Topic: EPG Broken (Read 7590 times)

Bozer · « **on:** August 03, 2015, 05:11:05 pm »

I just purchased MC 20 with the upgrade to MC 21 to replace the Windows Media Center I have used since XP. And it worked wonderfully for TV and Music for a couple weeks. Now the EPG data is a total mess and I understand about MicroSoft and all that. But I just Downloaded and old trial of Beyond TV from last decade and after 10 minutes of setup it populates the EPG with accurate information that goes out 2 weeks! JRiver can't even tell me whats on PBS right now and then when it does it just says NOVA without any episode data. This is seriously broken and really needs to be sorted. The way the setup is done is not at all intuitive and the link for the mc2xml info is dead. and the Wiki if it don't go perfect.

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** August 03, 2015, 05:17:38 pm »

I'll move this thread to the TV board. Take a look at the other EPG threads.

The source disappeared. We're working on a replacement.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #2 on:** August 03, 2015, 06:52:36 pm »

The Beyond TV EPG still works for people who had an account back when the software was still being sold. Snapstream is maintaining their EPG data source as a service to past customers. It may also still work for a trial period.

That situation may change at any time. No doubt Snapstream are paying someone for the data, and that won't continue indefinitely, although their current products are high end and cost, so may be paying the bills easily and probably still need the EPG data anyway. The software itself was discontinued in 2010. I would be surprised if a low cost consumer product such as MC could fund a dedicated EPG source (for the world?) and that is probably why Snapstream got out of the consumer product space.

OopsieDaisy · « **Reply #3 on:** August 04, 2015, 12:43:52 pm »

Unfortunately, Snapstream/BTV only works for channels 1-99. I have an old account and I tried it.

JimH · « **Reply #4 on:** August 04, 2015, 01:01:55 pm »

We think we have at least one fix coming later today or tomorrow.

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #5 on:** August 04, 2015, 01:23:41 pm »

Quote from: JimH on August 04, 2015, 01:01:55 pm

We think we have at least one fix coming later today or tomorrow.

!!!

OopsieDaisy · « **Reply #6 on:** August 04, 2015, 02:07:28 pm »

Quote from: CountryBumkin on August 04, 2015, 01:23:41 pm

!!!

¡¡¡

!!!

kstuart · « **Reply #7 on:** August 04, 2015, 03:09:54 pm »

Quote from: JimH on August 04, 2015, 01:01:55 pm

We think we have at least one fix coming later today or tomorrow.

Thanks, excellent news !

Will that be in the form of a normal MC20 build in the MC20 Forum, or will there be something special and/or separate for TV ?

Matt · « **Reply #8 on:** August 04, 2015, 03:16:43 pm »

A fix is in the first builds of MC21.

We can run mc2xml and use the results from it.

Good luck

Bozer · « **Reply #9 on:** August 04, 2015, 04:55:51 pm »

Thank you and sorry for my ranting. MC worked after WMC quit having a guide so I purchased it. The very next day I started having holes in the guide data pointed out by my wife causing a marathon after work session to read the forum and wiki while trying to make the guide work. And of course it got worse after every try. I am waiting for the next version and I will reinstall from scratch then.

kstuart · « **Reply #10 on:** August 04, 2015, 05:41:00 pm »

Quote from: Matt on August 04, 2015, 03:16:43 pm

A fix is in the first builds of MC21.

We can run mc2xml and use the results from it.

Good luck

Just to clarify:

So that means that:

* MC20 will no longer have EPG data

* MC21 will have EPG data only if users also individually purchase the paid version of mc2xml ?

* First public build of MC21 will be "later today or tomorrow" ?

JimH · « **Reply #11 on:** August 04, 2015, 05:43:55 pm »

MC21 tomorrow (we think).

No requirement to purchase EPG data, but authors always appreciate donations. We've made one.

We won't add this to MC20. Onward.

greynolds · « **Reply #12 on:** August 04, 2015, 08:13:24 pm »

Quote from: JimH on August 04, 2015, 05:43:55 pm

We won't add this to MC20. Onward.

