Poll - Guide Data Quality

[STC]

I would like members to chime in if they feel the quality of their North American guide data has become worse, especially recently. Zap2it, in my view seem to be offering less and less accuracy as time goes by.
Just last night I found my HTPC re-recording three shows it had already recorded some time ago.
I'm also finding quite a few instances of shows that are marked as something completely different to the actual show broadcast.

I wonder if there is anything we can collectively do to help resolve the problems be it via Microsoft or Zap2it.

[slowbiscuit]

I have Tivos and WMC, and WMC has always had worse quality. WMC would routinely record shows that said they were new and weren't, or the guide had the wrong show in the slot. This might've been excusable before Ceton announced the Q (and now Whiteman if it ever sees the light of day) because the data is free, but Ceton should be concerned now. Especially given the latest problems just downloading the stuff.

If I was them I'd think about putting in a configure option to get data from Schedules Direct even if it does cost $25/year, but I don't know if they can get a licensing agreement to do that since SD is supposed to only be for noncommercial apps.

[Ack]

I've been getting a lot of re-recordings. I had just recently changed all my scheduled recordings from "New" to "New and Rerun". I thought I wasn't understanding it correctly in that WMC should not be recording reruns unless they had not been recorded before. I was just about to change everything back to New only.

I'd like to find an accurate guide preferably the one provided; I'm willing to pay for a service if I have to but I'd definitely like it to be more accurate and, oh yeah, not worry about it ending in 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 days like we've been having too often lately.

[adam1991]

Chiming in here. +1.

Ceton, what will you offer as a replacement....???

[STC]

I added a poll. Please vote!

[Initialvic]

I thought it was just me... I constantly have listings with no info, wrong info, recordings being duplicated. I wonder how many shows I could actually keep if I didn't have duplicates One plus side for all the bad guide data for MS is it makes me think I need 6 tuners at times so I think a Tivo XL4 won't cut it for me

[STC]

^ Interesting. I understood TiVo to use the same Zap2it data.
Perhaps richard1980 can enlighten us. He knows a lot about who-does-what with what data.

[Ack]

I wanted to vote Two Sugars Please but I had a feeling that didn't really mean anything.

[bmblank]

Really, I'm fairly happy with my guide data. There are some issues, mostly late at night the guide will be an hour off or so, criminal minds later on a Sunday night (rerun anyway) actually records half of cold case and half of criminal minds, out the like. Also, law and order seems to have issues, though the prime time brand new ones are usually right.

Edit: also, tapatalk must not have poll support, sorry.

[STC]

^ I changed 'indifferent' to 'fairly happy' -almost the same! - please vote!

[volfan6415]

I voted fairly happy, soley becasuse the current solution while certainly not ideal doesn't require me to pay for another EPG provider and install other software. In my mind unless the windows EPG becomes completely useless the other service options are really a non-starter. I don't like adding plugins as that is just one more piece on my end that can break. Now that being said, my answer would def. change if the current solution ever ran completely out of data or the data that was in it was so bad as to be completely useless.

I can tolerate the occosionally extra recording but actully missing recordings bc of a lack of data would be inexcusable.

[Wolfshadw]

I voted fairly happy because I rarely check more than 24 hours out anyway (if I did, what would I get excited about tomorrow?). So while my guide didn't update for some time, it never really affected me. As for the guide being wrong, I feel it's a minor annoyance, but it's not like I'm considering a lawsuit or anything like that.

-Wolf sends

[richard1980]

TiVo gets their data from Tribune (http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/298), the parent company of Zap2it (see copyright at bottom of Zap2it's web pages). I do not have a TiVo so I can't directly compare the TiVo EPG to the WMC EPG. However, from what I can tell, there's only one database of information for both companies. And I know for a fact that Zap2it's website has been inaccurate on many occasions. Even now, their website is inaccurate. I can't say for sure what all is inaccurate, but I know for at a minimum their listings for Discovery Channel do not match the information published on discovery.com, plus you can clearly see where they use what they call "placeholders" by examining show information and looking for things like this:

Every one of those "unknown" episodes will be recorded because WMC thinks these are new episodes. I have several shows that are all this way. And while this is very annoying, my primary concern is that there are actually new episodes of shows that Zap2it's listings don't reflect, so they aren't being recorded. I do not know if this is true, but it concerns me that there is a real possibility that it is.

