Blasted EPG errors
 

Getting sick of how many times the EPG is inaccurate in recent days..It's getting so I can't trust it at all.Can't find any info on it anywhere.Is anyone else finding that the programmes shown aren't the ones advertised both in the EPG or in Radio Times.

Specifically I can't find if the last 3 episodes of Grimm are going to be shown at any point.What I'm getting is a series on a maternity unit.

Just been informed that it's not being shown this week..despite being advertised in the Radio Times.However it's been happening with a couple of other shows so my complaint still stands.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Yes l have noticed it on several other channels as well where it says one thing and something else is showing instead.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

It`s been on one of the usual odd breaks they have before a series end. The last episodes are a double header

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

I'm beginning to lose count of the number of times TiVo has messed up recordings because of inaccurate EPG information. It has failed to record programmes because of 'No longer in guide' errors when it clearly was, has recorded some episodes twice and failed to record others because they were incorrectly numbered - this was especially galling as the missing recording in question was the last of a series and was no longer available via catch up by the time I discovered the error - or has failed to record something because it was misspelt. There are more examples.

I don't know who is responsible for compiling the EPG, TiVo or Virgin Media, but whoever it is is doing a dire job.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Do you still have a V+ Maggy?

I've had the same problems too.

It's these people that are responsible for compiling the VM EPG for the V+ and the TiVo:

http://www.tribpub.com/tribune-media...ata-agreement/

EPG problems* can be reported to:

TivoGuideErrors@virginmedia.co.uk

* This can be used for the V+ too.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Sky Sports 3 are showing Scottish Football tonight from 7pm.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

I'm one of those people who prefers to record a whole series and then watch the episodes back to back. This often means that I only discover the EPG errors after the series has disappeared from the EPG. Infuriating and kind of negates the purpose of having a TiVo in the first place.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Virgin media yesterdays technology - today.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

That's a bit of a glib statement my dear chap...

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

But it is true my friend.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Only to those who want to see it that way....

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Well the V+ is rather old now.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

But he was talking about the TIVO!

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

But the thread is about V+

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

i never mentioned Tivo anywhere in my post.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Sorry, I thought you were referring to heavyside's reference to the Tivo in the previous post.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Seems to me that some channels arbitrarilly alter their schedules at the last minute so TV mags as well as the EPG(s) are all wrong. Not sure what they achive by this as people who want to watch the alternative being offered don't know it's on and those who were looking forward to the published programmes are also peed off as well.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

:tu:

---------- Post added at 09:48 ---------- Previous post was at 09:41 ----------


Bless! When we all know ALL new technology can go tits up without a seconds notice.;)

Anyway it matters not when all the info given out says one show is about to be shown but in actual fact ANOTHER show has been scheduled..and that's down to human error. ;)

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Very true i've experienced it many a time, i might rip into vm but in fairness i will say fairplay to them sticking to what works, well half works lol until they get things right with anything new they launch.
Many companies launch new stuff full of bugs (i'm looking at you EA and Activision) so credit where credit is due to vm for waiting a bit until they get it at least half right.
Back on topic anyway a site i use is tvguide.co.uk it normally is pretty good and updates almost instantly if anything changes, i haven't see GRIMM scheduled yet but week before last it did take a break at USA pace too, maybe this is why W ren't showing it this week? As i think W are quite close to USA pace now.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

You mean a bit like the BBC arbitrarily moving Wimbledon matches from BBC2 > BBC1 and generally messing around with the 6-8pm schedule?...

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Maggy used to have a V+, so I'm assuming that we're talking about the V+ EPG, but she may have upgraded to TiVo, which is a different EPG.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

As the thread is highlighted as a V+ one then that sounds reasonable.:D

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

I still have a V+HD .I'm not yet ready to pay to upgrade to a Tivo of any sort as my bill is high enough already..

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

yep I posted about this years ago on virgin forums ,advice from virgin was to keep a record of mistakes and email them .aye right:)

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Looks like you only have about six months left of the V+.

I've read on here that those forced to migrate don't have to pay the £5 per month TiVo fee.

Other staff have said that there is no difference to the charges as those on any other TV package than XL pay a £5 V+ fee anyway.

For those on XL, the V+ fee is waived, but this is not the case with the TiVo fee. However, it has been pointed out that the better discounts for TiVo within multiple product packages will usually cover the TiVo fee and more.

In short, it depends on what TV package you're on and what other VM services you take too.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Just read a post by SP to say that it's only the SA V+ that's going by the end of the head- not the Samsung.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Earlier programming (football?) caused Casualty to be transmitted late last evening. EPG didn't know this of course.

There must have been high demand for it later on BBC iPlayer as it did not offer HD or subtitles.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

I was affected by this too.

Luckily, I was at home whilst recording the film 'Dream House' or it would have chopped off the ending.

As I realised that programmes were overrunning I created a manual recording for the extra 15 mins at the end.

The Michael McIntyre programme started just as it was scheduled to finish!

