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Windows Media Center & ROVI For Guide Data

38K views 78 replies 32 participants last post by  lunear 
#1 ·
Microsoft is switching the source of their WMC guide listings from Zap2It to ROVI. From reading US forums, the update is seamless but is problematic for some users.

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8903

As a result, I lost all Guide listings from Tuesday onward. My TV Setup used the US listings from Blaine, WA (98231). The TV Setup failed when it could not download the TV Setup data for my region. Other zip codes did not work. I think Microsoft is using geo-location to prevent Canadian users from downloading US zipcodes.

So, I ran the TV setup again for Vancouver BC.

select Tasks > Settings > TV > TV Signal > Set Up TV Signal
Change the Region to: Canada
Enter the Postal Code, example V7K 2R3
Agree to the Program Guide Terms of Service
Downloading TV Setup Data (failed after 4 minutes)
Examining TV Signals (after ~ 1minute, found my 4 ATSC tuners)
TV Signal Configuration: Digital Antenna (ATSC) Canada Vancouver-Victoria OTA Antenna (4 tuners)

About Guide Listings now updated to Rovi Corporation
select Tasks > Settings > TV > Guide > About Guide Listings

Guide was updated to August 1 and seems to have preserved my scheduled recordings
BUT I could not tune certain channels. (2.1, 10.1 17.1, 26.1, 32.1)
It appears that Rovi doesn't have the correct "real" channel for some stations. (see listings below)

I scanned for more channels, found 10, and was able to receive the missing channels.
select Tasks > Settings > TV > Guide > Scan for More Channels

select Tasks > Settings > TV > Guide > Edit Channels
select the channel > Edit Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_stations_in_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_stations_in_Washington_state

Code:
2.1      CBUTHD             Channel Number: 58.1        Actual: 43.1
6.1      CBUTHD             Channel Number: 49.1        Actual: 49.1
8.1      CHANHD             Channel Number: 22.1        Actual: 22.1
10.1     CTYVH              Channel Number: 47.1        Actual: 33.1
12.1     KVOS-MeTV          Channel Number: 35.1        Actual: 35.1
12.2     KVOS-Movies!       Channel Number: 35.2        Actual: 35.2
17.1     CTV Two            Channel Number: 53.1        Actual: 17.1    (Tuned to CIVI Victoria)
26.1     CBUFT              Channel Number: 16.1        Actual: 26.1
28.1     KBTC-PBS           Channel Number: 27.1        Actual: 27.1
28.2     KBTC-MHz           Channel Number: 27.1        Actual: 27.1
28.3     KBTC-TVW           Channel Number: 27.1        Actual: 27.1
32.1     CTV                Channel Number: 33.1        Actual: 32.1
42.1     OMNI               Channel Number: 20.1        Actual: 20.1
66.1     JOY TV             Channel Number: 47.1        Actual: ?
I'll pursue this a bit more tomorrow to see if there are any other problems.
 
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#2 ·
Windows Media Center Update

Just wiped out all my ATSC channels, and my DVR recording setup. There is also some new digital rights stuff going on.

DON'T 'upgrade' to Windows 10, or u will lose Media Center altogether.

As I sit here and manually edit my guide ...

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 
#3 ·
Post moved

Mugging, I've moved your post to an existing thread which has more information on the issue you're experiencing.
 
#8 ·
Hi I'm in Anacortes and I'm having the same problem. I used to use Orcas Island zipcode to get all my guide data. Now with Rovi that brings up Seattle Tacoma. So I tried Bellingham, but still no Canadian TV listings! I've added some of the channels but there are no listings to swap onto the channels. It never ceases to astound me that these data providers, zap2it as well, don't just use the broadcast callsigns you receive to fetch the data. That's the way it used to work in the old days with the free zap2it beta service and meedio or what have you. I'm afraid if I can go with vancouver I won't get listing for Kiro, Kvos and Kbtc.
 
#9 ·
Well, it's back to old ways to get shows recorded... just like in 1980-1990s with the VHS tape and VCR. Set the channel, set the time to start, set the time to stop, set frequent I want to record. I don't think I've ever used WMC before in this fashion. It's always been just pick the show from the guide. Oh how I miss the guide (it's only been a couple of days since the data ran out).
 
