Windows Media Center Team Blog

by Ben Reed

Last weekend my wife, daughter, and I had dinner with some friends. They live in a rented townhouse and cable TV is included in their monthly rent. During the course of our conversations, they mentioned that they have been gradually 'losing' channels and their cable company had sent them one of the new digital converter set-top-boxes. They use Windows Media Center and have dual NTSC tuners to receive the analog cable TV channels 1-99. They asked me if there was anything that I could think of that would help them get their channels back.

After scanning for channels with a ClearQAM tuner and some work in the guide settings, I was able to add 92 channels to the 23 that Windows Media Center had automatically mapped. Not only do they have all their channels back, but they now have a total of 115 digital cable TV channels, including the local channels in HD, some additional channels they didn't have before, 15 digital audio channels, and they don't have to use the DTA converter box. They can continue to enjoy the benefits of using Windows Media Center and don't have to use the DTA box and an IR blaster.

So they asked me what other people would do to get their channels back if they didn't know me? I hope this blog post helps answer this.

Are you losing channels?

Here's the screen that they had been seeing when tuning to a channel that has been moved from analog to digital...

There has been a fair amount of noise made about 'the broadcast digital TV switchover,’ however, there has also been a switchover going on in the cable TV industry. Brier Dudley, of the Seattle Times, has written about this change in our area:

More on Comcast digital: TiVos, Media Centers, HD and "free"

and here:

Comcast on Media Center? Tips on getting DTA to work.

 

Some cable companies have been switching off some of their analog channels and moving them to digital. As a result, Windows Media Center customers who were using NTSC tuners to watch and record cable TV have been reporting that they have been 'losing channels'. There are several options available to these customers if they want to get their channels back.

There Are Options

First, they can use the Digital To Analog (DTA) box provided by the cable company to convert the digital channels to analog (NTSC) so their existing TV tuner can receive the channels. The main challenge with this solution is that it requires the PC to attempt to control the DTA box using an IR 'blaster'. This one-way control can sometimes be problematic as the PC has to make assumptions about the current 'state' of the DTA box in order to send it the appropriate IR codes to change channel etc. For more info on how to use the DTA box with Windows Media Center, Microsoft MVP Barb Bowman has posted detailed instructions here.

Second, Windows Media Center customers with Windows 7 could use a digital cable tuner with a CableCARD™ from their cable company. With the recent announcements about the enhancements to the digital cable experience in Windows Media Center, it will soon be possible to add a digital cable tuner with CableCARD™ to an existing Windows 7 PC. Using a digital cable tuner with CableCARD™, Windows Media Center customers can watch and record all the channels offered to them through their cable TV subscription, including all the premium channels, such as HBO, as well as all those in HD.

Alternatively, using an inexpensive ClearQAM TV tuner, Windows Media Center customers can get access to many of the channels they may have 'lost'. In the Seattle area, Comcast currently broadcasts a good number of channels using ClearQAM. These are digital channels that are not encrypted and do not require a set-top-box or CableCARD™ to decrypt. ClearQAM is natively supported in Windows Media Center in Windows 7.

Getting Started with ClearQAM

To get started, connect the TV tuner to your coax cable and plug the USB connection into your Windows 7 PC. Once the tuner has been recognized and all the drivers are installed, launch Windows Media Center. If this is the first time you have run Windows Media Center, you will be asked to click on Continue and then select either Express or Custom setup.

Then, from the TV menu, select live tv setup.

If you have previously run TV Setup, you'll need to go to the Tasks menu, select settings, and then TV. Once at the TV Setup menu, you should see your region set to 'United States' and select 'Yes,...' and then 'Next'.

Now, enter your ZIP Code and then select Next.

Agree to the Program Guide Terms of Service and select Next.

Agree to the Microsoft PlayReady™ PC Runtime EULA and select Next.

Wait a minute or so while Windows Media Center downloads the latest TV Setup information from the Microsoft servers - you'll need an active Internet connection...

Next, wait a minute or two while Windows Media Center examines the TV signal.

Once the scan is complete, you should see that Windows Media Center has found the clear-QAM tuner and signal. On the screen below, you can see that Windows Media Center has also detected that there is an analog signal as well. This is because I was using a hybrid TV tuner that supported both QAM and NTSC. Assuming Windows Media Center has found the correct signals, select Yes... and then Next.

Select Next to select the source for ClearQAM.

Find and select the appropriate TV Signal Provider for ClearQAM and then select Next.

Select Next to select the source for analog cable.

Find and select the appropriate TV Signal Provider for analog cable and then select Next.

Confirm that the correct providers have been selected and then click Next.

Wait a minute or two while the TV Program Guide data is downloaded - you will need an active internet connection.

Once the TV Program Data has been downloaded, Windows Media Center will start to scan for QAM channels. This can take several minutes. My scan took about 15-20 minutes to complete.

Here you can see that at 54%, Windows Media Center has found 16 clear-QAM channels to which it has automatically mapped to their appropriate guide data channel.

...and at 84%, it's found 23...

And that's it - 23 channels total, once the scan is complete.

Click Next to complete and finish the TV Signal Setup process.

Now, to find additional channels, navigate to Tasks and select settings.

Then select TV.

Then from the TV menu, select Guide.

Then, from the Guide menu, select Edit Channels.

From the Edit Channels menu, you can see all the channels found - both analog and digital. Here, you can see analog channels 2, 3, 4, & 5, along with digital channels 4.1, 4.2, & 5.1.

Click on Show Preview to display a preview of the channel you select.

Here you can see that the live TV show is playing in the background behind the menu for channel 4.1 - KOMO-DT.

Here, you can see that I've scrolled down to channel C91.1. Windows Media Center was unable to automatically map this clear-QAM channel to the appropriate guide data. As you can see from the preview, it's clearly showing ESPN2.

Select the channel and then click on Edit Listings.

Here I typed esp to jump to the listings that start with these letters. You could also just scroll through the listings using the arrow keys.

Next, I select the correct listing for ESPN2.

I then chose to combine this channel with channel 32. Channel 32 was the old analog channel number for ESPN2 from Comcast in the Seattle area.

Now, click on Save.

Next, select Edit Sources,

...and un-check the box next to Analog Cable as this channel is no longer broadcast on analog cable in my area.

Here you can see that some of the QAM channels have a lock icon next to them. These are the QAM channels that Windows Media Center has found that are encrypted. You would need a digital cable tuner with CableCARD™ in order to decrypt these channels in Windows Media Center.

Here you can see a musical notes icon next to some channels. These are digital audio channels for local radio stations.

I repeated this process for the remaining unidentified channels. All told, I was able to add 92 channels to the 23 that Windows Media Center had automatically mapped.

Here's a breakdown of the mappings that I found for their area. These won't necessarily be the same as yours...

About the Author

Ben Reed is the senior product marketing manager for Windows Media Center at Microsoft Corp. In this capacity, Reed and his team are charged with developing the marketing fundamentals and insights for Windows Media Center. Reed is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. He has more than 14 years of technology industry experience and has been at Microsoft in various technology marketing roles for the past seven years. Reed has worked on every release of Windows since version 3.1 and is an avid Windows Media Center enthusiast, both at work and at home. He graduated with honors from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, U.K., with a degree in electronic engineering. He lives with his wife and daughter in the greater Seattle area.