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http://www.icetv.com.au/iceforum/index.php?topic=2284.0

The My Account page now has a new checkbox named "Remove 'MOVIE:' prefix from movie titles in the Windows 7 guide".

Media Center in Windows 7 has the option of colouring show titles differently based on their category (Movie, News, etc.).  This makes spotting movies much easier, because they're all purple in the guide. To enable this feature in Media Center, go to Tasks / Settings / TV / Guide / Guide Page Options.  Then enable the checkbox for "Apply colored backgrounds to shows, based on their category".

After enabling the feature, you can enable the new checkbox on the My Account page to remove the "MOVIE:" prefix, since you probably won't need it anymore.  Then reload the guide data in Windows 7's Media Center, and you should see the change.

An interesting side-effect to this is that once the "MOVIE:" prefix is removed, Windows 7's Media Center automatically uses the AMG movie data to display more information on the show details page.  On the Synopsis tab, you'll see an image for the movie, and a "full plot" description will be included at the bottom, below the normal IceTV description.  On the "Cast + Crew" tab, the director and actor information provided by IceTV is replaced with a more comprehensive list, including character names.  And a new "Similar Movies" tab is added, with a list of movie names.  Selecting one of these similar movies displays the details for that movie, and gives the ability to schedule it for recording even if it's not yet in the guide.  In some cases it also adds a new "Review" tab, with a review of the movie.  See the screenshots below for examples.

However...

Our tests so far indicate that although all of the data shows up the first time you view the details of the movie, when you view the details again, only the movie image is displayed, but not the rest of the information.  I'm not sure exactly why it only displays the info the first time, but we're looking into it to hopefully find a solution.

In the meantime, we thought we'd go ahead and release the new checkbox to remove the "MOVIE:" prefix, and let you guys start playing with it. Feedback welcome.

Thanks,
Russell

The epg and epg3 directories are now identical, so it doesn't matter which one you use.  We'll keep the old epg and the new epg3 directories both running from here on out, and any updates we make to the guide data in the future will be made to both directories at the same time.

If you haven't switched to the new format yet, all of the instructions are detailed in the first message of the following thread:

  Windows 7 EPG Beta Readme: 09/07/2009

Of course, if you're not actively using your Media Center for recording, you can try just doing nothing, and it'll probably clear itself up after a week or two, when all the guide data in the old format has been used up.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask for help.

Thanks!
Russell

Hi,

We've added a couple of new things to help with series recordings and keywords.

First, when you click a show to view its details, and it says, "This show is part of a series recording", the words "series recording" are now a link to that particular entry on the My Shows page.

And when you view a show that's part of a series recording but wasn't scheduled (with a grey icon), it now says why it wasn't scheduled for recording.  For example:

   This show is part of a series recording but is not scheduled to be recorded.
   (Show does not match requested start time.)

Other reasons that might be displayed include:

   (Show does not match requested quality setting.)
   (Show does not match requested network.)
   (Repeat showing but series set for first runs only.)
   (Recording show would exceed requested shows per day limit.)

Also, when you view a show that matches a Keyword Recording or Keyword Favourite, you'll now see which keywords matched that particular show.  For example:

   This show matched the Keyword Record: simpsons -treehouse

And the keywords are linked to that particular entry on the My Shows page.

Thanks,
Russell

[epg]

Ok guys, it's time to move everyone over to the new guide format in the "epg3" directory.

If you've already done this, there's nothing else for you to do, and you can ignore the rest of this post.

If you haven't switched yet, or you don't know what I'm talking about, please keep reading -- this is important.

First, if you've just recently started using the IceTV EPG with Windows 7, it's possible that you're already using the new format.  If you are, then you too can ignore the rest of this post.  Here's how to check:

• This assumes you've already downloaded the zip file from the initial Windows 7 Readme post and extracted the batch file.
• Use Notepad to open the file "load_icetv_epg.bat"
• Check the following line and see if it's set to epg or epg3:
       webget.exe "http://iceguide.icetv.com.au/cgi-bin/epg3/iceguide.cgi?op=mxfguide" -u USERID -p PASSWORD -o icetv_epg.mxf
• If it's already set to epg3 then you're using the new format, and you're done.  Congratulations, you can ignore the rest of this post.
• If it's still set to epg, then you haven't switched to the new guide format yet, so you need to keep reading.