#10 ·
Peter Near's batch files to enable ATSC & QAM reception in Canada still work.
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/966090-post1.html

In my original post, I setup my TV signal for Vancouver, BC. But, I was unable to watch channels 2.1, 10.1, 17.1, 26.1 and 32.1. I was able to see them after I ran a scan for more channels. BUT, I couldn't record anything on those channels. I'd receive a no signal or no service error.

To fix this problem, I had to edit the signal sources for those channels.


  • select Tasks > Settings > TV > Guide > Edit Channels
  • select a channel that had no reception, example 2.1. This opens the Settings page for the channel.
  • select Edit Sources. This shows all of the tuners and sources that are available for the channel. Normally, I'd see four sources, one for each tuner in my HTPC. After scanning for more channels, there were now 8 sources. Disable the sources that have the wrong channel number shown at the bottom of the page. You can use the Show Preview to determine which sources work.

In my first post, I was wrong in assuming that I could not download the TV Signal Data because of geo-location. I think it is just a matter of server traffic. After each Download Failure, I hit the back button to try again. (I never install PlayReady) After about 5 tries, it downloaded successfully and begin Examining TV Signal. I usually cancel that and configure my TV signal manually.

Finally, I suggest using Guide Tool to correct for any missing data in the EPG. It can select Guide data from any of the OTA and cable companies from Victoria-Vancouver to Seattle-Tacoma.
 
#13 ·
I have been trying on 2 different PCs without success. I am setting the location as Canada and entering my Postal Code L5N XXX and all I get is 'Download Failure: The new TV setup data could not be downloaded. etc...'. The MC logs look clean except for the line: The EpgLineups package is not available. At the end it reports the update was successful.

I tried your suggestion to go back and retry but after 10 retries I've given up. I may have to find an alternative because my guide ends tomorrow evening.
 
#14 ·
@jeneral did you rerun MC setup? If that didn't work, you should try a Toronto postal code. I use http://www.tvguide.com/listings/ to check Rovi listings and I noticed they don't have Mississauga listed as one of the cities they cover.

You can send feedback and issue reports to https://connect.microsoft.com/site1145/Feedback to get your postal code added, but it might take awhile considering all the problems they are having. Note that you will have to register at that site.

The Microsoft site is the recommended method, but I also found an email - ipgcustomersupport@rovicorp.com. Provide your zip/postal code, the missing channels, and any other details that might help. I'm not sure if they are acting on WMC requests through that email or not.
 
#15 ·
Yes, I had re-run the MC setup. I even renamed the eHome directory and started with a clean slate. For some reason it would always fail. This evening I modified my hosts file to use the following entries:

65.55.186.113 data.tvdownload.microsoft.com
72.246.56.59 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

I am not sure if this was the reason, but it fixed my issue. I am now using the Toronto/Hamilton listings on Rovi. I noticed that all the listing numbers changed so all the old batch files won't work anymore without modification. The good this is the new listings appear to include all the Buffalo/Toronto/Hamilton channels. In the past I had to schedule a task to get all the listings.
 
#16 ·
For reference, the HOST file forces WMC to the specified IP addresses for the Microsoft servers. Run Notepad as Administrator and add those two lines to the end of the file.
The file is located at: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\HOSTS

Some forums recommend clearing the DNS cache, presumably so that you get the right address for the Microsoft servers. To do this:
Start > Run > ipconfig /flushdns

A more extreme version is to force your computer to use the OpenDNS server at Google. Too complicated to explain here, but the addresses are:
IPv4 8.8.8.8
IPv6 2001:4860:4860::8888

Long story short, I tried all of these and they didn't help me. So, I didn't mention them as possible solutions. I am really happy to hear that adding the HOSTS settings do work.
 
#18 ·
How do I run the TV setup again. I don't seem to have that option in my menu.

