Gemstar TV Guide OnScreen Problems?

[dlhoppe]

If it relies on an analog broadcast to receive guide data it will stop working once analog shuts down.  Gemstar has plans to offer their guide via an ATSC stream possibly by the end of this year, but the receive device would need to be capable of decoding the information. You will need to check with Sony if your box has the capability now or if it can be upgraded in the future.  

My analog RCA with built-in Gemstar will be considered a throw away device.

"Throw away"  Cripes. I didn't want to hear that.  LOL!   Maybe I should just return this thing while I have the chance.  How long do you think it'll be before analog goes down the tubes?  Couple years?  Longer?

[Jimboy]

"Throw away"  Cripes. I didn't want to hear that.  LOL!   Maybe I should just return this thing while I have the chance.  How long do you think it'll be before analog goes down the tubes?  Couple years?  Longer?

The current shutdown date for analog being tossed around in Congress is December 31st 2008.  I'm not too worried about my RCA, I bought it for the price of a case of beer.  {glug}

[dlhoppe]

The current shutdown date for analog being tossed around in Congress is December 31st 2008.  I'm not too worried about my RCA, I bought it for the price of a case of beer.  {glug}

If it's the end ot 08 or later, I suppose I'll be fine. This DVR will probably have lived it's life by then either feature-wise or mechanically.  

By the way, I added WMVS analog back into the guide. I have data for every day except Saturday and Sunday.  What was the order of download you mentioned?

[Jimboy]

If it's the end ot 08 or later, I suppose I'll be fine. This DVR will probably have lived it's life by then either feature-wise or mechanically.  

By the way, I added WMVS analog back into the guide. I have data for every day except Saturday and Sunday.  What was the order of download you mentioned?

It's sent out three day's worth of data at a time.  It's possible you may get Saturday & Sunday later tonight or on Friday. I'm guessing you'll then see Saturday, Sunday, & Monday.

[pretzelkid]

Now to answer a few questions..............

Does Gemstar provide information for the Digital Channels?  Not at this time.

Will the guide still work if the channel that sends the information is deleted from the receivers channel list?  Depends on the receive device. Most likely it will stop working.

Can ATSC receivers find Gemstar guide information?  No, it's sent analog only. They are currently working on ATSC insertion equipment. Perhaps later this year.
When analog goes away they still plan on providing their guide info.

I learned something new. Milwaukee area has a total of four Gemstar Hosts.
They are WITI, WCGV, WMVS, WJJA. Of these four stations WMVS sends the data designed for the newest Gemstar decoders (2004 & up).  The problems posted above may not be due WCGV's encoder but perhaps WMVS's or a reception issue with channel 10 or deletion from your channel lineup.

The above answers were provided by Gemstar/TV Guide.
Their website is //www.tvgos.com
A customer support number is available by private message.

That's very interesting info Jimboy...thanks for sharing. I have the LG 3410 HD DVR and it's guide does include info for the digital channels with the correct logos like WISN-DT and WTMJ-DT. Being in Delavan and equidistant from Milwaukee and Madison I also get Madison equivilent digital channels with logos except for the PBS station...I get WHA-DT2 (SD simulcast) but no WHA-DT1...don't know why really.  I get Gemstar data over my Charter cable connection. I'm also able to check the host channel it was using and it was WMVS on channel 21(0x15)  till I absentmindedly changed it to the digital equivilent (Charter started providing digital equivilents for the analog channels on cable) and suddenly started losing guide data till I realized I had hosed WMVS analog by changing it to the digital equivilent. So I switched it back but by then it had picked up WITI's gemstar data (Host Channel 0x3 cable channel 3 is analog Fox 6 for me)) and it's worked ok and has the same channel lineup and logos. The only difference is in the sorting functions on TVGuide where you can look or sort for all movies or all sports in the given week. There is a heading for HDTV sort where you can search for HDTV sports or movies or ALL even and it's not populating since the host channel change, so this is what you must mean by WMVS having the newest version of software since I did have that info when the host channel was WMVS. I'm thinking I'll  force it back to WMVS one of these days. My Question was  if you can add channels like my missing WHA-DT1 channel to the guide and if you can is it populated across all the hosts or only the one at your station?
Your info on who the host channels are was the last peice of the puzzle for me to figure out stuff about the guide on my HD DVR. I've written PBS in Madison and Milwaukee about the missing channel(WHA-DT1) and have received replies that say we populate all available channel guides with our channel info.
Any info would be appreciated.
TIA
John

[Jimboy]

pretzelkid
You have a PM regarding this.