The Official AVS Dish DTVPal DVR Topic! - Page 530

That has happened to me several times; I've recovered from them by cycling the power or doing a soft reboot.  Your solution here: ... is much better.  Thank you.

No way to do a soft reboot if none of the buttons are working. I thought of pulling the plug but that is not something I would want to do to my very reliable Pal.

I have had that happen probably 6 times over the life of my 2 units. I just wait about 5 minutes and they come back to operation.

Next time try the "RECALL" button...

Or just enter the station number on the keypad and hit 'select'.

TVGOS gone but so far not really missing it. With stations changing programming schedules left and right, with substitutions and specials, its hard to do anything but check what is on that nite and setup recordings for that nite anyway.

I have so much stuff I have to delete because my weekly recordings picked up shows that were replaced for a nite or more.

TVGOS is gone but will quickly be forgotten? Was it over rated as a feature and caused more problems than it was worth?

Is there a way to edit/delete the recordings' descriptions? I know their titles can be edited. Thank you in advance.

No.

Darn and thanks.

Hmmm... TVGOS reminds me of:

There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

AFAIK, no other EPG offers the flexibility and ability to customize its display as did the most advanced versions of broadcast TVGOS but working with TVGOS could be a frustrating experience requiring the patience of Job.

The latest internet delivered version (10.02.99?) is a pale shadow of what TVGOS once was and indeed may soon be forgotten.

I think it depends on how folks used it. I never used TVGoS much because they never listed the channel I record most. Also the station's PSIP guide was fouled up until a few days ago. So I always checked Zap2it.com and scheduled my recordings based on that. Once we lose TVGoS it just means I'll have to follow that procedure for any other channels that don't provide enough guide via PSIP.

But judging from the sturm und drang on this thread, I'd say many Pal DVR users became quite accustomed to scheduling recordings several days in advance and will miss the convenience. Some have moved on to alternate solutions, but many will probably discover they can get along OK with nothing more than PSIP guides.

Also there's been some anxiety over how accurate the Pal's clock will be once TVGoS is gone. Luckily, for most users the clock seems to have remained reasonably accurate. The only annoyance has been getting the Pal to recognize that TVGoS is really, truly gone, so it'll synchronize its clock to PSIP data instead.

Utoh... looks like the TVGOS end has finally hit Houston?

Yesterday, I noticed that the guides for all the stations higher than 8.1 PBS were "No Information Available". Then, around 6pm, suddenly we had info for all the major networks through midnight or so.
Now today, we have no guide for the low numbered channels but have it for the channels which were missing it yesterday.

Suddenly, while I was scanning forward and backward in the guide, program info started to magically appear? Now, we have program info for all the channels up to 9pm... and it seems to be appearing bit by bit as I watched the PG?

What in the world is going on???

Are there any options for having a guide in these units such as connecting it via ethernet cable to the internet or something like that?

Thanks for the help!

No. When TVGOS is no more the DVR will only display PSIP info in the guide, which usually is only for a few hours.
The good news is, at least it wil still function, unlike some Sony DVRs.

Granted there is less hours of guide in the NY area but for most stations it is much more than a few hours and for some 24 hours and more. Not quite as bad as you have it.

Also I'm not sure how good a guide is more than a day out anyway.

I get TV Guide magazine, a daily guide in the local paper and a weekly guide from the same paper on Sunday. They all pretty much disagree on a number of programs on tonight in terms of what is new and what is a rerun. If they can't keep it straight I can't see that ROVI can either.

Also if you are watching and recording TV regularly you pretty much know what is on from week to week and when there are specials you want to record.

I use TitanTV a lot for programming that's not in the DVR's guide.

I use multiple sources beside that one: Zap2It.com and TVguide.com.

Me too. I frequently find Zap2It is the most likely to show last minute changes in programming.

To me, TVguide.com is the most accurate. Like I said, use multiple sources. Even check the stations/companies' schedules like on fox.com.

