Media Center Electronic Program Guide in 1-2-3 (EPG123)

For many Windows Media Center TV users, July 2015 was not a good month. Microsoft changed their provider of guide data from the highly stable and reliable Zap2it (Tribune), to the almost amateurish Rovi (Rovi Corp). To be fair to Rovi, the data provided by them to Microsoft is probably fine, but the execution of the transfer and the continuing struggles has been amazingly disappointing.

EPG123 was created to not only compensate for the lacking guide information, but to also relieve the user from relying on Microsoft and/or Rovi to fill their guide with accurate information. The guide information downloaded by EPG123 is provided by Gracenote (Tribune) via servers maintained by Schedules Direct. EPG123 delivers that highly stable and reliable data that is expected to even include some customization. Most importantly, though, it provides the user with some control over their own destiny for TV watching and recording.

This project was born out of frustration and desperation following the transfer from Zap2it to Rovi. It could never have made it as far as it has without the involvement of a lot of WMC enthusiasts and users at The Green Button. Many of the improvements and features were born of their experiences and suggestions. There was also quite a bit of technical support provided by Schedules Direct to ensure the EPG123 client/server interaction was optimal.

With a Schedules Direct subscription, you can have up to 4 lineups to provide all the guide listings you may need. You can select what stations to download and what stations to ignore. Missing movie posters can be retrieved from TMDb along with some other customizations.

The client allows for automatic or manual mapping of guide listings with tuner channels, handle database configuration backups and restores, database rebuilds if needed, and more.

EPG123 provides the ability to adjust many dimensional aspects of the guide. Some WMC tweaks are added as well to improve user experience.