If you haven't switched to the new format yet, all of the instructions are detailed in the first message of the following thread:

  Windows 7 EPG Beta Readme: 09/07/2009

Please follow the instructions in that thread and get switched to the new format by Monday, 31 August.  On Tuesday, 1 September, the epg directory will be updated to be the same as the epg3 directory, and anyone still using the old directory will start getting the new format data anyway.  It's important that you follow the instructions to clear out your Media Center database and reload everything, so you start with a clean EPG.  We've found that the Windows 7 Media Center doesn't like overwriting guide data in a different format, and you may have problems with the guide data.  Of course, if you're not actively using your Media Center for recording, you can try just doing nothing, and it'll probably clear itself up after a week or two, when all the guide data in the old format has been used up.

Once you're using the new epg3 directory, you can stay there.  We'll keep the old epg and the new epg3 directories both running from here on out, and starting on 1 September they'll provide identical guide data.  Any updates we make to the guide data in the future will be made to both directories at the same time.

We'll also send an email to everyone using the old format guide data to let them know about the switchover date.

We realize this is a pain, and we wish there was a better solution, but so far we haven't found one.

If you have any questions, feel free to reply back in this thread and we'll try to help.

Thanks!
Russell

Version 2.0.0.20 of the IceTV Interactive client for Windows XP MCE 2005 and Windows Vista is now available.

The change list for 2.0.0.20 is:

    * Fixed infinite loop on update when the server returns an error.
    * Fix for 100% CPU problem.
    * Fix for silent crash on startup when there's no network connection.
    * Removed an error popup window when the error is because of a missing network connection and the update was automatic.
    * Fixed crash on startup after PC's locale is changed.

These can be installed over the top of existing installations and it will carry the settings over.

You can download the files here:

IceTV Interactive client 2.0.0.20 for Windows XP MCE 2005

IceTV Interactive client 2.0.0.20 for Windows Vista

[Update: version 2.0.0.20 has now been released here.]

Update: version 2.0.0.20 has now been released here.

The next version of IceTV Interactive is ready for beta testing.

This will bring the version up to 2.0.0.19 Beta 2 and includes a lot of bug fixes and optimizations. Both Windows XP MCE2005 and Windows Vista versions are attached to the bottom of this post.

If you would like to help us test these new versions before they are released, please download them below, and respond in this thread with any feedback that you have on these new versions (and don't forget to include whether you are testing the XP or Vista version when posting feedback).

The change list for 2.0.0.19 Beta 2 is:

• Fixed infinite loop on update when the server returns an error.

The change list for 2.0.0.19 Beta 1 is:

• Fix for 100% CPU problem.
• Fix for silent crash on startup when there's no network connection.
• Removed an error popup window when the error is because of a missing network connection and the update was automatic.
• Fixed crash on startup after PC's locale is changed.

These can be installed over the top of existing installations and it will carry the settings over.

Let us know how it goes...

Thanks,
Russell

[Update: version 2.0.0.20 has now been released here.]

The next version of IceTV Interactive is ready for beta testing.

This will bring the version up to 2.0.0.19 Beta 1 and includes a lot of bug fixes and optimizations. Both Windows XP MCE2005 and Windows Vista versions are attached to the bottom of this post.

Update: version 2.0.0.20 has now been released here.

If you would like to help us test these new versions before they are released, please download them below, and respond in this thread with any feedback that you have on these new versions (and don't forget to include whether you are testing the XP or Vista version when posting feedback).

The change list for 2.0.0.19 Beta 1 is:

• Fix for 100% CPU problem.
• Fix for silent crash on startup when there's no network connection.
• Removed an error popup window when the error is because of a missing network connection and the update was automatic.
• Fixed crash on startup after PC's locale is changed.

These can be installed over the top of existing installations and it will carry the settings over.

Let us know how it goes...

Thanks,
Russell

[Cast list.]