In other words, the OP had select Tasks > Settings > TV > TV Signal > Set Up TV Signal

I have Tasks > Settings > TV

But the options on that menu are:

Recorder
Guide
Language
Audio
Closed Captioning

No TV Signal, or set up TV Signal.

Any help is appreciated, it has been so long since this was setup I can't remember what was done.

Doug
 
#19 ·
Tasks > Settings > General > WMC Setup > Run Setup Again

Edit: I decided to redo my setup this past weekend when some of my scheduled recordings disappeared. I was getting guide data from Rovi, but I didn't trust the series recordings and I thought it might be a good idea to start with a fresh database for better performance.

You have to shut down WMC and go into services and stop "ehRecvr" to release the database, which is stored in

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome

You can delete or rename the DB file, start WMC, click on Live TV and you will be prompted for a new setup. P.S. - Don't forget to go into services and start "ehRecvr".

When I originally set up WMC a couple of years ago with Zap2it, I used the Shaw lineup and had to "copy" the channel guide data from the Shaw HD channel to the OTA channel. With Rovi, the guide data was already there for my OTA channels.

Unfortunately, the actual Rovi program data is far less accurate than Zap2it.
 
#20 ·
This worked for me! (Michael's original post) - For the couple of channels that didn't work, i manually added them ('Add Missing Channels' with the correct real / virtual channel numbers), then did the Edit Listings and selected the correct channel guide, Windows Media Center prompted me to 'merge' the channels (with the already existing non-working auto-detected one) and everything worked fine! - Toronto area
 
#21 ·
Great success!! I finally got it to work and I am now converted to Rovi after a long saga.

Things I can tell you to help:
- I am in Canada, Montreal area, with Videotron digital. So it is possible to migrate to rovi with a set top box in Canada.

- If you have Windows Vista, it appears that you must install the TV Pack to get it to work (if you can). In my case I ended up installing Windows 7 because TV pack would not install on my Vista...

- At first it didn't work either on my fresh Windows 7 install (it said no guide data), but after installing the windows updates such as SP1 it ended up working.


Bottom line: I am now a happy camper and the media center wife acceptance factor is back!
 
#22 ·
I wonder if it can be made to work without having to completely change the operating system. I'm on Vista with Videotron analogue and OTA HD in Montreal and everything worked fine until now. I don't want to have to start from scratch with a new operating system, reinstalling all my programs, drivers, settings, etc. just because they changed the EPG provider in WMC from Zap2it to Rovi. Any chance this will eventually self-correct?
 
#23 ·
Successful Result here also - thanks for all the advice!

I had just realized today what had happened and immediately looked for some postings here.

It took me a few tries, because of course I just dive right in without reading the hole thing!

I found adding the lines to my hosts file worked.

Along the way I also did the following:

Re-ran both canguide.bat and usguide.bat from Peter Near's hack. I used a Buffalo zip code (I'm in Whitby). I also ran into the issue where it did not identify the guide data, but as mentioned for some it took up to 5 tries. It worked for me on the 3rd try.

It seems that my recording schedule has been preserved, however as others have pointed out "new" is not "new". Looks like I'll be purging a fair bit since some shows (Big Bang Theory) are in big time syndication :(

I'm using Win7, HDHomerun (x2).

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this thread.
 
#27 ·
Caution: Rovi may have incorrect "real" channel numbers

I found that Rovi had incorrect real channel numbers for 2 stations in Winnipeg. In both cases the real and virtual channels are the same, yet Rovi put some random numbers in the real channels numbers. The channels affected are:

13.1 City TV Winnipeg real channel was 32.1 should be 13.1
35.1 Hope TV real channel was 2.1 should be 35.1

If you run into a situation where a channel that used to work stopped working because of Rovi, go to

Tasks > TV > Guide > Edit Channels > (click on channel) > Edit Sources >

Make sure the real channel number is correct for each tuner. I have a Hauppauge dual-tuner and for some channels I had 2 entries for each tuner for 4 entries in total. I unchecked the 2 incorrect entries and everything is working.

I'm not sure if the problem occurred when the Rovi guide started or when I did a fresh setup, since I don't watch Hope TV and I haven't recorded anything on City TV this month.
 
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