GuideTool Discussion Thread

circusdog

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#61

Post by circusdog » Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:55 pm

al_wilson2 wrote:
gildavis wrote:Does this tool work on Vista Ultimate joined to a domain? I have been trying for a week with no success. I ran both WMC and the tool as admin, I ran it logged in as local admin, I let it open WMC, I changed WMC window size, turned off the firewall, uninstalled any other add-ins, used localhost, 127.0.0.1, actual IP. Still makes complaints about not connecting.

I need something to work, b/c I have no guide data at all since Sunday night.
Not sure, but https://mymce.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/ ... ia-center/ states that it works on Vista. Maybe try an older version of the tool? What about trying to run the tool from another PC, and have it connect to the media PC? Try running netstat -an from the command prompt, with Media Center running. See if you have the below entry. When I open WMC, this entry pops up. When I close WMC, it goes away. Guide Tool uses port 5733.

TCP 0.0.0.0:5733 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
Yes, It is listening. I installed the tool on my server (w2003) and on a W7 box, but I got the same message. No joy.

I ran it against WMC on the W7 box and it found it there (localhost) just fine. I ran it from the Vista box to the W7 box (by ip address) and it found it there as well.

Your link mentioned Vista with TV Pack, but I have Vista SP2 which is not compatible with the TV Pack.

al_wilson2

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#62

Post by al_wilson2 » Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:04 am

gildavis wrote:
al_wilson2 wrote:
gildavis wrote:Does this tool work on Vista Ultimate joined to a domain? I have been trying for a week with no success. I ran both WMC and the tool as admin, I ran it logged in as local admin, I let it open WMC, I changed WMC window size, turned off the firewall, uninstalled any other add-ins, used localhost, 127.0.0.1, actual IP. Still makes complaints about not connecting.

I need something to work, b/c I have no guide data at all since Sunday night.
Not sure, but https://mymce.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/ ... ia-center/ states that it works on Vista. Maybe try an older version of the tool? What about trying to run the tool from another PC, and have it connect to the media PC? Try running netstat -an from the command prompt, with Media Center running. See if you have the below entry. When I open WMC, this entry pops up. When I close WMC, it goes away. Guide Tool uses port 5733.

TCP 0.0.0.0:5733 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
Yes, It is listening. I installed the tool on my server (w2003) and on a W7 box, but I got the same message. No joy.

I ran it against WMC on the W7 box and it found it there (localhost) just fine. I ran it from the Vista box to the W7 box (by ip address) and it found it there as well.

Your link mentioned Vista with TV Pack, but I have Vista SP2 which is not compatible with the TV Pack.
Try this link. You may be able to install TV Pack. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 1eabad9cd2

circusdog

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#63

Post by circusdog » Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:51 am

al_wilson2 wrote:Try this link. You may be able to install TV Pack. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 1eabad9cd2
Nope, it says "The update does not apply to your system"

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Crash2009

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#64

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Jul 30, 2015 2:28 am

There was a guy over in that 1200 page thread that solved Vista SP2's incompatibility with TV pack by upgrading to win7. Is yours 32 or 64 bit? One other says it works.....Vista SP2 has to be fully updated apparently.

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... f=6#p93443

Mike88

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#65

Post by Mike88 » Thu Jul 30, 2015 7:09 am

The Guide Tool website says " The background addin offers an external interface on which the Guide Tool application connects, using the TCP port 5733."

Is that an area of concern? I've read you should secure or hide your ports.

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Crash2009

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#66

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Aug 02, 2015 1:03 pm

Mike88 wrote:The Guide Tool website says " The background addin offers an external interface on which the Guide Tool application connects, using the TCP port 5733."

Is that an area of concern? I've read you should secure or hide your ports.
I'm not quite sure how to do it, but I think, if it's a concern, you can add a rule in the firewall to only allow a specified service or application to get through.

if we close all our ports, nothing will work.

I believe the 5733 above is an internal rather than external port, and only your local pc's are allowed in. For example you might be able to only allow a specific ip address access to 5733

Mike88

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#67

Post by Mike88 » Sun Aug 02, 2015 6:21 pm

Crash2009 -
Thanks for the reply.
I try to keep the HTPC uncluttered with other software but figured I'd have to use Guide Tool to get program descriptions for at least one OTA channel. However I looked at several providers using that MSN TV Listings website for my Zip Code & none had program descriptions for that channel. I'm presuming in that scenario Guide Tool will not be able to get the information because no one has it.

circusdog

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#68

Post by circusdog » Mon Aug 03, 2015 1:19 pm

I'm an idiot...
al_wilson2 wrote: Try this link. You may be able to install TV Pack. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 1eabad9cd2
On the Guide Tool website, it says:

Supported Environment
Windows Vista Media Center with TV Pack (x86 and x64)
Windows 7 Media Center (x86 and x64)

So unless I want to use the TV Pack, I can't use GuideTool. If I get TV Pack it would seem that I won't need GuideTool to have the guide work. Thanks Microsoft!

