UPC Ireland (Chorus and NTL) recently updated their channel lineup and channel numbering. Is it possible to update your backend so that guide data for ESPN e.t.c will download?

Was wondering the same, we're missing 3/4 channels and a few are in the wrong location now. I entered the details in the feedback section about 3 weeks ago but there doesn't seem to be anyway of tracking the issues (which is a really horrible user experience btw).

I had a proper look today, way more wrong than I thought (plus I have way more channels than I thought I had - I've put my trust in the MCE EPG for way too long). Anyway details below - format is <Channel ID> <Current EPG Mapping> <Correct Mapping>

ID:18

Version: 2733508531

NTL Digital Dublin

ID: 8040000

TV Signal: Set-top box

Schema Version: 18

Language: en

Start Date: 1/28/2010 12:00:00 AM

End Date: 2/12/2010 12:00:00 PM

119         More 4+1            ITV2

121         G.O.L.D +1          ITV3

128         Comedy Central Extra    Comedy central +1

131         n/a         Buzz TV

132         n/a         Smile TV

133         n/a         Sky3

134         n/a         Comedy Central Extra

136         n/a         ITV4

141         n/a         Sky Arts 1

152         n/a         More 4+1

153         n/a         G.O.L.D +1

214         Discovery Turbo               DMAX

407         n/a         ESPN

409         n/a         ESPN Classic

410         Setanta Xtra 1    ESPN America

423         n/a         Eurosport

425         n/a         Eurosport 2

504         Discovery Home and Health        Investigation Discovery

512         n/a         Home

717         n/a         Kiss

Whilst waiting for the channel numbers to be corrected I suggest you change them yourselves manually. The exact way differs depending on which version of Media Centre you're using, but it is possible in the Settings/Guide area.

Thanks Mark, I was doing just that as I was writing the post. Thinking about going the unmapped route, but I presume it still loses its mappings every couple of days which drives me insane (is there anything similar to GuideTool which works on Vista without the TV Pack?)

Hi there, I have the exact same problem. Not really sure how the channel/guide listings work-  do I have to wait for UPC to update some web service with their new line-up? How long does this usually take? I presume going the manual edit channel route means no guide listings? I am running W7, so would guidetool sort this out for me quickly & easily?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Wheeker

Hi there, I have the exact same problem. Not really sure how the channel/guide listings work-  do I have to wait for UPC to update some web service with their new line-up? How long does this usually take? I presume going the manual edit channel route means no guide listings? I am running W7, so would guidetool sort this out for me quickly & easily?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The epg data comes from a third party, nothing to do with UPC (although if they gave us a bit of notice of upcoming listing changes we'd at least have a chance to get them logged ahead of time). As for how long it takes, no idea, I entered a lot of the issues into the feedback section a couple of weeks ago - it's a dreadful user experience, doesn't seem to be anyway of tracking them so who knows if anyone's even looked at them yet. As I'm still running Vista without the TV Pack I've only got 2 options that I'm aware of - adding channels manually to the mapped guide which does not give you data or using the unmapped guide which does give data (this method loses your mappings regularly and beacuse of this isn't really viable). Because you're on W7 you also have the option to use GuideTool which if I understand correctly behaves much like the unmapped option but can be reapplied easily if the mappings get reset - also you can create your line up outside the MCE UI.

If you're running 7MC then you can renumber a channel by creating a new one with the new number, then going to Edit Listings and mapping the channel guide from the old channel number. Then hide the old channel in the EPG list. This is all possible through the 7MC interface. I've done this myself for a channel that had the wrong number and never had any issues with it.

Surprised VMC doesn't work properly as the channel renumbering process in MCE2005, which was much simpler than in 7MC, worked fine whenever I had to use it. I skipped VMC myself.

Oh, and in the past I've given several months notice of channel changes on Virgin and changes have only happened months after the event. Correcting the EPG is a painful and slow process.

Side question about channel numbering:

in media center we took the approach of once the channel was created and had a number assigned to it, dont change the number - the user is used to it. So even if the number coming down from the listings changes we dont change the number. The user has the ability to change from the channel settings in MC if they want and it stops channels bouncing around in the guide.

 How do you feel about this behavior?

(side note: there is a case when the channel number will be created. if the number change comig down has a legal requirement, then media center will create another channel at that new number)

Just to say that my Guide has now been updated automatically with the new UPC Ireland channel listings. So only about 3 weeks wait in the end- not too bad really!

Didn't bother with Guidetool in the end. Also, I have since added a dual tuner (now have 3 tuners) & I found the native W7 MC channel editing easy enough.