Since when did Pop still have scrolling listings?

Discuss the awesomeness of the Prevue Channel, Prevue Interactive, Prevue Networks/United Video Satellite Group, TV Guide Inc., etc. right here.
WeatherSTARIII
Posts: 66
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2010 7:01 pm

Re: Since when did Pop still have scrolling listings?

Post by WeatherSTARIII »

Sorry to bump, but here's another recent video of the renegade TV Guide Channel from Spectrum in Tampa, FL. Again, instead of simulcasting the actual Pop feed, Spectrum in Tampa Bay simulcasts the local Bay News 9 feed. Recently, Bay News 9 renamed itself now as "Spectrum Bay News 9".

Courtesy of Weatherman99:
https://youtu.be/4SqolFYwJEg
WeatherSTAR III:
Prevue Guide/EPG fan and classic Weather Channel fan
tin
Posts: 568
Joined: Sat May 08, 2010 9:54 pm

Re: Since when did Pop still have scrolling listings?

Post by tin »

No need to apologise for bumping this topic, all sightings of this are interesting!
PajamaDarkness
Posts: 127
Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2015 12:24 pm
Location: Will I ever tell you? No.

Re: Since when did Pop still have scrolling listings?

Post by PajamaDarkness »

Here's another TV Guide Network-styled guide, this image being from Western Iowa Telecom.
Image
Image courtesy of my friend GDZippN.
PajamaFrix
Prevuing since 2015.
GDZippN
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2018 8:47 pm
Location: Somewhere, Somewhere
Contact:

Re: Since when did Pop still have scrolling listings?

Post by GDZippN »

I'll be uploading a video of the scroll later tonight if I remember (if not, then soon).
AriX
Site Admin
Posts: 828
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:32 pm
Contact:

Re: Since when did Pop still have scrolling listings?

Post by AriX »

Here's another interesting clip, re: Pop listings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUXXN6BIbto
WeatherSTARIII
Posts: 66
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2010 7:01 pm

Re: Since when did Pop still have scrolling listings?

Post by WeatherSTARIII »

AriX wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 5:27 pm Here's another interesting clip, re: Pop listings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUXXN6BIbto
The one thing that I even noticed on the video screen is that the top part is all shrunken down to a really tiny size with the audio feed replaced with Christmas music (Music Choice audio feed perhaps?). I wonder if the video feed was even the actual Pop feed, but shrunken down?
WeatherSTAR III:
Prevue Guide/EPG fan and classic Weather Channel fan
tin
Posts: 568
Joined: Sat May 08, 2010 9:54 pm

Re: Since when did Pop still have scrolling listings?

Post by tin »

That... is weird!
AriX
Site Admin
Posts: 828
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:32 pm
Contact:

Re: Since when did Pop still have scrolling listings?

Post by AriX »

Here's another full-screen Pop guide example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quN376aEI5Y&t=3s

A wacky thought experiment:

It strikes me just how similar the Pop/TV Guide Network grid's functionality is to the Amiga one, down to the channel names (apparently) being limited to 6 characters. And very similar formats being used to describe movies, like:
"Movie title" (rating symbol) (year of release) Comma-separated, list, of actors. One-sentence description. (running time)

It makes me seriously wonder - is it at all possible that the modern guide uses a similar data format to the classic guides?

I'm sure it took them some time to replace the Amiga-based machines with Windows NT-based ones, and we have docs indicating that EPG Jr. was run until at least 2005. That would suggest that both systems were running in parallel for several years. So perhaps they have some common ancestry?

For the record, the Satcom C4 satellite, which traditionally carried the 2400 baud Prevue/EPG data feed, was retired in 2007. The Pop channel is on the Galaxy 15 satellite. One must wonder if any data is available there? Is it possible that guide data is still distributed over satellite, or does it come over the Internet now? It would seem there is capacity on the transponder: https://www.lyngsat.com/Galaxy-15.html
tin
Posts: 568
Joined: Sat May 08, 2010 9:54 pm

Re: Since when did Pop still have scrolling listings?

Post by tin »

I reckon it's very likely the format is the same or extremely similar. But the other questions...... I dunno....
JoeTheDragon
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:20 am

Re: Since when did Pop still have scrolling listings?

Post by JoeTheDragon »

likely the data format needed to be keep the same or at the state the NT based hardware sourced the data from the analog c band feed.

Look at how long the old Weather Star lasted and how long the weather channel had an Videocipher ii feed.
Post Reply