The following items should now be fixed:

• Cast list. On the program details pages, you can use the left and right arrow keys to move between the pages "synopsis", "actions", and "other showings". There's now a 4th page called "cast + crew", which contains actors and directors for the program.  Since we used to put this information at the end of the description, not all programs will have a "cast + crew" page yet, but our guide team is working on moving the data so it appears on this new page for more programs in the future. We also plan on including more data in the future, since Windows 7 also supports Writers, Guest Actors, and Producers.
• Recording shows that are serial but not episodic. Like news programs, or shows like Neighbours that don't have episodes. These programs should now work correctly with series recordings, and all episodes should get recorded instead of just the first one.
• Ability to create a series recording for a program. Some programs such as Lipstick Jungle and Desperate Housewives didn't allow you to create a series recording for them. This is now fixed.

NOTE: this is a fairly major change in the way we create the Windows 7 guide, and we've found that Windows 7's Media Center doesn't like it when you load the guide in this new format over the top of the old format guide you're currently using.  In some cases it seems to overwrite it with the new data, and in other cases it doesn't.  The only way we've been able to successfully convert Media Center to the new format to fix the problems above is to reset Media Center back to the factory defaults and then load the new guide data in from scratch.  This means you'll need to run a command to do the reset, and then go through the Media Center setup again, to let it find your tuners and scan for channels.  After that, you can load the new guide data and create your series recordings again.  We know, this is a pain, and we'd love to find a way around this, but I'm afraid this is the best solution we've been able to find so far.  Media Center for XP and Vista seem to be fine with overwriting the old format data with the new format, but Windows 7 doesn't like it.

Because this is such a big change, we'd like to get a few guinea pigs brave beta testers to try it out first, before we change everyone over to the new format.  If you'd like to give it a try (and we hope you will), the directions are listed below.  Basically you'll be doing the reset mentioned above, and then changing the batch file that pulls down the guide data so that it pulls it from a different program on our server, in the new format.  If all goes well, we'll eventually start using the new format in the normal program on our server, so everyone will get it.  At that time, everyone will need to do the reset.  But we'll give notice here before we do it.

Instructions for switching to the new format guide data, to fix the problems listed above:

Short version for advanced users:

• Close Media Center and reset its database: run the following in an administrator Command Prompt window, from the c:\windows\ehome directory: mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask
  
  UPDATE: It's been suggested that if you have a 64-bit machine, there's a safer way to do this:
  • Go to Control Panel / System and Security / Administrative Tools / Schedule tasks.
  • Open Task Scheduler Library / Microsoft / Windows, then click "Media Center".
  • Right click "MediaCenterRecoveryTask" and select "Run".
  
  
• Start Media Center and go through the Live TV Setup again, including scanning for channels.
• Change epg to epg3 in the webget command, in the batch file "load_icetv_epg.bat", and then run the file to load the guide data in the new format.
• Edit the channels, create manual mappings to "-IceTV" channel names if necessary, and re-create series recordings.

Long version for everyone else:

• First you need to reset Media Center's database (thanks to dgaust for posting the instructions):
     
  
     
  • Close the Media Center window if it's running.
  • Open an Administrator Command Prompt. Go to Start / All Programs / Accessories, right-click on "Command Prompt", and select "Run as administrator. This will open a black Command Prompt window.
  • Type the following command and then press Enter, to change to the Media Center directory (assuming it's on your C drive): cd c:\windows\ehome
  • Type the following command and then press Enter: mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask
    
    UPDATE: It's been suggested that if you have a 64-bit machine, there's a safer way to do this:
    • Go to Control Panel / System and Security / Administrative Tools / Schedule tasks.
    • Open Task Scheduler Library / Microsoft / Windows, then click "Media Center".
    • Right click "MediaCenterRecoveryTask" and select "Run".
  
