Windows Media Center EPG ending in January 2020

[InterLinked]

2 hours ago, Vistapocalypse said:

Yes, my Vista Home Premium system shipped with a Sample Media folder in Recorded TV. I deleted all but one: Jewels of the Caribbean: World of National Geographic Special, which is slightly under 2 minutes. I can't remember what the others were, but I'm sure they were larger files. It's in the old dvr-ms format that was used by XP Media Center Edition and most Vista systems with WMC. Windows 7 sample media was probably in wtv format (which was actually introduced with TV Pack 2008 for Vista.) The factory image of a Windows 7 Home Premium or Ultimate system might be a likely place to find them.

@Vistapocalypse Unfortunately, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate and it's nowhere to be found in there.

Do you remember if the two you deleted were Apollo and Vertigo?

Yes, Jewels of the Caribbean is definitely the third of the three film clips! I think I'm getting somewhere...

I guess I might install Vista Home Premium and try to extract the videos, I've been looking for those for nearly ten years now!

[Vistapocalypse]

11 hours ago, Dylan Cruz said:

Unfortunately, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate and it's nowhere to be found in there.

I wouldn't expect a clean install to include any sample files, but a factory restore of a system that included WMC just might.

I have now googled extensively in response to your question. As far as I can determine, Windows 7 editions that included WMC shipped with only one media sample file, named either Landscapes.wtv or win7_scenic-demoshort_raw.wtv (almost certainly the same video). Its directory would have been C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\Sample Media. The only download link I found was broken, but there is actually an 8-second YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx2JA7qRVXk. Does that look familiar to you? (I also came across a reference to a sample video named Wildlife.wmv, intended for WMP rather than WMC.)

Your own recollections might perhaps be from XP MCE (which I never used) rather than Windows 7 or Vista. As I said before, I can't remember what sample files I deleted from Vista years ago, but your mentioning of Apollo and Vertigo does not ring any bells with me. All I'm really certain of is that I still have the Jewels of the Caribbean sample.

Update: I currently have Microsoft/Rovi EPG data until February 19 at 6 PM.

 

[InterLinked]

22 hours ago, Vistapocalypse said:

I wouldn't expect a clean install to include any sample files, but a factory restore of a system that included WMC just might.

I have now googled extensively in response to your question. As far as I can determine, Windows 7 editions that included WMC shipped with only one media sample file, named either Landscapes.wtv or win7_scenic-demoshort_raw.wtv (almost certainly the same video). Its directory would have been C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\Sample Media. The only download link I found was broken, but there is actually an 8-second YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx2JA7qRVXk. Does that look familiar to you? (I also came across a reference to a sample video named Wildlife.wmv, intended for WMP rather than WMC.)

@Vistapocalypse That looks familiar. That is Landscapes, I believe. Or Wildlife. I have copies of both.

These are pretty common and included in most Win7 systems, I just checked my archive of what I call "Windows template files" (default files that come with Windows) and I have those.

The three files that I think would have either been in the Recorded TV or Videos (possibly) directory. I would have thought Recorded TV would have been more likely, but maybe not.

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Your own recollections might perhaps be from XP MCE (which I never used) rather than Windows 7 or Vista.

Nope, it is 100% distinctly from Windows 7. To be specific, Windows 7 Home Premium x32, if that makes any difference at all.

UPDATE: I do remember though now, it WAS upgraded at one point from Windows Vista, which is what was originally on it.

**UPDATE:** FOUND THE VIDEOS! All 3 of them and more on a fresh install of Windows Vista Home Premium!

So they must have been carried over via windows.old. No wonder I could never find them again!

Vista for the win!

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As I said before, I can't remember what sample files I deleted from Vista years ago, but your mentioning of Apollo and Vertigo does not ring any bells with me. All I'm really certain of is that I still have the Jewels of the Caribbean sample.

Jewels of the Caribbean is video 3 of 3 of the series I am talking about, so I'm inclined to believe it was related.

Anyone else here have Windows 7 or Vista systems that could confirm/deny this?

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Update: I currently have Microsoft/Rovi EPG data until February 19 at 6 PM.

 

 

Edited February 11, 2020 by Dylan Cruz

[Vistapocalypse]

Update: Microsoft/Rovi EPG data still hasn't ceased, but now appears to be chronologically scrambled, rendering it useless - a puzzling way to retire the EPG service.

On 2/11/2020 at 11:02 AM, Dylan Cruz said:

**UPDATE:** FOUND THE VIDEOS! All 3 of them and more on a fresh install of Windows Vista Home Premium!

What were the exact titles of the other dvr-ms sample files? (Of course we have already mentioned Jewels of the Caribbean.)

[InterLinked]

8 hours ago, Vistapocalypse said:

Update: Microsoft/Rovi EPG data still hasn't ceased, but now appears to be chronologically scrambled, rendering it useless - a puzzling way to retire the EPG service.

What were the exact titles of the other dvr-ms sample files? (Of course we have already mentioned Jewels of the Caribbean.)

Apollo 13.dvr-ms

Vertigo.dvr-ms

Jewels of Caribbean.dvr-ms

[Vistapocalypse]

On 2/21/2020 at 9:04 AM, Vistapocalypse said:

Update: Microsoft/Rovi EPG data still hasn't ceased, but now appears to be chronologically scrambled, rendering it useless - a puzzling way to retire the EPG service.

Update: Microsoft's scrambled EPG data expired this evening, so I checked for latest guide listings and got good data until the evening of March 8.

I can't help thinking that Microsoft doesn't really want to retire the EPG service, but does want those of us running old versions of Windows to give up on it. But why would Microsoft want to continue the EPG service? Just for Xbox? Or is there perhaps a new DVR app for Windows 10 in the works?

Edit: I now have Microsoft/Rovi EPG data extending until the evening of March 12.

Edit: Guide data until the evening of March 17. Edit: Make that March 19.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Vistapocalypse

[Vistapocalypse]

Microsoft/Rovi EPG data expired on March 19 and efforts to Get Latest Guide Listings have failed.

Microsoft may have finally figured out how to retire their EPG service. Then again, the situation looked just as bad on New Year's Eve.

Correction: After a brief data outage, I now have Microsoft EPG data until the evening of April 2.

Edited March 21, 2020 by Vistapocalypse

[Vistapocalypse]

Microsoft/Rovi EPG data expired on the evening of April 2. Attempts to Get Latest Guide Listings fail, producing an error message never seen until recently:

This might really be the end of Microsoft's EPG service.

[WinGlass]

I know I'm two years late but for those of you who are wondering if the EPG service is (finally) dead, yes, it is. Well RIP.