W7 Media Centre TV Guide downloads OK but doesn't update ?

[martinu]

Sadly I can't try getting EPG data at the moment because I'm at my fiancee's house, accessing my Media Centre PC by LogMeIn (for setting recordings but not for watching them!) and MC won't play or display live TV when accessed remotely: I get a "drivers not installed" error. So I can't tune to a live channel to let it download the EPG.

I hit the same problem a few weeks ago when my transmitter had its digital switchover and I had to run through the setup routine again to retune to the new frequencies for the multiplexes. After I'd done it, ITV didn't get any guide listings because of the notorious mismatch between the channel name in the list of channels and the one in the guide. To fix this, you need to tune to the channel in question and then say "associate this channel with this entry in the guide". So I had to enter ITV programmes manually until I was next at my house to sort it out properly.

[mark1234]

I tried a manual update last night and received guide data until November 1st.

This is probably EPG data received from Freeview, not from the download. You can tell the difference as Freeview data always has the tag at the end for Subtitles. The downloaded data doesn't include the tag.

[mark1234]

Let's hope MS and BDS fix the problem before the end date

Why do I have the sinking feeling that we're all going to be left disappointed? No MS response on the Connect ticket yet...

Virgin have a promo on their Tivo box until the end of the month. Will I finally be forced to jump?

[CyberSimian]

Let's hope MS and BDS fix the problem before the end date

Why do I have the sinking feeling that we're all going to be left disappointed? No MS response on the Connect ticket yet...

It is just possible that the problem will rectify itself after daylight saving time has ended. Fortunately I will be able to download the EPG Sunday morning to see if the problem is fixed, but my recording of "Click" (04:30 Sunday morning) will probably have gone AWOL.

If the problem is not fixed, I will be forced to migrate from Vista to Windows 7 and use the broadcast EPG. (Sigh)

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[mark1234]

You could always set a manual recording for Click so you don't lose it when the guide doesn't update.

[rannydoscoe]

Done tonight's scheduled update at 20:30, looks like the guide is back! Phew!

[nebens]

It's back for me too. Well done everyone.

[mark1234]

Yep, back for me as well. And as a special bonus, a number of other guide issues that I'd raised tickets for have also been addressed. It's like Christmas! Thank you whoever fixed this.

[richard1980]

Mark, you seem to have good luck getting things resolved. How about submitting a ticket for missing movie artwork in the movie guide and movie library for newer movies (2009 and newer seem to be the most affected, with no artwork at all for the 2011 movies)?

[mark1234]

Hi Richard. I saw your Connect ticket on this topic and particularly liked the comment in Hindi!

TBH, I see so many movies with missing cover art that I hadn't noticed a particular problem with recent ones.

You don't want my regular luck at getting data issues fixed, so I've asked Ian Dixon if he can use his MVP contacts to get this looked into.

[richard1980]

There are actually 2 tickets on this issue (jaysimmons submitted the one you are talking about, and qmanpotatochips submitted the other ticket). The one qman submitted actually got a response from Microsoft asking for some examples, but they've been silent since then. Maybe Ian's contacts can help resolve this issue.

I didn't notice it so much until I sorted the movies by year in movie guide...that's when it really became evident. I posted my stats on qman's ticket.

Anyway, sorry for threadjacking.

[mark1234]

Here you go Richard:

http://twitter.com/#!/isdixon/status/129821654149902336

[richard1980]

I'm grateful!

But at the same time, now I'm pissed. Not at you or Ian, but at Microsoft. 2 different people went through Connect and there's a nice thread at WEC about this issue, and there's not been a peep out of Microsoft except for them asking for examples. I even went so far as to tell them what is wrong and how to fix it (well, I think I did...my theory has not been confirmed). So much for the Connect website. Of course, after seeing some of the responses on there, it doesn't surprise me.

In any case, thank you, and please extend my thanks to Ian as well. There are a number of people that will be happy to see a fix.

[mark1234]

I've been running Media Centre for 6 years now, and in that time Microsoft has had a number of official ways of reporting data issues. But getting significant success has always come down to working out the backdoor approaches. Having said that I've raised a few tickets over the last 2/3 weeks and most have been fixed, and I've had a response on a couple more - including one I only raised yesterday. So it seems to be working well at the moment.

Plus, we don't know what MS actually said to Ian. They are obviously aware of the issue, so could have been working away silently in the background and getting the fix ready anyway.

[richard1980]

You might be correct that Microsoft has been working on a fix all this time. It's hard to say. In any case, as long as they are aware of the problem and are working on a fix, that's all we can ask for.

[neilll]

Hi,
Mine was still broken last night (after I spent an hour thinking I had a firewall issue ), Googled it this morning and had a pleasant surprise about this place !!

P.S Its excellent this forum is back again, guess its not owned by M$ this time around?
P.P.S how do people get the TGB veteran badges, do they relate to the 'old' TGB forums in anyway?

[Boo]

Mine's back too,

Thanks for the replies,

Boo

[mark1234]

I've been running Media Centre for 6 years now, and in that time Microsoft has had a number of official ways of reporting data issues. But getting significant success has always come down to working out the backdoor approaches. Having said that I've raised a few tickets over the last 2/3 weeks and most have been fixed, and I've had a response on a couple more - including one I only raised yesterday. So it seems to be working well at the moment.

Amazing! A ticket I raised only last Thursday has already been actioned. I think this is the first time ever that Media Centre has had channel data on the day of a new channel launch (PBS).

Think I might re-raise some old ones and see if they get addressed this time.

[neilll]

Tried mine again last night (UK Freeview, East Midlands) and it still failed to connect/download

[holidayboy]

My bedroom PC needed a gentle kick to get listings working again, I ran the command below in an elevated cmd prompt window:

%windir%\ehome\mcupdate -uf -pscn0 -dbgc