  
• Start Media Center and do the TV setup:
     
  
     
  • The following message will be displayed: "Windows Media Center experienced a serious problem. Before you can use Windows Media Center, you must run the Windows Media Center Setup again." Select OK, then select Continue, and then "Express".
  • Under "TV" select "Live TV Setup".
  • Confirm that the region is Australia and select "Yes, use this region to configure TV services" then select Next.
  • Enter a postcode and select Next.
  • Select I Agree and then Next.  Then repeat: select I Agree and then Next.
  • Media Center will then download TV setup data, and then say, "Downloadable Guide Not Available".  Select Next.
  • If asked, choose your signal type (generally Antenna), then select Next.
  • If asked if using a set top box select the correct answer (generally No), then select Next.
  • If asked, select the TV Signal Type (generally Digital Antenna (DVB-T)), then select Next.
  • If asked if you want to set up another TV signal select the correct answer (generally No), then select Next.
  • The channel scan will then start automatically.
  • When the channel scan is complete, select Next.
  • Select Finish to confirm that the signal setup is complete.
  
  
• Change the batch file to load the guide data in the new format:
     
  
     
  • This assumes you've already downloaded the zip file from the initial Windows 7 Readme post and extracted the batch file.
  • Use Notepad to open the file "load_icetv_epg.bat"
  • Change epg in the following line to epg3:
          webget.exe "http://iceguide.icetv.com.au/cgi-bin/epg3/iceguide.cgi?op=mxfguide" -u USERID -p PASSWORD -o icetv_epg.mxf
    Then save the file and close Notepad.
       
• Double-click the batch file to run it and load the new format guide data. This will run webget to download the guide data and load it into MCE.  This can be done with Media Center running or not, so there's no need to shut it down first. Important: be sure you've done the channel scan mentioned above before loading the guide data.
  
  


• Then follow the rest of the instructions from the initial Windows 7 Readme post:
     
  
     
  • Check the channel mappings for guide listings:
    In Media Center, go to Tasks / Settings / TV / Guide / Edit Channels.  Take a look at all the channel names.  They should end with "-IceTV" when they're correctly mapped to IceTV listings.  For example, if you have a channel with the scanned name "ABC1", it should show up here as "ABC1-IceTV".  If it doesn't, see below for how to map it manually.  Be aware that in some cases such as with regional channels, it might create a new channel that you don't actually have.  For example, in Adelaide, 7 Digital can be on both 6 and 7, and you'll probably see "7 Digital-IceTV" for both of these channel numbers.  If you only get a TV signal on channel 7, you'll want to uncheck 6 to hide it.  If you're not sure, go to the TV guide (use the green button as as shortcut) and see if you actually have a TV signal on all the listed channels.
       
  • If any of your channels aren't already mapped to the IceTV listings, you'll need to map them manually:
         
    
         
    • First, make a note of the original channel name as it was scanned by Media Center. 
    • Then click the channel name to go to the settings page.  For example, when mapping channel 2 for ABC1, the title of the settings page would be "Settings for 2 ABC1". 
    • Then click "Edit Listings" to go to the page titled "Channel 2 Listings". 
    • There should be a list of channel names in the lower right part of the screen.  Scroll down until you find the channel name you're working on, but with "-IceTV" at the end of it.  In this current example, we'd look for "ABC1-IceTV" (sometimes you have to scroll down further than you think, but they should be in alphabetic order unless you've clicked "Sort by Number" on the left side).  If you don't find the one you need, then something's wrong.  Skip down to the section below named "Help! It's not working!". 
    • If you find it, click to select it, and it should take you back to the page titled "Settings for 2 ABC1".  On this page, look for the "Channel listing" and make sure the name still has "-IceTV" in it.  In this example the "Channel listing" value would be "ABC1-IceTV".  If it doesn't end in "-IceTV", try editing the listings again.
       

Good luck, and let us know how it goes. :)

Russell

[Cast list.]

At the moment there are two main issues still to be resolved:

• Cast list. On the program details pages, you can use the left and right arrow keys to move between the pages "synopsis", "actions", and "other showings". There's supposed to be a 4th page called "cast + crew".
• Recording shows that are serial but not episodic. Like news programs, or shows like Neighbours that don't have episodes. This results in a message from Media Center saying, "Another airing will be recorded on...[date]" and the show not being recorded. More info is available in this topic.