I suspect I'm not the only one who has already paid for a MC21 upgrade, but don't plan to install the first few versions until it seems to be stable, which means that I'm either stuck without guide data for a while or have to go to the effort of implementing one of the kludgy workarounds to get guide data back. That doesn't really seem like an acceptable resolution to the problem. I guess it's a good thing that WMC is still my primary solution for TV.

kstuart · « **Reply #13 on:** August 04, 2015, 09:24:10 pm »

The situation is not totally clear cut... but...

Ultimately, MC20 would still supply the Microsoft EPG data if Microsoft had not changed their format.

In a similar way, Youtube frequently changes the format, and one could not expect that JRiver would update MC19, MC18, MC17 and so forth every time they do so.

SO, I think it is reasonable to say "We have to spend hours of our time to make this change to reflect the action of third parties, so it is part of what you get by updating."

And, as mentioned by posters in the "EPG" thread, across the world, EPG data is very rarely available for free.

(As far as not wanting to upgrade to MC21 due to potential instability, the same argument applies to every update and feature that will be part of MC21. While some JRiver MC versions do break some features, they rarely create any general instability - and when they do, the update is pulled from circulation and quickly fixed.)

rammingspeed · « **Reply #14 on:** August 04, 2015, 10:21:45 pm »

KSTUART - While you present a response that is well articulated, I simply disagree. Essentially JRiver's position is that they will fix this in the ALPHA / BETA of their next major version release, but not in the current release version. I just don't think that is fair to the existing customers that decided to take a wait and see stance on version 21 especially since this is a significant feature for at least a portion of their customer base.

BTW, I have already purchased the upgrade to version 21 and I also received the contributor version of MC2XML about 6 months ago so their decision has little direct impact on me. It just doesn't seem to be an equitable solution, so unless version 21 knocks my socks off, I'll start to evaluate other solutions.

JimH · « **Reply #15 on:** August 05, 2015, 06:43:28 am »

It may not help, but here's a snapshot of how we work:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=81987.0

imeric · « **Reply #16 on:** August 05, 2015, 09:12:05 am »

IMHO...
...Interesting approach...So if I understand correctly JRiver worked something out with the mc2xml developer $$$ and will implement it in MC21 only.

I think it's fair that they (JRiver) get some of that money back and personally would rather give it directly to JRiver rather than through a third party (in this case the MC2XML developer).

...And those who do not want to upgrade can donate 20$ directly to mc2xml... and get this working in MC20
Looks to me like a win-win-win (JRiver, MC2XML, and users who decided to upgrade)

On another note I'm not too afraid of the first release of MC21 as far as stability goes...There usually isn't much, feature wise, in these "major" upgrades...
(I guess one can look at this last comment positively or negatively...For once I will really have the impression to get the bang from the buck after having paid for the upgrade

)

kstuart · « **Reply #17 on:** August 05, 2015, 11:20:44 am »

Quote from: rammingspeed on August 04, 2015, 10:21:45 pm

KSTUART - While you present a response that is well articulated, I simply disagree. Essentially JRiver's position is that they will fix this in the ALPHA / BETA of their next major version release, but not in the current release version.

That's not quite accurate, because:

* Nothing is broken in MC20, there is no bug in the code that needs to be fixed (in regards to EPG). The problem is a change made by third parties.

* The version that would be released (likely today) is neither Alpha nor Beta. As mentioned in the link, JRiver has a private board and they release Beta versions there, so that bugs that affect large number of users are not released to the public.

greynolds · « **Reply #18 on:** August 05, 2015, 12:00:23 pm »

Quote from: kstuart on August 05, 2015, 11:20:44 am

That's not quite accurate, because:

* Nothing is broken in MC20, there is no bug in the code that needs to be fixed (in regards to EPG). The problem is a change made by third parties.

It was their choice to go with a free option that could change at any time and that really shouldn't be the customer's concern. Until this happened, I actually had no idea that they were making use of the WMC guide service rather than going with guide data from a more direct source such as Zap2it.

JimH · « **Reply #19 on:** August 05, 2015, 01:09:41 pm »

I'm locking the EPG threads. If you find a problem with MC21's EPG, please report it in a new thread.

mc2xml should be fully functional in MC21.

You can download MC21 for Windows from the MC21 Board.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: EPG Broken (Read 7590 times)