I don't know how they managed to make up most of the time by the end of the broadcasting day for BBC1.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Yes - if the program you set to record has the "live" (or whatever) flag, then you get prompted to add extra time. Great stuff. If you are recording subsequent programs, whose start time may well get delayed, there's no such flag. I guess this falls under the dynamic-EPG argument, but has long been a frustration of mine too.

As for iPlayer in HD, I've noticed that programs will sometimes become available in SD within a few hours, but HD can take a bit longer. It's only when I've been trying to watch BBC Scottish news mid-evening that this has been noticeable.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Probably make it up when bbc1 moves to bbc news throughout the night.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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!

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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?

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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!

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

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

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Actually, so does mine! But the TV & Satellite publication has the next episode listed.

Maybe the publication wasn't able to accommodate the late schedule change and it is the EPG that is right.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

The thing is that viewers shouldn't have to guess what's happening..it's not rocket science for one department to speak to another even if they work for different companies.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Turned on for Flog it..only it's Tennis.Seems the BBC is as guilty of making last minute changes without informing anyone.:rolleyes:

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Gardeners World delayed due to tennis, EPG none the wiser. :(

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Just wait for Wimbledon fortnight and the first time a British player is on court approaching 6pm. Despite the program continuing on BBC2, the BBC simply won't let people follow the schedule and will insist on the match continuing on BBC1 and completely messing the schedule/planned recordings etc.

Any complaints to the BBC will, of course, fall on deaf ears with some scripted answer that completely misses the point.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

The EU referendum has caused problems with today's recordings.

As the EPG wasn't changed, It now thinks that programmes have been recorded when they haven't.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Was looking forward to watching Barging Around Britain yesterday only to find Emerdale was on instead. The Epg was still saying Barging Around Britain though!

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Yes, but then again, you haven't missed any programmes, Richard. When they are re-scheduled, they will record as normal.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Not if the TiVo thinks it has already recorded the episode. I'm unsure whether it realises if the guide is updated after the recording has happened

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Wow, that's a good point. I hadn't even considered that possibility, and of course, you are absolutely right.

Thank you, spiderplant, if this happens in the future I will be sure to re-record.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Why are Vm not even updating the schedule for the football. My Tivo wants to record the Ireland match today from BBC (its not on BBC !!) and cannot record from ITV because of a clash. I have to use my freeview recorder to decide which ones to delete. I am better off recording on freeview anyway as it has dynamic recording to adjust automatically for extra time and penalties, without silly old fashioned padding. Anyone relying on Virgins "superior" "premium" solution is screwed.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Why is the EPG even saying its on BBC anyway? It's not as if it was originally scheduled for that broadcaster! I can sort of understand a last minute switch from day BBC1 to BBC2 not having time to be updated but we've known this match was going to be on ITV for a few days now!

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Does your Tivo require a reboot?
My Tivo shows 'Homes under the hammer', followed by 'For what it's worth'.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Anyone take the Sun newspaper yesterday?
TV supplement shows football duplicated across BBC1 and ITV for all days.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Only if I run out of toilet paper!

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Todays football is even worse. My Tivo wants to record Italy v Spain 3 times. First at 16:30 and then twice at 19:30. Again my freeview box is correct and does not have it listed at 19:30. You pay £100's every month for a premium product that relies on a reliable EPG and you have use a freeview product to manually correct it!

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Which channels have it listed at 19:30?

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

😂😂😂

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Might it also depend on what the "first aired date" is set to? if the channel broadcaster/EPG supplier sets the first-aired-date correctly as being the rescheduled date, Tivo should see it as "new" and record accordingly?

I appreciate this depends on a bit of common sense prevailing, but I'm happy to be corrected on this.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

So again the BBC is careless about changing a late night film. No doubt there was an explanation that I missed. Good job I hadn't set up a recording.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Be glad when the tenis is over with as the bbc is shfting programs around left right and centre and it's driving me nuts!

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

!The quality of the EPG is getting worse.

I have a clash at 9am tomorrow and was looking for an alternative showing of the Andrew Marr Show. It said that there wasn't one- good job I know it's on the Parliament channel later on at 7pm or I'd have been stuffed.

Some clashes have appeared for Monday morning. Turns out that it's because the EPG says that Superfoods at 4:20am on 4Seven ends at 9am. It's actually only a half hour programme, so I've had to set a manual recording :(

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Why have channels like the BBC and ITV only got 6 days of programmes on the EPG as l wanted to look further ahead and it says to be announced soon when usually you can look nearly 2 weeks ahead on the EPG.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Well I can't see more than 6 days ahead.:confused:

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Those channels only provide EPG updates once a week. Usually it comes on a Thursday night, but currently there's a network fault that's preventing this week's update being processed.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Yes l thought there was a problem as usually we can look 12 to 13 days ahead on the BBC and ITV come most Saturday's

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Not on the VH+ we don't.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Same on the Vhd box I have in the bedroom.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

The Tivo does, but you should still now have next Saturdays and Sundays there.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Which obviously as Spider states is not there currently because of a network fault NK.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Is there any update on this? Lots of people looking at holiday next week with the Bank Holiday and will be unable to programme any recordings on BBC, ITV, Five channels etc without the EPG. Clock is ticking, Virgin...

