XfinityTV and Equipment

[lunski]

Hello Everyone,

Please Post any issues when retrieving episode descriptions. Example Given, when retrieving episode descriptions for “Oprah” the description may state, “A Talk Show” instead of “A Talk Show hosted by Oprah and Guest Appearances by George Lunski”. Example Posts should contain the below information. Thank you to everyone who has assisted gathering examples. Please feel free to post any questions or contact me if needed.

1. What show?
2. What time?
3. What channel?
4. Was this recorded on a DVR?
5. Which box are you using? This is important. Is the box a Motorola or Scientific Atlanta?
6. Is this intermittent?
7. Was this a live event?
8. Any additional info you may feel useful.

[mnllnm]

Based on this...

http://forums.comcast.net/comcastsupport/board/message?board.id=CTV_OnScreen&message.id=393#M393

...I expect issues with this will soon be few and far between instead of the norm on many, many channels for most of the time slots for most of the day.

If that happens, I'll thanking you for your efforts ComcastGeorge.

[lunski]

I hope so too I watch a lot of TV!

Thanks for the reply

[andyross]

As of this morning, all of the Late Show with David Letterman entries at 10:35pm CST have generic descriptions. They appear to be new shows this week (last night's was.)

[lunski]

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andyross wrote:

As of this morning, all of the Late Show with David Letterman entries at 10:35pm CST have generic descriptions. They appear to be new shows this week (last night's was.)

---

Thank you Andy. I am not familiar with the lineup there. Is this happening on both SD & HD channels?

[andyross]

Both.

[writermom1]

Okay, I followed a link from the old thread but that apparently was not the 'real' stickie but, instead, a stealth stand-in stickie?

To reiterate:

Sigh ...

Set to record "Cold Case" "Clean House" "Hannah Montana" or "iCarly" (just to name a few). Set to record "new episodes only."

Any and all times. I don't set "times" I set series programming and request it record "new" episodes of the indicated series.

A variety of channels - all channels. From Style, Disney, Nickelodeon to CBS and others.

Yes Motorola DVR provided by Comcast and checked by a tech in November 2008. The box is fine.

Not a live event.

Will record ALL episodes of Clean House, Cold Case, etc. 

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The info I feel is useful is that THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR FOUR MONTHS AND IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!!!

Why is it so hard to wrap Comcast's brightest technical minds around the fact that if your series descriptions go from

Cold Case (2009) Pratt and Lily solve the murder of a 1950's pinup girl

to

Cold Case. This nailbighter from Jerry Bruckheimer follows to Philadelphia based homicide detectives.

The danged box CANNOT TELL NEW FROM OLD and will RECORD EVERYTHING????

Why all the "what box?" "is it live?" nonsense.

The episode descriptions - being so generic - make it impossible for a DVR set for a series recording to differentiate new from repeats.

Is Comcast hiring because if I, some novice in Hooterville can fathom this, I ought to be cut out for CEO over there or something.

[mnllnm]

As of today nothing has changed. It's still the same as it was four months ago when this first became a major problem.

On the three channels I have specifically singled out, Investigation Discovery (271), The Military Channel (274), and History International (276), all three still have only a generic description (or no description at all) for all programs for all days for all times other than prime time (5-11 PM CST). Also, there is no 'repeat' indicator. These are suburban Chicago channel numbers. There are many other channels with this problem.

If this is not fixed by next week I'll be asking Comcast for a credit on my bill until this problem is fixed. 

[rardin]

This belongs in the DVR Repeat Stickie, as well, but I won't post it twice.

What show:  Trust Me

What time:  1:00 AM on 2/10/09

What channel:  TNT (33 in the Boston area)

Was this recorded on a DVR?  Yes

Which box are you using?  Moto 3412

Is this intermittent?  Yes

Was this a live event?  No

Additional info:   I have my DVR set to record only new episodes of this series, yet it recorded the same episode twice on 2/9-2/10.  It recorded this week's new episode when it first aired at 10 PM on 2/9/09 on TNT with the following program guide listing:  New, HD, "But Wait, There's More" (2009).  The DVR recorded the show again when it re-aired at 1:00 AM on 2/10/09 on TNT because the program guide listed the episode generically as:  New, A drama about two disparate friends whose bond is tested at an ad agency.

