Pioneer Disappearing EPG - Page 3

Well, my TV Guide listings have gone again. It's been 2.5 weeks since the last loss. For me, there's a consistent pattern where if I leave anything in the CD tray, and the PVR on DVD mode, it messes up, probably during an EPG download. (Not to say that the same problem can't happen because of bad data transmission, or other causes).

I'll leave it alone, and hope it comes back again.

Well, one day later, it came back on its own again. Didn't do anything special.

One other thing to try, Clear any recordings that do not have a show anymore. IOW if you had a timer for every night or every wednesday for example. And now the timer is orphaned due to that show not being on now that the fall season has arrived. Could it be that the TVGOS is trying to locate that show? And failing at that point it doesn't finish the guide data processing?

My 531h started displaying the rebuild thing. I went and looked at timers and I had two with no data associated as the shows were no longer showing, 1 moved to a cable channel this unit dows not get and the other is off the air in the current guide (Think PBS and fund raising schedule). When I removed these two timers the next day TVGOS was working again.

I'm not saying it is the fix or even that it is a fix, however for me twice now that has revived my guide. It can not hurt and could be worth a try. The only thing was it is not intuitive how to remove a timer, I mean highlight the timer and then press menu? You would think highlight the timer and press select.

Excpet for this problem I love this unit, good quality recordings, easy edits, decent interface. Very slow guide even when working it reminds me of my Dishplayer 7100's guide speed.

Good Luck

RogerT, one thing that helps make the glacial EPG go better is using the number keys to jump forward / back N hours. While in the EPG just hit a number on your remote and see what happens.

Still no data, now 6 days later ... but the scheduled recordings are working ...

I did know that actually but even that seems slow, Also the right side rocker switch can go ahead or back 24 hours in the guide and as I recall it the left hand one paged up/down in the guide.

Just from curiousity do you have any orphaned timers as I described?

I originally set up my 531 on August 1st. The TVGOS was fully populated by August 7th. It has worked perfectly every day since then....no missed recordings and no missed updates. I get my listings off my PBS station using a Motorola digital cable box hooked up thru L1. The only thing I have not gotten is any type of ads on the TVGOS screen, which is fine with me.

Often (but not always), my schedule contains a "Lost Channel" entry. Since I haven't lost any real channels, it isn't a big deal i just find it odd.

brian

My conclusion on TVGOS working after reading many posts on subject is that it is highly dependent on your cable system and type of set top cable box. This seems to be true wether you are using Pioneer, Panasonic, Sony or Toshiba etc...

TVGOS refused to load on my Pioneer 531 through my Raleigh Time-Warner SA3250HD cable box S-video input and I have it turned off. I think it might load if I bypassed the cable box and cable RF from cable straight into 531s tuner, But then I would not have Pioneer control over the digital channels.

I use the SA3250HDs VCR commander function (and its IR blaster) to schedule and start/stop recordings on my Pioneer.

That sounds suspiciously like the "Last Channel" entry at the top of the listings. I thought that was there as a convenience to show the information for whatever channel you tuned to most recently.

I had no listings off and on for a couple of weeks, but things have been OK for a few days now. I think it's a little early to celebrate yet, though.

During the listing outages I was always able to find listing information using the "Search" function, never had a problem with scheduled recordings, and never missed downloads of new guide data (ie, even though the machine wouldn't show me anything in the "Listings" screen, it was actually downloading guide data and I could always find listings for shows over each of the next 8 days using the "Search" function).

I've just bought a second Pioneer (this time a 633 to complement my 533) and I'm waiting for a guide outage to see if it will affect both machines. It will take a couple more days before the 633's guide is completely populated, though...

Mine works perfectly since my last reset (what, 2 weeks now?)

Only settings I changed are

1) Guide language (english instead of dutch)
2) Set clock manually (instead of auto from a certain channel)

EPG only flashes up during the hours indicated on the "next download" screen, for about an hour, then goes away.

I hope it keeps working!

This should be very interesting. I'm curious to see if both lose data at the same time or not. We'll then get a better idea of who's at fault here, TVGOS or Pioneer. Not that Pioneer will ever be free from blame. They could have handled losses of data better than their current impelmentation.

You are correct for mis-reading it as "Lost Channel". However, since it never has any info (just "no listing" or something similar), my misreading is somewhat understandable.