Inra

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#69

Post by Inra » Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:48 pm

Hi,

I'm using W7MC and I'm using 1xinternal tuner (analog for my terestial brodcast) and 2x satellite set-top-boxes with 2xHauppauge Colossus cards for Sky UK (I'm not in the UK)

What is the best tool to use custom EPG without using data from DVB tuner?

Best regards,
Arni Thor

[Moderator note: topic merged; search before posting]

bobz

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#70

Post by bobz » Sun Aug 23, 2015 8:46 pm

Can I add to the lineup list in Tool Guide? Right now, the only lineup available is
FINAL RTW - US
and that has only a couple of useful listings.

In WMC, I can view live television, but cannot download any listings. I have tried several zip codes, including some in a list of "successful" zip codes.

Thank you.

Oops:
I just read the 16 July 2015 note from ravsitar that says Guide Tool pulls EPG data from WMC. So the answer to my question is pretty clearly "no". (I really did try to find answers before posting, but failed to look through this thread until after I posted my question:-(

HTBruceM

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#71

Post by HTBruceM » Wed Sep 02, 2015 6:49 pm

How do you tell which channels are subscribed to which lineup?

I've been using GuideTool on & off for about a year now, more recently with the Rovi guide data changeover. I have randomly subscribed certain channels to different lineups to workaround issues such as incorrect time zone, remap some of the unencrypted clear QAM channels, and so on. For example, I'm on Frontier FIOS in Portland OR; let us say the guide data for some channel is off by 3 hours but I've found the same channel on DirecTV includes the correct shows at the correct time. I may have subscribed that channel to use the DirecTV lineup. The problem is, I've never kept track of which ones I have changed from the default subscriptions. I don't really want to just globally subscribe all 300 active channels by name or number and then have to "discover" which ones are not accurate all over again. I'd like to switch just those few that I have changed back to the native lineup to see if the Rovi guide data has been fixed. But I cannot find a way using GuideTool to show which channels are subscribed to which lineup.

Anyone know how to do this?

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Beitie

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#72

Post by Beitie » Sun Sep 13, 2015 1:18 am

HTBruceM wrote:How do you tell which channels are subscribed to which lineup?

I've been using GuideTool on & off for about a year now, more recently with the Rovi guide data changeover. I have randomly subscribed certain channels to different lineups to workaround issues such as incorrect time zone, remap some of the unencrypted clear QAM channels, and so on. For example, I'm on Frontier FIOS in Portland OR; let us say the guide data for some channel is off by 3 hours but I've found the same channel on DirecTV includes the correct shows at the correct time. I may have subscribed that channel to use the DirecTV lineup. The problem is, I've never kept track of which ones I have changed from the default subscriptions. I don't really want to just globally subscribe all 300 active channels by name or number and then have to "discover" which ones are not accurate all over again. I'd like to switch just those few that I have changed back to the native lineup to see if the Rovi guide data has been fixed. But I cannot find a way using GuideTool to show which channels are subscribed to which lineup.

Anyone know how to do this?
I think the easiest way is to just launch the GuideTool and using the drop down line up menu, show only your lineup that you truly want to be on, and set said channels back using the tool. I could be wrong though.

I also have a question that I hope someone can help me with. So I just learned about this guidtool a few months ago when the whole Rovi thing went down. WMC has downloaded a very extensive guide apparently, and I'm having major troubles using the guide in Windows Media Center. WMC works fine, but as soon as I try to view the guide, the computer comes close to total lock up. It sits with the "busy" symbol displaying for sometimes 4 or 6 minuets before I can even move the highlight around in the guide. It's terrible. I've heard before there is a way to "clear the cache" so to say. I think my problem is that WMC is downloading waaaaay too much guide info (too many channels, like well over 2,000). Anyone know how to do this?

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Beitie

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#73

Post by Beitie » Sun Sep 13, 2015 8:28 pm

I fixed my problem. This worked wonders!
B-) CLEAN GUIDE DOWNLOAD AND ASSIGNMENT (By Wyldwof):

-Close WMC
-Open Task Scheduler – Control Panel, System and Security, Administrative Tools, Schedule Tasks
-In the left tree expand Task Scheduler Library, Microsoft, Windows, Media Center
-In the right pane under name, right-click ObjectStoreRecoveryTask, and click Run (let it run for 2 mins)
-Close Task Scheduler

DrBoost

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#74

Post by DrBoost » Tue Sep 22, 2015 12:26 am

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, please forgive me.
I added a channel to WMC manually. No matter what I did the channel always showed No Data Available. After HOURS of searching I found myself here. I downloaded Guide Tool and eventually got that running by running WMC and guide tool as admin. Anyway, I see the channel in question on the left, and I find the call letters on the right. When I click Subscribe, nothing happens. I've tried it a few times with many different providers. Can someone please help me. I'm soo frustrated!

