[springle]

I have noticed an increasing degradation of Shaw's Guide since the last big software upgrade.

A few months ago, I used to be able to browse 10 - 14 days ahead. Now it's not uncommon to find "To Be Announced" in the Guide just a few hours ahead. For example, I thought a film was being broadcast tonight on a Movie Central channel. When I tried to confirm the time, I found the Guide just showing "To Be Announced" for the channel on which I expected the movie to be broadcast.

I have decided that I cannot use the Guide for more than 3 days ahead as it is so incomplete. That is, if I want to make a rational decision on what to watch, I now find that I cannot as the number of channels showing TBA is too large after about 3 days. The other movie packager, Superchannel, has a downloadable guide for the entire month. So the data are available, but Shaw is not loading the programs into their Guide.

 

[DSgamby]

No TBAs in Thunder Bay.

 

[Shaw Guru]

I have the full 14-15 days of guide info on my HD DCT here. Are you checking on a SD DCT? They only have 3-4 days worth of guide due to limited memory. I assume you have an HD DCT since you could check 10-14 days a couple months ago (you know what they say about assuming though). If the guide is not loading into the DCT in a timely manner this is usually indicative of a weak or poor signal. Are they any splitters that you can re-configure or bypass to get more signal? Have you call Shaw to have them come out and check?

There is a configuration screen (menu, menu, setup, cable box setup, configuration) where you can see the messages downloading into the terminal. Messages are the third down from the top on the left. So long as the numbers are increasing it is getting info but if they are loading slowly again this points to signal strength.

 

[springle]

More Specifics

I have two HD boxes, one a PVR. The Guide is non-functioning on both of them. I have had Shaw techs out a couple of times, but for high-speed PC connectivity issues. I believe that they tested the signal strength at that time.

The other thing I have noticed is that the boxes seem to reboot a couple of times each week. That is, when I look at Menu, I find it set to a default setting as opposed to be on the last selection I made. This usually happens when the box is rebooted. (There have been no power interruptions. All my devices are showing the correct time.) And when the boxes reboot, the Guide must be rebuilt. For example, the movie I mentioned in the original message is one I noticed when I browsed the Guide last Friday. Now the channel shows "To Be Announced" in this time slot. I believe that the boxes have rebooted twice since last Friday.

 

[springle]

Addendum

Just now (circa 4:30 PM PST), I was looking at the Guide on the PVR and it rebooted spontaneously. The panel suddenly showed a row of "8"s and then went blank. The audio and video disappeared. Then a few seconds later it came back, but the Guide was gone.

I then went into the bedroom and checked the non-PRV box. It had not rebooted. I still don't know what the problem is as the software on the bedroom is different from that in the Living Room. That is, the problem may still have originated with Shaw. (The Menu choices for the bedroom box are different from the choices on the box in the Living Room.)

 

[downbeat]

The "flashing 8" problem does not bode well. Check out the info from a previous thread …
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=129783
I wonder if that and your guide trouble are related?

 

[CHrisCHu]

I can confirm that all 3 of my DVR boxes have been rebooted in the last few days. I know because I always leave the PVR button hi-lited for easy access to future recording menu. Today i find the home button is hi-lited instead. As a result of reboot, quite a few TBAs can be seen in the guide. The Pace box diagnostic page suggests the box was rebooted at around 4am.

 

[FaxCap]

Something happened here at some point yesterday (Tuesday) morning or early
afternoon. I went into the Guide and I saw lots of TBAs spread throughout the
guide. As I advanced in Time it didn't get worse. The TBAs seemed to be
spread evenly throughout.

All is well now.

FaxCap

 

[Shaw Guru]

In the Vancouver system all HD DCTs were "power cycled" in preparation for a Pace Tahoe and Whistler upgrade that went through this morning. Other regions will be done next week

 

[downbeat]

But the power cycling explain the guide info trouble?

 

[CHrisCHu]

Any power cycling wipes out all guide info, which isn't always populated back on 100% sequentially. What I don't understand is why this firmware upgrade (for Tahoe and Whistler only) triggers reboots of my Aspen and even my Motorola DCX.

 

[Shaw Guru]

The power cycle usually affects all models of same version. IE: an HD DCT update is coming so all HD DCTs are "power cycled" in preparation to ensure they have the most recent updates prior to the upgrade going through the next day.