MCE Rollup 2 testing with IceGuide

[jgrouse]

Hi,

just wondering if the IceGuide developers have had a chance to test the IceGuide with the latest rollup for MCE (codenamed Emerald)?

I've read that there is an MS bug in the way MCE handles guides with DVB-T.  I've also had reports that the IceGuide gets ignored by this new version (says that a guide is not available for your region) and when you try to re-scan after setting up the guide again it cannot find any channels.

Are you guys aware of any issues through your own testing and can you suggest any fixes/workarounds for this issue?

I was planning to do the update soon but after hearing this I'm somewhat concerned that I will kill my MCE setup.

Thanks!

[jeffreyk]

i'm using iceguide with rollup 2.  np with it working with the guide data.

[pvogel]

We have tried it with Emerald, although a few weeks ago now.  No problems found. Would appreciate any other reports from others using the latest.

Peter

[Shane]

OK - as I work work for a company that gives me access to the Microsoft OEM site, i have just completed loading the release version Rollup 2 onto my test machine.

It has a DVICO Fusion HDTV USB, and I run IceTV guide.

Steps:
1. I downloaded the latest DVICO Software (3.0.0.1 Web and 3.0.0.3 Hotfix) and installed, doing the reboot when asked, and updated the drivers.
2. I then installed the Rollup 2 pack.
3. Then I re-installed the IceTV MCE guide from the installer on the IceTV website.
4. Opened the guide settings in MCE, setup the IceTV guide then scanned for services.

After 2x scans I now have 45 services, including the D44 channels and DTV radio channels, and all HD channels work with audio.

All in all I am a happy camper. Hopefully we can get the HD channel guide data happening soon seeing I can watch it now!

Regards,
Shane.

[poniboi]

Hi all

I've been using IceGuide for MCE for about a week now - very happy with the results!

I updated to Emerald last night and have lost all Channels except Nine (SD) and the 2 Digital Radio Stations...    I use the original DVICO Fusion pci card.

Shane, did you do a completely fresh install on your test machine?

Thanks
Mark

[jgrouse]

Ok, I finally got my hands on the OEM USA rollup 2 (I think the internal date is 8/8/05) and installed it last night.  

After that I re-installed IceGuide and ran through the whole guide setup from scratch.  Deleted all the existing channels before I scanned.  On first scan it froze at 60% but picked up 7,9,10 and all these D44 channels plus the radio channels.  After the second scan I think I ended up with about 44 channels.  

Edited and then sorted the channel order.   After I saved I tried to assign the guide channel names to the MCE channel names but it didn't list any guide channel names to assign.  I then had a message saying that it had an issue downloading the guide so I forced a guild download which worked fine.  I then went into assign the guide data to the channels and for some reason all the channels were back to the way they were directly after the scan so I closed MCE and stopped/started the Scheduler service.  After going back into MCE I went through and did a basic edit of the channels which then seemed to save them ok and the guide channels were now available to be assigned to the correct channels.  Although, for some reason when I was editing the channels I did have ABC on 2 and selected but when I went in to assign the guide to it ABC was nowhere to be seen so I ended up selecting an ABC channel that was further down the list of channels and moved it up to the second slot.  This worked ok.

Even though the scheduled recording vanished for a while they did eventually re-appear and all seemed ok as I headed out the door to work this morning.  Will need to do more channel sorting when I get home as all these odd D44 channels and the radio channels are making a mess of the guide page.  Would be nice if it was smart enough to really treat the DVB radio channels as radio rather than TV.  Should be under the main menu Radio option away from the TV stations.

HD audio was not working at first but after I re-installed the beta Nova-T MCE drivers and rebooted all was ok.  AC3Filter is currently decoding it.  TEN HD for some reason would briefly show video but then come up with the text saying it was a radio station.  ABC HD, TEN HD, SC10 HD and SBS HD seemed to be ok but for some reason the Purevideo decoder was not showing smooth playback as it had in the past when we didn't have audio.  Tried all sorts of setting on the Nvidia decoder but still cannot make 1080i look smooth.  Seven HD actually looked ok this time around which it didn't originally.

Far cry from the mess the Emerald Beta 1 left my pc in.  The install this time had a nice MCE interface to it (even though it ran on the monitor rather than the TV screen).