This is about to be one of those "straw that broke the camels back" situations....people at Zap2it and Microsoft need to get their heads out of their asses. It's bad enough that Zap2it is screwing up the listings, but IMO it's even worse that Microsoft isn't doing anything about it. Of course, even if we could get the listings corrected, there's no guarantee that the listings will ever make it to our computers.

I certainly hope Ceton is planning something for the Q to address this kind of issue. If not, it may be back to the land of the cable box for me. TBH, I have no faith in Microsoft's ability to address the EPG and cover art issues, so that really only leaves Ceton as my sliver of hope.

[STC]

What is a PVR without good guide data?

The core component for any PVR is to be able to record an actual show being broadcast. It's as simple as that.
Media Center appears to be having problems doing this.

[STC]

This is an interesting set of stats building. I'm surprised there are quite a few 'fairly happy' votes.
I wonder if this issue affects certain locales or channels only?

[cnewsgrp]

I voted fairly happy. For the system with no monthly fees, its working very well. I mainly watch and record primetime serials and have had very few issues. Having said that if there is a better guide available for annual subscription then I would pay.

Note: How easy is it to download and install listings ourself from other sites? Where is the guide xml file on my computer?

[richard1980]

This is an interesting set of stats building. I'm surprised there are quite a few 'fairly happy' votes.
I wonder if this issue affects certain locales or channels only?

Do not confuse "fairly happy" with "there are no issues". Look at the posts in this thread from people that voted "fairly happy". Bmblank voted fairly happy but says there are issues with the quality of the data he receives. Volfan6415 is fairly happy because it's free, not because his listings are accurate. Wolfshadow voted fairly happy because the EPG didn't completely run out on him, not because his listings are accurate. In fact, he admits there are issues with the quality of the listings he has. Cnewsgrp voted fairly happy because there are no monthly fees, not because his listings are accurate. That's 4 out of the 7 votes so far, and none of the 4 say their listings are accurate (3 of them actually say there are issues with the quality of the listings).

So it's not really fair to draw the conclusion that people that vote "fairly happy" are saying their listings are accurate. The correct conclusion is they are fairly happy with their listings despite the problems with delivery and accuracy. If you want to draw a conclusion about accuracy, the poll needs to be about accuracy, not feelings.

[STC]

I understand what you're saying. Starting the poll, I should also have been neutral and asked neutral questions, but my first post was one of complaint.
It's just a ball-park touchie-feely poll, and I am surprised at the results.
My comments reflected on the fact there are currently 37% of users that are not experiencing (or don't know they are, if they are) a reduction in guide data quality.
Fairly happy, is pretty much how the guide started for me. I, like you have noticed a considerable decline in quality since the early days.

[makryger]

I would be another one of those people who recognizes the data is not always accurate, but am still happy with the listings themselves. The shows i watch are properly recorded 97% of the time. That other 3% is usually either (a) the guide has not downloaded the specific info on a show, and so it is deemed to not be a "new" show, (b) a previous sporting event ends up pushing my show later, or (c) I have my system to record new shows only on a specific channel at a specific time, and if the show is moved up or back by a timeslot, then it doesn't record.
I blame (a) on guide data accuracy, I blame (b) on bad timing, and I blame (c) on imperfect media center logic.

The lack of guide updates could be a huge problem, but it hasn't gotten right down to the wire yet where it's disrupted my tv viewing.

[STC]

(b) and (c) aren't really related to this poll. It's just about the quality of guide data.
I do understand your points though. They are variables to consider when working out why a failure occurs.