20141201.web.2
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] [ INFO] epg123 is up to date. version: 1.1.0
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] [ INFO] Successfully requested listing of client lineups from Schedules Direct.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-CA57315-X.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-CA57315-X has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-OTA-90292.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-OTA-90292 has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Entering getAllScheduleEntryMd5s() for 28 days on 0 stations.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Exiting getAllScheduleEntryMd5s(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Entering buildAllProgramEntries() for 0 programs.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Exiting buildAllProgramEntries(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Entering buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Exiting buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Entering getAllMoviePosters() for 0 movies.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Exiting getAllMoviePosters(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Entering getAllSeriesImages() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Exiting getAllSeriesImages(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Entering writeMxf().
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Exiting writeMxf(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Entering writeImageArchive().
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] Exiting writeImageArchive(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] [ INFO] 0 files deleted from the cache directory during cleanup.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] [STATS] Generated .mxf file contains 0 services, 0 series, 0 programs, and 0 people with 0 image links.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] [STATS] epg123 update execution time was 00:00:02.3244000.
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] ====================== Beginning epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 2:00:02 AM] [ INFO] Import=True , Match=True , NoLogo=False
[2/13/2017 2:00:03 AM] [ INFO] import filename = epg123.mxf
[2/13/2017 2:00:03 AM] [ INFO] Successfully imported .mxf file into Media Center. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 2:00:05 AM] [ INFO] Completed the automatch of lineup stations to tuner channels.
[2/13/2017 2:00:05 AM] [ INFO] INFO: scheduled task "Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\ReindexSearchRoot" is currently running.
[2/13/2017 2:00:05 AM] [ INFO] SUCCESS: Attempted to run the scheduled task "Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\ReindexSearchRoot".
[2/13/2017 2:00:05 AM] [ INFO] Successfully started the ReindexSearchRoot task. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 2:00:05 AM] [STATS] epg123Client mxf load and database reindex execution time was 00:00:02.3712000.
[2/13/2017 2:00:05 AM] ====================== Completed epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 2:11:58 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 2:11:58 AM]  Activating the epg123 configuration GUI.
[2/13/2017 2:11:58 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 2:12:01 AM] [ INFO] epg123 is up to date. version: 1.1.0
[2/13/2017 2:12:01 AM] [ INFO] Successfully queried the Task Scheduler for status. status: Ready. Last Run 2/13/2017 2:00:00 AM; Exit: 0x00000000.
[2/13/2017 2:12:01 AM] [ INFO] Token request successful. serverID: 20141201.web.2
[2/13/2017 2:12:01 AM] [ INFO] Status request successful. account expires: 2017-04-21T07:19:18Z , lineups: 2/4 , lastDataUpdate: 2017-02-13T02:33:21Z
[2/13/2017 2:12:01 AM] [ INFO] system status: Online , message: No known issues.
[2/13/2017 2:12:01 AM] [ INFO] Successfully requested listing of client lineups from Schedules Direct.
[2/13/2017 2:12:02 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-CA57315-X.
[2/13/2017 2:12:02 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-OTA-90292.
[2/13/2017 2:13:18 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 2:13:18 AM]  Beginning epg123 update execution.
[2/13/2017 2:13:18 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 2:13:18 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved TMDb configurations.
[2/13/2017 2:13:18 AM] [ INFO] epg123 version 1.1.0 , DaysToDownload: 28 , PrefixEpisodeTitle: True , AppendEpisodeDesc: True , TMDbCoverArt: True , LogoOverride: True , AutoAddNew: True
[2/13/2017 2:13:18 AM] [ INFO] Token request successful. serverID: 20141201.web.2
[2/13/2017 2:13:18 AM] [ INFO] epg123 is up to date. version: 1.1.0
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] [ INFO] Successfully requested listing of client lineups from Schedules Direct.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-CA57315-X.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-CA57315-X has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-OTA-90292.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-OTA-90292 has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Entering getAllScheduleEntryMd5s() for 28 days on 0 stations.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Exiting getAllScheduleEntryMd5s(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Entering buildAllProgramEntries() for 0 programs.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Exiting buildAllProgramEntries(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Entering buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Exiting buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Entering getAllMoviePosters() for 0 movies.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Exiting getAllMoviePosters(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Entering getAllSeriesImages() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Exiting getAllSeriesImages(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Entering writeMxf().
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Exiting writeMxf(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Entering writeImageArchive().
