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WMC issue with Winnipeg OTA

6K views 16 replies 6 participants last post by  Dr.Dave 
#1 ·
Can anyone suggest DVR software -- either Windows or Mac -- that has a program guide that actually works for Winnipeg OTA -- for both digital and analog?

I am using Windows Media Center now configured as Pembina ND (zip 58271) since it includes 5 of our 6 stations but I suspect I will need a different solution after the August switchover.
 
#3 ·
When I set up 9.1 in Windows Media Center, I manually added it and told it to use the same guide as 9. At that time, 9.1 was not available in the guide. I have not checked lately so this may not be the case anymore.

My thinking, right or wrong, is that after the changeover, the analog channels will vanish from the guide and this approach will not work for the new channels.

As far as I know, there is still an issue with WMC in Canada not being able to use digital channels which is why I setup the US location instead.
 
#5 ·
Not to worry, you should be covered by my ATSC in Canada hack. Basically, it allows you to set up your guide as if you are in Canada (gets you local analog antenna, cable, satellite listings) and the also allows you to set up a second US guide.

You can get the instructions here:
http://thegreenbutton.com/blogs/pne...atsc-amp-qam-in-canada-for-windows-7-rtm.aspx

I've set up a quick batch file for most major Canadian cities but have not included the zipcode you mentioned. You can pretty easily customize it by following the custom guide instructions here:
http://thegreenbutton.com/blogs/pne...guide-listings-to-windows-7-media-center.aspx

Cheers,
Pete
 
#9 ·
Thanks. Got WMC working now for Winnipeg,

Interestingly, my postal code did not work. It took a few tries to find a working postal code. Where I live in South St Vital did not work but an older neighbourhood like Fort Richmond did.

To answer my original question, I also tried the trial editions of both SageTV and BeyondTV since they both offer built-in program guides. In my test, the SageTV guide was correct with all stations (both analog and digital) BeyondTV only had the analog guide.
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
OTA WMC in Winnipeg

What Fort Richmond postal code ended up working?

@pnear
I guess the equivalent (non-green button) links are:


Anybody happen to know what a good Guide ID for Winnipeg OTA is?

In the folder you extracted earlier, navigate into the MXF folder and open the file "CustomGuide.mxf" with notepad. You’ll notice that in three separate areas I’ve used the Guide ID "189833220". Replace that number in all three places with the guide ID that you noted from the "About Guide Listings" page. Save the file and close notepad.
 
#12 ·
Thanks pnear!
I think I had the process figured out, but was stumped by being unable to tell Media Center that I had a different local service to determine the Guide ID to put in the xml file. (My guess was that it was because I did not have a capable tuner installed, just my network attached HDHomeRunDual ATSC)

it looks like the "Shaw Cablesystems - Digital (r2k1l6)" listings at zap2it will have the guide info required.

Guide Info for Shaw from zap2it (that I can remap?):
http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ZCGrid.do?method=decideFwdForLineup&zipcode=r2k1l6&setMyPreference=false&lineupId=0006120:X

The OTA guide for me from Zap2it is:
http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlist...yPreference=false&lineupId=PC:R2K1&aid=zap2it

But as I understand it, I wont be able to use that directly. :(

Thanks for all your efforts pnear!
If you need anything after I get it working to add Winnipeg to the batch files, let me know!


-----=-----------------------------------------------------
And just an FYI for Winnipegers, with an RCA ANT1650R multi directional amplified digital flat antenna (amplifier not installed) in the basement of my house in EK I can get the following stations:
CH27 - 3 6.1 CBWT-DT English CBC Winnipeg
CH40 - 1 9.1 CKND-HD
CH40 - 2 9.2 CKND-SD
CH51 - 3 3.1 CBWFT-D French CBC Winnipeg

CIITDT (Joytv 11 Manitoba) (CIIT-DT) 35.1 was accessible with antenna on main floor, but not in basement.


I am hoping to improve reception by moving antenna up in the house (attic?) in the hopes of bringing in:
7.1 CKY Winnipeg
City TV VHF band, Channel 13 frequency

Watching the hockey game FOR FREE thru WMC and the Xbox extender exceeded the HD picture quality of my (soon to be cancelled) Ultimate MTS TV.
But without a guide, the DVR is a no go, which means back to the monthly bills!
 
#13 ·
The ID for Winnipeg - Shaw Cable is 28486857.

I was able to set up WMC with my Hauppauge 2250 in "standard" mode, with the exception that I had to run Pete Near's hack to enable the digital tuner. This works well for Winnipeg since we don't have to worry about receiving U.S. and Canadian channels. I did a channel scan and edited each OTA channel to copy the Shaw HD channel. There are only 5 English channels, so it didn't take long. It's under Settings, TV, Guide, Edit Channels.

The advantage is I don't have to worry about the daily batch file - the regular Windows update works fine.

Elmwoodie, we have a thread for discussing reception results, which you may find helpful:
MB/SK - Winnipeg, Brandon, Regina, Saskatoon, Prairies - OTA
 
#14 ·
Need help getting a guide for ATSC in Winnipeg

Not sure what I am doing wrong, but I can not get the shaw guide info to show (so I can copy it to my ATSC channels).

I am following instructions at: http://experts.windows.com/w/experts_wiki/133.aspx

When I click on "Edit Listings", I don't get listings for Shaw. I only see listings for the region I set in WMC (US - North Dakota). I edited "CustomGuide.mxf" and XMLTask\ImportCANCustom.xml before running CanGuide.bat.

I tried guide ID that I retrieved from header field in MC2XML (28487123) and the one suggested by Dr. Dave (28486857).

My WMC is set to region US with a North Dakota zip code.

I am running Win8 and wondering if that is the issue.
I do get an error when running CanGuide.bat, but that appears to just be the scheduled task duplicate:

C:\Users\Shawn\Downloads\ATSCCanada_v2\ATSCCanada>schtasks.exe /Create /tn CANIm
portCustom /XML XMLTask\ImportCANCustom.xml
ERROR: Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

C:\Users\Shawn\Downloads\ATSCCanada_v2\ATSCCanada>schtasks.exe /run /tn CANImpor
tCustom
SUCCESS: Attempted to run the scheduled task "CANImportCustom".

=========================================================================
Setup Complete! Scan for any errors above, then press any key to exit.
Common error "Access Denied" occurs if you forgot to run as administrator
=========================================================================
Press any key to continue . . .​


Can anyone suggest a troubleshooting process or something I can check?
Is something different in Win8? Or am I incapable of following the step-by-step (quite possible :( )

Elmwoodie.
 
#15 ·
If you can't get that method to work, you can try running EnableATSCandQAM.bat, which should allow you to redo the setup with a Canadian postal code.

I can't remember if I ran the bat file after I set WMC up as Canadian, which could be a problem in your case since you don't have an analog tuner.
 
#16 ·
So the steps to getting my ATSC only setup some guide listings was:

  • Installing WinTV NTSC tuner.
  • Set it up under WMC (with my correct Canadian postal code).
  • No set top box selection (or it would stop after not detecting IR blaster)
  • Connect a TV signal to NTSC tuner (or it would not continue)

Then WMC 8 would finally download some local guides. Mapped them over to my ATSC channels and disabled the NTSC channels.

A little scared to remove the NTSC tuner. And not sure what a person with just the ATSC (HDHomeRun Dual) would do....

Thanks all for the help.
 
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