I appreciate the fact that George has been trying to get things rolling on a fix, but this has been going on for months and these problems are still cropping up for me on an almost daily basis.  I just don't have the time to report each incident.  I'm sure if I took the time to browse the program guide, I could find scores of examples like this one at any given time.  And that raises a question:  The 2-3 local Comcast offices I've visited in the Boston area all had TVs hooked up to cable boxes to demo Comcast products.  If further examples are really needed, would it make sense to ask people who actually work for Comcast, rather than paying customers, to gather data during slower times in their offices using the demo TVs and cable boxes?  Just a thought.

[JRhodes]

rardin brought up a good point in the last sentence.  I asked in another thread about beta testing of products that were "in the works" and someone said that they think Comcast uses employees to beta test.  Why not involve those employees in fixing what's broken rather than trying to roll out new products and technologies?

[andyross]

Where both recordings of 'Trust Me' on-disk at the same time? If you watch a 'new' recording, but delete it, it will re-record the same 'new' episode later (Tivo has a patented 30-day memory to prevent that). It should normally ignore it if the recording is still on disk.

[rardin]

Good point, Andy.  I haven't watched the episode yet, so both recordings were stored on the DVR at the same time.  Since the program guide descriptions weren't even close to matching and both instances were flagged as "New," it's no surprise that the DVR would have no way of knowing that these were the same episode.

[andyross]

Here is a somewhat similar issue.

Here in Chicago, WFLD's listing (both SD and HD) for Sunday 2/22 and 3/1 show a 3-hour 'To Be Announced' from 6pm to 9pm CST. Even this Sunday's 6-9 slot said that until a few days ago. WFLD is a FOX owned and operated station. A closer look shows a giant 'To Be Announced' from 12pm-6pm on both days. Lots of TBA's on the 28th, too.

The Comcast on-line guide shows a NASCAR race from 4-9pm on the 22nd, and various syndicated repeats and ad shows during the afternoon.

Message Edited by andyross on 02-14-2009 11:31 AM

[rardin]

It's been awhile since we heard anything regarding progress on resolving the guide issues.  Is there any news, George?

[lunski]

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rardin wrote:
It's been awhile since we heard anything regarding progress on resolving the guide issues.  Is there any news, George?

---

Hello rardin,

We now have regular meetings with our vendor for the guide. Everyone should start seeing improvements on the examples provided in this thread. If you have not or have a different example, please post. I have provided forum access to our vendor to monitor these threads (dvr and episode).

[rardin]

Thanks for the update, George.

[waterfiend]

1. All the shows
2. All the time 
3. mtv2 140 
4. I think I'm recording something but it turns out to be something else. 
5. motorola 
6. no 
7. no 
8. On channel 140 which is mtv2 the guide will say a show is on but when you change it to that channel a different show is on.  This is not good when I have my dvr set up to record a certain show.

[andyross]

Show: "Naked Science"

Date: 3/12

Time: 10PM ET

Channel: NatGeo (SD and HD)

The title of the episode is 'Journey to Juniper'. It should be 'Journey to Jupiter' (as in the planet.)

[rardin]

If we're down to pointing out typos, maybe the situation IS improving!

[mnllnm]

---

rardin wrote:
If we're down to pointing out typos, maybe the situation IS improving!

---

Not quite. Of the three channels I'm monitoriing one now has episide specific descriptions for almost all programming for all times and days, History International. This is good.

However, there is no improvement at all on Investigation Discovery.

There were some spotty episode specific descriptions for programming on The Military Channel a few days ago but the guide for that channel appears to have gone back to the way it was -- only generic descriptions for any programming outside of evening prime time.

[rardin]

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mnllnm wrote:
Not quite...

---

Yeah, I know.  Just trying to inject a little humor.

[helpmeobiewan]

As of March 2009 the Northern California East Bay Comcast Guide does not list any details for the new MLB Network. You have to get the daily show info from MBL's webpage. Also, if you're watching a show on MLB Network and want to record what's in the queue, a generic DVR Recording menu comes up instead. This is because there are not programming details listed. If you press Guide or Info, it just says "MLB Network". We have a Motorola.

[lunski]

Hello Everyone,

Everyone should now start seeing improvements on a variety of channels. The following channels were recent adjusted. Please continue to post examples here.

• MTV-E
• MTV-HI
• MTV-W
• MTVHIT
• NGC-E
• GSN-W
• HLMRKW
• TWC
• GAC-E
• BI0G-E
• MILH
• HIST-E
• FOXRC
• FUSE-W
• FUSE
• BBCAME
• DIY-E
• TVONE
• STYLE
• STYLEW
• HALLMV
• HDNTM

[cypherx]

Great!

Can you work on TLCHD, VH1 and BRAVO next?

