Windows Vista Media Center TV Guide Help..

[Nightscar]

Hello Everyone,
I recently fixed a PC for a friend they have Windows Vista.
They have a cable card in there PC that they use to watch TV with on there PC...
All that works fine..

What doesn't work is the TV guide.. all the channels say "No Data Available" they use the guide to set up and record shows when they are not home..

After searching the internet I found some news sources that seam to confirm the issue:
http://winsupersite.com/windows/microsoft-acknowledges-new-issues-windows-media-center-switchover

I have tried the DNS Clear..
I have tried the zip Code change
I have pretty much tried all there is to try..
Hence why I am here

I don't really think I am looking for a fix.. mostly because I honestly don't think there is one .. This is something Microsoft has done .. and I don't see them fixing it anytime soon .. if at all . not with xbox1 and windows 10 being the new flavor.
But if anyone has any ideas? on how I may be able to get this guide to work?

That or .. does anyone have any alternatives to WMC that will give a guide for Time Warner Cable.. and have the capabilities to setup times to record TV shows?

I appreciate any help
I have been going nuts with this one

 

[jft135]

MS shut down their listing service a long, long time ago. You'll have to use an alternate stream like Schedules Direct. That's what I use on my home HTPC.

 

[Moltuae]

I recently fixed a PC for a friend they have Windows Vista

Friends don't let friends use Vista



I use NextPVR (along with Kodi; formerly known as XBMC) on my HTPC. I believe it works with Time Warner Cable, though I can't confirm I'm afraid, since I don't live in the US.

 

[jft135]

Friends don't let friends use Vista



I use NextPVR (along with Kodi; formerly known as XBMC) on my HTPC. I believe it works with Time Warner Cable, though I can't confirm I'm afraid, since I don't live in the US.

Not to hijack the thread, but how are you liking Kodi and Next PVR? The HDD in my HTPC kicked the bucket a while ago and before that I just used the stock Windows Media Center. I'm planning to do Win10 with Kodi on my next build, but haven't had much time to experiment yet. I mostly use mine for backing up and cataloging all our DVD's so I can protect them from grimy toddler fingers, but I like some DVR functionality. I'd love to get a solution that combined a lot of streaming services in the same front-end too.

 

[Moltuae]

Not to hijack the thread, but how are you liking Kodi and Next PVR? The HDD in my HTPC kicked the bucket a while ago and before that I just used the stock Windows Media Center. I'm planning to do Win10 with Kodi on my next build, but haven't had much time to experiment yet. I mostly use mine for backing up and cataloging all our DVD's so I can protect them from grimy toddler fingers, but I like some DVR functionality. I'd love to get a solution that combined a lot of streaming services in the same front-end too.

Love it. I use it with a moderately powerful (i5-3470 @3.2GHz, 16GB RAM, SSD with twin 3TB HDDs in RAID 1 for media storage) custom-built HTPC running Windows 7. I also use MCE Buddy to automatically convert and sort the recorded shows into mkv files. NextPVR is generally reliable, though it sometimes seems to 'forget' to update the listings, meaning that it can miss the occasional recording if you don't keep a check on it.

 

[jft135]

Love it. I use it with a moderately powerful (i5-3470 @3.2GHz, 16GB RAM, SSD with twin 3TB HDDs in RAID 10 for media storage) custom-built HTPC running Windows 7. I also use MCE Buddy to automatically convert and sort the recorded shows into mkv files. NextPVR is generally reliable, though it sometimes seems to 'forget' to update the listings, meaning that it can miss the occasional recording if you don't keep a check on it.

Geez, how do you keep that thing quiet? I'd like to do another custom build someday but my wife isn't super supportive of that idea. For now I'm going to use a year old i5 ThinkCentre that a customer "donated" (aka never paid his bill) to me with a single 4TB drive and an upgraded GPU. The media library doesn't change often enough for me to care about RAID, so I just dump everything to an external HDD that I keep at the office. I also use the HTPC to play Steam games with controller support

My hope with switching to Kodi is to get an all inclusive front-end that someone other than me can figure out how to use. That should go a long way towards getting wifey on board with a better machine.

 

[Nightscar]

ty for the reply guys .. and ya I know Vista right ugh .. but they don't want to upgrade because they love WMC ...

@jft135
How long is a long time ago .. because they said it was working fine last fall and winter .. until about June or July then Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data was converted from Zap2It to Rovi now the guide wont work ..
I looked into Kodi .. it looks promising .. but I know very little about it ..
Does it show a guide for local channels 1-75 aka Time Warner Cable so they can set up times to record to the HDD in the computer.
Its not a media center that's hooked to the TV or anything.. just a regular oldie goldie PC running Vista
ty again guys for any help

P.S. so is there no way to fix WMC, to show the guide ..or did Microsoft finally retire WMC?

 

[jft135]

ty for the reply guys .. and ya I know Vista right ugh .. but they don't want to upgrade because they love WMC ...

@jft135
How long is a long time ago .. because they said it was working fine last fall and winter .. until about June or July then Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data was converted from Zap2It to Rovi now the guide wont work ..
I looked into Kodi .. it looks promising .. but I know very little about it ..
Does it show a guide for local channels 1-75 aka Time Warner Cable so they can set up times to record to the HDD in the computer.
Its not a media center that's hooked to the TV or anything.. just a regular oldie goldie PC running Vista
ty again guys for any help

P.S. so is there no way to fix WMC, to show the guide ..or did Microsoft finally retire WMC?

When I set up my last HTPC almost 3 years ago it was already turned off, so unless they changed their mind at some point and turned it back on, that's when it went down. That is specifically the channel guide data stream. WMC will still work, but you'll need to use an alternate data source like Schedules Direct. If I remember right, I had to install a plugin that fed the Schedules Direct data into WMC, but it was forever ago.

 

[Nightscar]

When I set up my last HTPC almost 3 years ago it was already turned off, so unless they changed their mind at some point and turned it back on, that's when it went down. That is specifically the channel guide data stream. WMC will still work, but you'll need to use an alternate data source like Schedules Direct. If I remember right, I had to install a plugin that fed the Schedules Direct data into WMC, but it was forever ago.

Ok thank you ..I will see if that works at all .. if not I can always try Kodi .. and if that does work well .. I guess they will have to use Time Warner's cable DVR ..
ty again

P.S. Ya I dunno if they changed there minds or not but the guide was working for them last fall.. its only when Microsoft switched from Zap2It to Rovi, is when the guide stopped working .. cable TV works fine on there PC.. just no guide.

 

[Moltuae]

Geez, how do you keep that thing quiet?

It's relatively quiet, most of the time, though it does hum a bit when it's working hard converting video files. It's in a cupboard (well, walk-in-wardrobe to be precise) so you can barely hear it in the room. It's been happily humming along in there for probably around 2 years now, untouched since the day it went it. Probably due a service and dust-out soon.