Guide Data Outage - 2019 Summer Edition

Global guide related discussion. All Windows versions.
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JohnW248

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#81

Post by JohnW248 » Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:28 pm

sam68 wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 7:38 pm I would like to try fixing the guide not updating by running Client maintenance with the -UF command. Can anyone tell me step by step, how to do that?
thanks
While that won't do anything for you in this instance, it may be useful once things get fixed if you get a partial schedule or get one of the famous "stuck on stupid" can't read the date problems.

First you have to open The Administrator C prompt (you can right click on the C prompt Icon and choose run as administrator.

Then you type the following (it opens to C:\Windows\System32
cd ..
cd ehome\
mcupdate.exe -uf

Then hit enter. The update will take a few minutes but the Client Maintenance may take a couple of hours on a large guide and lots of recordings since the guide is cleared of old data. This happens automatically with auto-update like every two weeks without you doing anything. Read through your Task Log on Media Center and you'll see all the data that MSFT has on you and your television recordings.

SugarFree

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#82

Post by SugarFree » Wed Jun 26, 2019 10:04 pm

> You make assumptions the files received from Rovi aren't in error.

You've "assumed" that I've assumed. I have not. Please read my email to you for details. I'll just say here that MS has informed Rovi the problem is ENTIRELY on the MS side, and that there is nothing wrong in the Rovi file. MS is the only one who can fix this, and they are working to do so.

jimij1000

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#83

Post by jimij1000 » Wed Jun 26, 2019 11:27 pm

SugarFree wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 10:04 pm > You make assumptions the files received from Rovi aren't in error.

You've "assumed" that I've assumed. I have not. Please read my email to you for details. I'll just say here that MS has informed Rovi the problem is ENTIRELY on the MS side, and that there is nothing wrong in the Rovi file. MS is the only one who can fix this, and they are working to do so.
Funny to me:
The double assume... enjoy the logic of that acronym times 2.

)

AnneM

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#84

Post by AnneM » Wed Jun 26, 2019 11:50 pm

isn't this at least the 3rd year in a row that this has happened right before the 4th of July? what's up with that? :shifty:

foxwood

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#85

Post by foxwood » Wed Jun 26, 2019 11:54 pm

rickmktg wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:27 pm Hammer MS via your social media accounts. DM @MicrosoftHelps on Twitter.
Yup, give MS management a reason to explicitly turn off MCE guide updates, in full accordance with the license agreement that you agreed to, rather than just ignoring it and allowing it to survive in the background.

jimij1000

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#86

Post by jimij1000 » Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:31 am

AnneM wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 11:50 pm isn't this at least the 3rd year in a row that this has happened right before the 4th of July? what's up with that? :shifty:
Saving time changes for Spring and Fall and Summer and Winter Solstice. Go through the posts. Plus a few other anomaly's.

Still here Sugar, keep the dialogue going. MS if your data gathering, fix it! Rovi, Push them to do so for your own company's reputation.

Shameful between both companies if you think about it. Thousands or hundreds of thousands lose their ability to keep their DVR's going over a tv guide data feed issue.

wifiwanderer

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#87

Post by wifiwanderer » Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:43 am

foxwood wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 11:54 pm Yup, give MS management a reason to explicitly turn off MCE guide updates, in full accordance with the license agreement that you agreed to, rather than just ignoring it and allowing it to survive in the background.
Always been skeptical about anyone actually reading a TOS. Think I may have read the first few words of one or 2. :lol:

mossmania

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#88

Post by mossmania » Thu Jun 27, 2019 2:55 am

AnneM wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 11:50 pm isn't this at least the 3rd year in a row that this has happened right before the 4th of July? what's up with that? :shifty:
I was thinking the same thing. I think the MS employee responsible for this must take vacation the same time each year. :D

foxwood

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#89

Post by foxwood » Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:11 am

wifiwanderer wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:43 am
foxwood wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 11:54 pm Yup, give MS management a reason to explicitly turn off MCE guide updates, in full accordance with the license agreement that you agreed to, rather than just ignoring it and allowing it to survive in the background.
Always been skeptical about anyone actually reading a TOS. Think I may have read the first few words of one or 2. :lol:
The TOS for Windows Media Center are actually fairly short and succinct, as these things go. And they make it quite clear that "Microsoft may discontinue providing the EPG at any time". Nobody will have any grounds for complaint, if and when that happens, though it would be nice if there was a formal notice, preferably delivered in a manner that people who don't read TGB could find out about it.

viewtopic.php?p=120353#p120353
Last edited by foxwood on Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

foxwood

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#90

Post by foxwood » Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:15 am

mossmania wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 2:55 am I was thinking the same thing. I think the MS employee responsible for this must take vacation the same time each year. :D
I'm not sure that there is an MS employee responsible for this - I think there's probably someone who has moved on to other projects, but still has enough access to be able to fix things when he or she realizes that it's not working properly.

Scroll

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#91

Post by Scroll » Thu Jun 27, 2019 4:38 am

foxwood wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:26 pm
DSperber wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:50 pmBut wouldn't you also have to do that if your machine died and you had to rebuild a new HTPC, or simply were forced to reinstall Win7 and WMC?
But my machine hasn't died, and I am not being forced to re-install Win7.

I don't think anyone is questioning the benefits of using an alternative guide source. But the actual cost of making that switch is much greater than the $25/year price, and for some of us, the pain of making the switch isn't justified as long as the default solution is "good enough".
I just found this forum because my data ran out today. While I may be interested in that 123 option I'm not tech savvy but worse I'm on fixed income and only have a cell with 2 Gig date for my internet. So while I may go that route it's a bit harder of a transition.