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Fix not expected for at least another 24 hours according to VM. (seems to be on a rolling 24 hours timeframe) I seem to remember something very similar happened a couple of years ago and it took a long time to fix and that caused ongoing problems over a bank holiday weekend too.


EDIT: At least we now know it is NOT the epg updates causing the dreadfully slow menu faults.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

It's being worked on as a matter a very high priority, but it's clearly not a simple fault.

You can treat those estimates with a huge bucket of salt. They are automatically generated. They work OK for common faults like power loss to street cabinets, but not for things like this.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Well my partner has just checked it and sadly the fault is still with us it seems.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Strange that channel 4, +1, and HD are unaffected, but E4, More4, and 4Seven are.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

It looks like the problems have been sorted out now looking at the EPG this morning.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Yep - looks like it's been fixed

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

My box rebooted itself twice, the last being 3am. Not sure if this had anything to do with it.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Anyone else finding that there are sometimes delays whilst scrolling forwards on the EPG?

It also dropped a recording again this morning that doesn't have a repeat. Good job I noticed as these dropped programmes don't appear in 'Recording Hiccups' :(

Another poster has said that the lack of EPG updates has surfaced again and that CS told him that "it will sort itself out in 48 hours".

Tough luck then for anyone wanting to set off for the weekend.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Unfortunately, Richard, in this digital age, technical problems will occur. It will be interesting to hear what you have to say about Sky over the coming months! ;)

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Indeed nothing is perfect in life that is for sure.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

EDIT; Sorry thought you were talking about Planned Recordings not EPG Guide. Trying to multitask with broken Tivo and dodgy broadband and signing up to Sky.


Yes, it will slowly paint the screen but with blank lines instead of the text. I thought I would just check it for you now but the spinning circles and C501 errors from a couple of nights ago have just returned. There are several new bugs to do with scheduling and conflicts since the update but I am past caring about them now and it's not like they will ever get fixed if we take the time to document them. If they use the same software with more than 3 tuners I can imagine it being horrendous from a users perspective. Especially with "All channels" and poor EPG data.

---------- Post added at 20:41 ---------- Previous post was at 20:33 ----------

Here we go again:

We know of 2 issues in your area
Customers experiencing a Network Availability error message on the Home Screen with code c501

Reference no: F004704888



Fix estimate
26 August 11:00

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Now the stupid idea that Channel 5 has of sticking a news item in the middle of a film showing has my OH spitting because he only got half of Django Unchained because the V+ seems incapable of knowing the film is in two parts..

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

I noticed that too Maggy. What they often do is set up a Series Link to get it to record both parts.

A film with no ending is especially problematic as they are often not available on Catch Up due to rights issues.

Another thing I've noticed a few times is that the programme lengths are incorrect eg an hour long programme is marked down as being two and a half hours long, causing uneccesary clashes on the TiVo.

Also, sometimes the programme duration is marked down incorrectly, even though the actual length is correct.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

I thought I was cracking up yesterday.

The new Walking Dead episode was supposed to have recorded overnight. No sign of it, and no errors shown. So I set it to record at 9 pm. It didn't record. The error shown was "duplicate". A quick look at "upcoming episodes" showed it being repeated at 11pm after The Talking Dead. Nope it showed The Walking Dead title but was in fact The Talking Dead. Then I noticed it had also recorded The Walking Dead automatically... and was another recording of the Talking Dead!!!

I've set it to record again not as a series link, let's hope it works!

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Yes, I had to set each episode of the new series as individual recordings. It was telling me that a series record had been set up, but was refusing to actually record it! I am keeping an eye on these episodes because if I miss one I will have to explain it to my wife. She would not be happy. Frankly, I'd rather confront a zombie! :Yikes:

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

The first showing was at 2:30 am on the Monday as same time as being shown in the U.S.

So the 9pm showing was a repeat and so my series link did not record that one as it recorded the 2:30am one.
However Talking Dead that I also recorded was actually 90 mins long instead of an hour like the EPG so that was the main problem as Talking Dead is not repeated so missing the last 30 mins.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Another new annoying aspect is that I can no longer see 7 days ahead.Now it's down to 5 days..

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

And for radio programmes it's down to one day only..this day..:mad:

My husband recommends I manually set it up but that's not the point.I should be able to use the V+ box to it's full extent not rely on someone getting around to updating info on programmes..

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

You're gradually losing services on the V+ as it's running out of memory to be able to deliver the services.

I think it will only become worse and then you'll be expected to swap it for a TiVo.

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

And will Virgin swap the box for free?

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

If they don't I expect he'll have his legal team on it. :rofl:

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

Apart from errors, can anyone please tell me why I can get only 5 days EPG on my VM+ box
Thanks

Re: Blasted EPG errors
 

5 days? You're lucky,I only get 24hrs on my Vhd box!