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] Exiting writeImageArchive(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] [ INFO] 0 files deleted from the cache directory during cleanup.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] [STATS] Generated .mxf file contains 0 services, 0 series, 0 programs, and 0 people with 0 image links.
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] ====================== Beginning epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] [ INFO] Import=True , Match=True , NoLogo=False
[2/13/2017 2:13:19 AM] [ INFO] import filename = epg123.mxf
[2/13/2017 2:13:20 AM] [ INFO] Successfully imported .mxf file into Media Center. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 2:13:21 AM] [ INFO] Completed the automatch of lineup stations to tuner channels.
[2/13/2017 2:13:21 AM] [ INFO] SUCCESS: Attempted to run the scheduled task "Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\ReindexSearchRoot".
[2/13/2017 2:13:21 AM] [ INFO] Successfully started the ReindexSearchRoot task. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 2:13:21 AM] [STATS] epg123Client mxf load and database reindex execution time was 00:00:01.9812000.
[2/13/2017 2:13:21 AM] ====================== Completed epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 2:13:24 AM] [STATS] epg123 update execution time was 00:00:05.8812001.
[2/13/2017 2:26:19 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 2:26:19 AM]  Activating the epg123 configuration GUI.
[2/13/2017 2:26:19 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 2:26:21 AM] [ INFO] epg123 is up to date. version: 1.1.0
[2/13/2017 2:26:22 AM] [ INFO] Successfully queried the Task Scheduler for status. status: Ready. Last Run 2/13/2017 2:00:00 AM; Exit: 0x00000000.
[2/13/2017 2:26:22 AM] [ INFO] Token request successful. serverID: 20141201.web.1
[2/13/2017 2:26:22 AM] [ INFO] Status request successful. account expires: 2017-04-21T07:19:18Z , lineups: 2/4 , lastDataUpdate: 2017-02-13T02:33:21Z
[2/13/2017 2:26:22 AM] [ INFO] system status: Online , message: No known issues.
[2/13/2017 2:26:22 AM] [ INFO] Successfully requested listing of client lineups from Schedules Direct.
[2/13/2017 2:26:22 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-CA57315-X.
[2/13/2017 2:26:23 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-OTA-90292.
[2/13/2017 2:26:32 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 2:26:32 AM]  Beginning epg123 update execution.
[2/13/2017 2:26:32 AM] ===============================================================================
[2/13/2017 2:26:33 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved TMDb configurations.
[2/13/2017 2:26:33 AM] [ INFO] epg123 version 1.1.0 , DaysToDownload: 28 , PrefixEpisodeTitle: True , AppendEpisodeDesc: True , TMDbCoverArt: True , LogoOverride: True , AutoAddNew: True
[2/13/2017 2:26:33 AM] [ INFO] Token request successful. serverID: 20141201.web.2
[2/13/2017 2:26:33 AM] [ INFO] epg123 is up to date. version: 1.1.0
[2/13/2017 2:26:33 AM] [ INFO] Successfully requested listing of client lineups from Schedules Direct.
[2/13/2017 2:26:33 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-CA57315-X.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-CA57315-X has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] [ INFO] Successfully retrieved the station mapping for lineup USA-OTA-90292.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] [ INFO] Lineup USA-OTA-90292 has been excluded from download and processing.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Entering getAllScheduleEntryMd5s() for 28 days on 0 stations.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Exiting getAllScheduleEntryMd5s(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Entering buildAllProgramEntries() for 0 programs.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Exiting buildAllProgramEntries(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Entering buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Exiting buildAllGenericSeriesInfoDescriptions(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Entering getAllMoviePosters() for 0 movies.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Exiting getAllMoviePosters(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Entering getAllSeriesImages() for 0 series.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Exiting getAllSeriesImages(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Entering writeMxf().
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Exiting writeMxf(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Entering writeImageArchive().
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] Exiting writeImageArchive(). SUCCESS.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] [ INFO] 0 files deleted from the cache directory during cleanup.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] [STATS] Generated .mxf file contains 0 services, 0 series, 0 programs, and 0 people with 0 image links.
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] ====================== Beginning epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] [ INFO] Import=True , Match=True , NoLogo=False
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] [ INFO] import filename = epg123.mxf
[2/13/2017 2:26:34 AM] [ INFO] Successfully imported .mxf file into Media Center. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 2:26:36 AM] [ INFO] Completed the automatch of lineup stations to tuner channels.
[2/13/2017 2:26:36 AM] [ INFO] INFO: scheduled task "Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\ReindexSearchRoot" is currently running.
[2/13/2017 2:26:36 AM] [ INFO] SUCCESS: Attempted to run the scheduled task "Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\ReindexSearchRoot".
[2/13/2017 2:26:36 AM] [ INFO] Successfully started the ReindexSearchRoot task. Exit code: 0
[2/13/2017 2:26:36 AM] [STATS] epg123Client mxf load and database reindex execution time was 00:00:02.1216000.
[2/13/2017 2:26:36 AM] ====================== Completed epg123 client execution. =====================
[2/13/2017 2:26:38 AM] [STATS] epg123 update execution time was 00:00:05.8656001. 

