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Sony DVR Useless After Rovi Stops TV Guide OnScreen

Posted by Soulskill on from the lifetime-service-assuming-a-very-short-life dept.

New submitter speedlaw writes "Rovi has just announced that they are stopping the TV Guide OnScreen service as of April 13th, 2013. This was announced via the service itself. This is an on-air listing service that provides listings over the air, as part of an OTA TV signal. Many devices, notably the Sony HDD 250 and 500 Digital Video Recorders, will no longer function without the clock-set data this stream provides. When other companies decide to stop supporting something, they don't make older systems useless. Worse, Sony never came out with another DVR in the U.S. market. Why do we have to rent them? How do we get Sony or Rovi to provide at least a software patch to set the clock so the DVR can at least retain 1980s VCR functionality? Sony admits there is no fix. A thread on AVS forums has a bunch of information on TV Guide OnScreen. The TV stations who broadcast the data have been ordered by Rovi to disconnect the data inserters and ship them back. I have a TiVo, and yes, I know all about HTPC, but this data stream was 'lifetime listings' like TiVo has 'lifetime listings' — now that Rovi is looking to cut service, my two DVR units are about to become useless."

3 of 321 comments (clear)

  1. What do you expect? by davester666 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hello...it's Sony. You should be surprised that it worked this long.

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    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  2. Re:rms is right by Onymous+Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In particular, this situation indicates why tivoized systems are a bad thing and why the GPLv3 was necessary. Not that this system had GPL'd software in it necessarily, but if it had, it would have needed the updated, v3 license to allow customers to run their own mods to make the hardware work for them.

    Oh, wait. Are the Sony HDD 250 and 500 DVR systems digital signature-locked to prevent modified software from operating?

  3. Re:Bashing onwards by bfandreas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Rovi (corporation) used to be called Macrovision.

    That snippet alone would have explained about eveything. Why was this omitted in the submission? So basically Sony built a system that relied completely on a service provided by Macrovision and the customers got completely screwed over?

    I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

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    20 minutes into the future