Gemstar TV Guide OnScreen Problems?

[dlhoppe]

Jimboy,

Do you still have your RCA hooked up?  I'm curious to see if you're not getting any data either.

By the way, thanks for listening and helping us out!

[Jimboy]

Jimboy,

Do you still have your RCA hooked up?  I'm curious to see if you're not getting any data either.

By the way, thanks for listening and helping us out!

I check it last night (Sunday) and I had data for the next 24 hours.

[dlhoppe]

I check it last night (Sunday) and I had data for the next 24 hours.

Yeah, I had some guide data this morning too.  It's definately not consistent.  Hopefully the new box from Gemstar will do the trick.

[Jimboy]

After speaking with Gemstar I found that our box is now working properly. The problems you are currently having now is due to the reboot of our encoder. The encoder sends out three days at a time so the reboot killed off three days worth of guide data. It will take a full week for your receiver to be up to date with current guide data. If you have any problems after 6/3 post it here.
Also please list what sources you don't have guide info for, since the Gemstar encoder here doesn't provide info for everything.

[dlhoppe]

After speaking with Gemstar I found that our box is now working properly. The problems you are currently having now is due to the reboot of our encoder. The encoder sends out three days at a time so the reboot killed off three days worth of guide data. It will take a full week for your receiver to be up to date with current guide data. If you have any problems after 6/3 post it here.
Also please list what sources you don't have guide info for, since the Gemstar encoder here doesn't provide info for everything.

Thanks for the heads up!  

When you say "sources you don't have guide info for", are you referring to TV stations?

[Jimboy]

Thanks for the heads up!  

When you say "sources you don't have guide info for", are you referring to TV stations?

Yes, and/or cable/sat channels.

[dlhoppe]

Yes, and/or cable/sat channels.

It doesn't contain the digital versions of 18 and 24. I'm reluctant to change the channel setting on 24 for fear of losing the guide data. Don't know if I need to leave analog 24 in the guide or not.

There's a couple of the PBS 10.# channels missing as well, but I don't remember which ones. I'll look tonight and see.


I'm only using the DVR for OTA right now, so I have no report on cable or sat.


Thanks!

[Jimboy]

It doesn't contain the digital versions of 18 and 24. I'm reluctant to change the channel setting on 24 for fear of losing the guide data. Don't know if I need to leave analog 24 in the guide or not.

There's a couple of the PBS 10.# channels missing as well, but I don't remember which ones. I'll look tonight and see.


I'm only using the DVR for OTA right now, so I have no report on cable or sat.


Thanks!

What make/model of DVR do you have?

[dlhoppe]

What make/model of DVR do you have?

It's the new Sony DHG-HDD250.  With all the strange behavior lately with the guide data, it's hard to tell if anything I did contributed to the loss of guide info. I've been trying to "edit" the guide to eliminate channels I don't get or watch and to sort them differently.  It seemed that every time I did that, the guide wouldn't download. We know that at least some of the problems were due to the encoder issues on your end. However, I'm not yet convinced that I didn't contribute to some of it as well.  There's no information in the manual or within the Sony customer support group that states whether or not I need to have the channel carrying the guide data in the guide.  I also don't know if I need to make sure it stays in the channel list too (the scan list not associated with the guide).  Once the guide data settles down and becomes stable, I can play around with analog 24 and see just how this puppy works.

By the way, will the Gemstar system work with a digital channel when the analog channels are turned off?  Do you think my DVR's guide will become disabled because it can only receive guide data from an analog broadcast? That kind of worries me.

[cjucoder]

Jimboy, thanks for your input and help.  It sure is great having this kind of first hand feedback on this forum.  

dlhoppe, I've had my LG box for about 9 months and the guide has been very stable.  Hopefully the same will be with the Sony flavor.  The only time it crashed and I came to the conclusion that it was something "I did" was when I tried to set up a scheduled recording of Enterprise on 18-2 using a manual recording (since, obviously, 18-2 never existed in the guide).  The next day the guide wouldn't come up at all and after unplugging the box for a minute all data and my recording schedules were gone (it normally doesn't disappear after unplugging for just a min. or so).  A couple days later when I tried to set up the same manual recording it happened again the exact same way. That's when I decided I better just be home at 7 on Fri to hit record

Other than that hiccup I have deleted a ton of channels, remapped and reordered several times with no noticable problems occuring in the guide.  I have remapped 24-0 to 24-1 pretty much from day 1, but never tried removing 24.  I read in other forums that you need to keep the channel that supplies the guide, but can't comment on that from my own experience.  

The three of us who have posted on this thread all use different hardware.  It makes me wonder how integrated the guide software is with the hardware it lives on.  I'd hope my good experience will correlate directly to the new Sony boxes, but don't know.

[cjucoder]

Do you think my DVR's guide will become disabled because it can only receive guide data from an analog broadcast? That kind of worries me.

I've wondered about that too.  Is there something inherent in the guide software/firmware that only know how decode the guide out of an analog channel? Maybe we'll be able to get a flash to update the guide of this happens.

[Jimboy]

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.

[dlhoppe]

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.

AHAAA!!   I've been removing wmvs analog from my guide!!!!!   Thanks for that info!  Wow, I didn't even realize that there are multiple data formats for different versions of decoders. Excellent information.  I guess my problem was my own damned fault.  I had a feeling about that.  I'll be sure to play around with the wmvs analog station and see how it affects behavior.  I'll post my results.

Thanks again Jimboy!

[dlhoppe]

Did you happen to discuss with Gemstar the issue regarding "legacy" electronic devices in the field that rely on analog broadcasts for guide data?  I'm wondering if the requirements for extracting guide data from digital streams in the future will be related to hardware upgrades, firmware upgrades or both.  This isn't something I thought about until after I purchased this new DVR. If it turns out that the guide will be unusable after the analog-digital switchover due to hardware decoder considerations, I'm not gonna be a happy camper.  I assume they have worked out analog to digital migration strategies with the manufacturers, right?

[Jimboy]

Did you happen to discuss with Gemstar the issue regarding "legacy" electronic devices in the field that rely on analog broadcasts for guide data?  I'm wondering if the requirements for extracting guide data from digital streams in the future will be related to hardware upgrades, firmware upgrades or both.  This isn't something I thought about until after I purchased this new DVR. If it turns out that the guide will be unusable after the analog-digital switchover due to hardware decoder considerations, I'm not gonna be a happy camper.  I assume they have worked out analog to digital migration strategies with the manufacturers, right?

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.