Re: Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:28 pm
by garyan2
This sounds like more fun than anyone deserves...

I'll start with the [Step 1: Clean Start] button. It is on the new v1.1.0 client GUI when you open the epg123Client.exe executable. Since this was a clean OS install, it wouldn't have been necessary anyway, but it will open WMC and epg123.exe to follow the guide steps 2 and 3.

Downloading 0 channels ... please verify the channels you want to download have checkboxes that are checked next to them. There is no indication that either lineup you are downloading are excluded, so the other option is the channels are not selected for download. This may be a bug on my part, if your channels are checked, than this would be the second report I've heard that a change in channel selections were not saved. Please let me know if this is the case, if you can.

EPG123 is pretty much standalone in downloading and creating the mxf file. The only thing it does that is critically dependent on WMC is the import; WMC must have run through TV setup before the mxf file is imported. If the import is done prior to TV setup, the database is now corrupted and must be deleted (step 1).

Re: Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 12:07 am
by DSperber
Oh... EPG123Client.exe!!! Sure enough, that's what the instructions say! I'm so accustomed to running EPG123.exe that I simply ran it without a second thought.

So, I can clearly confirm that I checked my same set of channels (again, using EPG123.exe, not EPG123Client.exe). Perhaps 60 boxes checked in the cable lineup1 and about 8 boxes checked in the OTA/ATSC lineup2. I don't know yet if I wouldn't have had this problem with EPG123Client.exe, but for sure it was my symptom using EPG123.exe.

I have restored the system image from early yesterday (with no Ceton drivers yet installed), and will be sure I do everything correctly this second opportunity. I've already re-run the "install Digital Cable Advisor", so that should be in Extras Gallery when I go there. It's been a very long time since I installed WMC from scratch but I was sure the running DCA was presented automatically by the TV signal setup wizard without my having to go hunt it down. It detected the presence of the Ceton tuner card and before going further needed to ensure that the PC was cable-capable, hence the need to run DCA before almost anything else got set up. It was certainly this which last night allowed me to install all 6 Ceton tuners in WMC, rather than just the 4 it told me was the max, before running DCA. And that's also what seemed to enable proper handling of the digital tuning adapter.

Anyway, I'm going to wait until Thursday to proceed further. That's when my new Hauppauge OTA/ATSC Quad-tuner 1609 card arrives. I really want to have both tuner cards installed when I kick off WMC setup wizard for the first time during this second try. And I will absolutely run EPG123Client.exe this time.

I'll report back on Friday the results of the second effort.

Re: Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 6:42 am
by Crash2009
If you are planning to run the InfiniTV6 with CableCard and display the content on a Display Port (DP) video adapter, monitor, or DP anywhere in the path, you might run into problems with HDCP.

"In order for some forms of protected content to play back in Media Center, there must be HDCP compliance across the video card, the connection type, and the external display. Although DisplayPort is HDCP compliant, Windows Media Center does not recognize a DisplayPort as being HDCP compliant. Windows Media Center only recognizes DVI and HDMI as HDCP compliant. Some protected content scenarios may work with DisplayPort with Media Center, but these are not officially validated."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-band ... Protection

Re: Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 7:48 am
by DSperber
Well, you have put your finger on my unexpected HDCP problem with the graphics driver, that I hadn't had a chance to chase down yet. I am indeed using a DP->DP cable from the nVidia card to the DP port on my Eizo monitor which is being shared with my other HTPC which is the one currently using a DVI connection from its nVidia card to the DVI port on the Eizo monitor.

Thank you VERY MUCH for pointing this out to me. I had no idea DP->DP was not HDCP compliant. This is new and valuable info. But I have to bring up the fact that in my existing HTPC I am actually using a DP->DVI cable going to a second Eizo monitor (which is the one today on which I watch WMC HDTV while working). This second Eizo monitor doesn't have DP, but only has DVI and HDMI (but the monitor will only display 1920x1080 via HDMI whereas it will display 1920x1200 native using DVI). Since my nVidia GTX750ti card only has one DVI (which is going to my primary Eizo) I've used its DP to go to DVI on the second Eizo with a DP->DVI cable. And it displays protected content perfectly while driving the monitor at 1920x1200 which is what I want. And no HDCP issue at all.