We've also had a couple of reports of people saying they're not able to create a series recording for a particular show.  It's possible that it's related to the "another airing" problem, but we'll look into it when we work on the other issues.

We've also had reports from people having problems when they load the IceTV guide data before scanning for channels in Media Center.  If you just installed Windows 7, run through the Media Center setup first, and let it find all your channels before loading the guide data.  A user has posted a way of fixing this problem in the topic "Ice TV Windows7 RC" (use at your own risk -- we haven't tested it, but it looks reasonable).

Although I know I've said it before (and quite a while back), the same is still accurate today.  We're definitely aware of the issues, and will get them resolved asap, but there are other more important projects underway.  When we can (finally) get the changes done to the various guide pages (on the web site, mobile site, iPhone app, and widgets), we'll switch gears and get the Windows 7 stuff working better.  The guide changes are taking longer than expected because of all the complications with the various places that need to be changed, as well as the server-side programs that handle series recording scheduling, etc.  We're getting close, and we'll try to keep you up to date as best we can.

Thanks,
Russell

[Update:]

Update: we've added the ability to remove the "MOVIE:" prefix from movie titles in the Windows 7 guide.  See this post for the details.

Media Center in Windows 7 has the option of colouring show titles differently based on their category (Movie, News, etc.).  This makes spotting movies much easier, because they're all purple in the guide.  You can vote in the poll above as to whether or not the "MOVIE:" text should be removed in Win7's EPG.

To enable this feature in Media Center, go to Tasks / Settings / TV / Guide / Guide Page Options.  Then enable the checkbox for "Apply colored backgrounds to shows, based on their category".

A bug was reported, saying that the "Record Series" option wasn't being displayed for all of the shows that it should have been.  I've fixed it now, so if you update your guide you should see the Record Series option available on a lot more shows.  There may be the odd one still not showing right, but about 99% of them should be ok now, and by the end of today (Thursday, 26 Feb) they should all be fixed.

Thanks,
Russell

[What is this?]

Hi, and welcome to the beta test for IceTV's EPG for Windows 7.

Please post feedback in this board only.  Usually it's best to start a new topic rather than replying to this one.  If you'd like to be notified via email whenever a new post is added to this board, click here to go back to the board level, and then click Notify on the right (above or below the list of posts).

We'll post new "sticky" messages at the top of this board when things change, so always check for these first.

What is this?
This is a beta test, meaning that we need help from our users in getting the final touches working.  Things may be broken or may not work at all.  Things might work and then suddenly break.  Your TV shows might not get recorded, your channel listing might get completely hosed, and you might even have to reinstall Windows 7 to get things working again.  We'll of course avoid these problems as much as we can, but don't blame us if your significant other's favourite show doesn't get recorded and you cop the blame for it.  :)  Needless to say, this should probably not be used for your primary TV recorder.

Who can use this?
All IceTV subscribers are welcome to join.  You'll need the User ID and password for your account.  If you forgot your password, you can get it emailed to you here.

What is the goal?
To get the EPG working in Windows 7's Media Center at least as well as it does in the XP and Vista versions.  Windows 7's Media Center has some nice new features, and we'll try to support them as best we can.  The Interactive client will be updated for Windows 7 some time in the future.  Right now we're concentrating on the guide data.

What's working now?

• TV guide data for all regions.
• Automatic channel mapping for guide listings (although there may be a couple where we don't have the channel names quite right yet).
• Program attributes such as titles, descriptions, genres (categories), ratings, year, original air dates (on some programs), and indicators for movie, repeat, CC, and HD.
• Series and single recordings.
• Series and episode descriptions both displayed on the program details pages.
• Searching. Categories should show up right away, but searching by Title and Keyword takes some time for the data to be indexed by Media Center. See note further below about searching.

What's not working yet?

• Cast list. On the program details pages, you can use the left and right arrow keys to move between the pages "synopsis", "actions", and "other showings". There's supposed to be a 4th page for "cast + crew", which probably only shows up on Movies. We've been told that this is currently broken in beta 1 of Win7, but has been fixed in a later release (which hasn't been released to the public as of yet).
  Update: The cast list is now working also.

