V+ : Blasted EPG errors

[heavyside]

I no longer trust the TiVo EPG. Once again it has failed to record the final episode of a series - Blue Eyes on More 4 - and I only found out by checking as this has happened to me before.

In Recording Hiccups it was listed as 'No Longer in Guide' when it quite clearly was. Fortunately for me there is a repeat of this episode on Sunday morning but the other times this has happened the series had ended.

From now on it means I will have to check that every recording that has been scheduled has in fact been recorded, which kind of misses the whole point of having TiVo in the first place.

As I said, TiVo can't be trusted to do what it's supposed to do.

[telegramsam]

Just like last Sunday the EPG for sky sports channels on my v HD box are completely wrong! I panicked became I thought the football had been replaced with rugby league!

[RichardCoulter]

This is getting out of hand now.

Just going through my planned recordings to check tomorrows recordings and a huge chunk are wrong.

Programmes have been replaced by something totally different or taken off completely.

This is a PITA for a normal PVR, but worse for the TiVo as it thinks it's recorded a programme when it hasn't along with other knock on effects.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

This is getting out of hand now.

Just going through my planned recordings to check tomorrows recordings and a huge chunk are wrong.

Programmes have been replaced by something totally different or taken off completely.

This is a PITA for a normal PVR, but worse for the TiVo as it thinks it's recorded a programme when it hasn't along with other knock on effects.

Are you sure, Richard? I don't seem to be having this problem. Don't forget that tomorrow is a Bank Holiday, so some of the regular programmes are not on, or maybe on at different times. If you have manually recorded programmes, the planned recordings will not be taking account of the changes due to the Bank Holiday but if you've set your recordings through the EPG on a series link, then you should not have any incorrect recordings showing up.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Are you sure, Richard? I don't seem to be having this problem. Don't forget that tomorrow is a Bank Holiday, so some of the regular programmes are not on, or maybe on at different times. If you have manually recorded programmes, the planned recordings will not be taking account of the changes due to the Bank Holiday but if you've set your recordings through the EPG on a series link, then you should not have any incorrect recordings showing up.

I've found this on Sony, Animal Planet and Real Lives so far.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

I've found this on Sony, Animal Planet and Real Lives so far.

I tend not to watch these channels much, so I can't comment on the schedules, but I do find it strange that incorrect titles are appearing on your planned recordings. My experience is that where there is a programme change, the programme you wanted recorded simply doesn't appear.

So my question is, did you set these programmes as a series record from the EPG or are these manual recordings?

[japitts]

I know a couple of times that I've reported what seemed like blatant EPG errors to Virgin, it turned out that Sky & Freeview also had the same errors, and so it seemed like broadcaster-error.

Every other time I've spotted errors, it's been far enough in advance that the EPG people (or whoever it is that answers the tivoguideerrors address) have managed to correct it in time.

[trickytree]

I don't know if it was the whole day but Sky Movies Disney was completely wrong for the few hours we kept looking.
The kids wanted to watch something and at that time something else was already part way through. It then continued with the next film not starting when it should according to the guide.
Basically the times and the content were completely wrong.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

I tend not to watch these channels much, so I can't comment on the schedules, but I do find it strange that incorrect titles are appearing on your planned recordings. My experience is that where there is a programme change, the programme you wanted recorded simply doesn't appear.

So my question is, did you set these programmes as a series record from the EPG or are these manual recordings?

It also happened on Radio 4.

Because I have used so much of my disc space, it is attempting to delete recorded programmes early. I override this by telling it to 'Keep until I delete'.

To create space to do this the TiVo greys out future recordings and says that they won't be recorded.

I then go into 'Planned Recordings' and tell it to record the programmes that it's greyed out.

My logic is that it will grey out programmes more into the future and by then I will have created more space by watching and deleting some programmes.

What I've found sometimes (but yesterday was particularly bad) was that when I selected eg My Cat From Hell on Animal Planet, it comes up with a totally different programme that I then delete from the planner. It seems to do this when there has been a change in what the broadcaster said was going to be shown.

At other times, it doesn't give you an option to set it to record, just VOD. I've found that this tends to happen when there has been a schedule change and the original start time of the original programme no longer exists.

There isn't anything that one can do to delete this (now) rogue entry and it comes up in 'Recording Hiccups'.

These days it doesn't seem to give the correct reason for not recording the programme. Most failed recordings are simply labelled as 'Limit Reached'.

I don't know if this is supposed to be used for cases where the HDD didn't have enough space to record the programme or if the recording didn't take place because the number of episodes set to keep would have been exceeded (I set mine to all episodes anyway).

In this case I would have expected the reason to be given as 'No longer in guide'.

In other cases, programmes have had their start times altered. The original entry remains though and is greyed out- the false reason given for not recording it in these cases is given as 'Conflict'.

How hard can it be for broadcasters to decide what to show and stick to it?

I'm not talking about occasions where sport overruns etc, but cable channels with no live content that show mostly repeats of prerecorded material all day.

[Taf]

I was gobsmacked last evening. "Casualty" started about half an hour early due to a programme about an ex-boxer being added. But the EPG was corrected for the change in schedule which meant the TIVO recorded "Casualty" correctly!

[heavyside]

Originally Posted by Taf

I was gobsmacked last evening. "Casualty" started about half an hour early due to a programme about an ex-boxer being added. But the EPG was corrected for the change in schedule which meant the TIVO recorded "Casualty" correctly!

I set Musketeers to record on BBC 1 and when I checked it this morning I found that TiVo had recorded Casualty. Then, when I checked the backwards EPG, I found that Musketeers had vanished to be replaced by Casualty. It's a dynamic EPG, all right, but it would be more useful if the dynamism happened before the programme went out, not afterwards.

Again another programme not as advertised..What's happened to the last two episodes of Bones series 11? I give up..what's the point if changes aren't flagged to us the viewers.Seems it's a mix up in the US so we don't get it this week. Would have been nice to know.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Again another programme not as advertised..What's happened to the last two episodes of Bones series 11? I give up..what's the point if changes aren't flagged to us the viewers.Seems it's a mix up in the US so we don't get it this week. Would have been nice to know.

Not to worry, Maggy. Part 20/22 of series 11 is on Sky Living at 9pm on Monday 20 June and there are two more to come after this on subsequent weeks.

[denphone]

Its still rather irritating that we have these mix ups though OB.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Not to worry, Maggy. Part 20/22 of series 11 is on Sky Living at 9pm on Monday 20 June and there are two more to come after this on subsequent weeks.

My EPG is showing it as Series 11 Episode 19 (The Head in Abutment) on Sky Living on the 20th June at 9pm.