So I'm not sure I agree that the presence of DP anywhere in the path causes the HDCP issue. I offer as proof the fact that I am in fact using DP->DVI and have no HDCP issue. It was only the DP->DP connection yesterday (which indeed is the first time I've ever done this) which had prompted the HDCP error message. Turns out I will have no complaint using an all-DVI connection eventually, as there seems to be a problem with the ASUS Z170-Deluxe BIOS and DP to the monitor. The ASUS BIOS output is only presented the first time the machine is booted when the monitor has been powered off and then powered on. After that, re-boots do NOT present BIOS output until the next time the machine and monitor are powered off and on again. Very annoying when you need to get into the BIOS to do some setup. I don't think I will have any issue using all-DVI to the monitor.

Ok, once I get this second machine completely built and relocated to its eventual intended location, I will be sure to use a DVI->DVI cable to connect the 24" Eizo (which is the monitor #2 on my left, on which I display HDTV output when working). I have no problem here. I will reassign the DP port on the graphics card for use with my new 31" Eizo CG318-4K monitor, which is to be my new primary "straight ahead" monitor #1.

One other WMC/Guide anomaly I ran into again yesterday during my flawed first attempt at getting the new hardware set up correctly. I ran a channel scan for the OTA/ATSC Hauppauge HVR-2250 card, and was stunned to once again see that the only [major network] digital channels picked up by the WMC scan were 2.1, 4.1 and 5.1. The remaining expected 7.1, 9.1 and 11.1 were not found. In contrast my existing HTPC setup has those three channels tuned without a problem. I'd seen this before, and then I remembered the cause. WMC only scans the UHF frequencies for digital channels, as that's how things worked many years ago when DTV was just getting started and analog NTSC still existed for a few more years. But when analog NTSC TV truly disappeared and the VHF spectrum became available for DTV use, a number of channels moved from the UHF band down to the VHF band.

And here in LA, that's exactly what ABC, KCAL, and KTTV (FOX) did. In the early years of DTV they initially were up in the UHF range, and obviously that's when my current HTPC was built and the original channel scan done. That's why I never ran into this WMC defect originally. But now that these three channels are using VHF spectrum, I have to solve the problem caused by the WMC defect. So while 2.1 (647MHz), 4.1 (605MHz) and KTTV (575MHz) were found by WMC since they're in the UHF range, I will have to manually add digital channels 7.1 (177MHz), 9.1 (189MHz) and 11.1 (201MHz) using the WMC "manually add missing DTV channels" dialog which accepts manual entry of channel number, channel ID, and frequency. That will solve that problem.

Re: Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 8:36 am
by Crash2009
Something like this might do the trick for you...I think you need a 1 in 2 out I believe you should think about the "powered type" of splitter.

https://www.amazon.com/VeLLBox-Splitter ... T760VC3NTG

Here are the different DVI connector styles....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface

Re: Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 11:20 am
by DSperber
No, I don't need a splitter-duplicator. I'm not trying to display the same thing on two monitors. I have two monitors running in "extended desktop" mode.

But the one used for displaying output of protected content from WMC apparently cannot be pure DP->DP cable, although apparently DP->DVI will work fine (based on how my current setup is working, using exactly that DP->DVI cable). And of course DVI->DVI cable definitely works.

Anyway, I have no problem setting up my DP->DP connection on my new PC to go to the non-WMC monitor (as it has both DVI and DP connectors). In fact this is the new 4K Eizo monitor and I want to be using DP (although it is not HDCP 2.2, but I've bought an HD Fury to go in the middle, so that I can presumably send 4K60 4:4:4 to the device, which will be down-converted by the HD Fury to 4K30 4:2:2 for display on that non-HDCP 2.2 device).

The other monitor is simply 1920x1200 and is perfectly usable for WMC display purposes with DVI->DVI cable.

So that will be my final setup, for real. I only ran into this current problem the other day because having the two computers side-by-side and sharing one monitor unwittingly used the DP->DP cable, which produces the HDCP error from WMC.

I'm sure things will be fine with my eventual arrangement. And this weekend, when my new Hauppauge 1609 card arrives and I re-do the WMC setup from scratch (as well as installing EPG v1.1.0 properly, this time ) I'm sure everything should be fine.

Re: Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2017 2:15 am
by Crash2009
DSperber wrote:I'm not trying to display the same thing on two monitors.

But the one used for displaying output of protected content from WMC apparently cannot be pure DP->DP cable, although apparently DP->DVI will work fine (based on how my current setup is working, using exactly that DP->DVI cable). And of course DVI->DVI cable definitely works.