Setup Media Center First
If you just installed Windows 7, run through the Media Center setup before loading the IceTV guide data.  We've had reports of problems when the IceTV guide data is loaded before scanning for channels in Media Center.  Once it finds all your channels and you have your tuners and other hardware setup, then continue with these instructions.

Download
Download the file "icetv_win7_epg_2.zip" attached at the bottom of this post. This file contains the "webget.exe" program for downloading the guide data, and a batch file to run webget and load the data into MCE.

Install
Unzip the files to any directory on your hard drive.  For example, "C:\IceTV" would be fine.  Open the file "load_icetv_epg.bat" in Notepad and edit the following line, changing "USERID" to your User ID and "PASSWORD" to your password:

webget.exe "http://iceguide.icetv.com.au/cgi-bin/epg3/iceguide.cgi?op=mxfguide" -u USERID -p PASSWORD -o icetv_epg.mxf

If your Windows directory for Windows 7 isn't on the C drive, change the path "C:\windows\ehome" also.

Load the guide data
Double-click the file "load_icetv_epg.bat".  This will run webget to download the guide data and load it into MCE.  This can be done with Media Center running or not, so there's no need to shut it down first.

Check the channel mappings for guide listings
In Media Center, go to Tasks / Settings / TV / Guide / Edit Channels.  Take a look at all the channel names.  They should end with "-IceTV" when they're correctly mapped to IceTV listings.  For example, if you have a channel with the scanned name "ABC1", it should show up here as "ABC1-IceTV".  If it doesn't, see below for how to map it manually.  Be aware that in some cases such as with regional channels, it might create a new channel that you don't actually have.  For example, in Adelaide, 7 Digital can be on both 6 and 7, and you'll probably see "7 Digital-IceTV" for both of these channel numbers.  If you only get a TV signal on channel 7, you'll want to uncheck 6 to hide it.  If you're not sure, go to the TV guide (use the green button as as shortcut) and see if you actually have a TV signal on all the listed channels.

Manually map channel listings (if needed)
If any of your channels aren't already mapped to the IceTV listings, you'll need to map them manually:

• First, make a note of the original channel name as it was scanned by Media Center.  
• Then click the channel name to go to the settings page.  For example, when mapping channel 2 for ABC1, the title of the settings page would be "Settings for 2 ABC1".  
• Then click "Edit Listings" to go to the page titled "Channel 2 Listings".  
• There should be a list of channel names in the lower right part of the screen.  Scroll down until you find the channel name you're working on, but with "-IceTV" at the end of it.  In this current example, we'd look for "ABC1-IceTV" (sometimes you have to scroll down further than you think, but they should be in alphabetic order unless you've clicked "Sort by Number" on the left side).  If you don't find the one you need, then something's wrong.  Skip down to the section below named "Help! It's not working!".  
• If you find it, click to select it, and it should take you back to the page titled "Settings for 2 ABC1".  On this page, look for the "Channel listing" and make sure the name still has "-IceTV" in it.  In this example the "Channel listing" value would be "ABC1-IceTV".  If it doesn't end in "-IceTV", try editing the listings again, and if it still doesn't work, skip down to the section below named "Help! It's not working!".

Important: If you have to manually map a channel to the IceTV guide listings, please post a message on this board to let us know what the original scanned channel name was before you mapped it.  We'll use that to update our database, so the next person gets it mapped automatically.

Check the guide
When all the channels look ok, go to the guide (use the green button as a shortcut) and check your listings.  Hopefully you have good guide data for all your channels.  If you need help, skip down to the section below named "Help! It's not working!".  If it all looks good, celebrate by dancing on the nearest table, and then post a message in this board to let us know.

Tip: Disable EIT guide data
Once you get the IceTV guide data working, you won't need (or want) the limited guide data that's sent over the air with digital channels.  Here's how to disable it:

• Go to Tasks / Settings / TV / Guide / Edit Channels.
• Click one of the channel names that you've enabled with a check mark (for example: ABC1-IceTV).
• Click "Edit Listings", and then click "Disable Inband".  Then click Save, and then Save again, to take you back to the Edit Channels page.
• Repeat for each enabled IceTV channel, then click Save on the Edit Channels page when done.

