WMC EPG Guide Ending?

I am in the UK and my WMC EPG is only showing TV guide data up to (ominously!) the 31st December. It has been tardy to update in the past but it has never got this bad. Anyone heard if Microsoft plan to terminate the EPG data presentation? I read somewhere that users in Ireland stopped getting their data on 12th December and it is not going to be reinstated. Time to install DVBlink and Digiguide perhaps?

Seems this issue is being reported on both 'The Green Button' and 'Windows Experts Community' who are playing merry hell and frantically raising tickets with Microsoft but without a satisfactory reply. Guess we will find out on Tuesday!

Unfortunately to access that link you need to jump through various MS loops which seems to involve providing a lot of personal data. It would be helpful if someone who has access can post the Q&A's here. The Irish EPG went down on the 6th December. Now it could be that whoever is responsible for the UK EPG has been on holiday and everything will return to normal when he gets back to work on Monday. Hardly satisfactory though.

Looks like Canada is no longer getting an EPG according to TGB although the US has data until the 12th. No response whatsoever from Microsoft anywhere on the net so is this the end of WMC? If so it no longer makes sense to mess around with a relatively expensive HTPC when a dedicated PVR and a Dune/Popcorn Hour will do the job just as well. Does JRiver work as a PVR and if so where does it get its EPG data from?

I will try EPGCollector which will give me 7 days of data.

Ahh, the joys of dealing with Microsoft:


I have now got EPG Collector working thanks to this guide on TGB:

"For those of you using FreeSat, here is what I did to get guide listings again.

1. Install EPG Collector from http://sourceforge.net/projects/epgcollector/
2. Run "EPG Center" and go to File->Change Collection Parameters... and select the file installed at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Geekzone\EPG Collector\Samples\Collector\UK - FreeSat.ini" (default location)
3. Ensure on the "Output" tab that "Import the data to Windows Media Centre directly" is selected with an import name of "EPG Collector". Also ensure that "Flag all programmes as part of a series is chosen"
4. On "Lookups" tab ensure that Movie Lookup and TV Series Lookup is enabled
5. On "Advanced" tab ensure that "Use FreeSat Huffman tables to translate compressed EIT text" is selected
6. Go to File->Save... to save these settings
7. Go to Run->Collect EPG Data... to gather the data but ensure Media Center is not running at the time. This may take 10 to 15 minutes.
8. Next we have to set each channel to use the EPG Collector listing information. Unfortunately I could not seem to do this in GuideTool. Therefore you need to go into Media Center and edit each channel and go to "Edit Listings".
9. You will then find an entry for each channel that EPG Collector has found suffixed by "-EPG Collector". Select the appropriate channel and save these settings.
10. Once you have done one channel you should see listings present and can then do the same for the other channels.
11. Having ensured that all the channel listings are working correctly then set up a scheduled task to run EPG Collector (instructions in the Readme.txt) at a time when you think Media Center will not be running. I picked 1.30am."

The Irish EPG data ceased as of 6th December, the UK as of 1st January and the consensus seems to be that the contracts for EPG supply are being allowed to lapse. There are reports of data failing in the USA and Canada as well but nothing on the same scale as the UK.

Seen it before with TiVo UK. I bought a TiVo in 2000 and paid an extra £199 for "lifetime" subscription to the EPG data. Of course their idea of a lifetime and mine appear to be different as they ceased the EPG supply in 2011, citing a new exclusive agreement with Virgin Media Cable as the reason Fortunately the TiVo community responded by creating their own EPG data source (Alt EPG) and the good old TiVo Series 1 still works like a dream.

Actually I am finding EPG Collector a better source of metadata than Microsoft provided, although it is only a 7 day guide. Never personally saw that as a problem because I use Remote Potato to schedule recordings from anywhere in the world using the RP App. Downside to EPG Collector was it took me a full day to set up and get working because of the lack of new user information (we need an Assassin guide!). The developer is very responsive however and the sudden rush of new users means installation is becoming well documented and much quicker. So well worth the effort to get EPG Collector working and it means no longer being tied to MS. There is an active and quite agitated thread on TGB tracking the complete lack of response over the downloaded EPG data loss and the alternatives.

Shouldn't that be complete to the 16th (2nd Jan + 14 days)? Guidetool is great if you have a EPG source but it does not work for the OTA EPG, nor does it recognise EPG Collector unfortunately. The latter omission means you have to edit each channel within WMC to associate it with the EPG Collector data rather than do it quickly from within Guidetool.

Probably very true! We must remember MS have no binding contract to provide an EPG in WMC, not that it would make any difference. Someone tried to sue TiVo for ratting out on their "lifetime" agreement with 30,000 users (at £199 each) but it came to nothing, obviously. At least TiVo were kind enough to send a message to all boxes to tell users a month in advance they were switching the EPG off.

They don't need to do anything else, as people will quickly move away from WMC. I think I am fairly tech savvy but even I came very close to hooking up my Humax Freesat PVR again and dumping the whole idea of HTPC PVR. A Popcornhour can play any video you throw at it, simply and without fuss. The video quality and scaling are as good as WMC or even MPC-HC so it does beg the question if there is a place for WMC!