Guide Data Outage - 2019 Summer Edition

Global guide related discussion. All Windows versions.
jimij1000

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#181

Post by jimij1000 » Sat Jun 29, 2019 2:32 am

Space wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 1:30 am Now that the crisis appears to be over, has anyone else noticed that many episodes are showing up in your "view scheduled" list that have already been recorded in the past?

I use "New & Rerun" extensively in my Series, and I am seeing many old episodes that I have already recorded in the past showing up (at least much more than usual). I am wondering if the fix they did to get it working again affected the unique IDs of episodes in some way. Most of the shows I am seeing this with are on AMC, such as "The Walking Dead" (which has a marathon on July 4th) and "Preacher", but I am also seeing it on other shows like "Face Off" and "The Conners".

I have seen this happen (a show or two every week), but not to this extent. It may just be a fluke, but I guess we'll see if it continues...
I've noticed a month or so ago that some new episodes have the repeat flag set even though they are new episodes. For example Instinct on Sunday night 6/30 on CBS 9PM Eastern is a premiere and my guide shows it as a repeat. It's caused me to miss a few series recordings since Feb or March till now as I usually set series recordings for new episodes and not reruns.

wilme2

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#182

Post by wilme2 » Sat Jun 29, 2019 3:03 am

I am just happy the guide data is back. I will look at the alternative EPG123, but didn't want to be under the gun to do so.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


wifiwanderer

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#183

Post by wifiwanderer » Sat Jun 29, 2019 3:09 am

Sigh of relief, EPG good through 11 July. Thanks to folks who made it happen.

otfrdok

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#184

Post by otfrdok » Sat Jun 29, 2019 4:01 am

JohnW248 wrote: Fri Jun 28, 2019 10:44 pm Manual updates worked for me from either the notification icon for MC with update data or the Guide will run out in 3 days warning and update that way.

However do the forced update from the admin C prompt which opens to Windows\system 32 type the following:
cd .. (enter)
cd ehome\ (enter)
mcupdate.exe -uf (enter)
Or simply c:\windows\ehome\mcupdate -uf

foxwood

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#185

Post by foxwood » Sat Jun 29, 2019 4:48 am

choliscott wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 12:55 am Link is not working
foxwood wrote: Fri Jun 28, 2019 9:10 pm Here's a link to the WMC Electronic Programming Guide Terms Of Service.

My apologies - it's been a while since I posted here, and I had forgotten how to create links.
WMC Electronic Programming Guide Terms Of Service

jimnms

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#186

Post by jimnms » Sat Jun 29, 2019 4:59 am

wilme2 wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 3:03 am I am just happy the guide data is back. I will look at the alternative EPG123, but didn't want to be under the gun to do so.
Same here. I just need WMC to keep going through the end of summer. I'm planning to cut the cord then. Part of it is due to the end of Windows 7 support coming in January, and I also use this PC for other home server tasks. Mostly though it's due to there just not being anything good on TV anymore. I'm literally only watching a hand full of shows, a lot of which I can get OTA. Lately I'm watching more shows on Netflix and Amazon, so it's not worth paying for cable just for a few shows. One of the shows I really like is having its final season this summer, and after that I can do without cable. I'll upgrade the machine to Win10 (if I can for free) or Linux, and I'll get an antenna and look for some other recording software for OTA channels.

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Bee_Dee_3_Dee

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#187

Post by Bee_Dee_3_Dee » Sat Jun 29, 2019 8:17 am

after successful EPG DL :) :) :) the EPG Thumbnails are incorrect. :(

(i'm NOT complaining, because Thumbnails sometimes get fixed not too long after an EPG outage; although sometimes the prob drags on for weeks; and everything else seems AOK. :) )

Example: all the Weather Channel Thumbnails are from PBS channel shows.

i have a full backup Image of my OS Partition/Drive (three days old) and have experimented, but no success fixing thumbnails.

