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Not going to touch this until padding is fixed.

Seriously - I dont want Icetv to be doing anything with padding... Icetv is an EPG - and thats what you should concentrate on. W7 has improved its soft and hard padding functionality over Vista - both in scope of things like whenever possible and always, and the time increments have increased dramatically.

Interactive adds complexity unneccessarily - and so far just introduced problems. I want an EPG, and just an EPG. I can live with the padding in W7 - and guess what it works. If interactive comes along and stuffs up start and stop times - who do we blame... Microsoft will say its Ice, Ice says it Microsoft - the arrows point to each others shield and us poor users get frustrated.

Keep it simple.

Dont play with things you dont understand.

Interactive with 2 mins padding is absolutely useless in Australia - and we all know it.

Quick note...

Followed the instructions to the letter for getting the EPG running in Windows 7.  First time I tried it - as I waited until I got the RTM version - it went reasonably well...

It all works and is great - but you might want to update the instructions for others...

1. Go! (In Melbourne) does not automatically get assigned the guide - all the other channels do, but I had to manually associate this channel.
2. First time I ran the EPG fetch routine - it did it, but failed - caused an error on the loader which was reported back to Microsoft. Although it produced the error dialogue it did appear to load the guide data, subsequent loads worked without any errors (was this because it was the first time it was run or maybe because Go! was not assigned properly - who knows).

These tests were based on the RTM build of Windows 7 - straight from technet - virgin machine - full install (not upgrade) - no other software installed, just the scan of channels and quick check that media center was working before getting the EPG going....

Now I better go update the guide with some graphic logo's.....

Yeh, especially when on the front page of their web site it says

Never miss your favourite shows again  ;D

I got caught with this... and of course not very happy...

As a long time user of Ice and long time supporter - I thought Id seen all the possible problems, but this one is a new one... Fancy just moving one show and swapping its night... Not very professional.

Where is the Quality Assurance ?
Where is the apology or comments in the forums when someone just mentions it ?
Will it happen again next week ?


So we missed a TV show - big deal some say - well it is a big deal if its a show you want to watch, and you pay for a service which purpotes to tell you that you will never miss a show again...

So give them a break ? hmmm... I think everyone has given icetv a break for a long time - we supported them while they setup, while they get their act together... while they fought neine. And we are glad they have survived.

But to continue to survive, there needs to be innovation and improvements. Windows 7 is not far away, and although there is a beta guide it is riddled with some problems, yet no subsequent releases.. Along with new software, needs guide improvements.

What about notifications via email or SMS if errors are found at a late moment to avoid missing your show ?
Service Level Agreements ? Discounts if something goes wrong and affects you ? ie. Icetv makes a boo boo like this - you get an extra week in your subscription...

Time to move forward and improve - as others will come along and innovate and icetv will die.

Its really getting tiring of this - no answers / no help onbehalf of MS.... So the best thread discussing it is the one that dgaust setup over at;

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/293888.aspx

I think it deserves a daily bump to keep it visible near the top of the list / and also a click on the 5 star rating to help highlight it...

I started the campaign yesterday of a daily bump - someone else can try each day - be creative as you like.... Surely this may annoy or amuse someone enough to actually respond or actually help out...

The next campaign I think would be - a new thread for each posting - we all just go over there and start flooding our problem onto the world... maybe enough statistics can be caused to put this problem higher on the list...

Oh well none of these ideas will work... nothing will... so might just give up and move onto something else...

Thanks to dgaust - at least we got a little response...

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/293888.aspx

"Im still working on typing up the information. However, it is low priority to me and as other things come up, it gets bumped down the todo list. Im hesitant to put a timeframe on it. It should be done in the next couple of months. The optimistic side of me is thinking weeks."


Mike is a nice guy - one of the nicer MS people around... however I am sure he is swamped with other things... and to worry about this little country - well.... We know the MS position.

Now I could say lets all email him, annoy the crap - but what would that achieve. Maybe praying to your respective god that it turns up in weeks and not months is a good thing >? Or maybe if just icetv contacts their MS rep in Aus to have the issue escalated, and somehow Mike is given some free time to write it up ?

Who knows - no solution.... Not even a slab of beer to Mike would help ?

Yep who cares about facebook apps - get the priorities right first...

1. Fiji update
2. N/A Channel 9

My subscription came up and only renewed for a short time... the clock is ticking... else I might just move elsewhere....

And although it has changed.... Microsoft have made statements in other forums that there are 2 KB's on the subject describing how it could be done. It is no longer done via a webservice, and that it is now performed via supplied command line interface. They also went on to say, that although they dont / wont support 3rd part / external epg providers - they will supply the required information to those who need it.

So I would hope the dialogue is open - and it is not far away, considering all their offers of help

You would think so wouldnt you....

Missed it last week - due to the increasing inaccuracies of a paid guide service....

Me thinks you lie....

