Unsub'ed Channels showing on Guide

Status
Please reply by conversation.
Adult block works good now.

Wow. I hadn't heard anything about this, but after seeing the post this morning went to one of my receivers and saw a new "block adult channels" option in the "parental controls" which, thankfully, takes them out of search too.

Thanks for the heads up!
 
Many of the channels are now gone. But not nearly all of them. It should display only those channels to which you current subscribe. Yet if I attempt to view several channels from the Guide, I get a 721 Error message, informing me that I don't subscribe to this channel.

Still, it is good to see some progress being made.

Yes, for instance, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX distants are gone, but CW still showing up.
 
Funny, I still get the abc/nbc/cbs/fox/pbs distants, and I'm also getting many of the premium channels like showtime and HBO.

I wonder if accidentally recording something from one of them (and getting 2 hours of 'searching for content') or legitimately using one during a free preview weekend makes it get 'stuck' in the guide as a channel you get. Seems the results people get are all over the place.

I did have premier at one point and record heavily during the free previews, and regularly record a channel I dont get by accident, and have had the HD pack. I think every channel the box has ever recorded from is still in 'channels i get', even though I dont get them.
 
Just to wrap some numbers around this, I just redid the favorites list I havent used since last year. Told it to add all channels I get, then went through and clipped out all the ones I really dont get, and all the ones I dont want.

I have total choice plus dvr.

The summary showed 900-something channels, said channels I get number 630 and after my trimming, about 330.

Granted I clicked off the ppv's, all the directv customer service/non viewable channels, all the mpeg2 HD channels that I get in mpeg4 and all the shopping channels. Even if thats 250 total channels (and I doubt it is), that would make for roughly 80 channels it said I got that I didnt.

Among them were a lot of distant locals, the hbo, showtime and a few other blocks, quite a few sports channels in the 600's, all the subscription sports channels I dont get (mlb, nhl, etc) and a bunch of business channels you only get when you have a business sub.

Thats a lot.

I'm really surprised at the huge number of crap/nothing channels, after having to uncheck all of them. Must be 50-60 'customer service' or 'customer response' or 'cable response' types of channels. Maybe they dont get any bandwidth to them or are of crucial use in some area or application, but dang.
 
Wow. I hadn't heard anything about this, but after seeing the post this morning went to one of my receivers and saw a new "block adult channels" option in the "parental controls" which, thankfully, takes them out of search too.

Thanks for the heads up!

I do notice that some shows on non-adult channels (e.g. Cinemax) don't show up with "adult channels blocked" checked. For now, I'm hoping that's just the soft-core dribble I wouldn't want to watch anyway and not other programs that just happen to be labeled "MA" ... as many shows I DO want to watch, like "The Tudors," "Big Love," "Nurse Jackie," are.

By the way, this happens even though I have NO rating restrictions set-up. The ONLY item checked in parental controls is under "adult channels" where I've selected "block."
 
I got to think that D* does NOT want to block all these channels that you don't get (although they should be able to do Adult ) because they want you to be able to see these channel names and titles this way you can decide if you WANT to add any of these channels. (more money).

IF they get the "Channels I Get " working it would be nice to be able to have that as well as the ALL option for times that you may want to see what else is going on out there.
 
Thats nice from a marketing perspective but it makes searching and autorecording keywords completely useless, since those both work from the 'channels I get' list and not a favorites list.

Whats sad is that at least half of the channels-i-dont-getwant arent even things I can order.

I do a search and have 80% of the results on channels I dont get, dont want, and wont ever buy. It comes down to flipping through 12 pages of results with "not a channel I get...oh that looks interesting...ick, its a PPV...hmmm...nope, another channel I dont get..."

When I use an autorecord keyword search, half the stuff it records is 2 hours of 'searching for authorized content'.

So while its great for directv to wave their wares at me, I'd like to be able to tell it to stop when I have absolutely, positively, without any remote doubt...no interest. It makes two features that are important to me worthless and makes me consider other options that give me better results and better control of my dvr.

It'd be swell if half the money and effort to entice me to buy premium channels was spent on improving the really, incredibly crappy content one finds on the premium channels or making them and the PPV's affordable.

When I can get new release dvd's for a dollar a pop at the redbox and all I can eat from netflix for $15, I'm really not going to consider spending $12 a month for endless repeats of 7 year old movies, bad series, or $4 for a PPV.

At the very least, rename it to "Channels you get, stuff we'd like you to buy thats a bad deal, and random junk channels that are for our own use". Guess that wont fit in the guide...:p
 
Since you're visiting, can you confirm whether or not its true that Dish subscribers on average tend to have small weeners?
 
I can confirm Dish Subscriber have bigger brains and bigger balls.:eek:k::clap

I figured you'd seen a reasonably large enough sample size to form an opinion.

Of course, falling for this gag means your first determination appears to be faulty.
 
Even if thats 250 total channels (and I doubt it is), that would make for roughly 80 channels it said I got that I didnt.

Among them were a lot of distant locals, the hbo, showtime and a few other blocks, quite a few sports channels in the 600's, all the subscription sports channels I dont get (mlb, nhl, etc) and a bunch of business channels you only get when you have a business sub.

Thats a lot.


Yes it is. A ridiculous result given that they've been working on their DVR software for several years. Heck ... this has nothing to do with DVR software, it is basic receiver software.

I don't see this error as being particularly good marketing either. So you see what is on other channels. This is more annoying than enticing. If one wanted to see what is on other channels, they can set their Guide to show All channels.

I haven't checked into this, but does D* offer a channel block? A way to block channels from showing up in the Guide? When I was with E*, they had this feature and I used it from time to time. If so, then I could go in and block all of the channels that now show up in the "Channels I Get" list but I don't really get.
 
I haven't checked into this, but does D* offer a channel block? A way to block channels from showing up in the Guide? When I was with E*, they had this feature and I used it from time to time. If so, then I could go in and block all of the channels that now show up in the "Channels I Get" list but I don't really get.

You can make a Favorites list, which only has what you want, and thats all that shows up in the guide.

However search and autorecord ignore the favorites list and work from CIG.

If they made the favorites list be the source for search and autorecord, I'd have no issues with this problem.

Tivo simply lets you check or uncheck any channel you want from the all-channels list. Then thats all you see in the guide, search, autorecords, etc. If a new channels comes up or goes away, its added or removed and you're informed of the change so you can either uncheck it or leave it as is.

Hey! TV Your Way! That'd be a great marketing slogan.
 
Not sure what you mean by 'channel block'? You can have a favorites list that has only the channels you want, and those are all that will show up in the guide.

But that isnt in effect when you search for shows using 'search' from the main menu, and its not whats used when an autorecord keyword is used, those both use the 'channels I get' list, whether you want them to or not.
 
Status
Please reply by conversation.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts