Windows Media Center EPG Data issues - UPDATE 7/27

Thanks for the heads up about your problem re-installing Vista.  I think you probably have the same Vista version that I have and your experience is exactly what I am trying to avoid and why I haven't tried any of the many forums' suggestions which involve flushing, editing registers, complete re-installs, etc.   As you might guess, my expertise (as far as Vista) is in searching databases, finding successful solutions and then applying known fixes, but avoiding all speculative or "iffy" trial and error!

Have you posted on any other forum besides this one?  Vast majority of all forums I've accessed do not apply to Vista and none apparently apply to my "early edition 2006" 32-bit Vista.  One poster (Vistaar) on the Green Button site http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?f=93&t=9155

has tried a lot of different methods but unfortunately I think his Vista is the "next edition 2007" (which became Windows 7) for which MS offered the TV Pack update but for whatever reason it didn't apply to the earlier edition.  So, apparently us early Vista owners can't install TV Pack, or as yet, I haven't found anyone yet on any forum who has been successful in installing it and getting the new EPG.  Vistaar's suggestion to backup the entire OS system before trying it might have worked for you to be able to re-install your Vista system but probably not any help to get the new EPG.

I hope to find time this week to check with Hauppauge about their WinTV v7.2 cd and advice about using TitanTV as the EPG. 

We need a way to combine all the many forums I've read about WMC and EPG into one big complaint forum so Microsoft can see how many people want to keep WMC, including using it on Vista which will not be supported after next year.  Many users like me (a "cable never") use it for reasons other than a free way to stream videos (a "cable cutter") or a DVD player.

Microsoft is portraying WMC as obsolete, that it is being used primarily by people for only DVD and cable streaming use, and that Windows 10 and XBox will include features to replace those 2 uses.  They are refusing to recognize there are hundreds of thousands (Millions?) of us OTA users who don't want/can't afford cable and pay for view, and who are using other functions of WMC every day which won't be available in Windows 10 and XBox.

I am one of those "nevers"; I've never had cable, don't want cable, and will continue to watch only broadcast (free) channels.  The reason I bought my Vista Media Center TV PC in January 2007 was WMC's ability to pull in OTA broadcast TV and be able to watch live TV, record programs, play DVDs, music, and radio, all while using my computer.  My original monitor had a 22" screen and WMC allowed me to resize the TV image from full screen to smaller than postcard-size screen so I could do all my computer work and watch TV at the same time on the same screen.

This makes WMC perfect for multi-tasking and now it's even better after my 22" monitor died because I replaced it with a 32" Vizio TV with computer input and simply connected it to my Vista! I often use WMC to track TV weather maps/warnings and favorite TV shows in a corner of my screen while I'm checking email or using other software, or conversely, if I'm watching my favorite TV show through WMC,  I can have a web-accessed stock market chart, Email, or Google search running on screen at the same time as WMC running my favorite TV program in a reduced window, plus I can be recording that program just in case I get called away from the screen or distracted by computer work.  The built-in feature of closed captioning on WMC has been a godsend if I can't understand something being said on TV;  I can just rewind and "Mute" and closed captioning appears - although sometimes I get some extremely funny spellings and wrong words being captioned!)

Of course, the schedule and recording part of WMC became very unsatisfactory after the EPG switchover, since now I can only do manual setting to record one interval at a time so I have to find a programming guide for times and channels.  That's another great feature of WMC - I can resize its screen so I can access TitanTV website, resize it on one side of my screen and resize WMC screen on the other so I can see both screens at the same time, making it a little easier to set up manual recording.

If there is any other program out there that can do all that WMC does, and as easy as WMC has been to use before this EPG switchover disaster, please let me and the many other frustrated soon-to-be-dumped WMC users know.  There's a ready-made market for it!

I'm sorry I can't give you further reassurance about how it might work with your set up.  I only just began using WinTV after replacing my hard drive and trying to reinstall Vista Home Premium 32 Bit.  I say trying to reinstall because I have hit a road block and cannot install SP 1 or SP 2.  This has left WMC useless as it continually crashes.  Prior to the hard drive failure I had been doing the same as you, manually scheduling what I wanted to record in WMC  since the EPG no longer works.  My original tuner failed two years ago and I replaced it with the HVR-2250, so I had the WinTV v7.2 installation cd.  This works but I still have to manually schedule recordings.  When I go to the TitanTV site and hit the record button listed with a show, it sends a tvpi file to my computer that shows up in Downloads but WinTV doesn't find it and record the program.  I suspect that if I was not having the problem with updating my computer and was able to download the latest WinTV version 3.9g that maybe scheduling from the Titan listings would work.