Bunk_Tuppins

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#92

Post by Bunk_Tuppins » Thu Jun 27, 2019 4:48 am

Well my guide data here in Medford OR has completely run out. First time that has occurred in 5 years or so.

I have been checking out EPG123. I'm lazy and cheap so I'd rather do nothing but it's looking dire today...

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garyan2

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#93

Post by garyan2 » Thu Jun 27, 2019 6:18 am

garyan2 wrote: Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:25 pm Clarify/Correct some information about EPG123 setup in this thread.

DRM recordings will still be playable... deleting your WMC database doesn't change your unique ID to access those recordings.
CableCARD activations will still be valid... no need to reactivate.
Recording requests, for the most part, are transferable between your old Rovi configuration to the new EPG123 configuration. This is especially true for US users. For users outside the US you will probably only be able to transfer your generic/wish list requests (movie title, actor name, director name, keyword...).
EPG123 makes a backup of you WMC configuration making it possibly to completely revert back to Rovi if you desire.

Note on that Microsoft announcement early this year. The initial announcement was not clear and appeared to have included guide listings but they revised their announcement to clarify the impact is only to the metadata for music and movies. For the guide it means that movies may no longer contain the extended data (full synopsis, review, similar movies, and character names).
Sorry, I need to clarify/correct my own clarification/correction.

Series recording requests and Wish List recording requests will for the most part transfer over without issue. Manual recording requests and OneTime recording requests will not... these would include recordings you set up like an old VCR (channel number, start time, length or recording) and any program you select to record not as a series to include movies. I'll take a look to see if I can possibly get those to work, but it is doubtful. I could change the OneTime recordings to WishList recordings, but that's kind of a band-aid and not a solution.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

choliscott

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#94

Post by choliscott » Thu Jun 27, 2019 7:03 am


jimij1000 wrote:
AnneM wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 11:50 pm isn't this at least the 3rd year in a row that this has happened right before the 4th of July? what's up with that? :shifty:
Saving time changes for Spring and Fall and Summer and Winter Solstice. Go through the posts. Plus a few other anomaly's.

Still here Sugar, keep the dialogue going. MS if your data gathering, fix it! Rovi, Push them to do so for your own company's reputation.

Shameful between both companies if you think about it. Thousands or hundreds of thousands lose their ability to keep their DVR's going over a tv guide data feed issue.
Not sure why you believe people are going to lose their ability to keep WMC going when there is another alternative for guide service.

DFox

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#95

Post by DFox » Thu Jun 27, 2019 7:29 am

The reason why I am slightly more concerned than usual is that the nature of this outage is different than the typical corrupt data, where now the server is effectively offline/inaccessible.

I’m still not totally clear on the impact if this continues indefinitely. From what’s been explained I think we’re fine if we already have a functioning Media Center with an activated CableCard, then we can switch to EPG123.

But for a brand new Media Center install, given the current situation, would CableCard activation be available? Rainey’s experience leaves me uncertain.

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Bee_Dee_3_Dee

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#96

Post by Bee_Dee_3_Dee » Thu Jun 27, 2019 10:36 am

--sooo glad i just found this thread an hour ago. :)
--ty for starting it, davidhp! :D
--i didn't notice the "locked" on the Spring 2018 thread. lol
--just finished reading every single word on this thread (up through post #95).

^^ said, i remember waiting out the outages- assuming so lol- down to the last minuet several times. literally minuets away once. and i'm waiting again this time for sure... but also considering all possibilities. (ty garyan2 for the contingency help/ prep. :) )

Go! Go! Go! EPG DL! ;)

SugarFree

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#97

Post by SugarFree » Thu Jun 27, 2019 11:30 am

Once again the guide has *corrected* today's data without adding new data. Before I put the htpc to sleep last night at 11:30 I checked the scheduled recorings. I had 18 listed, including Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow set for tonight. When I did a search on title, the guide showed 5 days left - till Sunday the 30th,which was correct.

This morning I checked scheduled recordings - only 16 showed. No Hayes, no Maddow. When I checked the guide itself, those shows had been replaced by tonight's Democratic Debate - which was NOT there last night! Furthermore, even though data still runs out at 7 pm Sunday night - 4 days from now, counting today - the title seach is *still* showing 5 days instead of the correct 4. Has anyone else noticed this?

I'll pass this admittedly weird info on to Rovi this morning.

SugarFree - not Sugar, SF or even San Francisco. :)

UPDATE: Days left in guide just dropped to 4.

Rickt1962

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#98

Post by Rickt1962 » Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:32 pm

Looks like IRAN is getting us AGAIN ! No guide update here in Comcast central Pennsylvania !
HTPC W7 pro with HDhomerun with 6 tuners using Comcast scanned by MCEbuddy uploaded to network to be watched by KODI

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Billyray520

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#99

Post by Billyray520 » Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:46 pm

This is the first time I ever noticed this happening since I first set up WMC in 2014. I mean to the point where there was NO GUIDE available at all. I'm thinking about making the switch to EPG123.. Luckily, since it's summer rerun time, we aren't needing to make many recordings. I had to record Krypton last night manually, which worked. I'm going to keep checking this thread to see when the server is back.

n127

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#100

Post by n127 » Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:53 pm

SugarFree,

I am seeing shows since last week guide "fix" with incorrect titles. I record "Home & Family" series on Hallmark channel every weekday from 10 AM to 12 PM ET(It's like broadcast networks morning shows without the negativity). Today's show is titled "Secrets of the Dead" instead of "Home & Family", and tomorrow's show is titled "Inside the PGA Tour". Don't rely on series recording, select the show you want to record from the guide.

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