[DCTGoddess2000]

 I, too have had a few instances of the program name and description being for a completely different show than the one being aired at the time.  In one situation, two shows, one of which I have set for series recording had the correct names and descriptions, except they were reversed. So I ended up with a recording of the wrong show, with the right show's description, and the correct show wasn't recorded.

[DCTGoddess2000]

Aha!  Here's one now.  Channel surfing, I've come across NICK2. It's 10PM, the program name listed is "True Jackson" with a generic description.  However, it is i-Carly currently playing. I have the Moto DCT3412 P1 dual tuner DVR. I hope that's enough info for you to work with.

[mnllnm]

Same as it was six months ago and everytime I've posted about it over these many months.... in the Chicago area Investigation Discovery (271) and The Military Channel (274) have generic descriptions or no description at all for all programming outside of prime time. There are very rare exceptions on The Military Channel

Also, there are other channels that have problems, but until I see these fixed, why bother to list them.

We were told back in Janauary, on the previous thread about this issue, that this problem would be fixed "next month"...

"I have now spoken to our episode decription providers. We believe the generic descriptions issues will be resolved next month. However, please continue to post examples/detail to the below new stickie thread."

That post was made on Jan 26, 2009, almost two months ago.

[jossynana]

these channels

Bravo
E
FX
Green

i will keep you informed on more later..

[philw1776]

Motorola -16 DVR

PBS Masterpiece Classic set to record new shows only Sunday 9PM yet it picks up the Saturday repeat of the past Sunday's new show.  I've seen this on other shows as well.

Plus, on occasion when I manually set Do Not Record for the repeated show, a couple days later it's set back to Record.

[andyross]

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philw1776 wrote:

Plus, on occasion when I manually set Do Not Record for the repeated show, a couple days later it's set back to Record.

---

If you make any changes to your series list (adding, deleting), it rescans and resets all the series recordings.

[philw1776]

Am I correct in that you're saying that when I DELETE a series recording because it's NOT new but a REPEAT that COMCAST rescans and subsequently yet again selects the deleted repeat segment for viewing?  If so, this has to be a bug, not a feature.

[andyross]

If you edit your series list, or add a new series, or remove a series, it will rescan the schedule.

It's also possible that the guide data was refreshed or altered. I've seen programs scheduled disappear and then come back due to the guide being updated with program changes.

[Toub]

Monk and Psyc both have this issue, slowly getting better but there are 3 or 4 monk episodes that record new everytime they are one.  Lots of generic desc also.

Also Law and Order: Criminal Intent on USA, there is a show on at 1:00am almost everyday with a generic desc.

[ngasa13]

channel 620 speed  - said "motocross" it isn't motocross it's ama road racing recorded at 5 PM Saturday Pacific Time and again Sunday - description totally incorrect - 

Steve 

[andyross]

Double-check against on-line sources. It's possible it's a last-second change that hasn't worked it's way through yet.

[ngasa13]

Not so - this is a scheduled race that has been on the AMA schedule for a year - moreover, my friend with Direct TV is what clued me in to the fact it was on TV at all - his guide is way better than the Comcast - not even close - in addition, I keep getting re run after re run recorded on many shows when I specifically only set it up for "new shows" only - this as I see by other posters is an ongoing problem - 

There are more guide issues here as it relates to scheduling and recording seasonal epsiode of things like motorcycel racing because of their lack of specific description - if you set up a record series you'll get 200 motorcycle races of all kinds even though there are very specifc types of races on the sub descriptions -

Steve 

[Giba]

I sure hope this thread is still being read by the Comcast guys in the trenches.

What's wrong with episode descriptions?  Actually, I should just ask, What episode descriptions?  I've seen way too manyto list: practically every channel, most of the time.  I'm using whatever box they brought me in August 2008 to prepare for going digital.  Why can TV Guide print the descriptions out a week ahead of time and Comcast can't seem to figure out what they are playing on the same day?

I've seen descriptions for the same show change within hours, describing the same show, but just in a different way, like someone saw it and decided to rewrite it their way. 

I've seen descriptions that are obviously clouded by someone's personal feelings about the movie.  

For series, whether M-F or weekly programs, how difficult can it be to at least put even just the name of the show either every day or every week rather than a To Be Announced?   Lets try to fix that first so it can as least BE recorded. 

I tried to tape the last Hubble launch and the documentaries around it from Discovery or SCI last fall, I'm not sure any of them actually played as stated and one of the shows was consistently replaced with another show not even related.  Well, at least something is consistent around here.

