Vista Media center is killing me | The Coffeehouse

Chadk
excuse me - do you has a flavor?

Hey guys.

So 2 weeks ago all my sweet hardware arrived for my media center. Included was a Hauppauge WINTV-Hvr-4000, which was supposed to be a really good TV tuner.

I install Vista Home premium, slap in all the drivers and then boot up Media center. It took some fighting to set up(I think I had to install a codec, but I don't recall), but eventually I found my terrestial channels.

Then I also got a firedtv box for picking up my subscription channels. I never got that to work.

One evening, it just broke. Out the blue, I couldn't receive any TV.

I reinstalled windows from scratch, same story. I found no channels at all.

I installed 3-4 different media center packages like media portal, the one that came with my tv-tuner and some other random ones.

Only 1 picked up the signal. Rest reported 0 channels. But the quality of the one that did pick up was very very very poor.

So I reinstalled again thinking I probably shouldn't install so many drivers at once. So I installed network, graphics, audio and tv-tuner card, and that's in. I rescan, nope. No channels at all!

At this point I'm getting desperate. The major difference I can see between the first time and now, when I do the scan, is that the scan runs much much faster. I have no idea if this means anything though.

Anybody got a clue what I can do? I'm thinking I should get my tv-tuner replaced. But I'd rather not have to deal with it.

Dovella
Go Microsoft !!!!!!!

No

listen me

remove all Pack codec
and install Only VCP codec

VCP codec

If you have Vista 64 bit add this component
for Quick Time use this

stop no other

try

ZippyV
Fired Up

"One evening, it just broke. Out the blue, I couldn't receive any TV.
I reinstalled windows from scratch, same story. I found no channels at all.
I installed 3-4 different media center packages like media portal, the one that came with my tv-tuner and some other random ones.
Only 1 picked up the signal. Rest reported 0 channels. But the quality of the one that did pick up was very very very poor.
So I reinstalled again thinking I probably shouldn't install so many drivers at once. So I installed network, graphics, audio and tv-tuner card, and that's in. I rescan, nope. No channels at all! "

Instead of reinstalling everything you should have checked if there actually was a signal on your cable.

Chadk
excuse me - do you has a flavor?

In reply to ZippyV

#Oct 12th, 2008 @ 4:20 AM

Of course I checked that. It wokrs just fine if I plug it right into my TV.

androidi

> One evening, it just broke. Out the blue, I couldn't receive any TV.

Sounds like you already figured it out. I doubt any software solution will fix a broken tuner hardware. If replacing broken hardware when it's less than 2 years old feels problematic (I know the feeling) then it may be time to consider shopping in a place that knows customer service. Labour is so expensive that places usually replace stuff without much questionaire as no one is going to try repair it in any case . I recently had to replace a HDD 5 times in order to get one that satisfies my criteria of a working hdd. Many HDD mfgs seem to source their bearings from same place or otherwise be sloppy about them so there can be huge differences in bearing noise and vibration even within same model and batch. I'd rather pay a little extra for a guarantee of no vibration and noise rather than having to return so many times but such option unfortunately isn't available. (actually 2 of 5 had no noise issues but had errors during full surface scan)

Chadk
excuse me - do you has a flavor?

In reply to androidi

#Oct 12th, 2008 @ 6:23 AM

Well. The thing is that I'm not sure if it was a software problem. I had just installed the CCCP codec pack that day, so I thought that time it was the problem.

I can receive somewhat of a signal with some other random media center software, but it looked really horrible, if it wasn't the analog signal it picked up.

But yeah, I might race down to the store tomorrow and have it exchanged for another card.

Max Power

I have had plenty of issues with Hauppauge Nova-T 500's (DVB-T Dual Tuners) not getting signal consistantly - and I finally figured out the problem in my case was related to interferance from the VMC machine itself.

If I plug a normal TV into the cable, I get fine picture, but if I plug the same cable into the PC I have to move the cable around until it finds a sweet spot. Of course, I have 2 of these cards, giving me a total of 4 tuners, so the signal needs to be pretty clear and strong by the time it gets split up into the cards.

I also use a booster, and that can help aswell.

The cards can be picky, and a cloudy day or clear day can make a big difference to reception (clear being worse in some instances, but better than storms!)

mVPstar
I'm white because I smelt an onion.

In reply to Chadk

#Oct 12th, 2008 @ 6:46 AM

Well, if it was working in Windows before, it suddenly breaks, and reinstalling Windows doesn't help, nor does reinstalling the software, nor using other software, can't you be sure it's probably not a software problem? I don't quite get how "Vista Media center" is killing you...

Chadk
excuse me - do you has a flavor?

In reply to mVPstar

#Oct 12th, 2008 @ 8:32 AM

Phew. Plugged in the new card and it just worked.

AWESOME!!! Big Smile

:D:D:D

Dovella
Go Microsoft !!!!!!!

In reply to Chadk

#Oct 13th, 2008 @ 4:13 AM

KB 955519 October , 14 2008

•	Fixes an issue in which you cannot seek through recorded TV shows on Windows Media Center systems that have digital cable tuners. Additionally, the recorded TV shows display the incorrect length.
•	Fixes an issue in which Windows Media Center Extenders cannot reconnect to a host computer after the host computer resumes from the suspend mode or the sleep mode.
•	Fixes an issue which is introduced by in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 950126. In this issue, a video that is paused may resume if you minimize or maximize the Windows Media Center window or if a screen saver starts.
•	Implements support for Digital Rights Management (DRM)-free copy for digital cable tuners that have the latest digital cable tuner BIOS versions that support DRM-free copy.
•	Expands the solution that was introduced in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 950126 to improve the experience of recording analog TV broadcasts to include set-top box scenarios. Previously, some analog TV broadcasts were blocked with the "protected content" message. Note This solution does not apply to configurations that use analog TV over digital cable tuners because the BIOS of the digital cable tuners provide content protection.