Anyway, I have no problem setting up my DP->DP connection on my new PC to go to the non-WMC monitor (as it has both DVI and DP connectors). In fact this is the new 4K Eizo monitor and I want to be using DP (although it is not HDCP 2.2, but I've bought an HD Fury to go in the middle, so that I can presumably send 4K60 4:4:4 to the device, which will be down-converted by the HD Fury to 4K30 4:2:2 for display on that non-HDCP 2.2 device).

The other monitor is simply 1920x1200 and is perfectly usable for WMC display purposes with DVI->DVI cable.

So that will be my final setup, for real. I only ran into this current problem the other day because having the two computers side-by-side and sharing one monitor unwittingly used the DP->DP cable, which produces the HDCP error from WMC.


I'm sure things will be fine with my eventual arrangement. And this weekend, when my new Hauppauge 1609 card arrives and I re-do the WMC setup from scratch (as well as installing EPG v1.1.0 properly, this time ) I'm sure everything should be fine.
Sounds like you got it all figured now.

I suggested the splitter for in case you want to send WMC to DVI_1 or DVI_2

Fury must have a good sink.

PM me if you run into future, WMC related, hardware issues.

Looks like you're ready for EPG123.

Re: Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2017 2:54 pm
by DSperber
It's been a long hard slog these past five days, trying to fight through assorted issues which were quite challenging. But I have finally emerged victorious.

(1) Turns out the "zero channels" using EPG123.exe was because I hadn't noticed the little red/green ball dropdown next to the ALL and NONE buttons. This is mentioned in item 10 of the installation instructions but I hadn't even noticed it. Unfortunately the default is EXCLUDE, so when I pushed the "NONE" button to clear all of the initially checked many hundreds of channels in my two lineups and then proceeded to check just 80 or so that I wanted from more than 700 cable channels, and just 9 that I wanted from the 163 OTA/ATSC channels, I should have changed EXCLUDE to INCLUDE. Of course I didn't even notice that.

I guess I don't really understand how EXCLUDE works, since you'd think I would in essence been requesting "all except the channels I checked, which were to be EXCLUDED". So in retrospect, I suppose I should have gotten 154 OTA/ATSC channels and 620 cable channels. But I got ZERO channels. Obviously I'm not understanding how this should be working in EXCLUDE mode.

Nevertheless, once I selected INCLUDE, well now sure enough my checked channels were all selected and Guide data downloaded just as I expected.

(2) I had accidentally broken the fragile coax adapter cable for my new Ceton InfiniTV 6 card that I was using in the new HTPC, when I casually pulled it out of its push-in connector by the rubber on the cable, rather than grabbing the gold metal connector and pulling it out that way. So sure enough, the wire came right out of the connector!! I've ordered another new one from Ceton that should be here next week, but in the meantime I am "limping along" (albeit apparently successfully) having reinserted the wire back into the connector and twisting it. I wasn't sure the thin wire would touch the connector and make the necessary signal contact but apparently it is working.

(3) I had enormous problems trying to get my Motorola Tuning Adapter working. It is connected serially, with the wall cable coax screwing into the tuning adapter, and then a second coax out of the adapter going to the fragile coax adapter cable and thus into the Ceton card where the cablecard is also inserted. The tuning adapter also has a USB cable that connected to the PC.

Well, amazingly, the new high-speed USB 3.0/3.1 ports on my ASUS Z170-Deluxe motherboard do not seem to play well with the old fashioned USB 2.0 cable going to the tuning adapter. The Z170 only has one true USB 2.0 connector on it, with one pure USB 3.0/2.0 connector right next to it. The other ports are USB 3.0/3.1, and based on my experience they are unusable with the Motorola tuning adapter. This took me many days to discover as the root cause for why I could not seem to get the tuning adapter to lock properly, which in turn caused malfunction of the cablecard pairing.

Furthermore, I had been cursing a WMC remote with a USB 2.0 IR receiver that also had simply ceased to operate when plugged into the new machine. And yet, when I used it on my old HTPC it worked perfectly. Again, I had unwittingly plugged it into one of the available USB 3.1/3.0 ports on the rear of the new machine, which again (like with the tuning adapter) just turns out to not be compatible with USB 2.0 devices.

So, finally, today, on a hunch that this might be at the heart of my problem, I rearranged the USB cable connections going to front and rear of the machine, so as to plug the USB 2.0 cable from tuning adapter into the pure USB 2.0 connector. I plugged my USB 2.0 keyboard into the USB 3.0/2.0 connector. I plugged my USB 3.0 external backup drive into a USB 3.1/3.0 connector.