TVG On Screen has gone dark for the Salt Lake area. I miss it already.
Edited by James_in_Utah - 2/6/13 at 4:13pm

I've seen several similar reports; apparently when TVGoS quits (temporarily or permanently), the Pal gives up trying to download TVGoS data after a few days, but it doesn't automatically load PSIP guide data for the stations that used to be on TVGoS. It will only load the PSIP data as you scroll through the guide.

To get it to load PSIP guide data automatically, you have to make it "forget" TVGoS. A factory defaults reset will do this. An alternative that has worked for some is to delete the channel that used to host TVGoS, reboot, and add it back. If that works, you only lose timers for that station, rather than losing all your timers.

There have also been some who've reported losing TVGoS guide data but not the TVGoS clock. If this happens, a factory defaults reset may not work - as soon as the Pal sees the TVGoS clock data, it'll start expecting the guide data again; if that never comes, you'll just be back where you started.

To guard against this, you can set your zip code to 00000 during the factory defaults reset (or after deleting the TVGoS channel but before rebooting). That way, the Pal won't recognize TVGoS data even if the host station hasn't removed their TVGoS equipment yet. Unfortunately, no. In theory it's possible but it'd require a firmware update. Since the Pal is no longer manufactured, the businesses that sold it have no interest in ordering a new firmware update from the manufacturer (Echostar). One other thing. I don't think any of us yet know how often the Pal will automatically load PSIP guide data. Since many stations only provide 12 hours of guide via PSIP, if the Pal doesn't reload the guide often enough, you may see little if any data in the guide depending on how long it's been since the Pal last reloaded it. The guide should fill back in up to 10-12 hours as you scroll through it. Luckily, some stations broadcast more guide data (typically 24-72 hours), but you may need to "linger" on a station longer for the Pal to receive all its guide data.
Edited by JHBrandt - 2/6/13 at 11:19am

In Bay Area TVGoS chugging alone very well. KPIX continue support it while taking 17.5 Mbps for just one channel in the mux.

My DTVPal seems to scan once every two hours. This is easy to verify. Turn on the Pal and bring up the guide. Find a station (other than the one you are tuned to) that has 12 hours of PSIP data. Turn off the DTVPal. In an hour, turn the DTVPal back on, and see how many hours that same station now has, then turn off the DTVPal. Keep repeating this every hour until that station is back to 12 hours of data. Mine consistently would have 12 hours of data, followed by 11 hours of data, then back to 12 hours of data, and then back to 11 hours of data, etc.

BTW, TVGOS is now dead in Wichita. My last clock set on my Sony DHG was at 12:06pm this afternoon. When I got home from work the data had stopped. I fired up TSReader, and verified that the TVGOS PIDs were both gone.

Mark

Darn, and Mark lost it.

Mabuttra,

Thanks for checking and verifying this!

So, now the the TVGuide logo is gone, should I do anything special like a factory reset?

Only if you're having problems like Jack Morris reported or you need to adjust the clock. If it ain't broke; don't fix it

I would vote for "spring" cleanup. Cleaner DVR will be provide "clean" performance.

I am a scaredy cat and although my DVDPal DVRs are a PITA, they are still working and show the program material in the proper slot after a bit of scrollings and waiting and scrolling.

So, although I have NEVER done a repeat or periodical recording of some show during some consistent time slot on a station.... I am now considering it.. but is that now possible, and if so, so I set the repeat recording to a time/day/station or wait till the show appears in that slot and then do it?

Or, is that now impossible regardless due to my not having more program info past 12-16 hours or so?

If you want a Manual Timer to repeat, the option is right there in the Create function.

If you want an Event Timer to repeat, you need to start with a guide entry for the right timeslot on an appropriate day of the week (the correct day for a weekly event, any weekday for a Mon-Fri event, Saturday or Sunday for a Sat-Sun event, any day for a seven-days-a-week show), even if the guide entry is for a different channel.  (The default "No Information" entry will do if the event begins on the hour and ends sixty minutes later.)  Then find it in the guide, press Select (not Record), and follow the prompts from there.  (Thanks to MAButtra for this tip.)
 
Edited by dattier - 2/8/13 at 8:48pm