Rovi Keeps Comin' Back :(

[marvin-miller]

Run for the hills...oh no, it's Rovi!

I can get EPG123 and WMC working just fine with my Schedules Direct account which is great news

Only one problem though, after several hours or half a day or some period like that I fire up Media Center and I find that recording history and future recordings are gone and Rovi is back.

How can I stop this? It's as if WMC is still trying to get guide updates from Rovi. If I could stop that behavior I think I'd have 'er beat

[webminster]

Did you go though the whole deal, delete the programdata\ehome folder, not accept the guide TOS, etc?
By chance, do you have the "automatically download Windows Media Center data" option checked under Settings / General / Automatic Download Options? (you don't need that enabled)
Maybe you have some stray mcupdate process still running, still trying to complete a download?

[marvin-miller]

Aha - I do have that button enabled in WMC about enabling automagic downloads. As for the rest, yes, I did all that several times. I'll try clearing that button and see what happens. Many thanks - especially if that turns out to be it!

[marvin-miller]

Well, that didn't case it

Any other ideas on how to keep Media Center from downloading the Rovi guide? It's like stepping on gum...no matter how hard you try it just won't come off

[marvin-miller]

I'm really surprised this isn't effecting others (knock on wood)

A check of the Task Scheduler shows there are several tasks that may well be contacting Rovi for a guide update. The ones I've found so far (and I'm not sure of these) are;

mcupdate (Check for Media Center updates.)
mcupdate_scheduled (Check for Media Center updates.)
PeriodicScanRetry (Background periodic scanner - PeriodicScanRetry)
PvrScheduleTask (Perform PVR Scheduling activities)

Maybe they're causing Rovi to come back. I set them all to disabled so I'm sure I'll find out soon

[KenL]

I'm really surprised this isn't effecting others (knock on wood)

I know the feeling I was desperate enough to want to fiddle with those services.

However my Colossus input has been stable (and busily recording with GraceNote listings) since I selected ‘I do not agree‘ to the ‘Program Guide Terms of Service’ screen after deleting eHome. And then loading the lineup backup. I've seen no more Rovi EpgListing downloads wrecking havoc.

But you can't redo the tuners after that without going through all those steps again including deleting eHome (again) and ‘I do not agree‘ to the ‘Program Guide Terms of Service’ every time through it. And I figured out we probably don't want to reload the lineup backup without deleting eHome first or it may load them twice potentially making a mess of the db.

Do you have anything in this folder... or is the folder present?

Code: Select all

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\Packages\EpgListings

If so then you've had Rovi EpgListing downloads since you last deleted eHome. Don't know what else may cause it but declining the Terms of Service seems to work for me.

I think it *should* work and keep working if you can figure out these steps.

At this point it may be time to start fresh again?

[marvin-miller]

However my Colossus input has been stable (and busily recording with GraceNote listings) since I selected ‘I do not agree‘ to the ‘Program Guide Terms of Service’ screen after deleting eHome. And then loading the lineup backup. I've seen no more Rovi EpgListing downloads wrecking havoc.

Thank you for the input When I get up in the morning I'll know if it's goofed again and then follow the paragraph above to be sure I'm doing it right. It's encouraging to hear that yours is working so there should be light at the end of the tunnel

But you can't redo the tuners after that without going through all those steps again including deleting eHome (again) and ‘I do not agree‘ to the ‘Program Guide Terms of Service’ every time through it. And I figured out we probably don't want to reload the lineup backup without deleting eHome first or it may load them twice potentially making a mess of the db.

I don't think I've done that yet but I'm still in the 'get the guide working and keep the Rovi out stage'

Do you have anything in this folder... or is the folder present?

Code: Select all

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\Packages\EpgListings

If so then you've had Rovi EpgListing downloads since you last deleted eHome. Don't know what else may cause it but declining the Terms of Service seems to work for me.

