Tribune Guide complaints

[KKlare]

This last week or so I have a new complaint. The Info button for a Guide selection has before the word Movie, the cast, and the (year) some extraneous names. These are not on the insert next to the current channel preview.

Example right now only finding it on MGM:
Vampire's Kiss/1:00am-3:00am/385 MGM, Sat 4/03
Matt Dillon, Jean Reno. (2009) Movie. Nicolas Cage, Maria.... (1989)

Those names match the PPV movie Armored on April 4 and later but without Lawrence Fishburne's name.

It also shows up in the Info overlay if you select the movie first.

Tribune give us back the episode numbers, original air dates, and titles. Example Monte Python.
-Ken

 

[SandFarmer]

Don't waste your breath. I have been complaining about Tribune/Zap2It content for years. DISH does not care. It's cheap and that's what they want.

 

[bgothard72]

and sometimes the guide really screws up your timers! UGH!

 

[SandFarmer]

and sometimes the guide really screws up your timers! UGH!

SOMETIMES! All the time. We spend more time checking timers than them firing off correctly. 90% of the problem is the guide info, but . . . then there's the software! One of our locals is now airing their 10pm broadcast again at 2am. I couldn't figure out why we were getting the 10pm news twice. Then I realized that it was the "new" "news" bug. Then after that was adjusted, the timer set itself to get the same broadcast off both timers at the same time. This is new. DISH needs to do a major overhaul on the EPG and source of the guide info. Then maybe the software flaws won't be so apparent.

This is a real sore spot for me. Couldja tell?

 

[KKlare]

Yes, I recently had it set timers for both the 3xx and the 94xx channels--it usually works--caught that one.

My complaint came from losing Fellowship of the Ring re-recording (hopefully smaller) due to an extraneous Python repeat, which it did not detect due to lack of any information except a generic description. Guess I'll have to go to a fixed time recording vs. a Dish Pass.
-Ken

 

[SandFarmer]

AND . . . the fact that DISH still hasn't caught on to the fact that the networks are messing with start times. And you can set a program to start early, but it doesn't take or you can't make it take into account that since the program is starting early, the one before it has ENDED EARLY. So why does the timers step on, or say that are, each other? When in all reality, oops not a Charlie word, they are shifted a tad.

I think I figured this one out. TiVo does it (did). That's why DISH doesn't.

 

[KKlare]

I had a DVD+R that would mark commercials and on playback would skip them, now how about that for a service on our DVRs? It left the whole, just in case it messed up and because it was a lot easier. I wonder how they did that?

Another or maybe the same, I just don't use them anymore, would title from the OTA transmitted guide, NTSC days.
-Ken

 

[bgothard72]

Tonight on The Pacific on HBO, the guide had Episode 5, but it was part 4! F***** up! This company has the best programming and HD and the best DVR's! Get with the guide, please!

 

[SandFarmer]

AND then tonight . . . I was looking through my recordings and saw two episodes had recorded when only the newest one should have. The recordings were eps #3 and #7. I looked at the description for #3, that I have already seen, and saw that it had the word "new" in the description. Eureka! I thought that was the problem, but no. Although the word new was in the description, which always makes an episode record if the timer is set to new, both 3 and 7 were marked as New and had the same Original Air dates of 4/4. #4 followed with an air date of 3/28 and not marked new and with #6 following 4 with the same original air date. WTF?! How can #3 be new and #4 be "old"? Now I see later the same four episodes showing 3 & 7 are still listed as first running on 4/4 (without New in the descriptions) with 4 and 6 following both having run on 3/28. Well at least they are consistent . . . when consistently WRONG!!!!

Does no one anywhere do any "fact/accuracy checking"? I got it . . . DISH every time we miss a or get multiple recordings due to an error in the Tribune data or hiccup in your software, we get $2 off our bill? I'm paying and depending on a date/data based timer system to accurately get programming. If this is not going to happen, I want money back. I would have at least $16 for last month. That'll pay for the fee increases.

I am thoroughly amazed that this, a good one-third of the presentation package, is crap. Making the rest somewhat worthless when the time, arg, arg, comes or "doesn't".

 

[TNGTony]

The Colbert Report and The Daily show are problems on Mondays as every rerun is seen as a new episode. Same goes for most reruns of "Rotten Tomatoes Show"

 

[SandFarmer]

The Colbert Report and The Daily show are problems on Mondays as every rerun is seen as a new episode. Same goes for most reruns of "Rotten Tomatoes Show"

These shows were one of the first I had problems with that made me figure out the "NEWs" issue. Also ABC, NBC and CBS Nightly NEWS. Once I changed the timer to Mon-Fri from New it "fixed" it. Because the word new(s) is in the description and they were/are rarely labeled New properly. I just changed my timer back to New and got all the episodes new and old that had the word news in the descriptions. I described this a while ago and got some major shots taken at me.

