There are ongoing issues with the zap2itlabs/data direct schedules.

Usually the actual zap2it/tvlistings.com site has the correct info, but the xml info from DD is increasingly whacked.

The Grey's Anatomy and House issues were two recent examples, and FX's dramas (The Riches and Dirt) with non-standard start/end times have been screwed, but a larger problem is that many shows are now showing up with generic descriptions and no episode titles. This has started happening in the last week or two, and is affecting a lot of shows including stuff like The Office, My Name is Earl, CSI, etc. The problem is that when there is no episode description, most PVR software assumes the episode is a rerun.

There's an ongoing thread about it at the zap2it labs forums (you must be logged in), but apparently no one 'official' reads those forums anymore.

http://bb.labs.zap2it.com/viewtopic.php?t=1202

I'm using a non-Myth package with the labs.zap2it data, but I'm curious to know if any of you are seeing these generic episodes. A good test example would be NBC's lineup for this Thursday.

Yes, I can see "The Office" on NBC is not marked correctly, but next week's episode on 4/12 seems right. I also see a problem with generic info on "Deadliest Catch" on Discovery Channel. New episodes start Tue 4/3, but they're all maked as repeats with generic info.

_________________
Mike
My Hardware Profile

zap2it has been messed up for a couple of days now. My lineup especially for Cartoon Network and Discovery are messed up. We all need to send an e-mail [url]labs@zap2it.com[/url] If we send enough e-mails then something will get done.

Thanks for the verification.

The problem is erratic, btw--even though later episodes of The Office are correct, for example, while this week's are not, new episodes of other shows further out are getting added to the lineup every day with 'generic' episode data. (The furthest out I can see at a quick glance is the episode of Raines on NBC, 4/13.)

Just for laughs, I set up a fake zap2it lineup at their site with a zipcode from the other side of the US (I was thinking it might be a regional thing, hence the fact that only a few of us seem to have actively noticed the problem). The local broadcast listings for the new city (Phoenix, in my test) display the same generic episode problems in the xml data.

Just out of curiosity, but when does your subscription expire? Mine is due to expire on the 17th of this month. I have seen stuff like this in the past when my subscription is about ready to expire.

I'm not sure who you're addressing here, but my subscription expires on 6/28/2007.

_________________
Mike
My Hardware Profile

My subscription is not up for several months.

Let's use this week's showing of The Office (Thursday, NBC) as the test case. Is there anyone out there grabbing north america data who IS seeing an episode name/description for the episode?

I just checked tv.com, zap2it.com (tvlistings.com), tv.yahoo.com, television.aol.com, tvguide.com, titantv.com and they ALL have the information correct for "The Office" this Thursday. However, my listings on MythTV do not have it correct. My mythfilldatabase ran about 3 hrs ago. So, it seems to be an issue with DataDirect/Zap2It picking up the correct information when mythfilldatabase is run. I'd gander that it's a DD/Zap problem, as suggeested in the post linked to a few post above.

_________________
Mike
My Hardware Profile

FWIW, some of the early morning NICK shows are not correct either.

Some of the shows, like Greys Anatomy, is correctly showing as a rerun. The right description is in there for it.

I'm wondering if all new episodes are just getting messed up.

I assumed it was either the timeshift, or that zap2it changed the description header.

But I just checked the xml results being returned, and here's what I'm getting for The Office:

<program id="EP4531680011">
<title>The Office</title>
<description>Brent makes easy money.</description>
<showType>Series</showType>
<series>SH453168</series>
<syndicatedEpisodeNumber>204</syndicatedEpisodeNumber>
<originalAirDate>2002-10-21</originalAirDate>
</program>

The listing for it on mythtv shows as '
The lives of workers at the Dunder Mifflin paper-supply company.'. The original air date on the listing shows as 3-24-2005.

I haven't figured out why mythtv is picking that episode yet though, but the info being returned from zap2it is definitely wrong too.

EDIT:
Nevermind this post. I had the wrong dates in the code grabbing the xml.

With the correct dates, I'm not getting The Office at all in the xml.

EDIT^2: in fact, it looks like the only reason The Office shows up at all is because it knew it was going to be on a week ago.

I wonder if re-selecting the lineup would correct this.

EDIT^3: WEIRD. The Office still wasn't showing up, so I expanded the date to the 9th, and then it showed up.

When I had it go from the 4-4-2007 to 4-6-2007, it didn't show up, but changing the 6th to the 9th worked.

I just looked at the forum for zap2it and they are aware of it. I would just say that we all need to sit tight. I just kind of said screw it and disabled mythfilldatabase for the time being. I'm hoping that this get resolved soon

The shows are still right for the most part. The only errors are many descriptions and a few the start/end times.

I'm still running mythfilldatabase, but I'm doublechecking shows until this is resolved. The fact that I now have 4 tuners going and lots of available drive space (for now) helps a great deal.

Cartoon Network and the Discovery Channel are 2 of the most messed up ones. I just hope they get them fixed by Saturday. I've so far missed a few shows that were suppose to air. The office for example was one of them.

Missed Office here too last night. Wifey is pissed. Thread at Zap2It is now locked, so no more complaining over there.