HD Channels

[aw_claritas]

Hi,

I see that HD channel listings are now available.  I have been testing with them recently (with MCE + Update Rollup 2) and found that it never seems to download any listings for ABC HD  ??  Is ABC HD available ?

Also, the listings that are available seem quite sporadic in terms of coverage.  ie. get quite a few gaps with 'unknown programme' - I guess this is something you are working on to get a more complete picture.

Cheers

Andy
Claritas Technology
www.claritas.com.au

[Shane]

I don't know what's up with ABC HD, but the way these channels are supposed to work is that only the HD content shows up in them - anything that isn't flagged as HD is shown as "unknown program".

This is by design, as the majority of stuff that sits there otherwise is either SD upconverted or HD demos.

Regards,
Shane.

[Daniel Hall at IceTV]

Shane is correct, only the shows we know are in HD will be shown on the HD channel.

The reason nothing is showing on ABC HD at the moment is that none of the shows on ABC are marked as being in HD.

[Shane]

Daniel,

I was having a play with Seven HD last night, and wanted to know whether it is possible to mark the shows slightly differently than their SD counterparts.

Reason is that when I set a series recording to record on any channel (not a specific channel) MCE gets confused and won't record either.

I have it set to any channel as I find that when the intermittent issue of the channels being reset and guide data loss happens (once in a blue moon, but it does happen), when I add lisitings back to the channels, sometimes the "specific channel" set series recordings don't work and need to be deleted and reset.

So - something like "Alias" on SD, and "Alias HD" on the HD channel?

Regards,
Shane.

[pvogel]

Sane has pointed out that MCE gets confused if there is a show with identical names on both SD and HD guide channels:

...when I set a series recording to record on any channel (not a specific channel) MCE gets confused and won't record either.

and suggests we append HD to the title in the HD guide:
...- something like "Alias" on SD, and "Alias HD" on the HD channel?

Thisseems like a good idea but I would like to hear thoughts of other users as to possible undeesired consequences if we do this.

Thanks

Peter

[Daniel Hall at IceTV]

I've just done some tests in the office while using both the HD and SD channel data.

I couldn't seem to replicate this issue on our test machine.

I scheduled a show that is on both the HD and SD channels for a series record and set it to anytime on any channel, when checking through the upcoming recordings in the guide it always chose the SD show (which is the channel that it was originally setup to record from) and it made a note against the listing of the HD show that said that show would be recorded on the SD channel.

Did you encounter the problem while using Update Rollup 2 or not ?

[Shane]

Daniel,

The problem with it not recording is gone, but I'd still like to be able to definitively set an SD or HD recording, and with two channels showing exactly the same thing at exactly the same time I just can't trust my series recordings to work whilst I am away or travelling.

Love to have HD appended to the title if possible.

Oh, and can we get the MCE HD logo removed from the SD channels? This is wrong anyway a they are not actually showing the HD contect on the SD channel, so it shouldn't be marked as such.

Thanks for the great work.
Shane.

[Nudge]

Hey Guys,

I know this is an older post but thought it may be appropriate to post here.

The "HD" symbol that is shown on SD channels in the guide, I take this as meaning that the show is also available on the channels HD equivalent - is this correct?

Also does MCE use the "HD" symbol or marker on SD channels to estimate the future HDD space needed to record the programme. It seems that MCE is allowing twice the space for shows set up to record from SD channels.

Later,

Nudge

[dJOS]

Howdy ICE folk.

My MCE box is not showing alot of HD shows on 9HD. For example Without a Trace, It is clearly marked "HD" in the Description for the SD channel but there is no EPG entry.

One other issue is when you are using the MCE search function to setup a timer for a show that does have both a HD & SD channel EPG entry, you have to double check which channel is the HD one because both description have the "HD" symbol.

eg Ocean's 11 Descriptions: Ocean's 11 SD Description & Ocean's 11 HD Description The only difference between the 2 listings is the channel id, personally I'd prefer that the "HD" symbol is reserved for the descriptions of HD broadcasts only on the actual HD channel.

[Russell at IceTV]

Hi djos,

Thanks for letting us know about this -- you actually found a bug related to all HD shows.  I believe it should be fixed now, so if you tell your MCE to download the guide again, you should see quite a few more HD shows scheduled.

Thanks again,
Russell

[dJOS]

Nice work Russell, thanks for being so darn fast!  

[Russell at IceTV]

Oh, sorry, forgot to mention...  we'll discuss your idea of only marking the HD shows on the HD channels as well and give it some thought.  I think there are a couple of issues to think about there, but I see your point.

Russell

[dJOS]

Thanks again Russell, I must say that the "ICE Service" is worth evry cent.  

Btw, along those discussion lines, It would be nice to have a full EPG for the HD Channels with the "HD" Symbol only appearing when the show is from a genuine HD source. I realise that you would then have to guess when CH7 is going to use their faux HD channel to play their "HD" demo loop tho and other issues but it sure would be nice.

[renbry]

I've noticed "The O.C" doesn't show up in TenHD's lineup every week which means i have to schedule to record SD and HD incase HD isn't showing up that week. No lame jokes about O.C please 

Matt

[poedgirl]

This is the main reason I don't want to upgrade from my trial to a subscription. If shows are broadcast on the HD channels, the EPG should know what they are. Also, the SD channels shouldn't show HD when those channels don't do HD.