Quote - 'This problem is being fixed as we speak and you will already start to see scheduling information available for Ch9 '

About an hour after this statement - a refresh of the guide data for Melbourne - and nothing for Ch9.


My concern is also about stability, who knows when, later today, next week or next month... when the police come and raid, or everything is exhausted - suddenly ch9 data disapears without a warning...


Gee a Tivo is starting to look good again - even at $700 and available next month - at least no ongoing guide data subscriptions...

So I read the news section... a bit of lack of detail though...

But what makes me angry is the way this has been communicated to the 'loyal' followers of icetv.

As usual - no reall announcement - just turn off the service... causing hundreds of people to start tinkering - why have I lost ch9... hmmm...  lets get the guide data again... nope not fixed... Oh sh*t has the MS bug returned in loosing channels / guide data - as we just had a major patch only days ago...

So after tinkering.. for awhile - is it just me or others... Log onto the forums - found a couple of comments - so I know its not me... and then a link to the news item...


So yep I am angry ch9 has done this, but what makes me more angry is the way icetv has neglected its user base;
- ie. they waited until complaints occured in the forum of where is my ch9 before posting the link to the news
- icetv knows everyone's email address - it may have been nice to send out a little apology email to tell you about the issue, and resolution, and hope that it will be fixed... Nope instead email is used for promoting and selling services - not to advise customers of a major issue.

Loosing faith here guys... customer service appears to be falling... hope the phone has been busy tonight guys...

I know my guide was working at 6:30pm, but shortly after that, my machine did a guide update, and now I have lost ch9 - gee if I had of known, I could have turned the update off, and limped home for a few days while you sort out the mess....  Now I have to consider doing heaps of manual recordings, or abandon icetv for a freebie that still operates.


Reckon others will be starting a thread soon on compensation....

Its also illegal - even the USA. The broadcast flag stuff was overturned through courts and no longer can be enforced.

Since this article came out, MS have come out to say its a bug and will be rectified.

No concern, except for those journos who want to do some MS or Vista bashing.

The world we live in is just completely stuffed...

So now I can see we are all just going to be rooted. bottom line.


This case apparantly goes back to award damages to Nine (what a joke). The judge will no doubt award damages and legal costs probably amounting to millions to be paid by icetv. Most likely crippling icetv towards bankruptcy.

Yep I am sure another appeal can be mounted - but quiet often judges will ask for the money of damages etc to be placed in trust, while it awaits another 12 months for another appeal, thus likely to still cripple the only valid service around.

Of course, this decision will scare off all the other (inferrior) free services... leaving no guide data for Australian TV. 

So we all loose out. Guide data services move to the underground and become a source of criminal fund raising... just like buying Underbelly DVD's in Victoria (LOL)

And then ch9 will save the day by taking over ownership of IceTV, obtaining all the details of the subscribers of the service and attempt to prosecute them just like the RIAA and MP3 music copyright infringements...

Then Ch9 will either just shut it all down or charge $50/week for the privlege of getting out of date / wrong time electronic TV Guides.

So do we just send a copy of the TV Week to India each week for some person to type/scan in...


Oh well the future is not looking that good eh?

I just hope somebody see's sense of all this. Have often thought of entering politics, I know the first act of parliament I would put in place would fix this once and for all and put egg on the faces of a few corporate bullies.

Geezee....

What has always amazed me about this topic... is the fact it is abc guide data. Without bringing up the long winded copyright discussions and court cases of the past, it was noted that ABC were always happy about icetv providing their guide data.

In fact, it has been noted in these forums, that ABC supply the information to ICETV. So its not like that someone needs to watch, interpret, and work out the series order like we can all imagine might happen with the Ch7's and 9's of the world.

If ABC supply this data, why can it not be asked of them to supply full information. The information exists at ABC, in fact their programmin schedule is available with full details for months ahead at the ABC website!

As for priorities, everybody has a differing view. Mitch may not have kids, and hence its not as important as trying to do something else... Im not interested in on demand TV services through reeltime or anything similar, or other potential Icetv services - I just want a guide service that offers accuracy and completeness. When we get that CORE product working at its best, then we might talk about other things....

Nope the HD Channels mucked up.... There was no EPG data for Ten HD yesterday. It was not even displayed or sent from Icetv. Just not an option...

However, get new guide data tonight, voilla - its back, and you can select it and assign it to a channel.

Alls well again (I think)

I have installed the latest iceguide software on a new Vista 64bit machine. All appears to work well.

I also have patched this machine, so I can use remote desktop to maintain the HTPC box from a distance, patching to allow concurrent users to be able to log on - that way I can sneak in through the backdoor, without the main user logging off and it continues to play TV....

However in doing this, the ice software is defined to startup for ALL users - so it is already running when I log on through remote desktop, but it starts up another instance. I can kill it off easily, but at worst its just annoying...

Whay keys in the registry should I move to make sure that this software only runs for the one user - the main user when it logs on, and not any other remote desktop user?