Bug with DVB-S

The major benifit for NZ (New Zealand) was the DVB-S support as this is our main source of digital free-to-air TV, SD only. DVB-T is HD using H.264 so were out of luck there.

The great thing about DVB-S support is that we now have a legal/easy way of getting a program guide, only problem is most of the recordings get cancelled after a little while. Some work some don't, some record for 5mins and some just don't record at all. Really fustrating!

Also one other bug is that the TV codec will stop working after a while when you go to watch live or recorded TV, theis requires media cantre to be restarted and then it works again. Anyone in europe having these issues?

This is an issue that others here in NZ have raised already.  It's already been taken onboard by Microsoft, or at least someone who works for Microsoft and hopefully we'll have a fix very soon.

Otherwise, I'll dump my HTPC and buy another Freeview box...

"(4) Unable to burn to CD/DVD using the new WTV file format"

I did a completely clean install with AnyDVD as the only other software besides Ultimate 64 and TVPack and had no problem burning a show recorded in WTV format to DVD.  It was even an HD program and it got downconverted and burned with nothing more than the usual "Burn to DVD" function.  Possibly adding other software (like Nero) might break the built-in burning applications.  Don't know this for a fact - just speculation.

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vlad

wogboynz:

Bug with DVB-S

The major benifit for NZ (New Zealand) was the DVB-S support as this is our main source of digital free-to-air TV, SD only. DVB-T is HD using H.264 so were out of luck there.

The great thing about DVB-S support is that we now have a legal/easy way of getting a program guide, only problem is most of the recordings get cancelled after a little while. Some work some don't, some record for 5mins and some just don't record at all. Really fustrating!

Also one other bug is that the TV codec will stop working after a while when you go to watch live or recorded TV, theis requires media cantre to be restarted and then it works again. Anyone in europe having these issues?

Yes, I get this. After a while especially when I come out of S3 I get Decoder error or Video Error.

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Silverstone LC-16M
Vista Home Premium (x64) SP1
Vista TV Pack 2008
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200
Gigabyte GA-EP45C-DS3R
4GB Memory
2 x Samsung 1TB Hard Disks
nVidia Geforce 8600GT

MHEG (in UK) can cause some TV channels to display black screen after using. Its random and frequent bug [clean Vista SP1 integrated install and security updates and two hotfixes with TV Pack)

Found the MHEG can crash a lot.

Serious bug with setting Media Center to autorun via the HKLM registry RUN key for EHSHELL.EXE - has worked since 2004 edition, but in TV pack on INTEL G965 chipset, a message about graphics not being good enough is displayed. Have to then exit VMC and start it back up again.  Also the same bug if you set in Group Policy, EHSHELL.EXE to be the Windows  Shell. Previously this functionality always worked which meant if people exited Media Center they didnt get explorer or any start menu - VERY handy to lock down the MCE login account !!

Prefer autorun with one of methods above so that when teh machine boots and auto logins, there is no start bar displayed or media center logo, I just get the Welcome screen and then VMC SHOULD fade up to the main menu, TV Pack has broken this, at least on the Intel Integrated graphics (which support HD) for the latest version of the Intel graphics driver and previous.

Here's another new one.

Tuner conflict resolution not working as expected. I have two examples.

Dual tuner system, watch tuner A just before a recording is about to start. The system should use tuner B to record the program (since it's not in use), but instead it prompts you to change the channel. You select yes, then once the channel changes on tuner A you switch to the channel you were watching now using tuner B.

Another example. Watch tuner A on the main media center while recording something on tuner B. Go to recorded TV and watch a recorded program, then go to another extender and try to watch another channel. The expected behavior is that since tuner B is in use (recorded something) and tuner A is not (since you're watching recorded TV) the extender should automatically take control of tuner A, but instead you are presented the tuner conflict message.

This can be very annoying as it gives the impression that all tuners are in use, and thus users get frustrated that they can't watch Live TV.