On the front middle of my case in the two 3.5" external bays I had installed (a) a USB 3.0/2.0 multi-card reader which also has a spare USB 3.0/2.0 port on it, and (b) a true 2-port USB 3.0/2.0 hub, for two more USB 3.0 ports. At the bottom of the front bezel of the case, behind a snapdown plastic door, are two more true USB 2.0 ports but I don't like having to drop down the little door to get to them. I plugged the WMC remote IR USB receiver into an available USB 3.0/2.0 port in one of the two 3.5" devices I'd added.

And, as if by a miracle, both the tuning adapter and the WMC remote now began to work perfectly! Cablecard paired correctly, tuning adapter did its job perfectly, and the WMC remote now operated as it should have all along. A frustrating waste of time over the last few days fighting with something so simple, but I honestly didn't know these USB 3.1/3.0 ports were not actually usable for USB 2.0, but apparently that must the case. It was really fortunate that I'd just arbitrarily decided to add those two USB 3.0/2.0 devices in the two 3.5" bays to give me USB 3.0 on the front-middle of the case as well as USB 2.0. One of these is in use for my USB wireless mouse RF receiver, so that left two more for me to use one of for the WMC remote IR receiver.

(4) So, with all of these issues now conquered, I was of course able to install and configure EPG123 v1.1.0 without a hitch (once I selected INCLUDE!!!).

(5) The only remaining mystery (and I've decided to just forget about it) is that I could not get all six tuners on the InfiniTV 6 card to be accepted by WMC TV Signal Setup. WMC only allowed 4 to be configured, to go along with 4 OTA/ATSC tuners.

Interestingly, before I had an OTA antenna connected to the Hauppauge 1609 4-tuner OTA/ATSC card I WAS able to see all six tuners of the Ceton card, with the 4 OTA/ATSC tuners remaining "not configured". And then when I connected the OTA antenna to the Hauppauge card so that its 4 tuners were configured, all of the Ceton tuners were "not configured". I then took the "other options" approach, to manually configure the tuners myself. And sure enough WMC allowed me to set up all 10 tuners manually, which I did. But this was before doing "clean start" with EPG123, and in fact I WAS using ROVI Guide setup (just because I wanted to remain as "standard" as possible while I fought through my earlier above problems).

But when I got to EPG123, and did a "clean start", and had to go through TV signal setup again (and yes, I did run DCA first again, and I also did reinstall the Ceton drivers again), now I could not get back to that situation I'd had earlier, being permitted to manually configure all 6 cablecard tuners plus all 4 OTA/ATSC tuners. For some reason, rejecting the GUIDE option for EPG123 somehow seems to have disallowed the special Ceton driver magic that they had engineered to allow all 6 of their tuners to be used.

So for now, anyway, I'm only using 4 of the 6 available tuners (same as if I'd been able to use my original InfiniTV 4 card in the new machine, which I could not because of a blocking flange on the bracket that prevents it being used on the Z170-Deluxe board). I will pursue this with Ceton, to see if I can resolve it. I don't feel 4 cablecard tuners is a problem (as I've lived with it for the past 6 years, along with only 2 OTA/ATSC tuners in my older Hauppauge HVR-2250 card), but I did honestly want to have the 6 from the new Ceton card as long as I was now finally using it. Seems to be somehow related to the presence of the additional working 4-tuner Hauppauge card, but I don't have an answer or solution yet.


That's it. I added a spare Linksys DMA2100 extender to the new HTPC, and I manually re-created all of my series recordings and upcoming one-off recordings. I installed MyChannelLogos (first copying the \ProgramData folder from my old HTPC, so that I wouldn't have to manually do the custom logo assigning I'd previously done for channels that don't get auto-populated, but for which BIG logos do exist in the BIG folder).

Since MCL now finds them already in the "custom" folder (as if they had been pre-provided with the delivered product) it just goes ahead and uses them as part of its auto-populate function so that I don't now have to do anything manual myself.

So I'm in business! I will continue to gradually "view down" the copy-protected content on my old HTPC. Copy-freely content can just be copied over to the new HTPC so that I can watch it from that machine. Eventually, when all copy-protected content is viewed, I can finally add the additional 16GB of memory I'd wanted to install many months ago (to add to the existing 8GB in that old HTPC) but was forced to remove since for some reason adding memory caused DRM to think I now had a new machine, and would now allow me to play my recorded copy-protected content. The machine has been really showing the effects of only 8GB, and I though I could just add additional memory without a concern, same as if I were to upgrade hard drives. For some reason, on this machine I didn't get away with it, and thus had to back out and remove the added 16GB in order to get DRM back so I could still view-down what I have recorded.

