TV Guide On Screen - post your info here! - Page 43

An interesting thing just occurred. I tried to schedule a recording via TVGOS and Symbio (a Discovery channel program) and it wouldn't record. It came up "Cannot Record Copy Right Recording". However, when I tried to manually record it, it worked. Go figure.

Been studying the posts in this forum and have found them helpful, although the results were less than desired (namely getting TVGOS to work!)

Mitsu 62827 located in the northen suburbs of Denver - Comcast is the provider, using CableCard.

Here's the facts:
1) TV is set to get the time "automatically" from PBS
2) TVGOS set up as active on the CableCard input with the proper Zip

The results:
1) TV never sets the time
2) TVGOS never downloads

I split the cable to feed the CableCard and the analog input...new set of results:
1) TV time gets set within minutes of tuning to the local PBS station (6 - KRMA)
2) After an evening, TVGOS is requesting cable system to load and will download programming

(interesting side note: on Mitsu, the TVGOS that downloaded on the analog side wasn't available when the input was on the CableCard setting)

Comcast has swapped the card (yet another exercise in frustration).
Talked with Mitsu this morning - no software upgrade available. They suggested I call Motorola to discuss the operational capabilities of their CableCards (note that Motorola don't talk to consumers about CableCards, only their cable company clients can contact them)

I'm guessing that if the time doesn't set via the CableCard input then the chances of getting TVGOS are pretty much nil.

Any collective thoughts on how to get time/TVGOS working with CableCard? Anyone vote for a "broke" Mitsu? Anyone want to join me at the bar, drinking to forget about our technology woes???

Any input appreciated...

I have tried the following and was able to see the tvgos clock set in only 5 to 10 minutes of having the TV off.
If you know what station your tvgos host is at, then disable/delete all channels in the TV's channel list except for that channel number.
Make sure it is the analog version of that channel.
In the Samsung, you could also do the same on the antenna side.
This forces the TV to start its scan on the one and only channel left enabled.
If you do not get a clock there, then there is probably something wrong with your set.
Double check that you are getting the VBI screen by turning on close caption.

The above will also locate a host channel more quickly, but you probably have to wait overnight.

I've got a Comcast CableCard too, and got my TVGOS to work (only with the help of this forum!) There are posts as to how to check your host channel, mine is 97.


This was the breakthrough for me... for my area one of the digital PBS channels is 17 and that's the digital version of what's on 97. So I edited the tune channel associated with channel 17 to 97. That solved my issues.

I have a Toshiba 62MX195 just purchased last month. I am using OTA with the input on Antenna 1 as specified in the manual. The On Screen Guide has never downloaded any information as opposed to my Panasonic recorder located in another room that has the Guide and it works as advertised. I have made over 5 calls to Toshiba Customer Service with no fix in sight. Software Version for TV described as: 1.2.4, Aug 26 2005-12:43:26, FW1.69, Sub:54. Any suggestions? Garner

I assume when you set up the OTA you programmed the ANT input for "antenna" and then did a channel program to let the TV discover the available channels. Do you know what station broadcasts the VBI data? If so, does it show up in the add/delete channel menu? When you check the TVGOS diagnostics does it identify a host channel? If so, is it correct? If not, have you tried removing the channel in the add/delete channel menu and then changing the zip code or performing a TVGOS reset so it will search for a new channel?

Without the TVGOS identifying a host channel, correct or otherwise, you will never get any guide data.

I've tried changing the zip code, unplugging the tv, and most other things listed on this thread. The host channel is not identified. I talked to the engineer of the PBS station transmitting the data and there is no problem on their end. As mentioned, my Panasonic DVD player picks up the Guide perfectly, so the logical conclusion is that there is a problem with Toshiba's hardware/software that remains to be resolved.

The following site may provide some other suggestions:


http://tvgos.theabsolutenuts.com/

You didn't answer all the questions. Does the channel that is broadcasting the VBI data get identified when you did the channel program and is it in the add/delete channel menu?

On the Section System-Statistics Screen, Host ID 0x0, Host Channel -blank, VBI Chan 1:0-16 (correct), CB, CR and CC Lineup are all 0x0. Garner

Yes and yes.

Well I had to go back to the Morristown zip code, 08057 , I took out the cable card to get a channel lineup, then i re-inserted it, and i got the choice of 2 cable card lineups...Both are waaaaay wrong but I had no luck with any ocean county zip codes. At least now it works (somewhat). I had to go through and set each channel manually....At least now it works.
Did you ever get the Toms River zip code to recognize a channel lineup?

One thing Toshiba should do is send you the latest S/W, either 1.2.8 or apparently 1.3.0 is now available. Although 1.2.8 was to address TVGOS and Cablecard issues, it may address your issue.

If you're using OTA, there is a possibility that the TV is not able to get a clear enough signal on the PBS host channel. I assume your recorder in the other room is also on OTA?

Tune to the analog PBS channel and turn Closed Captions ON and see if the captioning is coming through clean. That should tell you that the VBI data on the host channel is coming in. Also, is your clock set? In the TVGOS diag screen for Clocks, is the set channel defined?