Can you actually start shows on the hour and keep them within their alloted time frame.  I know you can, just figure out your commercials.  My VCR just can quite keep up with you guys mucking with the works all the time.  I miss the start of a show, I miss the end of a show, or just get another show altogether.

And why for the love of you know who, when you select the reminder for M-F, does it just remind for that one week?  Hey, my mom likes to watch Jeopardy, my Dad likes to watch Nightline.  I have to reprogram it every single week@!

Verizon, Verizon, where is your number?

[ChewyCashew84]

To be fair to Comcast, they have nothing to do with the length of tv shows, commercials, ending late/starting early. Those are responsibilities of the network airing the show. Verizon gets the same feed for Discovery channel that Comcast gets.

I also don't think Comcast has much to do with the actual content or tone of the movie descriptions. When it says "To Be Announced" that just means your box hasn't gotten that information yet. It doesn't necessarily mean they don't know what's going to be on.

I've dfinetly had issues with my hd-dvr, but the missing data problem you're describing just isn't one. It did take about a week for all the data in my guide to be populated 100%, but I've had no problems since then. If you've had your box hooked up for longer than that, I'd call Comcast and maybe get a new box.

[Queen-Evie]

From the on-screen guide:

 The Shift   111  ID

Wed. 11/11 at 9pm

60min, New, HD, "Boiling Point", (2009), Viewers become VJs for a shift of music-video broadcasts.

(Music Videos).

If anyone has watched The Shift, you will know that it has NOTHING to do with music videos.

It's a good thing I do know what the show is about, I watch it every week.

I've seen many mistakes in the program description but this one tops them all.

Yes I realize that Comcast does not physically input the program data; what it says comes from another source who provides it to Comcast.

[SBacklin81]

Well the issue I'm having is the vast majority of shows will have the generic description but, nothing else.  A lot of shows will not say whether its new or repeats.  One show in particular says its HD when its not and that is really annoying.  You cannot trust anything the guide tells you.  The generic description happens too much and too randomly for me to think of a solid example.  The HD description when not HD I can tell you.

Smoking Gun/Dumbest Criminals (The title itself is bad because its really called: Smoking Gun Presents World's Dumbest...."  The 'criminal' part is interchangeable.  It might be criminals, drivers, partiers, etc.  The non HD version is on channel 49 (TruTV) and the version that is marked HD when its not is on channel 705? TruTVHD. This need to be fixed...now.

Yes, this is all on DVRs.

Message Edited by SBacklin81 on 11-15-2009 02:47 PM

[lunski]

We continue to monitor this activity.

Please post any issues here.

Understand, this is usually a issue with our data from our vendor or no data provided from the content provider, e.g. MTV etc. 

[SBacklin81]

Well with my post right above yours, it has to be your vendor.  When I was using a TiVo...I NEVER had this problem.  When I was using DirecTV...I NEVER had this problem.  Comcast needs to demand they fix this.

[rog2867]

comcast george you have been saying the same thing here for 2 years.  How about fixing it?

[SBacklin81]

This episode description problem is getting out of hand.  I'm seriously starting to lose track of all the episodes are showing wrong guide information.  Its happening way too much.  What the **bleep** is going on?  This is causing certain episodes not to record....yet at the same time the **bleep**ed DVRs are recording multiple copies of the same exact episode.

[Omar4]

 Here in Fresno,CA , All movies on ZeeTV (246) say just the actor, but never a description of the plot or anything else. Any movie played on TV Asia (247) Just says "MOVIE" as the title and no description.

Also in Fresno, our local Fox station (006) plays Simpsons at 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM on weekdays. The description is always something generic like "satire show" and never describes that specific episode.

All of these problems occur every time on multiple cable boxes (HD box and also regular cable box).

[lunski]

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ComcastGeorge wrote:

Hello Everyone,

Please Post any issues when retrieving episode descriptions. Example Given, when retrieving episode descriptions for “Oprah” the description may state, “A Talk Show” instead of “A Talk Show hosted by Oprah and Guest Appearances by George Lunski”. Example Posts should contain the below information. Thank you to everyone who has assisted gathering examples. Please feel free to post any questions or contact me if needed.

1. What show?
2. What time?
3. What channel?
4. Was this recorded on a DVR?
5. Which box are you using? This is important. Is the box a Motorola or Scientific Atlanta?
6. Is this intermittent?
7. Was this a live event?
8. Any additional info you may feel useful.

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Many of these 'data' issues should be resolved as our Guide Data vendor ROVI (formerly MacroVision whom purchased TV Guide) improves.