I have emerged victorious.

Re: Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:08 am
by DSperber
DSperber wrote:So for now, anyway, I'm only using 4 of the 6 available tuners (same as if I'd been able to use my original InfiniTV 4 card in the new machine, which I could not because of a blocking flange on the bracket that prevents it being used on the Z170-Deluxe board). I will pursue this with Ceton, to see if I can resolve it. I don't feel 4 cablecard tuners is a problem (as I've lived with it for the past 6 years, along with only 2 OTA/ATSC tuners in my older Hauppauge HVR-2250 card), but I did honestly want to have the 6 from the new Ceton card as long as I was now finally using it. Seems to be somehow related to the presence of the additional working 4-tuner Hauppauge card, but I don't have an answer or solution yet.
Well, I decided to give this another try tonight. I know I'd seen 6 + 4 earlier in my pre-EPG123 phase, even if I had to do that manually. At least the option was presented to me.

So, ever optimistic, I took a "system image" backup of where I was (including end-of-Sunday-night recordings, for DRM purposes) and carefully re-did just some of the installation steps.

First, I re-ran the Ceton driver install, in "repair mode". Then I re-ran "TV Signal Setup". Note that I had no intention of re-doing the EPG123 installation from "clean start". I was simply trying to see if I could kick-start all 6 Ceton tuners into service, doing minimal if any damage or erasure of whatever else I'd already completed successfully including channel lineups, series and one-off recordings, favorites, etc.. If I had to redo something, well so be it. But if I could get all 6 Ceton tuners working, well any additional repeated work will have been well worth it.

And amazingly, when the "checking for TV signals" process had completed, miraculously ALL 10 OF MY TUNERS HAD BEEN DETECTED!!!

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So I completed this phase of the setup, and discovered that I really did have to redo all of the channel lineup work all over again. This time I stuck with EPG123.exe, since I was simply going to re-do the setup which had last been configured. Just as well since I had unwittingly overlooked checking channel 5.1 (on my OTA/ATSC Lineup2) anyway, so I had already noticed "NO DATA" for that channel and it was on my list to research.

And I did have to re-do the WMC "edit channels", and set up my several Favorites lists all over again.

However I did NOT have to re-do any scheduled recordings. Everything was still there. I'm hoping there will actually be no recording issues since the new channel numbers are identical to the original channel numbers when I set up all these recordings yesterday. It's not like there was a channel lineup change. Worst case I'll re-do the so-far 25 series recordings and a few one-off "award show" recordings for this upcoming weekend. I'll find out tomorrow if these scheduled recordings I set up yesterday really are still in a usable form, based on how my Monday recordings succeed or fail. But I'm confident.

But I don't care. I'm now fully operational with my brand new HTPC, using a new Ceton InfiniTV 6 and (new M-Card cablecard) which has been sitting in its carton for two years (awaiting the possible eventual demise of its older brother InfiniTV 4 from 2010, which never came). And I'm also using a new Hauppauge 4-tuner 1609 OTA/ATSC card, as well as a new Motorola Tuning Adapter.

I have deleted all scheduled recordings on the old HTPC. No new recordings of any kind will be made on this machine going forward. I will only view-down my existing inventory of copy-freely and copy-protected content, on both the second monitor as well as via one extender and HDTV in the bedroom which is still associated with the old HTPC. I have a second newly configured extender (also in the bedroom, and connected to the new HTPC) which can also be used to view new content from the new HTPC.

And eventually, when I finally have reduced my copy-protected inventory on the old HTPC to zero or acceptably-near-zero (so that I can just delete whatever's left) I will finally be able to install the 16GB of additional memory I had wanted to install in that machine since last summer. After upgrading my \Recorded TV capacity (with a new 6GB drive) the Summer Olympics saw about 250 new recordings flood into WMC. Ever since that time memory usage on the machine had jumped significantly, making it very apparent that 8GB is inadequate. If you use >75% of your memory it's time to get more, and if you're over 85-92% usage you're going to see serious degradation of Windows response overall, as paging now seems to become the main focus of the operating system.

As I previously mentioned, I did add 16GB last summer but unexpectedly that caused DRM to get unhappy and no longer allow me to play my copy-protected recordings. I had to remove the memory to get the DRM key restored to its original value, so that I could continue to play all of my recordings. I didn't think memory size was involved in the algorithm producing the DRM key, but at least in the case of my particular machine it certainly was.

So, give me another few months of viewing-down old HTPC recordings, and I may finally get to that point of being able to reinstall the 16GB of additional memory that's been sitting in the drawer awaiting just that time.