Try changing your timer to Mon-Fri and since there is no Friday episode, the timer will show skipped on that time slot for the wrong episode. This is what fixed it for me. But you will also get their "repeat days/weeks" because you can't specify and get it to work right. But this is also a Comedy Central issue also. They don't mark the episodes on their site as repeats. But just recently I have been getting eMails from them outlining the weeks schedule and it now shows the repeated episodes.

 

[whatchel1]

Works for me

These shows were one of the first I had problems with that made me figure out the "NEWs" issue. Also ABC, NBC and CBS Nightly NEWS.

I've got my NBC news set to new episodes & I don't have any problem w/ it. I don't why it give you problems but I believe you.

 

[SandFarmer]

I've got my NBC news set to new episodes & I don't have any problem w/ it. I don't why it give you problems but I believe you.

Thank you for your belief. I have had several Field Supers and Techs tell me that they have see the same, but no word as to when DISH will address it. Obviously, it's gonna be a while. I'm hoping that when the 922 gets released there will be an "ALL NEW GUI" and whatnot available to the existing receivers that can be updated to it that will make these conversations a moot point. My issues were mainly with ABC and their weekend news. But since I quit watching their nightly news it is not an issue anymore. But a prime example is our local NBC affiliate, 9NEWS, has started reshowing their 10pm news at 1am. I just had the timer set for New and got both the 10 & 1 showings. I then changed it to Daily and it fixed it.

The 10pm showings description is:

News News/Business. New. (HD) (CC)
(Stereo)
​

The 1am is:

News News/Business. (HD) (CC)
(Stereo)
​

The only difference is that there is the word New in the 10pm and not the 1am and both are included in the "new" timer and being recorded.

Here, let's do a test:
In testing this out on the 722, I have really screwed up this timer and can't get the old timer back.
With (all new info as of this moment):
All - I get both DISH tuners (1 & 2) recording the same program at the same time off the DISH local, but nothing off the OTA and only the first time slot. Then the 1amer all the same episode and the rest of the week is just 10pm and 1am. So lines 1-3 are all the same episode.

All with a Hiccup. Just the one timer, when it should be like above:

New - Monday at 10pm is doubled again with the 1am and the rest of the week I get the both 10pm and 1am. But only one tuner each.

Daily & Mon-Fri - Again I get two DISH tuners (1 & 2) recording the same DISH channel on Monday at the same time, but not the rest of the week.

I've stuck with the Mon-Fri/Daily timer and skipped the second Monday showing. Of which I will have to skip weekly until they get this fixed.
This is NUTZ!

I first noticed this on my 625's when Data Based Timers first arrived. But since we got a 722 to replace a 625, it's been the same. We don't usually set timers on our 625 until the morning of because of this. Or at least spend more time checking them that it takes to set them. On the 722 I have more timers than I need just to accommodate this.

 

[TNGTony]

But this is also a Comedy Central issue also. They don't mark the episodes on their site as repeats..

What makes me want to shoot my TV is when you look at the description of the reruns that the DVR records as new, the "first Air date" is 1999 or the correct first airing date for the episode being rerun. So the info DOES say it's a rerun right on the guide! New episodes have the correct air date on them when the DVR records them. So it is really NOT Comedy Central's fault. It's a programing issue in the DVR.

So anyway, I feel your pain.

 

[SandFarmer]

What makes me want to shoot my TV is when you look at the description of the reruns that the DVR records as new, the "first Air date" is 1999 or the correct first airing date for the episode being rerun. So the info DOES say it's a rerun right on the guide! New episodes have the correct air date on them when the DVR records them. So it is really NOT Comedy Central's fault. It's a programing issue in the DVR.

So anyway, I feel your pain.

What I mean by that is, since they didn't always label their programming properly it was hard to verify what was suppose to be. But as I also said is I now get eMails that have a synopsis of the week which shows "encore" (repeat) shows. It's as if they have gotten their own complaints and stepped up to deal with them in an overtly open manner. But my main point was that if the network was not dispensing accurate info, we couldn't really expect it to be in the guide. And as inaccurately as Zap2It/Tribune captures data, it doesn't help when there are errors on both ends. So yes it is issues in the DVR, but it's all based on the accuracy of the data on the particular shows. Which I have been following for years and have seen that it's poor at best. AND then there's the DISH DVR software idiosyncrasies that takes that bad info and "malfunctions". So it's a multilevel problem.