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Ben
How good can it be, if it isn't HD?
Engadget HD

bjdraw:

Here's another new one. Tuner conflict resolution not working as expected. I have two examples. Dual tuner system, watch tuner A just before a recording is about to start. The system should use tuner B to record the program (since it's not in use), but instead it prompts you to change the channel. You select yes, then once the channel changes on tuner A you switch to the channel you were watching now using tuner B. Another example. Watch tuner A on the main media center while recording something on tuner B. Go to recorded TV and watch a recorded program, then go to another extender and try to watch another channel. The expected behavior is that since tuner B is in use (recorded something) and tuner A is not (since you're watching recorded TV) the extender should automatically take control of tuner A, but instead you are presented the tuner conflict message. This can be very annoying as it gives the impression that all tuners are in use, and thus users get frustrated that they can't watch Live TV.

I think I may have a clue as to what is causing this. I think it's MCE downloading Guide Data from the ATSC signal locking out a channel when it shouldn't be. I turned off the Guide Listing Downloads in the Taskbar Icon a couple of days ago and haven't noticed this happening again with the main system we use.

wogboynz:

Bug with DVB-S

The major benifit for NZ (New Zealand) was the DVB-S support as this is our main source of digital free-to-air TV, SD only. DVB-T is HD using H.264 so were out of luck there.

The great thing about DVB-S support is that we now have a legal/easy way of getting a program guide, only problem is most of the recordings get cancelled after a little while. Some work some don't, some record for 5mins and some just don't record at all. Really fustrating!

Also one other bug is that the TV codec will stop working after a while when you go to watch live or recorded TV, theis requires media cantre to be restarted and then it works again. Anyone in europe having these issues?

I've got around this by using the Sky EPG feed instead, and recording is rock solid.  It's a bit of a clunky way to do it, but it works.

When I get a chance I will document the proceedure.

bjdraw:

Here's another new one. Tuner conflict resolution not working as expected. I have two examples. Dual tuner system, watch tuner A just before a recording is about to start. The system should use tuner B to record the program (since it's not in use), but instead it prompts you to change the channel. You select yes, then once the channel changes on tuner A you switch to the channel you were watching now using tuner B.

I've come across this too.  I thought it might have been my setup, but any reasons/answers would be appreciated!

Satch,

Yes please, for the love of God, tell us how you did it.  When I setup my satellite feed, I have to give it a frequency of 10750 MHz and then it scans all the transpoders on that frequency. I get a lot of channels, including most (if not all) the SKY TV channels to choose from.  I just untick the channels that I can't view and go from there.

The EPG usually will populate itself within seconds.  I did have a look last night thinking along the same lines and the only SKY TV channel that was available to was also listed for FREEVIEW was C4.  I can't even see Prime on the list of channels because I was going to try adding an Analog channel using the TunerApp utility so I could watch Prime at the same time.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Larry

As an update to #11 (getting Service Unavailable when trying to watch Live TV on some stations with Live TV):

I went though all my channels and the following are not working for me on Cox in Phoenix:

100 Discovery Health
251 The Movie Channel Extra
715 KNXV ABC HD
722 National Geographic HD
733 ESPN HD
762 CNBC HD
782 Showtime HD

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Dell XPS 420
Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz
8 GB DDR2 800
2 TB RAID 0
4 x ATI DCT (CableCARD)
Hauppauge HVR-1800 (Analog Cable + ATSC)
Windows Vista Ultimate x64

I've got two hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1250's running and recording QAM without a problem.

Yes, I'm sure it is working fine.  You're not in New Zealand are you?  There's some theory that perhaps it has something to do with the way the EPG data or even the DVB signal is formatted here in NZ.

I noticed the pc won't wake from standby for a scheduled recording when TV Pack is installed.

Tested this on multiple machines and on each one of them the recordings fail after installation of TV Pack.

Hope MS will solve all the bugs soon!

egornz:

Satch,

Yes please, for the love of God, tell us how you did it.  When I setup my satellite feed, I have to give it a frequency of 10750 MHz and then it scans all the transpoders on that frequency. I get a lot of channels, including most (if not all) the SKY TV channels to choose from.  I just untick the channels that I can't view and go from there.

The EPG usually will populate itself within seconds.  I did have a look last night thinking along the same lines and the only SKY TV channel that was available to was also listed for FREEVIEW was C4.  I can't even see Prime on the list of channels because I was going to try adding an Analog channel using the TunerApp utility so I could watch Prime at the same time.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Larry

Hey man, keep an eye out over at www.geekzone.co.nz and I'll post something there once I get some time to write it up.  Since it is very NZ focused, I thought that would be the best place for it.