Ok, here's my problem:
Running Vista Home Premium 32-bit. Have
a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 MCE working with mediacenter. Everything's set up
and working, apart from the poor onboard Intel GMA graphics, which fail to properly set the resolution (using VGA connection. TV displays "not support"), resulting in a black-screen on the HDTV.
Recently
installed a Gigabyte Radeon HD 3450
(this one)
for the added features and hardware-assisted decoding (not to mention
audio over HDMI is great. It's actually an HTPC setup for my dad; whos
not too computer literate and the less cords the better
) The Radeon does exactly what its supposed to. Properly sets res over HDMI; crystal clear picture. audio over HDMI works flawless, reduced CPU usage, Perfect. (infact I highly reccomend the card for an HTPC setup)
Suddenly
Vista MC complains that it cannot detect tuner hardware. A quick check
of device manager shows that all the hardware is set up, drivers
installed, and (according to windows, anyway) functioning correctly.
Googling the problem results in a possible fix (setting "Media Center
Reciever Service" as local system service or something - cant remember
exactly, did it step by step from the guide on HP website) which did
not help. All other information seems to end with people throwing up
there hands and saying something like "sometimes it happens, can't fix
it".
I know the tuner works, other apps can use it. The problem persists without the radeon present (using onboard Intel Graphics; standard monitor+VGA)
Ideas? Please?
I had thought of using mediaportal or some other free mediacenter but that presents the problem of no free EPG data. Is there any way to use Vista MCE's epg service in 3rd party apps, directly or indirectly? (I do doubt it. that seems like something Microsoft would be very dilligent in locking out)