Daylight Savings in WA

Started by chrisb, November 21, 2006, 09:31:52 PM

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chrisb

Well, finally WA will be getting Daylight savings on the 3rd of December - From what I read in here the guide was a bit of a mess during the DST change on the east coast.

Is IceTV aware of the WA change, and what has been done to ensure things will work smoothly over the change?

Thanks!

peteru

The official timezone databases available to the vast majority of computer systems show the last valid DST transition for Australia/Perth and Australia/West to be at Sun Mar  1 02:59:59 1992

It stands to reason that unless the government officials decided on the change to the DST policy more than 6-12 months ago and publicised the change, that most computer systems will not handle the transition correctly.

I've updated my timezone database less than a week ago and there is nothing in there to indicate DST in WA.

chrisb


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1794214.htm

It is happening, and interestingly PBK on the Topfield already has it included!  :)

So, it would be appreciated if IceTV could do whatever is needed to ensure a smooth transition.


Stew

As an IceTV user in WA I really want to know that you guys are on the case.  It is certainly possible the the database the PC's use wont be able to handle it and I would expect that Ice will be all over this and giving us guidance in making sure we dont have issues.

I realise that this is a bit demanding of the good folk at IceTV but we pay for a good service (and it certainly is) and having the guide time out by an hour will really dent the relations with she who must be obeyed!

peteru

So the parliament agreed on 21st of November to start DST on the 3rd December?

I always knew that politicians had little regard for the real world, but less than two weeks notice? WAussies should expect issues related to DST! I'd be very surprised if things just work.

Remember Y2K? That certainly took more than two weeks to sort out!

mtb

For those running XP, there is a patch available from pcguru.com.au which should enable the DST for Perth timezone computers.  For the rest (non-XP) you could try selecting a GMT+8 timezone which has DST enabled, although the only one in XP appears to be a northern hemisphere!
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Daniel Hall at IceTV

We are definitely looking at what we can do to minimize any issues that may arise from this.

There is a linux fix in the works (which will be necessary for the server to handle the change correctly), and it appears that Microsoft should have an official update out in time for the change. Not sure on any changes for Mac's as yet.

We will have more information sent out probably via email to all W.A. users on what to do on each individual device closer to the actual change.
Regards,

Daniel.
CTO.

mtb

Quote from: Daniel Hall on November 23, 2006, 11:39:53 AM
...it appears that Microsoft should have an official update out in time for the change...
I hope they make a better job of it than they did for the Commonwealth Games!
Beyonwiz DP-P2, Epson EH-TW5500, Pioneer VSXLX52 & BDP-320, Screen Technics 100” screen, WD Live TV x2, 6Tb NAS (Linux)
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Topfield 5000MP


tomwall

Quote from: Daniel Hall on November 23, 2006, 11:39:53 AM
We are definitely looking at what we can do to minimize any issues that may arise from this.

There is a linux fix in the works (which will be necessary for the server to handle the change correctly), and it appears that Microsoft should have an official update out in time for the change. Not sure on any changes for Mac's as yet.

We will have more information sent out probably via email to all W.A. users on what to do on each individual device closer to the actual change.

:o  We are getting closer to Sunday. I have had no response to my support email of two days ago and there's no update here, nor any information regarding WA DST.
Perhaps we need to do nothing?
If so, please tell us.
I realise there's a short time frame to work within here however if there is no resolve in time it may render the IceTV useless.
I am a great fan of ICE TV and sincerely hope this will be resolved soon, unless it does not need to  ;D

Cheers,
Tom

Daniel Hall at IceTV

Hi Tom,

The email that I promised you earlier this week has just been sent, a copy of the text is below:

Due to the changeover to daylight savings that is happening on the 3/12/2006 there are some changes that you will need to do to ensure that the changeover goes as smoothly as possible.

For Topfield owners:

On the morning of Sunday the 3rd December you will need to change the time in the Topfield. To do this open the menu on the Topfield by pressing the "Menu" button, then select "System Settings" from the list using the "OK" button on the remote control. From here choose the "Time Settings" option. If you are on "Auto" time go down to the option for "Time Offset" and change this to read "09:00". If you running in "Manual" time then just change the "Local Time" forward by 1 hour to make it the new correct time.

Press "Exit" on the remote control to exit the menu and all of the guide data will automatically update to be the correct time. If you have already set one-off recordings for shows for Sunday night you will probably need to delete and recreate the timers to reflect the new correct times.

For all Windows based PVR's:

Microsoft have released a patch to add a Daylight Savings option to Windows for W.A. This patch can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c6a2c8fe-abda-4051-a24f-3ec933089747&displaylang=en

Once the patch has been installed open the "Control Panel" on the computer, double click on "Date & Time" (or if you in the "Categories View", select "Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options" and then select "Change the date and time"), click on the "Time Zone" tab and ensure that there is a tick on the box marked "Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes.". Click on "OK".

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 will then automatically adjust for changes in timezone when they occur on Sunday morning.

For Macintosh based PC's (in particular users of Elgato's EyeTV software):

At present we have not heard of any updates from Apple to add a daylight savings option for Mac OS X. A workaround would be to manually change the timezone to "Tokyo - Japan". This can be done by opening the "System Preferences" and then clicking on "Date & Time" under the "System" heading, click on the "Time Zone" tab then on the map click close to Japan and then from the drop down list at the bottom ensure that "Tokyo - Japan" is selected. This will set the computer to be in the correct timezone of UTC +9. You will however need to remember to change this back after daylight savings has finished.

For Linux based PVR's (in particular MythTV):

While there has been discussion on a patch for the timezones in use in Linux it will probably not make it into most distributions by Sunday. In MythTV you can manually specify the timezone to be used for the guide listings. To change this, stop the MythTV backend from running (generally this can be done using the command "sudo /etc/init.d/mythbackend stop") and run "mythtv-setup", under the "General" options there is a setting for "Time offset for XMLTV listings", while normally it's best to leave this as "Auto" you can change it to be "+0900" for the daylight savings timezone, once you close the setup you will also need to restart the MythTV backend (generally using the command "sudo /etc/init.d/mythbackend start"). This will also require you to manually change the time to be the correct local time.

For DGTEC users:

You will need to contact DGTEC directly to see if there are any changes that can be made to account for the new time.

If you have any additional questions regarding these changes please don't hesitate to reply to this email or alternatively you can call support on 1300 654 803.
Regards,

Daniel.
CTO.

chrisb



mtb

#13
Well, whoopie-****ing-doo! Here we are seven (or eight) hours in good old W.A. daylight saving territory and already it has totally ****ed up all my Outlook appointments!

If I apply the MS patch, they all shift by an hour but if I don't all my timezones are out - great, just bloody great!  Probably they'd say, if I were running all the latest and greatest software from them, it wouldn't be a problem but I'm damned if I'm going to feed MS until I die!

Three times in the last thirty years the W.A. people have rejected D.S.T. and still business and the government ram it down our throats. I just hope that the people have the sense to stick it back where it belongs in three years time!

For those who argue that it helps business trade with the Eastern states... one hour, so what, we're still out by two, we're a big country... live with it!
Beyonwiz DP-P2, Epson EH-TW5500, Pioneer VSXLX52 & BDP-320, Screen Technics 100” screen, WD Live TV x2, 6Tb NAS (Linux)
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HTC Desire (rooted) Froyo
Topfield 5000MP

poedgirl

Is it just me or are all the shows an hour out on TV right now? All day today the shows have been an hour out (according to the IceTV guide). I also noticed that there were shows during the non-existant 2am-3am timeslot.