The only explanation as to why the TV is unable to lock onto a correct Host channel is that it needs to find it. It may just be that the first time TVGOS is enabled it needs to scan all channels before it can lock onto the host channel, but if it finds "potential" host channels it will park there for a while before moving on, so the TV needs to be off for quite a while before it will find the correct host channel. One thing you can do to speed that up is go into your TV's channel map and disable all channels except the analog PBS (Host) channel. Since that is the only channel the TV can scan it should lock onto it quickly overnight and you should at least see the channel lineup in TVGOS the next morning.

Toshiba stated the new software does not address this problem. The recorder shares the same antenna. The clock set channel is identified correctly (Ch. 16 PBS verified host channel for TVGOS) and closed captioning comes in clean on this channel. I have tried disabling all but this channel but it still did not get recognized. Hopefully Toshiba will come through with a fix. I did not buy the TV for this feature but it would be nice if it worked as advertised. Thanks for all the suggestions.

How old is your recorder. It may be using version 7 of the guide. If so the information is transmitted totally separate than that of version 8. You should be able to tell by just looking at the layout and menu options.

Also, when you open up the diagnostic screen, an important item to watch for is the TVG patch showing up. It will be in the first screen on the line that reads:

08.01.53/xx.xx.xx, the x's will identify the patch.
Should be 08.06.XX, if it is zero's, your not getting the signal. If the patch is there, watch the #'s in the reception-slicing. You need to have high #'s in TypeC or CCorr.

Unless you have a high # in the CErrs count in reception-slicing, it is highly unlikely that the TV is causing the issue. You should try and talk to the person at Toshiba that talks to TVG

I have posted to other threads on this forum and others with respect to a TVGOS problem on my Pio 1130 HD, with CableCard (I also have Comcast/Moto 6412 on Input 3). Tried many fixes, but none worked - UNTIL - I gave your suggestion a try this morning. I remapped Channel 22, (MD public televison WMPT) shown as the VBI channel, to the Host channel, Channel 123 (apparently an analog version of this channel) and when I came home this afternoon, vitually all my channels had populated with listings (for no apparent rhyme nor reason certain listings are missing, e.g. the Golf Channel, CNN, Discovery-HD, TNT-HD) - but this is as close to getting TVGOS to work as I have ever gotten! I thank you!


LIY

Please explain the procedure for "remapping". Comcast Atlanta recently went digital so I lost TVGOS that previously worked on analog Channel 8. It appears that Channel 97 has been added (apparently an analog version of PBS) but still not populating TVGOS listing.
On my Panny px500u with cablecard, you can only add or delete channels via menu, not remap. Are you referring to the TVGOS menu for remapping?

After buying a Sharp Aquos 45LC-45GD5U (Central New Jersey Cablevision) to "avoid" a box and spending about 6 hours with Sharp representatives who indicated "no problem," the following is Sharp's "unfortunate" response:


Unfortunately the TVGOS feature is unavailable in the NJ area. The reason
behind this is the cable providers in the region (Time Warner, Cablevision
and Comcast) have opted to move their broadcasts to digital only. The TV
Guide signal is only carried over analog signal, specifically on the analog
PBS station. With the loss of this analog PBS signal in certain areas in
the US, TV Guide signal is also lost.

Although some of the Aquos televisions are compatible with the TV Guide
feature, Sharp has no way to control whether or not the TV Guide signal is
broadcast in specific areas. The cable providers have the final say on what
they will broadcast over their lines.

We apologize for any inconvenience this causes.

Thanks!



As I learned (too late) from this Forum, this problem has been around for over a year, known to the industry, but "hidden" from consumers.

Sharp's lawyers and I will apparently be meeting in a New Jersey court to "discuss" their trade practices.

Exactly, (apparently) you must edit the digital channel carrying the the TV Guide data to its analog equivalent (assuming that the analog equivalent does not show up in your TVGOS listings), by using the TVGOS Channel Editor. If your read the posts above, you will see instructions for this procedure. To get you started, here's a quote from a previous post:

"If channel 97 is not showing up in your channel edits it means that Gemstar has not added it to your zip code lineup yet. Until this happens you should edit the digital version of PBS, if like my lineup will be channel 6, and change the tune channel to 97 which may help with your downloads. That's what I had to do until Gemstar got the channel added."

Hope this helps. This is way too confusing and all associated with TVGOS - major electronic manufacturers, Gemstar, the Cable companies - should be ashamed.

LIY

Anyone else lose their channel edits today? Mine have been maitaining since January 18th and today I noticed they were back to the defaults. I also noticed some new logo icons on some of the channels. Anyone know when those were added? I'm trying to determine if it related to losing the edits. One positive is I had 29 grey entries at the bottom of the guide with no designation for channel or call letters and now it appears they are all digital music channels so the guide now has more of the total lineup. I had been keepng track of the Reception Slicing to see if there is a relation to the number of downloads but stopped after a month so the last entry I have is from 02/18. Here was the information in case anyone is interested.