Ways i tried unsuccessfully to fix Thumbnails:
1. "start /wait c:\windows\ehome\mcupdate.exe -uf"
2. "start /wait c:\windows\ehome\mcupdate.exe -uf -dbgc"
3. Renamed "TVThumb.db" to "TVThumb.db_OLD" then ran "mcupdate.exe -uf -dbgc".
4. Renamed "TVThumb.db" to "TVThumb.db_OLD" then restored a three day old copy of TVThumb.db and ran "mcupdate.exe -uf".

anyone have an idea how to fix thumbnails?

ty :)

Space

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#188

Post by Space » Sat Jun 29, 2019 8:21 am

jimij1000 wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 2:32 am ...
I've noticed a month or so ago that some new episodes have the repeat flag set even though they are new episodes. For example Instinct on Sunday night 6/30 on CBS 9PM Eastern is a premiere and my guide shows it as a repeat. It's caused me to miss a few series recordings since Feb or March till now as I usually set series recordings for new episodes and not reruns.
This is a common occurrence with the Rovi/TiVo guide and is not related to the issue I posted.

The problem you are describing is an incorrect OAD (Original Air Date) for episodes. If the OAD is more than 7 days away from the airing date, it will attach the (Repeat) descriptor to that airing. This also causes Series that are set to "New" to not record new episodes (because the episodes are incorrectly marked as repeats due to an incorrect OAD). This problem is the reason I use "New & Rerun" for almost all my Series. However, using this setting is highly dependent on the WMC feature of "Series will not record the same episode more than once". So, my problem is that I was seeing some Series recording the same episode more than once, indicating that some of the unique identifiers for some episodes may have changed, making WMC think it has not recorded those episodes in the past, even though it has.

Now this may not really be a problem, as I do see Series recording the same episode more than once on a fairly regular basis (it was just a lot more than normal after this latest update). I am not sure why it want to record an episode more than once, but I assume one of:
  • My WMC database has become partially corrupted, or perhaps episodes that were recorded more than a certain time ago are purged (it is generally believe that they stay there "forever", but this may not be true).
  • The unique ID for that episode has changed since it was recorded, causing WMC to think it is a different episode than it recorded in the past.
  • The episode is an episode that is older than the Series, and while it may have been recorded in the past, it was not recorded by this particular Series, but perhaps by a Series that was deleted (clearing the episode record history) and recreated.
  • ????

stevethebrain

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#189

Post by stevethebrain » Sat Jun 29, 2019 8:35 am

guide updated back in business: very disappointed to hear that win7 MC won't be supported in January. is Bill Gates forcing us to purchase newer versions of his software?

whats the alternative for free TV folks KODi looks kindof good, can I downgrade to win10 w/ my older I3 CPU then pay extra for media center and expect to have my TV guide/DVR functions.

this reminds me of when the analog to digital transition rendered my Panasonics DVRs TV guide useless.
Thanks Guy's for advice.

https://www.howtogeek.com/258695/how-to ... indows-10/

STB

loueber

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#190

Post by loueber » Sat Jun 29, 2019 12:52 pm

Glad its back.
Wonder how many times this will happen and when they will actually truly end support.
For now i will stick to epg123 since it is consistent.
I wish someone could recompile the actual setup and guid pull down process so we will never be at the mercy of MS and their unsupport.
WMC is a great program for recording and watching live. if we can somehow keep a guide program active or have all setup files in the computer and not need to connect to MS at all WMC can go on many more years as a useful tool. Until 4k is standard anyways.

would be cool if we could get wmc to play 4k

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Billyray520

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#191

Post by Billyray520 » Sat Jun 29, 2019 1:22 pm

I don't regret getting EPG123 either for the main TV. I kept Rovi on one tuner/pc, and just have to laugh at all of the stupid mixups with pics showing and lack of some info. I will also enjoy the automatic updating which Rovi could never do, always requiring a manual download, and half the time wouldn't work, or if it did, it said it didn't. Then there are episodes like this past week. Plus EPG123 gives you more configuration and programming options within WMC.

bencjedi

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#192

Post by bencjedi » Sat Jun 29, 2019 1:34 pm

stevethebrain wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 8:35 am guide updated back in business: very disappointed to hear that win7 MC won't be supported in January. is Bill Gates forcing us to purchase newer versions of his software?

whats the alternative for free TV folks KODi looks kindof good, can I downgrade to win10 w/ my older I3 CPU then pay extra for media center and expect to have my TV guide/DVR functions.

this reminds me of when the analog to digital transition rendered my Panasonics DVRs TV guide useless.
Thanks Guy's for advice.

https://www.howtogeek.com/258695/how-to ... indows-10/

STB
Microsoft didn’t include WMC in Win10 and was only available for a limited time in the Microsoft store as an app for Windows 8 (wish I didn’t miss that)

SugarFree

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#193

Post by SugarFree » Sat Jun 29, 2019 1:53 pm

> I will also enjoy the automatic updating which Rovi could never do

1. This is a MS, not Rovi issue. Rovi uploads a new guide file to MS (and all their other clients) 7 days a week. It's up to MS to push it out to our WMC for auto update. But they seem to only do that only every 2 days or so.