Tip: Setup automatic guide downloads
You can use Win7's Task Scheduler to have the batch file run automatically to update the guide:

• In Windows 7, go to Start / Control Panel / All Control Panel Items / Administrative Tools / Task Scheduler.  
• Click "Task Scheduler Library" on the left side of the window to list existing tasks.  
• Click "Create Basic Task" on the right side of the window.  
• Enter a name for the task, such as "Update IceTV Guide", then click Next.  
• Leave the Trigger option set to "Daily" and click Next.  
• Set a start time for the task.  We usually recommend that the guide data be updated sometime after 1pm, but please do our servers a favour and pick some time other than exactly 1pm so everyone doesn't hit us at once.  ;)  Then click Next.  
• Leave the option "Start a program" selected and click Next.  
• Click the Browse button and navigate to the directory where you saved the files you downloaded earlier.  Select "load_icetv_epg.bat" and click Open.  In the "Start in" box, type the directory again, so it's the same as where the file is located, then click Next.  For example:
  
  Program/script: C:\IceTV\load_icetv_epg.bat
  Start in: C:\IceTV
  
  
• Check all the settings, then click Finish.
• You should then see your task in the list at the top.  If not, make sure you have "Task Scheduler Library" selected on the left side of the window, and not "Task Scheduler (Local)".
• To edit the task's settings, double-click it in the list.
• To run the task manually, select it and then click "Run" on the right side.

Tip: Searching in Media Center
After loading new guide data, it may take some time before Windows indexes everything. Until that happens, searching in Media Center by Title or Keyword may not find what you want. You can either wait for Windows to re-index everything on its own schedule, or you can force it to re-index everything immediately:

• In Windows 7, go to Start / Control Panel / All Control Panel Items / Indexing Options.
• You should see "Windows Media Center" in the list of "Included Locations".
• Click Advanced, then click Rebuild, then click OK.  This will rebuild the index and include all the latest guide data.
• When it says "Indexing complete" at the top, click Close, and then searching in Media Center should include all the latest data.

Tip: enable colours in the guide
To turn on different colours in the guide based on the show's category (Movie, News, etc.), go to Tasks / Settings / TV / Guide / Guide Page Options.  Then enable the checkbox for "Apply colored backgrounds to shows, based on their category".

Help! It's not working!
If something just isn't working, then, well, maybe you found a bug.  It might be our bug, or it might be Microsoft's (remember that Win7 is still in beta too).  Instead of using the normal support options on our web site, please post a bug report in this board and tell us everything you can think of that might help us (and other users) understand the problem.  At a minimum, please include the guide region you're in (Sydney, Melbourne, etc.).  If you're having trouble with channel mapping (which is the trickiest part of this whole process -- we feel your pain), let us know the original channel name as it was scanned by Media Center ("ABC1"), the channel number it's on (2), and what you're seeing (or not) when you try to map the listings to it.  Details are good -- we love details -- we can't get enough of them.  :)

Good luck!

Russell

Discuss and rate TV shows, see what TV shows are popular amongst your friends, share your comments and more.

The Facebook application for IceTV is currently available for beta testing at the link below.

If you find any problems or have any feedback about the application, feel free to start a new topic in the Interactive on Facebook board of the forum.

Go to the IceTV Facebook app!

Hi all,

The "Confidential Cutdown" episodes of the "Doctor Who" series are being moved into their own series called "Doctor Who Confidential Cutdown".  Currently these are only a handful of episodes, and the majority are still under the "Doctor Who" series as before.  If you're interested in the Confidential Cutdown episodes, be sure to setup your PVR to record them as well.  More info here.

Thanks,
Russell

For MythTV and Freevo users, we've updated the "tv_grab_au_ice" guide grabber script to version 4.  This includes an important change that tells the PVR to download all the guide data at once, rather than in multiple hits to our server.

