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