This week I will also remove the M-Card from the InfiniTV 4 in the old HTPC and bring it back to Spectrum/TWC. No need to pay them $2.50/month needlessly. The original tuning adapter worked fine, and isn't charged for, so I will just hold onto it as a possible "spare" to be immediately available should this new second tuning adapter now being used on the new HTPC die suddenly.

Remarkable. Happy ending.

Re: Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 3:39 am
by Crash2009
Congratulations, It is nice to see someone posting their notes while the project is still newly completed.

Create a System Image ASAP

Re: Brand new EPG 1.1.0 install on brand new PC/WMC: no go

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 5:18 am
by DSperber
Crash2009 wrote:Create a System Image ASAP
Believe me, as I accomplished more and more in little steps, I kept running Macrium Reflect. Didn't want to lose anything done in the past 15 minutes and have to re-do it should disaster strike!

Turns out with my Win7 C-partition at about 84GB usage but residing on an M.2 Samsung 960 Pro NVMe drive, it takes Macrium only 6 minutes to take a "full system image" out to my USB 3.0 backup drive. Performance of this ASUS Z170-Deluxe Skylake-based board (using Corsair Vengeance DDR4-2400 CL=14 memory, i7-6700 CPU) with 2.5" Samsung 850 Pro SATA3 SSD for additional high-speed "data" use, along with a 6TB WD Black SATA3 HDD spinner for additional WMC recording storage, has really exceeded my expectations.

One interesting note here, regarding the Samsung 960 Pro. It is installed in the ASUS Hyper-Mini X4 "daughter card", which installs into the available PCIe x16/x4/x1 expansion slot, so that the 960 runs at PCIe x4 speed. Initially I had placed the Ceton card in a nearby x1 slot just below the Hyper-Mini X4. Turns out the Ceton card generated heat "upwards" toward the 960, and also obstructed some of the airflow from the 120mm intake fan on the front of my mid-tower case. The operating temperature of the 960 was reported as about 124-128F, which is not problematic but is definitely hotter than I expected or wanted. I'd read that there is some "thermal-related throttling" that can occur automatically.

So I moved the Ceton card way up to the first x1 slot (just above the EVGA nVidia GTX950 SC graphics card in the top x16 slot, and just below the CPU and its Noctua NH-U12P SE2 cooler/fan. This completely eliminated any heat coming from the Ceton from affecting the 960. I also placed my Hauppauge 4-tuner 1609 card down "at the South Pole", in the very bottom x16/x2/x1 slot, so it is nowhere near the 960.

I also tweaked fan speeds using ASUS AISuite 3 from "silent" up to "maximum", so that the two 120mm case fans now run at about 1000rpm and the 120mm CPU fan now runs at at 1500rpm. The default fan control of the BIOS and AISuite 3 is for "silent" operation (subject to internal temperature changes), which had run the two case fans at about 740rpm and the CPU fan at about 550rpm. And yes, it was "silent". These Noctua NF-S12A FLX fans are astonishingly quiet. I had to shine a flashlight in to finally see the spinning hub, just to be sure they were actually operating. But internal airflow was excellent and reported temperatures were surprisingly cool. But even at "maximum" speed of the three essentially silent Noctua fans, it is absolutely silent although I can feel the increase in airflow coming out the back of the case. I don't actually think there was any difference in internal temperatures, at least for CPU.

Amazingly (but not really surprisingly), the 960 operating temperature now dropped down to about 97-104F, no doubt thanks to the higher fan speeds as well as eliminating the proximity of the Ceton card producing heat flowing upward right into the 960 and opening up the 960 to maximum unobstructed interior airflow. And with that much cooler operation, the measured CrystalDiskMark performance of the drive increased about 10% from my previously measured numbers, obviously due to no more thermal throttling occurring.

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I'm very pleased. One more surprise... in my objective to produce a virtually silent HTPC, I am using a NoFan P-500A 100% silent (0dba) fanless 500W PSU. I was skeptical, but apparently it is so efficient and thus produces so little heat that it is not necessary to actively cool it with a built-in fan. Apparently, it works exactly as advertised! Completely effective totally passive cooling.

Similarly, the new EVGA GTX 950 SC card is also noiseless, although it does have a single fan. Apparently it generates no heat requiring active dissipation, as I have never seen the GPU fan register anything other than 0. I have actually run a standalone utility that DOES run the fan at max speed and I definitely can hear it then. But apparently, in normal operation (in my non-gaming environment, anyway) it might as well have no fan and yet operates at about 97F.