All users of this script are kindly requested to upgrade ASAP, to reduce load on our servers.

http://www.icetv.com.au/cgi-bin/websupport.cgi?op=show_faq&faq_id=71&faq_cat_id=18

Thanks to Patrick Nichols for the help in changing the script.

Russell

For MythTV and Freevo users, we've updated the "tv_grab_au_ice" guide grabber script to version 4.  This includes an important change that tells the PVR to download all the guide data at once, rather than in multiple hits to our server.

All users of this script are kindly requested to upgrade ASAP, to reduce load on our servers.

http://www.icetv.com.au/cgi-bin/websupport.cgi?op=show_faq&faq_id=71&faq_cat_id=18

Thanks to Patrick Nichols for the help in changing the script.

Russell

Hi!

Normally the guides for High Definition (HD) channels only contain shows marked as being in HD, and a blank spot is left for Standard Definition (SD) shows.  This is because broadcasters sometimes show the SD show on the HD channel, and sometimes they don't.  To be safe, we've only included the HD shows so you don't record an hour of a broadcaster's logo or a demo loop.

But now you have another option.  On the My Account page, you'll now find a checkbox called "Copy SD shows to HD channels".  When enabled, this feature copies all SD shows to the corresponding HD channels, so that the guide for the HD channels contain all shows, whether they're in HD or not.  Also, the HD indicator on a show (if your PVR supports it) will only appear in the guide for the HD channel.

Hopefully this will give you the option of having the guide how you want it.  Just remember though, we can't guarantee that SD shows on HD channels will actually be broadcast.  Please use this feature at your own risk.

Thanks,
Russell

Hi!

This is an announcement for users of Microsoft's Media Center Edition, for both Windows XP and Vista.

We've improved the guide for MCE, to make the two-level categories work better.  Instead of seeing one category called General with all other categories included below it, you will now see all programs displayed in MCE's two-level system, with categories such as "Movie/Drama", "Children/Cartoon", etc..  Searching by category now works much better because you can select from first-level categories such as "Children", "Movie", "News", "Sport", etc., and then select from several second-level categories such as "Animated", "Cartoon", "Drama", etc.

Click the thumbnail image below for a screenshot of MCE in Vista, showing the movie details page.  Notice the new categories "Movie/Action", "Movie/Adventure", and "Movie/Drama", as well as the new "director", "actors", and "year" information, which are all in their proper place on the page instead of being included in the description.  (see this post in the Announcement forum for more details on the director, actors, and year)

We've also added several new second-level categories under "Sport", such as "Cricket", "Football", etc.  These will begin appearing on new sport programs soon, but it may take some time before all existing programs are converted.

Windows Vista MCE users will be happy to know that the new "Categories" button on the left side of the guide window now works as it should as well, showing buttons for several of the most popular categories.  For example, when you click the Categories button and then click "News", the guide changes to show only programs in the "News" category ("News", "News/Current Affairs", "News/Documentary", etc.).

This information should appear in your MCE after the next time it updates the guide.  To force a guide update, go to the start page in MCE (click the green button on the remote), then select Settings, TV, Guide, and then click "Get Latest Guide Listings".

Thanks!
Russell

Hi!

We're now starting to add the director, actors, and year to the guide information.  This will primarily be for movies, but may occasionally appear for normal programs as well, to help distinguish them from other programs with a similar name.

Up until now, the guide team has been adding this information at the end of the description.  For PVRs that support separate fields for this information (such as MCE, or any PVR using the XML guide such as MythTV, ShowShifter, etc.), this info will begin appearing in the proper place in the program details, and be available for searches, etc. when the PVR supports it.  Click the thumbnail image below for a screenshot from MCE in Windows Vista to see how it shows movie details.  Keyword searches for director and actor names will work as well, for PVRs that support it.

For PVRs that don't support the separate fields in the guide data (Topfield, DigiTV, etc.) this information will continue to be shown at the end of the description, when there's room for it (PVRs have different limits on how much of the description they'll show, but we try to get as much in there as we can).

Obviously we can't convert our entire database all at once, but you should start seeing the new information appear in the guide soon, and over time we'll get more and more of it moved to the new separate fields.

Thanks!
Russell