That's the odd thing. I swear I've said no to the guide every time (I've seen the afternoon specials ). At present the directory isn't there but I did re-start in safe mode and wiped out the ehome directory. I then did the loadxmf thing and then ran EPG123. That gets me the proper guide every time. Now if it will last due to disabling those tasks in the scheduler I'd be a happy camper. It would seem to me though that disabling the Rovi guide would be a normal part of the EPG123 functionality? I don't know but hopefully I'm getting closer.

Part of my issues are that I've been battling a new video card that I just installed, an O/S reload, and today I took my TV apart to reflow some of the solder joints in an effort to get rid of some odd vertical lines on the right side of the screen It goes on and on

BTW, thanks for the reply, also, as an aside, have you ever got more then one colossus to work in your system? I had heard it could be done but I've never seen it.

[KenL]

I think the only thing preventing it is the ‘I do not agree‘ so it doesn't plug in what it needs for Rovi listings. I have also MC Automatic updates unchecked but I know that alone wasn't enough to stop it. Keep an eye out for that folder C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\Packages\EpgListings.

I have 2 Colossus in 2 separate machines... only one per machine. The problem with multiple cards per box is controlling the STB blasting.

[garyan2]

Everybody keep an eye out for the release of v0.9.3 ... most of the work is on the automatch feature and may even help with this Rovi issue. I'm finishing up some trial runs and should release is tonight.

[KenL]

I thought of one other thing I do with Colossus... not sure if it matters in this case but I usually remove MC to delete eHome. I suspect that resets a few other settings although not all of them.

[marvin-miller]

OK, it screwed up again despite my changes to the scheduled tasks sooo.....this time;

• Uninstalled Media Center
• Restarted
• Deleted Program Data\eHome
• Installed Media Center
• Restarted
• Run WMC Setup & said 'NO' to the guide
• Confirmed that the options in WMC were not set to get guide updates
• Closed off Media Center
• Loaded a Rovi backup as instructed from before
• Ran the new version of EPG123 and chose the correct channels
• Allowed it to finish
• Fired up WMC to ensure the guide was there and added back in all my Series Recordings.
• Checked that Scheduled tasks were all back to their defaults

As near as I can tell this is what I've been doing all along...hopefully it will work this time?

[garyan2]

OK, it screwed up again despite my changes to the scheduled tasks sooo.....this time;

• Uninstalled Media Center
• Restarted
• Deleted Program Data\eHome
• Installed Media Center
• Restarted
• Run WMC Setup & said 'NO' to the guide
• Confirmed that the options in WMC were not set to get guide updates
• Closed off Media Center
• Loaded a Rovi backup as instructed from before
• Ran the new version of EPG123 and chose the correct channels
• Allowed it to finish
• Fired up WMC to ensure the guide was there and added back in all my Series Recordings.
• Checked that Scheduled tasks were all back to their defaults

As near as I can tell this is what I've been doing all along...hopefully it will work this time?

Hopefully with 0.9.3 this should clear up ... before I was just changing the channel service to epg123, but the underlying (primary) lineup was left alone. For those systems with Rovi stalking them it can evidently be infested at any time. With 0.9.3 I am now relegating whatever was the primary to the secondary and making epg123 the primary lineup. Hopefully that will stop it from taking over the guide, though I still think it can take over the lineup (add and remove tuner channels).

[lostgreycells]

[*]Loaded a Rovi backup as instructed from before

I'm new here, trying to troubleshoot before attempting an install. What is "loaded a Rovi backup as instructed from before??

[garyan2]

[*]Loaded a Rovi backup as instructed from before

I'm new here, trying to troubleshoot before attempting an install. What is "loaded a Rovi backup as instructed from before??

I'm going off user experience, but evidently for Colossus users it is necessary to perform a normal TV setup in WMC in order to capture the tuner lineup provided by Rovi. Discussion is here.

