http://www.nsconference.com/

Yeah, amazon’s recommendation engine brings up some interesting results

I realise there are now no readers for this, as it’s an endless parade of my bookmarks, and yes, it may have come to your attention (Hi Neely!!) that there is a definite wedding theme to my bookmarks for the past few months.

I’m engaged, and getting married next August!! It’s quite exciting. Normal service will now be resumed (possibly – no bookmarks seem to have been posted for a month or so!)

The software has a brilliant interface, it’s easy to schedule recordings, has a nice full-screen interface etc. I like the software, it works well…apart from one thing.

Elgato don’t provide their own electronic program guide, they outsource this to different companies in different regions they sell their products. Unfortunately, in the UK this is outsourced to TVTV. I’d love to use the freely available radio times listings, or some other xmltv type source, but I don’t have that option. TVTV costs, but you get a year free. I’m guessing this kind of bundling situation is the only way they have any customers.

I have had two problems with them. Initially, I had a handful of channels, which had no data. I attempted to align the channels, to make sure my channels matched up with TVTV’s channels, I forced updates etc. Nothing. So I emailed TVTV’s support. About 5 days later I recieved a short reply suggesting it was EyeTV’s fault. (I’ve read several accounts that this is their default response to any support request) I emailed back explaining why I thought this was unlikely, I recieved a response saying the problem would be escalated and have heard nothing since. (4 days)

The latest problem, is that the TVTV data appears to be disappearing for all channels. As I scan forward, I notice more and more gaps, followed by no data for any channel after Sunday…worrying. Based on the usefulness of TVTV’s support, I’ve emailed EyeTV to see if they have any more useful ideas.

I’m not a happy bunny. I have a brilliant gadget, and it’s plagued with a problem which could have been easily avoided if Eyetv had gone with an open option such as xmltv rather than this partnering scheme. Oh I realise there’s payments involved, but it doesn’t enamour me to the company as a customer and potential future customer with experiences like this.

Copied below is my missive to Eyetv support!

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Due to the “company” you have decided to partner with, TVTV, rather than give people the option to use their own data through xmltv, or partnering with a company that is actually located in the 21st century (such as the radio times) my eyetv software is virtually useless unless I want to record what is on right now.

I have contacted TVTV and recieved the same response that many others have recieved, that it is the fault of the software (eyetv) and nothing to do with them.

I have no EPG data after this sunday (5 days time), and even when I did have two weeks worth of data, there was no data for a selection of 6 or 7 channels.

I have tried:
Forcing an update
Deleting the epgdb files (as suggested in your FAQs) and reinitiallisng the EPG

I am attempting to use the data provided through the DVB EPG but this is patchy and requires each multiplex to be tuned to to update the data, a not satisfactory experience.

I would appreciate a response to this issue.

I started my job today…Secondary (High school) ICT (IT/computing) in case you were wondering…

I can’t promise this will lead to an increase in posting rate…but I just thought i’d put it out there!!

Well I say redesigned… setup would be more accurate!

Crediton Community Church