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Help! Need TV guide!!

65K views 186 replies 25 participants last post by  JamesK 
#1 ·
I hope this is the right place to put this it's about finding shows.

Zap2it is broken their search doesn't work for a couple of weeks now. I mean their classic view their new view has search but it lists things all confusing, like the next two eps of Game of Thrones are listed backwards with the second one first.

I looked for other Cdn listings on newspaper websites and there the same Zap2it or another one that doesnt even say which ep is airing just "Game of Thrones" and something about winter and Westeros. Well we knew that for five years!

Please does any body know of a good listing??
 
#2 ·
Vancouver Sun TV Listings

We use the zap2it Classic version. I noticed that the search box doesn't work. It has always been flaky.

I logged on and looked at the HBO-only listing, found "Game of Thrones" and clicked on the show. That method of search was successful and listed showings in correct chronological order.

Maybe the problem is that I removed FLASH from my computer, but I don't think it likely.

Use the Vancouver Sun newspaper's TV listings for Shaw Direct using Vancouver postal code V6C 1T2

www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/television/tv-listings/index.html#f=search
 
#3 ·
Hi, RR, oh hey thanks for the tip. Yes I see what you mean if you click on the show name you get the old style times. Well it still means you have to find the show in the first place but at least then you can see the other times. Thank you!!

As for the Vancouver Sun thats the one I found that doesn't show any ep names! Grrrrr!!
 
#4 ·
I noticed that the Zap2it search was broken on the classic view about a week ago, but the new view works.
their new view has search but it lists things all confusing, like the next two eps of Game of Thrones are listed backwards with the second one first.
The new view lists the dates for each episode. Once you realize that, it works OK. If you want to find the oldest episode, you have to start reading at the bottom.

Here are a few other guide suggestions:

1. http://www.canada.com/entertainment/television/tv-listings/index.html#f=grid (same as Van. Sun) (guide data by tvmedia.ca)

2. http://www.tvpassport.com (guide data by tvmedia.ca) (old-style interface)

3. http://www.msn.com/en-ca/tv/tv-listings (uses Rovi guide data)

4. http://www.tvguide.com/listings/ (you have to change provider and choose "outside the U.S.")

5. http://titantv.com (U.S. listings, but can be customized for Canada IIRC)
 
#6 ·
Thanks Dr. Dave yeah I guess i could read backwards but also they don't even give the channel numbers! I remember one HBO but sometimes we have to watch another HBO later. I kinda looked at the others but couldn't find Shaw on all of them or even Canada, and MSN didn't even say when GOT was on or what station. Gosh how can this be so hard for them to get right???
 
#7 ·
US and Cdn are sort of the same sked but not entirely, also we don't just want to find GOT we want other shows. I guess we'll just find the show in the listings and click on it to see all the times it will be on. I wonder whetehr Click TV will ever put back the search. :confused: :(
 
#8 ·
I just sent Zap2it an email using the "Help" button on the web site which links to: mailto:contactus@zap2it.com?subject=Zap2it Classic Grid.

Hopefully that will get someone's attention after the long weekend. I saw some posts on their Facebook page about the search being broken, but I don't know if they read those or not.

All the links have Canadian listings, except TitanTV, which requires that you add Canadian stations by call sign (that was about 5 years ago when I last played with it.)

I just noticed that TVGuide only lists providers where they have a contract for their STBs, so they have Shaw Cable, but not Shaw Satellite.

MSN shows the next airing "Next episode airs May 24 at 12:00 AM on HBO Canada HDTV (West)" and if you click on Seasons & Episodes, it will show one airing for each episode, but not each repeat airing, which is probably what you are looking for. It shows the channel name, but not the number.

So far I haven't found a better online guide, so I'll just stick with Zap2it Classic and work around the search problem until they fix it.
 
#10 ·
I do not know what classic view vs new view is, but I have been using Zap2it for a few years and adapt to each of their changes.

After logging on and selecting TV Listings, there is magnifying glass icon at the top right. Clicking it brings up a search box. Type Game of Thrones, select "See upcoming episode list" to get the info. The screen presented had four tabs: All, Free, New, and Upcoming.

"All" shows everything for the selected season in episode sequence, and the latest episodes that do not yet have a broadcast date are shown with today's date. This is misleading until you understand that this is what is done.

Badguy: is this what you see or am I missing something?
 
#14 ·
I do not know what classic view vs new view is, but I have been using Zap2it for a few years and adapt to each of their changes.
The "new view" was introduced in April 2014 with a tablet-friendly layout. After a lot of negative feedback, Zap2it brought back the old layout as an option and called it "classic view". See the following thread for more info.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=2081122
 
#11 ·
Moving from "Classic" to "New"

We have our doubts about the publishers of "Classic" zap2it fixing it. We suspect that their coding efforts will be on discovering and fixing bugs in the latest "New" version of zap2it.

I decided to transfer my "favorites" on Classic to the "New" version.

