EPG123 Bug Reports

An evolving, supported alternative to Rovi
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TomC

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#1061

Post by TomC » Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:24 am

Just completed setting up a Win 10 machine as server only. Everything is working OK now but had 2 problems along the way:

1. The update task reported the following on the log :
------Unhandled exception caught from epg123.exe. message: Access to the path 'Global\{BAEC0A11-437B-4D39-A2FA-DB56F8C977E3}' is denied.

This happened when the update task attempted to run while I had the EPG123 program already running. The update task ran successfully once I made sure that EPG123 wasn't running at the same time.

2. After I got the update task to run properly, the next time that I opened EPG123 the Scheduled Task pane had the following message in red:
------ERROR: Access is Denied.
The corresponding log report was:
------Successfully queried the Task Scheduler for status. ERROR: Access is denied.

I got rid of this problem when I changed the properties of the EPG123 shortcuts to "Run as administrator"

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garyan2

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#1062

Post by garyan2 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 7:05 am

1. Due to the way Schedules Direct handles access to their API, there can be only one epg123.exe running at a time. It is first come, first served. The error you got was a failure to grab a mutex and is by design.

2. In order to see the status of the task in Windows 10, you must have elevated rights. There is no problem with the task itself, just the ability to view the status of the task. I've thought about making the executables require elevated permissions to run, but that has its drawbacks.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

TomC

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#1063

Post by TomC » Mon Dec 16, 2019 2:44 pm

Thanks for your reply.
Just about what I expected to hear. Anyway, I think it's good to have it documented here in case someone else runs into it. Next up for me is to set up the clients on the Win 7 HTPCs. Will let you know if I run into any problems.

JohnW248

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#1064

Post by JohnW248 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 4:07 pm

Hi Gary,

Just downloaded your new version (1.3.1.10) and installed it on a client machine. When I went to Guide in MC I didn't see About. I had restarted MC on the client but I have not restarted the machine. The Progress Bars (three steps and it does take awhile on this old AMD HP Pavillion) so the new version is there but I don't know if I need a new update or a restart or ??

John

JohnW248

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#1065

Post by JohnW248 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 4:11 pm

Hi Gary,

Just downloaded your new version (1.3.1.10) and installed it on a client machine. When I went to Guide in MC I didn't see About. I had restarted MC on the client but I have not restarted the machine. The Progress Bars (three steps and it does take awhile on this old AMD HP Pavillion) so the new version is there but I don't know if I need a new guide update or a restart or ??

BTW all the clients did a successful update last night so the proper address instead of the mapped drive made the difference.

John

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garyan2

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#1066

Post by garyan2 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 4:13 pm

The 'About' part of this is only done when there is a matching performed. You only need to match a single channel to associate the lineup with your tuners which will allow it to be displayed in the About....

Open the client, right-click a channel on the left side and select Unsubscribe. Click the Match by: [# Number] button. You should now have the About Guide available.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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garyan2

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#1067

Post by garyan2 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 4:14 pm

What do you think of the progress bars? Good enough?
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

JohnW248

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#1068

Post by JohnW248 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 4:45 pm

Like the status bar, what happens during each one of the three?

The about turned up when I followed your instructions--not something I would have tried so thanks again.

John

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garyan2

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#1069

Post by garyan2 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 4:57 pm

The first bar is collecting all valid MergedChannels from the database.
The second bar is creating a ListViewItem for each of those channels.
The last bar is populating the ListView with ListViewItems to be viewed based on selected filtering (Scanned Lineup and/or enabled channels only)

If you change the Scanned Lineup selection, or toggle the All/Enabled Only channels filter, all 3 progress bars will show again but the first 2 will already be completed... just the last will show progress happening.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

JohnW248

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#1070

Post by JohnW248 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:18 pm

Gary,

Don't know if this could be added to the Tweak & Enhancements. Would it be possible to by pass or divert EAS forwarding? Ceton added it to their tuners but Silicon Dust did not. I think Ceton got an engineering reprive from Cable Labs.

Here's what happens here, when the alter comes up the screen goes black and only the text line appears. The extender is locked up and has to be restarted. The reason is now there is a command at the end of the EAS notification that has a channel change and the channel used doesn't exist in the line up. Maybe it works on their boxes but it doesn't appear in my line up so it can't tune. Here is one from this earlier: 20191210-10:45:04 CableCARD: message: Charter Communications has issued A REQUIRED WEEKLY TEST for the following counties or areas: California; Los Angeles; Orange, CA; at 2:43 AM on DEC 10, 2019 Effective until 2:58 AM. Message from CHTR LM. - tune to ch (cut off in log due to line length)
Here is a complete message: 20191205-11:30:07 CableCARD: message: Charter Communications has issued A REQUIRED WEEKLY TEST for the following counties or areas: Los Angeles; Orange, CA; at 3:30 AM on DEC 5, 2019 Effective until 3:45 AM. Message from CHTR GG. - tune to channel 1851

I've talked to Spectrum but they either don't understand or it violates from regulation or maybe don't care, I tried Silicon Dust but they are still going through development of their 6 tuner device and don't want to engage Cable Labs. This is a Media Center bug probably because the force retune didn't occur when the system was designed by MSFT.

I don't know where it could be caught but Ceton did it in their tuner interface, I don't know if they did something to their FW as well but it would be nice not to be bothered by this. BTW is the tuner is "recording" then the EAS doesn't not show up -- maybe if the guide can tell the tuner it is being used for recording that would solve the issue.

