Vista MCE - Finds channels but can't view them!

[Eyesy]

Hi

I've got a Freecom DVB-T USB stick running on Vista Home Premium. I live in
an area with a strong Freeview signal using the Crystal Palace transmitter.

I'm using an indoor aerial, so I don't expect to get every channel etc. -
that's fine. What's strange is that when I scan for channels in Media Center,
it finds 20-30 channels, but when I try to watch them they come back with the
message in MC that the tuner is either disconnected or the channel is not
running.

The strange thing is that in Media Portal, it picks up those same channels
and can play them no problem.

Is there some setting in Media Center that can let me see the signal
strength or is there some threshold that I can set on when it doesn't try to
show the channel?

[PBar]

Yes, I'm also having this problem for all multiplexes which are offset from
the center channel frequency.

(see http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/reception_advice/dtt_pocket_guide_2-8.pdf)

It seems that the 'autotune' code tries the center frequencies and the +/-
167KHz offsets, finds all of the channels, and then forgets about the offsets
causing Media Center to complain there's no signal.

It seems that some card manufacturers have hacked a fix into their drivers -
but this really seems like something MCE should take care of itself!

This is a pretty poor bit of programming. (US Centric world view perhaps?)

[Eyesy]

PBar - thanks for letting me know that I'm not going mad! But surely they
couldn't have left such a bug in the application - or everyone in London
using MC would be getting this sort of problem...

Thanks again

[PBar]

I think that the most popular cards shipped with Media Center PCs have
drivers which work around the problem. (e.g. Hauppauge)

The Freecom DVB-T stick was a complete pain to even install a driver on
Vista! It certainly isn't logo compliant for Media Center.

There's a freely available utility called scanchannelsbda_uk.exe which will
run through all frequencies and the 167KHz offsets and check the signal
strength. For me, this finds almost all the channels from the Sandy Heath
transmitter.

Vista MCE reports the same number of channels found, but when I try to watch
any channel with a non-zero frequency offset I get the 'No Signal' error.
That leaves me with about 8 working channels. :-(

On previous versions of media center there were registry settings which
could be used to hardwire the frequencies. (google for "TVAutoTune") -
however they don't seem to work the same way on Vista MCE.

I'm still convinced this is really an MCE problem (and I work for
Microsoft!).

[Ashleigh]

Unfortunatly the old MCE 2005 reg hack no longer works, and the only solution
most have is to get updated drivers from the vendor.

Try Freecoms tech support as they may have drivers availble.

Sorry I could not be of further help, but I ditched my Freecom and went with
a Terratec USB reciever that works perfectly in x86 and x64.

Ashleigh

Post by PBar
I think that the most popular cards shipped with Media Center PCs have
drivers which work around the problem. (e.g. Hauppauge)
The Freecom DVB-T stick was a complete pain to even install a driver on
Vista! It certainly isn't logo compliant for Media Center.
There's a freely available utility called scanchannelsbda_uk.exe which will
run through all frequencies and the 167KHz offsets and check the signal
strength. For me, this finds almost all the channels from the Sandy Heath
transmitter.
Vista MCE reports the same number of channels found, but when I try to watch
any channel with a non-zero frequency offset I get the 'No Signal' error.
That leaves me with about 8 working channels. :-(
On previous versions of media center there were registry settings which
could be used to hardwire the frequencies. (google for "TVAutoTune") -
however they don't seem to work the same way on Vista MCE.
I'm still convinced this is really an MCE problem (and I work for
Microsoft!).

[Impy]

How did you install the freecom DVB stick - Media Centre doesn't even
recognise it's there!

Post by PBar
I think that the most popular cards shipped with Media Center PCs have
drivers which work around the problem. (e.g. Hauppauge)
The Freecom DVB-T stick was a complete pain to even install a driver on
Vista! It certainly isn't logo compliant for Media Center.
There's a freely available utility called scanchannelsbda_uk.exe which will
run through all frequencies and the 167KHz offsets and check the signal
strength. For me, this finds almost all the channels from the Sandy Heath
transmitter.
Vista MCE reports the same number of channels found, but when I try to watch
any channel with a non-zero frequency offset I get the 'No Signal' error.
That leaves me with about 8 working channels. :-(
On previous versions of media center there were registry settings which
could be used to hardwire the frequencies. (google for "TVAutoTune") -
however they don't seem to work the same way on Vista MCE.
I'm still convinced this is really an MCE problem (and I work for
Microsoft!).

[Sharsman]

There's new drivers on the Freecom site.

Post by Impy
How did you install the freecom DVB stick - Media Centre doesn't even
recognise it's there!