If anyone is having issues with their Nova-T MCE card and Rollup 2 contact the NewMagic guys (they have a phone number on their site) and they can email you the latest drivers which have been tested under rollup 2. www.newmagic.com.au

Looking good so far...

[Shane]

Hi all

I've been using IceGuide for MCE for about a week now - very happy with the results!

I updated to Emerald last night and have lost all Channels except Nine (SD) and the 2 Digital Radio Stations...    I use the original DVICO Fusion pci card.

Shane, did you do a completely fresh install on your test machine?

Thanks
Mark

Mark,

No I didn't, but I did remove all channels ("Reset to default" or similar in the guide settings) before I installed everything.

I went ahead and updated my production machine last night after getting the test machine working, and I did hit some issues with channels being detected, then not being saved when I edited them, then not being saved when I added guide data. After a few re-scans (deleting all previous scanned channels first) and a few reboots, I got all channels detected except Seven and Ten. I then did one final scan and they came up.

After that I edited the channels and saved them, then edited again and saved without changing anything a few times. Did a reboot to be sure.

Then I went back in, did a manual guide reload and then applied the listings to the channels, saving and exiting, then going in and saving again without changing anything.

I then rebooted one more time (to be sure) and came back in and everything was fine.

Not sure why, but Rollup 2 seems pretty touchy when it comes to saving settings for some reason, and the scanning of channels can be a bit hit and miss.

Try doing what I did above and see how you go... it is possible to get going (on two DVICO Lite cards anyway).

Thanks,
Shane.

[poniboi]

Shane

Thanks for your reply. I'm going to try what you suggest in the order that you followed and hope I get some more channels back.

I'll let you know how I go.

Thanks again
Mark

[Shane]

Shane

Thanks for your reply. I'm going to try what you suggest in the order that you followed and hope I get some more channels back.

I'll let you know how I go.

Thanks again
Mark

Mark,

Since my post above allo kinds of hell hath broken loose on my main system... with WAF (wife approval factor) going through the floor.

I have been in contact with DVICO and they have given me access to new 3.1 Beta 3 drivers and software for the USB and PCI cards. Since installing this, so far I have had no issues.

Here is what I posted to them:
Things I have noticed with these drivers under "Emerald" (Rollup 2) vs. the 3.0.03 drivers:

1. Channel scan now detects all channels (previously multiple deletes and re-scans were required to get all channels)

2. Edit Channels now seems to save (previously un-ticked channels would appear), and so far no channels have been "lost" over time (previous drivers channels in the guide would dissappear, and required a full re-scan to get back). I will continue to monitor this.

3. Channel changing seems alot faster for both the USB and PCI - used to have a 4 second delay, now about 2 seconds.

4. HDTV on Channel Ten, Nine, Seven, ABC and SBS now work clearly with no stuttering and good audio using the DVICO MCE HDTV decoder. Very nice.

I have asked DVICO to post them as a "use at your own risk" download for us early adopters, but haven't heard back yet.

Regards,
Shane.

[pvogel]

There has been a lot of discussion on this subject at xpmediacentre forum.

One particularly interesting post is on this page
http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/showthread.php?t=3157&page=14&pp=10&highlight=rollup

where extremepc suggests that the problem is with .net rather than Emerald itself.  Might be worth checking out.

Peter

[poniboi]

Hi Peter

Will the Ice Guide be updated to include listings for the HD channels with a view to Emerald being officially released shortly? I've noticed that the HD flag is displayed in MCE2005 for appropriate tv programs but they are mapped against the SD channels.

Thanks
Mark

[pvogel]

Yes.  

That's the short answer!

We are testing it now, hope to have it released next week.  probably well ahead of Emerald!

Peter

[poniboi]

Thanks Peter!

That's brilliant news. You guys are making my life too easy...  

Regards
Mark

[jeffreyk]

I have been doing alot of testing today, and i can keep the system 100% stable is i DON'T load the icetv guide data.  As soon as i bring down the guide channels start to go missing.

Jeff

[Shane]

I haven't tried it without the guide data to be honest, as I use it so much to record programs I have forgotten how to manually set recordings

Jeffrey, Can you try something for me? I have found that using guide data, if I set recordings on programs, once the first or second program is finished recording one of the channels seems to drop away.

Can you try setting some recordings without guide data one after the other on different stations and see if channels disappear? I'd love to see if this occurs (or not) without guide data as well.

At least then we can get an idea if it is related to how we are loading our guide data.

Thanks,
Shane.