Hi Jess

I upgraded to Windows Vista Ultimate a while ago and have been having a severe problem with MCE from the start.  I am using a Freecom DVB-T USB stick, with an antenna to pick up freeview digital channels in the UK.  Everything goes well, and I am given several options of choosing which transmitter I am nearest.  I have tried them all, with no difference other than slight difference in names. 

The problem is that when MCE scans for channels, it picks them all up and the channels work.  However, when the scanning is finished and stored, and then I go into live tv, I am told that there is no tv signal.  I went through all the channels, all of them not working except for one. Now, I have third party tv software (Cyberlink Powercinema) which works fine, and all channels display properly so my tv tuner is working fine.  MCE even works with them for the small time its scanning. 

I hate Powercinema.  The software is buggy and generally rubbish so I would much rather prefer to use MCE.  Over several months, I think I have finally figured out the problem.

I went to the Edit Channels part in Settings, and saw that the frequencies of the stored channels are displayed ("x channel at xyz mhz frequency").  I compared these numbers to the ones I found as the official broadcasting frequencies, and found that they are all off by one mhz.  All except for the one channel that works, which is stored at the correct frequency.  The channels here are broadcast in multiplexes with several channels being at certain frequencies.  BBC One on my MCE is said to be stored at 505mhz, but it is broadcast at 506mhz.  The same is true for all other channels, they seem to be 1mhz off the broadcast frequency. 

Is there anyway to fix this? I think that this will fix my problems and allow me to use MCE for full tv functionality, so I wont have to resort to third party software.  Since there is no manual tune function, I have been unable to figure out if it is even possible to change the frequency MCE has stored for the channels.  If you could help me fix this problem, I would be very very grateful. This is the only problem I have encountered with Vista, and sitting waiting for a vista MCE update is not working for me so far.

Thanks

Kind Regards, Pete

I have the same problem, with the same Freecom USB DVB-T stick. However, there are a few channels that are set to the right freqency (as it turns out, all those on MUX 1 and MUX C work, the rest don't), but the rest are 1mhz out. A manual way to edit a channel's frequency would be perfect.

The tuner guys here tell me that's not a premium logo'ed tuner - which means it hasn't passed the tests required to work with Media Center.

Okay thanks. I've not seen a premium logo'ed dvb stick before, i'll have a look out for one.  However, the Freecom DVB-T stick did work fine with XP MCE 2005 which I had before I upgraded to vista. Is there no way to manually edit the stored frequencies?

There isn't, unfortunately.

And many tuners that worked with XP don't work with Vista; it's up to the IHV to determine what tuners they support on what platforms.

I've been looking around online for an answer, and it seems this isn't just a problem with the Freecom USB stick.

UK digital terrestrial TV is conveyed through a series of "multiplexes" (also known as an MUX) from each transmitter. Each multiplex carries a number of channels. The problem, from what I've read, is that some multiplexes have what is called an offset. That is to say that some are offset by either + or - 167mhz, while others aren't offset at all.

Now, any MUX that has no offset is fine for me. So I get some channels, and they work fine, but they're only those that have no offset. On the Divis transmitter (i.e. the one I recieve from) there are 5 MUXs, and I recieve two fine; MUX 1 (all the BBC channels) and MUX C (some other channels). Any channel that is on an MUX with an offset ends up 1mhz out.

Media Centre seems to know to look at the offset when scanning for channels, as it picks up everything I should recieve, but it seems to be a different matter when actually tuning to them. This doesn't appear to be a problem localised to my transmitter, my reciever, or my computer; I've read several cases of this happening, with differing recievers. Any other programme seems perfectly capable of both scanning for those channels and tuning to them.

The fact that everything worked fine under XP MCE 2005 would leave me to suggest that it is, perhaps, a problem with Vista Media Centre. I bought Vista Home Premium just so I could have Media Centre. I don't want to have to use another programme. I use my PC a lot for watching TV (it's the only TV I have, really), and I really need to get this sorted.

Thanks phonic party. Generally, from searching the net, I have found out similar things, with others suffering the same problem as we are.  I receive from the Crystal Palace transmitter and have a very strong signal from it and pick up every freeview channel.  From what I understand, Windows Media Center tunes channels quite differently than how other tv software works.  When it scans channels, I believe it works like every other software, but I heard it stores channels based on information they know about the transmitter, as opposed to the found frequencies of the channels.  I think this is why it does not seem to work in the case of offset frequencies. 

There is nothing wrong with the hardware tuner.  If it works fine with no problems with other third party tv applications, ones that look and feel way inferior to Media Center, then its not that the hardware is malfunctioning.  Also, I have a DVB-T stick from Hauppage as well which results in the same problems. I desperately want this fixed too, as I upgraded to Vista Ultimate as the new Media Center looked much nicer than XP MCE 2005. But phonic_party, I think we'll have to wait a while before it can be fixed. 

