OK, since the (un)release of TV Pack I have been struggling with getting clearQAM working on my PC. I tried different drivers, different cards, different procedures, different plug-ins, signal boosters, different connection setups, but nothing worked...so I finally gave up.
Then last night something happened. I was trying one last ditch effort to convince me not to return the Hauppauge HVR-1800 I have and something caused it to stop recognizing the ATSC input. I turned off the PC and went to bed figuring I would awake to the task of removing the card to return it to the store. Since I was going to have to redo my VMC configuration anyway I decided to try one last thing to get QAM working with my existing card. I had read that all the ViXS PureTV tuners were basically the same card and could use the same drivers. I had also read (in here) that VistaView had drivers that enabled their cards (ViXS PurTV-based) to access clearQAM channels in VMC. After removing the defective 1800 I then downloaded the VistaView driver (the 1-N-1 e version) and the registry hack from their website. I installed the driver (it correctly used the 64-bit one) and then ran the reg file, rebooted and went to VMC.
What happened next rekindled my faith in VMC (not M$) because when I ran TV Signal setup it informed me that it had found 1 analog and 1 QAM tuner. JOY! I had long suspected that for QAM to work VMC had to recognize the digital tuner as such and not just as ATSC, which it had been doing with the 1800 installed. After clicking through "Yes, configure my system..." it asked me for my analog carrier followed by my digital carrier, and immediately went into the channel search. I was a bit wary when it reached 50% without finding any channels, but soon they started to pile up. When it was done I went to Edit Guide and was astounded to see 379 channels in my listings. What!? Looking through the channels, the lineup I had seen on the Velocity website finally started to make sense. Using that, I began the task of renaming and renumbering my digital channels.
Many were encrypted (lock symbol) and some are music only, but all my local HD networks, some QAM only and a few duplicates are now in my Guide listings. I am so stoked I can't even tell you. My only problem is that a few of the major networks show no guide data info. CBS HD and NBC HD, to be exact. Is this because I changed them from high number channels to single-digit channels so they woiuld appear next to their analog counterparts? I don't know. All I know is I finally have clearQAM in VMC. The video quality is slightly below that of the 1800, but not disagreeable. I think I will wait until the 2250 comes out so I can then add another digital and ATSC tuner to my system. With the coming changes in February it doesn't make sense to add another analog tuner. One will be enough by then.
So, if you have a tuner card with a ViXS PureTV chip then chances are this will work for you. Happy, happy, joy, joy!![Big Smile [:D]](/emoticons/emotion-2.gif)