Ubc And Movie Channel Schedules

[Upcountry]

This post is aimed at UBC watchers who like to know when programs, movies, etc., are scheduled as far in advance as possible. I’m having some trouble with this, and I’d like to talk to others who share my concern. Maybe we can ban together to convince UBC or their program suppliers to take this issue seriously.

I think True aims their web site schedule info at the traditional viewer who just watches “what’s on today” or just this month. At least they don’t seem to consider people who want to plan recording times in the future. I’m finding that HBO/Cinemax has the same mentality. Star Movies has been the best about providing info and responding to complaints quickly and helpfully.

I use a DVR to record movies overnight or at other times that don’t conflict with other programs I want to watch. Thanks to the limitations of the UBC satellite box, my DVR can only be set for time, not channel. As a result, the most convenient time might not be this month. It might be next month or vice versa. It's not always easy to avoid situations where a good movie time on HBO comes right after one on Star, which requires a channel change.

I’ve been “spoiled”, I guess, by the fact that I have been able to get two-month’s worth of schedule info for MH (12), Star Movies and HBO/Cinemax via the suppliers website, or via UBC’s “Add Programe to Calendar” page. This process hasn’t been trouble-free, though. I’ve usually had to bug one outfit or another to update their pages at the beginning of the month.

At the beginning of July, I was able to get info for July through August. But this month, I was able to get this for MH and Star Movies, but not HBO/Cinemax via the HBO/Cinemax schedule page! Here's the URL:

http://www.hboasia.com/hbo/schedule

If you set the date to 01/09/2007 you’ll only see the first three hours of programming.

I emailed them, and eventually got a formulaic response touting their new “feature” of personalized email reminders of movies and what’s on “this week”, which underlines my sense that they aren’t thinking about DVR users. They said that September’s info would not be available till the last week of August. I responded that this was not good, nor acceptable, but they haven’t followed up. I asked them for a text file of the September info, but they haven’t responded. I think, for all the “glitz” (garish colors) and “glamour” (asking for customer emails to supply data that could be easily available on the website), cutting back on advance schedule data amounts to a “downgrade” in the quality of the website.

UBC has a feature that allows us to download a zip file containing text files of all their channel programming for the current month. They had some trouble with this feature this month, and when I asked about the possibility of providing the next month data this way as well they said they did not have the info.

However, I believe they do! That is, went I go to the “Add Programe to Calendar” page the other day I found that I could get HBO/Cinemax September data! Oddly August is not available due perhaps to a database access glitch.

August:

http://www.truevisionstv.com/search/eng/Se...p;Start_Time=99

Here’s September:

http://www.truevisionstv.com/search/eng/Se...p;Start_Time=99

So, it appears that they do have the data; it’s just a matter of convincing UBC/TrueVisions that it is worthwhile to make sure it’s available to their customers. I emailed them about the August glitch, and I fear that when the try to fix it, they’ll ‘break” the September access, which will flow over to October come September 1. I think this is likely, because when I contacted them about August in July, August became available, but the July data disappeared. (BTW, I can’t be sure if the data is correct for HBO/CM until that data on the hboasia site.)

Whatever we think of the available programming in general, a DVR at least give us access to the best of what they offer, so we can capture it for convenient viewing. I think it’s time we speak up as a group and ask TrueVisions to help make it easy for us plan our viewing easily and efficiently.

So, on this thread, I’d like to hear from others who have had the same frustrations. If you’re with the set who’s biggest decision is Singha or Chang with whatever’s on, please just eat your peanuts instead of tossing them here!

UC

Note:

MH: http://www.truevisionstv.com/search/eng/Se...p;Start_Time=99

Star: http://www.startv.com/schedules/TH/4a28ec2...296EF48C0E08299

HBO/Cmx: http://www.hboasia.com/hbo/schedule

[Solosiam]

The best bet would be an XML TV based format, there is supposedly one floating about, anyone else have any experience of getting monthly UBC data?

[mr_hippo]

What's your problem? http://www.truevisionstv.com/Search/eng/Se...00&Keyword= HBO for 28 Sept on truevisions site

[Solosiam]

What's your problem? http://www.truevisionstv.com/Search/eng/Se...00&Keyword= HBO for 28 Sept on truevisions site

We are talking about getting the data for the next 4 weeks or so all at once (not in a txt format), so that media centres or perhaps DVD recorders can schedule program recordings days/weeks in advance. Not simply looking up todays or tommorows programs on one channel over the internet.

[Upcountry]

Solosiam,

Maybe you were referring to a different thread.

mr_hippo,

Yes, this month I was able to get September data for all the movie channels via the truevisions link, but....

a ) I don't know if I can count on that for next month - see what I said in my long post.

b ) hboasia's website it good for movie synopsizes, stills from the movies, and actor listings. Makes it easier to know which movie of a certain title is actually going to be shown. When I looked up a few of the films there for September, hboasia didn't even have any show times for it!

c ) since hboasia didn't have some of the movies even listed in their database, it made me wonder if I could trust truevision's September data.

So the challenge, as I see it, is to convince the providers that be (true, hbo, etc.) to make it a policy to continue to provide schedule info two months at at time.

Edited August 14, 2007 by Upcountry

[lomatopo]

TrueVisions publishes a zip file each month (usually posts between the 1st and 7th of the month). This zip file has full schedules for all channels for the month. It can be found on the main page: http://www.truevisionstv.com/index.aspx

Click on the SEARCH SCHEDULE tab then look towards the bottom for DOWNLOAD and click on Schedule to download the zip file. I have been using this for 2 years or so and the schedules seem generally accurate. I don't have a requirement for longer term programming.

Example:

UBC Chanel : HBO

Date : 15/08/2007

Start time Program

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

01:15 American Pie: Band Camp

03:00 Back To The Future Part Iii

05:00 The Wicked Lady.

06:30 The Year Of The Yao

08:00 Mickybo & Me

09:45 The Adventures Of Brer Rabbit

11:00 Free Willy 2

12:45 Her Alibi

14:15 Terms Of Endearment

16:30 Waterland.

18:00 Just Like Heaven

20:00 Police Academy 5 Assignment: Miami Beach

22:00 The Benchwarmers

23:30 Her Alibi

It seems like most of the HBO content I like (Rome, The Wire, Sopranos, Entourage, Deadwood) is severely edited (language) so now I only watch material sourced in the U.S. By edited I mean that the producers create a PG version for many markets and that is the one shown here. It's just not the same.

[Upcountry]

The point I'm trying to make is that it is a good thing for the True and the movie channels, etc., to keep their viewers up to date with both the current month and the month to follow.

DVR or not, it gives us the best chance to pick a convenient time to watch.

This information has been available, more or less, for at least a year or more (since I started using it at least). But now it's getting harder to access.

First, hboasia has decided to cut back. True has been inconsistent about their web site schedule info, as well. If hboasia wants to restrict their info, we might find that their advance schedules won't be available for via True either.

Maybe I'm being cynical, I'm concerned that we might see True or other movie channels cut back as well.

So, instead of just fighting this battle alone, I thought I'd find out if other TV members are frustrated by this... or find out if folks to haven't seen the value of advance schedules might become aware of it, and help me influence "the providers that be".

I hope I'll be proven wrong, that hboasia will decide to restore advance schedules, and that True will get their act together to make their data dependable. But it would be nice to have some allies.

So, c'mon outta wood work!