2. My WMC always auto downloads - until there's a problem on the MS end. Then, sometimes a manual download works - and sometimes it doesn't, as in the last 2 weeks. Has nothing to do with Rovi.

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StinkyImp

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#194

Post by StinkyImp » Sat Jun 29, 2019 2:35 pm

loueber wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 12:52 pmwould be cool if we could get WMC to play 4k
Here's a post by DavidinCT explaining how he was able to Run Windows Media Center @ 2160p/4K.

EDIT: You may also want to look at the Modern Media UI application to help with automatically setting the resolution.

choliscott

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#195

Post by choliscott » Sat Jun 29, 2019 4:29 pm

stevethebrain wrote:guide updated back in business: very disappointed to hear that win7 MC won't be supported in January. is Bill Gates forcing us to purchase newer versions of his software?

whats the alternative for free TV folks KODi looks kindof good, can I downgrade to win10 w/ my older I3 CPU then pay extra for media center and expect to have my TV guide/DVR functions.

this reminds me of when the analog to digital transition rendered my Panasonics DVRs TV guide useless.
Thanks Guy's for advice.

https://www.howtogeek.com/258695/how-to ... indows-10/

STB
If you got a key for W8 version of WMC, you could use that.

Most of the other programs available have some sort of cost associated with them

Silicon Dust DVR $35 a year
Emby $5 a month or $120 lifetime
NextPvr free but requires a $25 a year Schedules direct account for guide service
J River not sure if the price

You could probably continue to use W7, but probably need to investigate how to have it block almost everything except items for WMC

stevethebrain

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#196

Post by stevethebrain » Sat Jun 29, 2019 5:02 pm

I just wasted 4-5 hours to find what you just typed

I have Silicon Dust home run didn't they include the DVR SW thanks STB

dahef

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#197

Post by dahef » Sat Jun 29, 2019 5:09 pm

bencjedi wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 1:34 pm
stevethebrain wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 8:35 am guide updated back in business: very disappointed to hear that win7 MC won't be supported in January. is Bill Gates forcing us to purchase newer versions of his software?

whats the alternative for free TV folks KODi looks kindof good, can I downgrade to win10 w/ my older I3 CPU then pay extra for media center and expect to have my TV guide/DVR functions.

this reminds me of when the analog to digital transition rendered my Panasonics DVRs TV guide useless.
Thanks Guy's for advice.

https://www.howtogeek.com/258695/how-to ... indows-10/

STB
Microsoft didn’t include WMC in Win10 and was only available for a limited time in the Microsoft store as an app for Windows 8 (wish I didn’t miss that)
I upgraded from Win7 to Win8 a couple years back. Then realized that the Win8 WMC removed the option to burn a DVD.

stevethebrain

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#198

Post by stevethebrain » Sat Jun 29, 2019 5:38 pm

i thought plex was free there seams to be a charge for free tv won't give bill hates the satisfaction, there's a market for cord cutters someone will invent a MC replacement until then I'll program the old fashioned way. timer/channel


I have Silicon Dust home run & haugpage tuners they have I think pause live tv

it will suck to not have a dvr guide, will win7 still pause live TV still function?

like we are only being deprived of the guide correct the rest still functions correct?
STB

AverageJoe

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#199

Post by AverageJoe » Sat Jun 29, 2019 6:32 pm

The Guide in Dallas is working again with 75080. :D

mwpeterson

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#200

Post by mwpeterson » Sat Jun 29, 2019 6:47 pm

choliscott wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 4:29 pm If you got a key for W8 version of WMC, you could use that.

Most of the other programs available have some sort of cost associated with them

Silicon Dust DVR $35 a year
Emby $5 a month or $120 lifetime
NextPvr free but requires a $25 a year Schedules direct account for guide service
J River not sure if the price

You could probably continue to use W7, but probably need to investigate how to have it block almost everything except items for WMC
Plex price is similar to Emby.
J RIver is $60 and you still need to pay for guide data. Looks like they use Perc Data.

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