I've sucessfully manually changed the frequencies stored in the registry a few years ago because my region was unsupported. Check the manual tuning thread linked in my favourites, the technique may be adaptable for your situation.

I don't know whether this problem is restricted to Vista certified devices or not as I seem to be experiencing the same problem.

I have just bought a brand new PC with its primary purpose to serve as a media center and pvr.  When I built the PC I installed a Compro E700 PCIe dual DVB-T tuner.  On the box and the compro website it points out that it is certified for Vista 32 and 64 usage with the certified for vista logo.

When using the Compro DTV application I am able to recieve all the channels from the Emley Moor transmitter and things are working fine.  However for a more seemless approach and better scheduled recording I would like to use media center for my tv.  When I try to set the card up in media center it scans for channels and reports that it has found all 70 but when I view them I get the 'No Signal' page after about 10 seconds.

Having read other sites on this problem and having found the frequencies for the Emley Moor transmitter I have found that all of the MUXes are transmitter either at -167kHz or +167kHz.  To test this theory I may take my new PC on a road trip to see a friend at the weekend where the digital TV is transmitted on the exact frequency and not +/-167kHz.

I have already sent an e-mail to Compro but from what I have read I don't expect a reply.  I will also be raising a support call with Microsoft to try and further this and get it sorted out. 

In the meantime if anyone has any way of fixing this with a temporary hack etc.. I would be glad to try it out.  I have tried editing the registry settings as per MCE2005 but to no avail.

Thanks

Gsoty

I have just discovered (to my cost) the exact same problem with the compro E700. I have posted another thread asking about this before I found this thread.

I would also be very interested in a fix for this problem.

Gsoty, could you let us know if Compro answer (it'll save me emailing aswell)

Just for the record I live in south Liverpool and recieve my Freeview from Winter Hill

Thanks

DavPaz

Hi Vengence_Irl

After alot of internet searching for a solution a while ago, I believe I came across the registry edit your talking about.  Is this where you add a key "DigitalTvAutoTune", then a sub key "TS44-0"?

I tried the edit, but it made the situation worse.  MC no longer even picked up any channels, and it didnt seem to be even accessing the DVB-T stick. From what I have read, it doesnt seem that this edit works on Vista, but works okay for XP MCE 2005.  Have you tried and got this edit working with a Vista Media Center?

Thanks alot. As far as I know, no USB DVB-T stick currently works with Vista MC, with the exception of the Hauppage one.  The guys at Hauppage managed to create a registry edit for their Nova-T stick I believe, however, the edit is specific to that stick and does not work for any other brand.

Also, for the Freecom DVB-T users, it does not seem that Freecom has any plans to fix this problem any time soon.  Since the Freecom DVB-T stick is third party hardware that has been branded (ie. the exact same hardware is sold under different brands), Freecom themselves are not responsible for making the stick so are waiting for the manufacturer to create some sort of fix. They said that they dont expect the situation to be resolved for at least a few months, if at all.

Guess we'll have to hope for a fix from Microsoft. Otherwise, we'll have to stick to using crappy software, while Vista MC just sits there.  Too bad

Hi,

I, like many it would seem, am having the same issue in that after the scan is done, you cannot actually watch any of the 'tuned' stations. I had a look at manually adjusting the frequencies in the registry but there must be about 20 different sets and I've no idea which set relates to the transmitter I'm using, Crystal Palace.

Fortuately I've been able to RMA the card and so now am looking for a replacement. If anyone knows of a dual tuner solution for Vista Media Centre I'd be grateful for the information.

By the way, the guy at Scan where I bought my card said that although the card is certified for Windows Vista, this does not mean it will work with Windows Vista Media Centre. Is there any kind of certification that does mean a card will work with Windows Vista Media Centre?

Thanks in anticipation,

Colin.

Yes - it has to be "Premium" logo'ed. (Note that this is different from Vista Home Premium edition; it's a higher tier of logo'ing for hardware.)

Hi Jess,

I am very confused by this.

I too have a Compro VideoMate E700 which is "Certified for Windows Vista" but exhibits the same problem described elsewhere in this thread, i.e. works perfectly under the stand-alone application, scans and find channels under Media Center but when I select a channel all I get is "No TV signal".

Are you confirming that "Certified for Windows Vista" and the "Premium Logo" are different? If so, how can one find out if any particular hardware is "Premium Logo'd" from the Hardware compatibility list, which doesn't seem to mention the Premium Logo at all (unless I'm missing something)? Or is the "Premium Logo" status listed somewhere else I'm not aware of?

I think that, since there seems to be no solution, I'll have to dust off my MCE 2005 disk. Very inconvenient.