It must be noted that Shaw Direct, for some strange reason, maps the same channel with two different channel numbers – by example: WDIV Digital is listed as channel 320 and 558. Selecting either channel number on the TV will provide the same content, WDIV.

Anyway, I clicked on the "New" zap2it little cog icon to "Set My Preferences". The standard (as far as I was concerned) 300 series was not on the "Available" list. A 500 series replaces the 300 series for most channels.

I went back to "Classic" and graphic snipped the list of favorites into single file and printed it. I then went to zap2it "New" and manually searched the "available" list column for the names of channels and moved them to "favorites" column.

I was so surprised when I got out of "Set Preferences" to see on the normal channel listings webpage that all of the duplicate 500 series were converted to the standard 300 series. Weird, but I'm glad that the listings page uses the 300 series!

We will see how the "New" zap2it works out.
 
#12 ·
The "New" zap2it after doing a search on a single episode will show future times and channel names, but NOT channel numbers.

That is a bummer since I long ago made an Excel workbook with macros that use channel numbers to add channel names with the numbers. Hard to explain, but it would be easier in my case to have both channel names and channel numbers associated with episodes listed in a search.
 
#15 ·
Hi Bplayer yes I guess once you get used to the listings being backwards it isn't too bad, but they dont have channel numbers. Also if you want to know which ones are new it used to say NEW in the list now you have to click on the New and then it only gives the first new showing anywhere in the country. Like on Shaw Direct we get HBO Canada East and West and it doesn't give the time for HBO West even though its new there too.

p.s. maybe some people think I'm a badguy but mostly I'm a Bayguy b'cuz of where we live. :)
 
#16 ·
Got it! I remember using the old classic layout and was mildly concerned when the new one was introduced but adapted. No plans to go back. I have a spreadsheet with watched shows, channel names and numbers so am not concerned that the search does not show the channel numbers, but showing them would be convenient.
 
#21 ·
Shaw Direct Reply to Inquiry


What followis is a prompt and polite reply from Shaw Direct. The most I can hope is that, as a paying customer, SD will ask zap2it to fix the SEARCH function.

QUOTE: We appreciate you letting us know that it is not funcitoning and will be sure to contact our Online Experience team about this.
The TV Guide that is being used is a third party website called Zapt2it. They may be having problems with there search function at the moment and is not something that we can control or give an eta on.
UNQUOTE
 
#20 ·
This obsession started when I was with Rogers and scheduled recording would not get recorded because of the show name changed slightly. This has not been a problem with Fibe but the habit is there and it lets me know ahead of time when a program goes into a 2 or 3 week hiatus and the season begin/end.
 
#22 ·
TV Guide from Entertainment Magazine

We plan our movie recording based on Entertainment Magazine which is part of our Shaw Direct package. I responded to the mag's request for feedback on their new format.

What follows is an edited version of my email and the very nice response from the editor-in-chief of the magazine.

===============================================

TO: RuralRouter
FROM: corinne.mcdermott@bellmedia.ca

Wed, 27 May 2015 16:18:50 +0000

… thanks for getting in touch.

Unfortunately it appears as though we achieved the exact opposite of what we were hoping to do with the listings, which was to make them easier to sort through and read.

We’re on it, and hopefully the July issue will be better.

Take care,
Corinne

Corinne McDermott
Editor in Chief, Movie Entertainment
Bell Media Specialty Channels
416.384.5221 | mobile: 416.578.2514 | corinne.mcdermott@bellmedia.ca
299 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON M5V 2Z5

---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------

FROM: RuralRouter
TO: Movie Entertainment Magazine
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2015 12:14 PM

This is in response to your request for feedback regarding the new format of your magazine.

1. We don't like the black background and white lettering of the listings. The reason is that we mark the movies we wish to record/watch. Pen marks do not show up on the black paper. As an aside, your ink usage and its cost must increase due to the much greater use of ink.

2. We miss the listing of all movie showings.

3. We would like the annotation of "Animated" if the movie is so made.

4. The daily schedule font size is too small.
 
#24 ·
New LNB - New Channel Numbers

Channel Number Listings – Listings – Listings.
A new Shaw Direct LNB was just installed so I can get more HD channels. My HD PVR630 works as before, but all of the channels numbers have changed!

I also have an old Std Def DSR315 satellite receiver. Gadzooks, it needed massaging from Shaw to just get running again with the new LNB. When it did run again – guess what – all of the channel numbers changed.

I am now in the process of inputting to my Excel97 workbook the new Shaw Direct channel numbers to convert Zap2it channel numbers to what is actually on the on-screen TV-Guide.

This old head took a long time to remember all of the channel numbers when it came to using the remote, now new channel numbers. Oy Veh …
 
#27 ·
Yes, they fixed the "Search", but they broke the upcoming time listing for movies (programs with type movie) within the main page or within a Search result page. When you try to open a program marked as a movie type (to get its upcoming times), you get the notorious "Oops...".
 
#29 ·
Yes, it was quite flaky for a while with a partial listing. You had to hit it several times. Then it worked properly for a while with occasional misses, but now (since the Search fix), it's completely broken.
 
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