Post by PBar
I think that the most popular cards shipped with Media Center PCs have
drivers which work around the problem. (e.g. Hauppauge)
The Freecom DVB-T stick was a complete pain to even install a driver on
Vista! It certainly isn't logo compliant for Media Center.
There's a freely available utility called scanchannelsbda_uk.exe which will
run through all frequencies and the 167KHz offsets and check the signal
strength. For me, this finds almost all the channels from the Sandy Heath
transmitter.
Vista MCE reports the same number of channels found, but when I try to watch
any channel with a non-zero frequency offset I get the 'No Signal' error.
That leaves me with about 8 working channels. :-(
On previous versions of media center there were registry settings which
could be used to hardwire the frequencies. (google for "TVAutoTune") -
however they don't seem to work the same way on Vista MCE.
I'm still convinced this is really an MCE problem (and I work for
Microsoft!).

[Feral]

having exactly the same problems here with the latest drivers from Freecom.
My DVB-T stick works fine in the Totalmedia app and Media Center scans and
finds the channels but the screen is always blank when I go to'Live TV'.

It's not a signal strength issue as in the totalmedia app I have full signal
strength and I can actually see the Crystal Palace tower from my window.

[Nigel Barker]

Post by Feral
having exactly the same problems here with the latest drivers from Freecom.
My DVB-T stick works fine in the Totalmedia app and Media Center scans and
finds the channels but the screen is always blank when I go to'Live TV'.
It's not a signal strength issue as in the totalmedia app I have full signal
strength and I can actually see the Crystal Palace tower from my window.

It's a problem with the Vista drivers for your device. Contact Freecom for updated working drivers.
Alternatively use a device from a manufacturer that does have working drivers for Vista Media Center
iike Hauppauge.
--

Cheers

Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur
MCE MVP

[Sharsman]

Sorry I meant that for the person who said they couldn't get the sick
installed, I'm under the Crystal Palace antenna and can't get it working
either, and when I was in Nottingham it was working fine so it is definatley
an offset problem, however the Freecom stick works fine with most other
pieces of software so i personally think it is a Microsoft issue but it
doesnt look like they're gonna even attempt to fix it and as Freecom don't
actually make the device they just repackage it, i'm not to optimistic about
getting drivers. So if you do find some let me know but i might just cut my
losses and get a hauppague one as at least theres a work around for that.

Post by Nigel Barker

Post by Feral
having exactly the same problems here with the latest drivers from Freecom.
My DVB-T stick works fine in the Totalmedia app and Media Center scans and
finds the channels but the screen is always blank when I go to'Live TV'.
It's not a signal strength issue as in the totalmedia app I have full signal
strength and I can actually see the Crystal Palace tower from my window.

It's a problem with the Vista drivers for your device. Contact Freecom for updated working drivers.
Alternatively use a device from a manufacturer that does have working drivers for Vista Media Center
iike Hauppauge.
--
Cheers
Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur
MCE MVP

[Feral]

freecom seem to not want to do anymore work on their drivers, this thread at
greenbutton has been really helpful though and it seems MS are looking at the
issue. I've pm's Jess driver details and description of the issue as per page
7.


http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/7/195157/ShowThread.aspx

Post by Nigel Barker

Post by Feral
having exactly the same problems here with the latest drivers from Freecom.
My DVB-T stick works fine in the Totalmedia app and Media Center scans and
finds the channels but the screen is always blank when I go to'Live TV'.
It's not a signal strength issue as in the totalmedia app I have full signal
strength and I can actually see the Crystal Palace tower from my window.

It's a problem with the Vista drivers for your device. Contact Freecom for updated working drivers.
Alternatively use a device from a manufacturer that does have working drivers for Vista Media Center
iike Hauppauge.
--
Cheers
Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur
MCE MVP

[Rich]

With Vista MC is it possible to manually tweak the registry in some way to
get this offset issue sorted either by changing the way MC handles offsets or
manually entering the frequencies?

thanks,
Rich.

[Rich]

Don't worry, just read through the green button thread, sounds like a driver
issue.

Rich.

[Nigel Barker]

Post by Rich
With Vista MC is it possible to manually tweak the registry in some way to
get this offset issue sorted either by changing the way MC handles offsets or
manually entering the frequencies?

No, because the problem is with the device driver for the DVB-T tuner. In particular the Freecom USB
stick which is in any case not Premium certified for Vista so should not be expected to work in
Media Center. Evidently a DVB-T (Freeview) tuner deployed in the UK must be able to tune to any
frequency within the UHF band presenting the modulation parameters defined in Table 22.2 of
D-Book5.0 & the Freecom & other devices that have a problem with frequency offsets do not satisfy
this requirement. As Freecom & other manufacturers refuse to fix the problem the only solution is to
buy a tuner that is known to work correctly e.g. any of the Hauppauge ones.
--

Cheers

Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur
MCE MVP

[Bryan]

That is really annoying! I have spent a fortune on cables and aerials and
signal boosters.
Microsoft Sort it out!

[Nigel Barker]

Post by Bryan
That is really annoying! I have spent a fortune on cables and aerials and
signal boosters.
Microsoft Sort it out!

Without a description of your problem it's very difficult to offer advice. Apart from the cables,
aerials & signal boosters what are the specifications of your computer equipment?
--

Cheers

Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur
MCE MVP