Brian

To Pioneer Electronics Canada
Customer Satisfaction and Technical Support
300 Allstate Parkway
Markham, Ontario
L3R - 0P2

I purchased a DVR-633H-S, at Future Shop, on Sept. 7, 2005.
S/N EEDL000819CA

I am writing this letter with best intentions, to enlighten technical support of an issue that I have now encountered 4 times, and I have read that it is a very common issue.

I telephoned technical support this week. The gentleman whom I dealt with was unfamiliar with this issue.

I am on Rogers cable, use a direct cable connection to the recorder with no cable box. The TVGOS populates overnight and 6 to 8 days later, the guide disappears, and displays a message that it is rebuilding the database based on my changes, and will be displayed within 24h. However, the listings do not reappear, and a reset is necessary.

Weekly programming is non existent, and daily programming is necessary making the unit more work than its worth, and a total disappointment.

I have enclosed 28 pages of a form titled Pioneer Disappearing EPG, where many others experience this same problem.

I hope and pray that a fix for this problem may be found. I truly hope you take the time to read these notes, and work with TVGOS to figure out the flaw causing this problem.

Sincerely,

.......

(Hope they do something here guys)

Hi All... Maybe someone can help me with my problem...bought a Pioneer DVR633H and very happy with it although picture is less bright than the TV... but my biggest problem is that you can't program it without using the EPG something I overlooked... as my setup includes 3 different receivers and I want to record international satellites programming the EPG does not help me. In the past I saw some cheap remote control in the "as seen on tv" that you could beam the chanel, time on and off to the VCR. Is there something like that in a learning (or Pioneer capable) remote control that I can use to timer programming my Pioneer? I don't mind to have to leave the remote control pointed to the Pioneer... Thanks for all the help guys....

Speedmaster, you should start a new thread for that question.

Another data point about the disappearing EPG:

I lost my EPG data around Sep. 30th. Been waiting since then for it to come back; programmed shows have continued to record but there's no EPG display.

I left town for about 9 days and came back and now, 3 weeks after initial EPG loss, I STILL have no EPG data. Looking at the debug info, it looks like it came back on the 12th but then disappeared again (I see download events on the "VBI Data - VBIDL" debug page.

I haven't done any resets, just did a complete power cycle to force a reboot. Sigh.

Well, had another, different EPG issue and thought I'd let you-all know about it.

I've had a Pioneer 533 for a couple of months and have had a number of "missing EPG" incidents where the guide data is in fact downloaded and stored in the machine (as evidenced by the ability to search for and find program information), but the TVGOS won't display anything in the listings screen except words to the effect of "Resetting your channel lineup based on your setup changes". When this happens, scheduled shows record as normal and new data continues to be loaded into the (hidden) guide even though it can't be displayed via the normal "listings" screen.

I recently bought a second machine, this one a Pioneer 633. The 633 is installed downstairs and has a feed through a splitter from the cable outlet to the RF-input. The guide data loaded normally and for a couple of weeks all was well. Then a couple of days ago it encountered a different kind of EPG data loss. The "listings" screen displayed the normal channel lineup / time matrix, but each of the entries showed "No Listing". This was displayed for every channel for the entire 8-day range of the guide.

When I went into the "Schedule" screen, the listings I had scheduled using the guide (ie, I had found the show in the guide's "listings" screen, pressed enter, and selected the recording options) were there, but greyed out and with no information. The shows I had scheduled manually (ie, pressed "Timer Rec" button on the remote and manually entered time, channel no., etc.), showed in blue as per normal.

While the guide was in this state, guide-scheduled shows did NOT record, but manually-scheduled shows recorded normally. Fortunately, I only missed one show and was able to catch a later broadcast of it. My faith in scheduling shows via the guide now in ruins, I have rescheduled all my shows manually.

Last night, without resetting the machine or making any other changes (other than rescheduling everything manually), listings started to populate into the guide again, and I now have listings for today, tomorrow, and 8 days from now. The customized channel lineup I had configured is still intact. During this entire incident, the upstairs Pioneer 533 was unaffected and continued to display listings and record shows normally. The 533 has never behaved in the way I just described for the 633.

I'm not sure if this behaviour is the "normal" way a 633 reacts to whatever causes the guide data to go missing, compared to what happens on the 533. There's perhaps a small chance that it has something to do with the fact that I customized the channel lineup, since that's never been done on the 533. I'll keep monitoring both machines to see what happens.

I have the Panasonic DMR-E95H. And although the EPG loaded correctly, I was frustrated by the constant channel changing on my cable box while listening to Music Choice--which I have cabled directly to its own input on my receiver (of course I have learned since, that I can just power on the Panny while listening so that it won't try to update the EPG when I don't want it to.