John

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garyan2

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#1071

Post by garyan2 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:44 pm

I can take a look, but it seems this has been an issue for always and I would think smart eyes have already looked for solutions.

https://forum.silicondust.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=11991
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

Space

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#1072

Post by Space » Tue Dec 17, 2019 12:37 am

Yes, this has been a problem for a long time, and there is no known solution for the HDHR Prime.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2951

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Einstien

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#1073

Post by Einstien » Sat Dec 21, 2019 12:19 am

Hello Gary
First, let me say "EPG123" is a Godsend! Yea
So in Santa Monica, (Los Angeles area), it seems MS has pulled the plug. I just did a resurrection of an old WMC after my brother-in-law moved (again), and after a "successful" download of guide data, nothing but "no data available" across the board. Enter EPG123 to the rescue.
That's just a tidbit.

Here's my question;
Any chance of an 'EDIT' feature in the channel mapping? With channels moving around since the FCC auctioned off frequencies, I am constantly re-mapping. But it seems I have to actually delete the channel from the list, and then add it back in with the new parameters. I don't see a way to just "Edit' the parms..

Second notation while I'm here;
I noticed that when I do add a channel to the mapping, quite often the program does an unexpected shutdown. I've noticed this behavior on my installation at home and on an install I did at my parents house. Not a big deal. I just start the program again and all is well. Just thought it was worth a mention. Thanks for your great work saving Media Center! Can't tell you how impressed we all are!

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garyan2

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#1074

Post by garyan2 » Sat Dec 21, 2019 2:51 pm

FIRST: No, no edit feature. I think it is a bit risky to do with EPG123... there are a lot of changes to make internal to the database for just a simple thing. I think for the most part, all the frequency changes are done by now, aren't they? Are there still some markets that need to change over?

SECOND: This is by design, though it should have started a new window automatically if you have a newer version of EPG123. There is an interesting thing that when you add/create a new Merged Channel, it kicks off an external process for the PVR side of WMC. About 10 seconds after the new channel was added, EPG123 will unexpectedly close due to an access issue. So with older version of EPG123, the window would crash 10 seconds after, but with newer versions, I close the window right after the adds and start a new window and avoid the unexpected behavior. The old thread will die in the background when the external process runs.

Another interesting note on the second one, if you have a virgin setup and WMC has never had a recording request, the unexpected behavior never happens. As soon as you have a recording request in the database, even if it is completed or cancelled, the PVR task will shut us down at 10 seconds. That is part of the reason it took me so long to determine how to deal with it.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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Einstien

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#1075

Post by Einstien » Sat Dec 21, 2019 5:47 pm

Thanks for the reply.
I figured there were probably technical reasons about the 'edit' thing. Interesting, and not a problem.
Didn't know about the 10 second recovery after closing though, perhaps I'm to quick on the draw with that one.
I read somewhere on the Internet that "By law, many TV stations are moving to new frequencies between now and 2020." So I guess your right about that one too. I just remapped yesterday, but admittedly I haven't done it for quite some time.

Tidbit;
About the MS Rovi guide being pulled out here thing, I thought later, perhaps I didn't wait long enough for WMC to populate, but the first thing I noticed was that the Rovi download only took about 2 minutes, it is usually much, much longer. When I went to do it again I got the message "download successfully complete. Just before all that, we had gotten that message you mention on your site from MS about "guide will be discontinued in Jan". After waiting a while and it still didn't seem to have any data.
Whatever, I been using EPG123 for over a year myself and hopefully WMC will live on for many more years thanks to you!!!

BTW, looking at our Avitars, I think you should have mine, and me yours! :lol:

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Gripweed

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#1076

Post by Gripweed » Sun Dec 22, 2019 4:16 am

I think for the most part, all the frequency changes are done by now, aren't they? Are there still some markets that need to change over?
We still have two major stations (as opposed to low power repeaters) here in the Scranton, PA area to be done. The last one is scheduled for May 1st, 2020.

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Einstien

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#1077

Post by Einstien » Sun Dec 22, 2019 5:01 am

garyan2 wrote: Sat Dec 21, 2019 2:51 pm Another interesting note on the second one, if you have a virgin setup and WMC has never had a recording request, the unexpected behavior never happens. As soon as you have a recording request in the database, even if it is completed or cancelled, the PVR task will shut us down at 10 seconds. That is part of the reason it took me so long to determine how to deal with it.
Wow, I don't know how you found that needle in the haystack. Although you seem pretty good at finding needles in haystacks!

JohnW248

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#1078

Post by JohnW248 » Sun Dec 22, 2019 6:20 pm

Gary,

When I do a program update (to 1.3.2.1) for example, after the installation what steps are necessary before it shows up in the MC "About" pane? It looks like it needs a manual download and the manual import of the client and a restart of Media Center. All three steps? Just a MC restart didn't do it but the desktop shortcuts are pointing to the new install.

Just curious, I'm sure if I waited a couple of days it might take care of the update by itself.

John

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garyan2

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#1079

Post by garyan2 » Sun Dec 22, 2019 6:26 pm

A new MXF needs to be created and imported into WMC.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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garyan2

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#1080

Post by garyan2 » Sun Dec 22, 2019 7:23 pm

JohnW248 wrote: Sun Dec 22, 2019 6:20 pm Gary,

When I do a program update (to 1.3.2.1) for example, after the installation what steps are necessary before it shows up in the MC "About" pane? It looks like it needs a manual download and the manual import of the client and a restart of Media Center. All three steps? Just a MC restart didn't do it but the desktop shortcuts are pointing to the new install.

Just curious, I'm sure if I waited a couple of days it might take care of the update by itself.

John
Sorry, my above response was a drive-by on my phone. What version did you update from? Once the new MXF file is imported, it should be updated in the About Guide. Is the About not available? or just showing the previous version?
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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