Starts 1769298
Ends 1752112
Drops 21879
TypeB 1294245
BCorr 1294270
BErrs 178
COver 6
TypeC 456977
CCorr 155
CErrs 102
CBad 1106

I noticed that the channel icons changed yesterday and I know they were not changed the day before, so they must have been changed in the update sometime between 2AM and 7PM EST yesterday (3/1). I noticed this change because INHD had no icon in TVGOS before, but now has the INDEMAND icon, as well as some other changes like CSPAN/CSPAN2 and Discovery Health.

I did not lose any edits or notice any problems relating to this change.

I had the same thing happen to me over a month ago and posted it here. I lost my edits at the same time the music channels showed up. I think that if Gemstar updates the line-up for your zip it will cause it to return to the default setting.

Jim, thanks for the response. I received the following message from Gemstar and it sounds like that is a possibility.

I asked our data engineer about losing edits due to logo changes and he said that is possible that the logo change did undo the edits. We are sorry for causing this grief for you yet again.

The following response is related to the fact that not all of the HD channels show up in a search of the TVGOS using the HD option.

We expect the HD programming problem to be fixed mid March. The original roll out was expected last month, but due to complications, the roll out was pushed out.

Hmmm... I'm not sure what the magic formula is to avoid losing the channel edits, but I haven't lost them in ages now. I got the new logo icons a few days ago, didn't notice exactly when, and then in response to a billing issue Comcast re-initialized my CableCard AGAIN, and I had to reset the TV (Mits 52628). Lost the time until the next update, but the TVGOS channel edits stayed solid.

If they add new channels, will they show up as a new 'On' channel, or do I need to go looking in the channel editor?


I never noticed an HD option, I'll have to look for it, or is it new?

I had to reset my TV last weekend by unplugging it. When I did that. I lost my guide. But the next morning it was back on with all of the edits intact. However, my problem with the TV persited and I had to unplug/reinsert the CableCard. This wiped out the guide totally. Since then I re-edited the line-up, I got the new logos as you guys have mentioned and I started getting channel listings. But I just realized that I didn't get any listings for next Thursday or next Friday???

I had 1.2.8 from Toshiba and it solved many of my TVGOS problems but I still had CC issues. They sent me 1.3.1 and it solved all of my CC issues but now I have no TVGOS. It will not load data and it will not show the time.

Guess I'll start disabling all channels except for the analog PBS station.

Joe

Just to add a little to the current TVGOS stories. I have a Toshiba 42hp95 plasma with a cablecard and TVGOS. The system workd great for 2-1/2 months. Then last month we had 11" of rain in one day here in Tampa Florida. That day there was so much thunder and lightening that I unplugged the TV. I also went away that night for the weekend so the TV was unplugged for over three days. It has never been the same since.

First I had to reset the cablecard and then started adding my edits to TVGOS again. Then three days later I had to reset the cablecard again. I set the channel edits again and it was working fine the past week and a half. Then I noticed the other day that I got the new logos but also noticed that my clock said "--:--". This screwed up recording to the Toshiba Symbio because it uses the clock. Well tonight I hit 'guide' and there still isn't a time but now all the channels are gone!! I'm ready to get the damn cable DVR which I didn't like in the first place.

I went into the System info and his is what I got for version:
08.01.53/08.06.30

Thanks.

-Jody

I have the same version info you have. The second set of numbers is apparently a software update downloaded to TVGOS at some point.

I had some quirks with my TV, but my TVGOS has been flawless after finding some tips here. One thing that I did after the latest TVGOS update was to perform a full Factory Reset on the TV. My theory is that there may have been some lingering memory corruption in the system. I have not had any related issues since I did that at the end of January.

I've read page after page in this forum and I'm still unable to find a solution to my problem. I have a Toshiba 62HMX95 and use a cable card provided by Motorola. I've had the software update (1.3.0) installed for a couple weeks now and I still have not seen any results. My problem is I don't even have a host channel being listed in the diag screen, therefore, not channel data is being loaded and it's not even trying.

I'm not sure what channel is supposed to be my host channel as I'm in Tri-Cities, Washington and nobody around here seems to know, the tech at Charter (my cable company) are, for the most part, dimwits. Toshiba has said they will have a tech contact me but that still hasn't happened and I'm getting quite impatient as I've been waiting on this TVGOS to work for about 4 months.

I've ran fresh out of ideas and would like some new ones. Here' some info I've gathered and fixes I've attempted:

Firmware Update
Hard reset of TV
Changed zip code
Host channel is definitely analog, although I'm not sure which one it is, but all channels 1-99 are analog in my area.
Tried splitter, one to ANT1 input for the cable card, one to ANT2 input for straight cable feed.
Clock is not being set at all.

So I don't know, I'm getting pretty frustrated and I would appreciate if maybe somewhere here could help.

Thanks in advance,
Korbin

magredc5

Thanks for the reply. I called up Toshiba (after the local cable company said it wasn't their problem, they did try another card they said worked) and they are sending me a firmware upgrade. So I'll see how it goes with that.

-Jody