HTBruceM

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#75

Post by HTBruceM » Wed Sep 23, 2015 9:11 pm

DrBoost wrote:I don't know if this is the right place to post this, please forgive me.
I added a channel to WMC manually. No matter what I did the channel always showed No Data Available. After HOURS of searching I found myself here. I downloaded Guide Tool and eventually got that running by running WMC and guide tool as admin. Anyway, I see the channel in question on the left, and I find the call letters on the right. When I click Subscribe, nothing happens. I've tried it a few times with many different providers. Can someone please help me. I'm soo frustrated!
It does not give you a confirmation.

I select one channel on the left, then select one channel on the right. Then I go back to the left side and right click the channel again and then select subscribe channel. Wmc is updated immediately. You may have to take wmc off the guide and back into the guide again before it refreshes.

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Beitie

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#76

Post by Beitie » Thu Sep 24, 2015 11:39 pm

DrBoost wrote:I don't know if this is the right place to post this, please forgive me.
I added a channel to WMC manually. No matter what I did the channel always showed No Data Available. After HOURS of searching I found myself here. I downloaded Guide Tool and eventually got that running by running WMC and guide tool as admin. Anyway, I see the channel in question on the left, and I find the call letters on the right. When I click Subscribe, nothing happens. I've tried it a few times with many different providers. Can someone please help me. I'm soo frustrated!
I've had similar problems. I think the problem is with Rovi and them just flat out not having the data. Though try what I described a few posts above. It seems like something simple, but it really did help and it fixed a ton of issues I had.

Ray Jorgensen

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#77

Post by Ray Jorgensen » Mon Oct 26, 2015 3:36 pm

In using win 7 - 1 receiver. don't know what other info you might need.

Problem - The stations I receive are out of the east - except 2 from the north. My guide data is coming from a E Zip code. There are no carriers for the channel I'm needing tot fill (H&I) in the guide data. I looked for providing stations on H&I webs site and they show 1 to the south and 1 to the north. Any way to get data from the south or north without a 2nd tuner?

Thanks

dmagerl

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#78

Post by dmagerl » Mon Oct 26, 2015 4:31 pm

Go to MSN TV listings, http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/tv-listings.

Start picking zipcodes until you find one that has lineups from both the areas you are looking for. Use that zipcode when running TV Setup in WMC.

There is a nifty tool called LineupSelector that lets you merge the lineups from multiple areas into one guide listing but you first have to have both lineups available.
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... tor#p97540

jziggity

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#79

Post by jziggity » Thu Oct 29, 2015 3:09 am

@Ray,

I ran in to your problem recently, with a Win 7 OTA setup as well. I was able to solve it with the help of GuideTool and another hack out there by Peter Near. Check out this post (http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 947#p97947). Post #25 has some links that will be of help as well.

If you're not able to find a workable zip code that already contains listings for both areas, you basically have two options:

1. Send Rovi a message asking them to create a lineup for you. There is a posting elsewhere on this site with an email address that could be used for this.

2. If you want to resolve it on your own, you can use a combination of Peter Near's batch file hack and GuideTool.

Media Center only allows you to pull guide data for one geographic area at a time. With the help of Peter Near's hack, you can force Media Center to download guide data for more than one geographic region. You can then use GuideTool to map the guide data to the channels that would normally be out of the current region. You do have to get the other region's guide ID # ahead of time though, by temporarily switching your zip code to a different area. It is described in detail on Peter Near's blog, which is still out there on the interwebs.

https://pnear.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/ ... -center-2/

If you run in to problems, post here or send me a PM. Good luck!

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#80

Post by thumperyz69 » Sun Nov 01, 2015 11:51 pm

I have been mysteriously "losing" my QAM channels I thought using GuideTool to back them up would solve my problem. (The channels are still there because a scan from my QAM tuner on my TV detects them and when I rescan in WMC again it finds them.)

I have the purchased version of the GuideTool and I have ran a backup of my QAM channels and there is no way to restore that I can tell. When I look at the XML or CSV file the channels are accurate. When I restore it isn’t restoring the channels that were in the backup before the channels were missing. Does WMC have to actually “detect” the channels to restore them???

What am I missing???

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