[marvin-miller]

OK, it screwed up again despite my changes to the scheduled tasks sooo.....this time;

• Uninstalled Media Center
• Restarted
• Deleted Program Data\eHome
• Installed Media Center
• Restarted
• Run WMC Setup & said 'NO' to the guide
• Confirmed that the options in WMC were not set to get guide updates
• Closed off Media Center
• Loaded a Rovi backup as instructed from before
• Ran the new version of EPG123 and chose the correct channels
• Allowed it to finish
• Fired up WMC to ensure the guide was there and added back in all my Series Recordings.
• Checked that Scheduled tasks were all back to their defaults

As near as I can tell this is what I've been doing all along...hopefully it will work this time?

I'm still seeing issues. As of this morning only one channel shows up in the guide (there should be 30 or so).
Checking in Media Center and the 30 channels are enabled. Checking in EPG123 shows that the 30 channels are also enabled.

So not sure why only one channel remains showing in the guide. This happened about 30 minutes before EPG was scheduled for it's daily update. Before that it had it's full list of channels. So I manually fired the task, waited until it was done and then re-checked in Media Center. Same thing, only one channel in the guide.

Maybe just a suggestion, at some point, it would be handy to have a broad overview of what/how the procedure works in the docs. It would make it much easier to understand (and to interpret) what's happening behind the scenes and perhaps come up with something myself. I'm reminded of the automotive trade and electrical. When diagnosing an issue there's usually a circuit description (overview) showing how the circuit is supposed to work before you get into the step by step details.

[marvin-miller]

Please disregard the above... somehow I must have hit an odd button combination on the remote and it filtered the guide down to that one channel Don't I feel stupid....

At this point, it is still working and it probably should have kaffed by now if it was going to. So maybe this is it....?

[Space]

I was reading your prior post and it occurred to me that you may have filtered your guide by one of the categories (the "On Demand" one filters down to one channel on my system, I'm guessing it's because there are none marked as on-demand and it can't display 0 channels). At least that was one of the things that could cause your symptoms. But I thought it was a long shot, and I'm not sure I would have mentioned it. Then I read your next post, and I guess I was right...

[garyan2]

Please disregard the above... somehow I must have hit an odd button combination on the remote and it filtered the guide down to that one channel Don't I feel stupid....

At this point, it is still working and it probably should have kaffed by now if it was going to. So maybe this is it....?

I was about to pull what remaining hair I have on this ... I am mostly confident that v0.9.3 will stop this. I've got a system running with both Rovi and epg123 (never denied that TOS, just used epg123 to provide guide information for selected channels). I haven't been able to declare victory yet because Rovi refuses to downloaded any updated guide information right now. Go figure.

[marvin-miller]

I was reading your prior post and it occurred to me that you may have filtered your guide by one of the categories (the "On Demand" one filters down to one channel on my system, I'm guessing it's because there are none marked as on-demand and it can't display 0 channels). At least that was one of the things that could cause your symptoms. But I thought it was a long shot, and I'm not sure I would have mentioned it. Then I read your next post, and I guess I was right...

Well, that's the thing - the more you screw with something the higher the chances that sooner or later you're going to introduce an issue ...and...that's exactly what happened

I was about to pull what remaining hair I have on this ... I am mostly confident that v0.9.3 will stop this. I've got a system running with both Rovi and epg123 (never denied that TOS, just used epg123 to provide guide information for selected channels). I haven't been able to declare victory yet because Rovi refuses to downloaded any updated guide information right now. Go figure.

Isn't that the way it goes? Don't worry about the hair, I still have enough left for both of us But here's the thing....it's been about more then a day now and it's still working. I did molest it at one point but I am making a point of not touching anything until tomorrow at 1 PM and if it's still working, I'd have to say you cased it - and that's pretty darn good

[marvin-miller]

Just an update with good news....Day 2 and no issues. Since changing over the account used in the task scheduler no system log errors either..

I'm thinking I'm golden here

BTW, you'd be surprised how many odd glitches seem to have disappeared since getting rid of Rovi...