Thanks, RobertRinehuls.  As you suggested, I'm going to contact Hauppauge before I do anything else, and ask them if they can give me assurance that their WinTV 7/driver CD package is compatible with my particular Vista setup.  I am assuming there is something in that CD programming which makes TitanTV act as the EPG and program scheduler, and is why I would need to download TitanTV (which is free) to be my EPG. (Am I understanding this right?)  If it works, $9.95 for the CD would be a small price to pay to fix such a big mess!

FYI, Hauppauge website http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr1600.html has some information about the WinTV-HVR-1600 tuner, which is the one I have (the one used by MS in those early versions of Vista HP 32-bit with built-in WMC.)

Here's a partial quote from that Hauppauge website:

Notes:

• For Analog TV reception, you need an analog cable TV connection. If you have a digital cable set top box or a satellite box, the WinTV-HVR-1600 can connect via either Composite or S-Video inputs. Channel changing will be done using the IR blaster.
• For ATSC over-the-air digital TV reception, a high gain antenna is recommended. To check the ATSC TV broadcasts in your area, go to TitanTV.com and enter your postal code.

Note: depending on the strength of your antenna, you might not be able to receive all broadcasts list at TitanTV.

• To use the WinTV-HVR-1600 for TV with the Windows Media Center application, a Media Center certified DVD or MPEG-2 software decoder should be standard in your Media Center PC. If you are building a Media Center PC, check Microsoft's web site for a list of Media Center certified DVD decoders. The Windows Media Center application is included with Windows XP Media Center, Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Home Premium editions only. Note: the enclosed remote control is not MCE certified and does not replace Media Center remote control.
• ATSC TV recordings are not 100% compatible with DVD, and therefore you cannot burn them directly to a DVD.
• For use with Vista, the WinTV-HVR-1600 is certified for use with Microsoft's Media Center application. Not all included applications on the enclosed installation CD are currently certified for use with Vista.
• Some original models (specifically models 74551 & 74031) do not support clear QAM.

I suggested trying WinTV7 because you are suppose to be able to schedule recordings directly from the TitanTV listings.  When you run the setup cd you will choose whether to use WMC or WinTV7.  If you don't like WinTV7 and want to go back to using WMC just uninstall it run the setup cd again. Verify this with Hauppage before ordering the cd.  It's not really that hard so you shouldn't run into any problems.

I was just wondering if this problem with the EPG for Window Media Center is why Windows 10 does not have Media Center.  As far as I am concerned that is one reason not to install Windows 10 if you want to watch and record TV on your computer.

Here's my theory, after reading of all the issues and doing a clean install of Win7 to try to get the EPG to work (it didn't...download failure etc.).

Step 1: switch to a lousy program guide, which skimps on details and often just gives a general idea of the program (example...the Today Show, old Zap2it version= "Matt discusses the election with Joe Smith, cooking suggestions for Thanksgiving, Dylan reports on snow in Alanta ".  New, Roki or whatever version= "The Today show, current news and features".

Thanks for the downgrade, it's always nice to know LESS about what you may want to watch or record.

Step 2: make it so the program guide only works for SOME of the users.  This is worse than it working for no one, because then it implies something's wrong with the machines having the problem.  (Hence my clean install of Win7, which yielded a failure to download a program guide on the first try ever, saying it was due to previous failed downloads.

Step 3: keep bugging the WIn7/8 users to upgrade to Win10 for FREE, which has no Windows media center.  problem solved.

I have several Win7 machines bought especially for use with Windows Media Center, as it's a great interface for cable card TV.  If I upgrade them to Win10, I have several computers that will lay around useless.  If Microsoft breaks Windows Media Center because they "just don't care", I won't pay another cent for any Windows version, ever.  They already pretty much abandoned WMC with the known bugs and no fixes (slideshows that just run through a few photos then repeat, etc.), but it's still been one of the best features of Windows ever developed.

Now they switch from a program guide that works well to one that doesn't, for what reason?  All I can conclude is they just don't care, and this is one way to force its users to quit using WMC.

Incidentally, several of the machines seem to update the guide OK, pitiful as the guide is, but a new clean install absolutely will not load ANY guide, just the no data available...on the same zip code that the older machines happily download the guide info.  Brilliant.