The real frustration that caused me to "disable" the TV Guide functions on my E95H is because the blaster did not prove very reliable in correctly selecting channels for my preset programs. Although I saw the unit have some occasional difficulty with one and two digit channels, the frequency of that difficulty was in excess of 40% of the time with three digit channels. I use it manually now and it works fine, but I am inconvenienced to have to remember to make sure the cable is tuned to the correct channel so it will record my desired program instead of 3 hours of Music Choice--which I listen to a lot.

But the real reason I am responding is regrding RGAZZARA's note to others about turning of the TV Guide. I have "turned off" the TV Guide function, according to the instructions in the Panasonic owner's manual--several times. BUT, I have yet to figure out how to TOTALLY turn it off. Even with the EPG disabled, the TV Guide home page screen displays when the Panasonic is powered on. And the ONLY way I can find to turn it off is to press the TV GUIDE button. But next time I power the machine on the TV Guide home page screen again displays. Soooooo, unless someone out there has a procedure that I missed in the manual, the TV Guide "functionality" can be disabled, but one really can't completely avoid the TV Guide because the TV Guide home page can NOT be prevented from displaying when the machine is powered up.

Anyone else???

There is a setting on my E-500 that allows turning off the TVGOS on start up. I believe it is in the TVGOS set up menu. I am not at home right now and so I cannot check it, but I have set by E-500 so that the TVGOS does not appear on start up.

RG

My 533 guide came and went. In Boston I have two PBS stations, Ch2 and Ch44.
Channel 44 has the best reception on my RF in, so at night I turn my 533 on 44 when I shut it off.
My guide has worked great since .

rgazzara, thanks for the note. I just looked at my setup menu on the E95H. I am not seeing the option you are referring to. Maybe I am not looking in the right place??

avstooge,

Turn on the TVGOS. Move the cursor to the top of the screen. Move the cursor left or right until you highlight "setup". Three buttons should be displayed below. Move the cursor down to the 3rd button (review options). Click on that button and you will see a message that asks if you want the TV Guide auto display on or off. Choose off. That will prevent the TVGOS from appearing when you turn the recorder on.

RG

RG,
Thanks for the note. I did what you said and it worked. However, I also scoured through the E95H owner's manual and am darned if I can find any mention of that menu at the top of the TVGOS screen. Thanks again.

You're right, it's not in the manual.

I live in BC too, and the same thing happened to me on my 533 right around the same time it happened to you. All my listings are back now except for one day, which I imagine will be back by today. I figure it was just an issue with Shaw cable service, but it's strange how only one of your units experienced the problem.

I live in New Jersey. I have had the Pioneer 533 for 3 weeks and can not get the TV Guide Listing. I get the channel list but not the programs. I have a cablebox (cablevision) so I can get scrambled stations. The cable line is connect to the Cablebox, the cable box is connected to the 533 via Line 1. Any suggestions.

Wow, Pioneer is awesome. I'm not being sarcastic. The unit may have a problem, still, but today I got a callback from Pioneer DVR support checking on my trouble ticket from 6 weeks ago. Alas I had to tell him that it's still not working for me -- right now I'm heading for 4 weeks with no EPG. Scheduled recordings are still working (as described above by myself and others) so I'm not really jumping up and down screaming. It's just that it would be nice to program new shows, navigate the EPG, etc.

I mentioned to the guy that there was a whole community of folks here (at avsforums) with this same "disappearing EPG" problem, and he was very interested in that. I gave him directions to here and he might come by and take a look to see the trouble reports. Everyone be on your best behavior And remember, this thread is about the disappearing EPG -- you've got it, it works, and then it disappears and says it'll be back in 24 hours. But takes days if not a week or more to come back. I'm just saying, let's keep the problems sequestered Thanks everyone.

Fortunately I'm a good test case, because I'm strictly over the air. No cable, no satellite, no IR blaster, just 9 channels of OTA fun! So it can't be blamed on CableMegaCorpInc and whether they're passing the VBI data or not.

mike1007, search this forum some more. This thread is about having EPG working but then it disappears in a weird way. Off the top of my head, it sounds like you only have video going into the DVR -- no RF from the cable company. Unless you have the IR blaster hooked up so that it can command the cable box for you, I don't see how it would get the EPG data, unless maybe you left the cable box on the PBS station overnight. Search the forum for ideas. I'd split the cable and stick it into the DVR and see what happens. Of course, I don't have cable so whaddawino.