I'm considering reinstalling my Media Center and have in mind to move from 32Bits to 64Bits.  I am very much on the fence as to whether I should include the Windows Media Center Pack.  I am unclear as to the specific benefits to me here in the US.  I am aware that WMC TV Pack 2008 mostly benefits international users, however, I have read enough that I believe that WMC TV Pack 2008 may be worthwhile consideration for my rebuild.

I would like to solicit comments concerning "Bugs" encountered via WMC TV Pack 2008 installations in TGB community.  I would like to compile a  WMC TV Pack 2008 Bugtrack to make an informed decision.

All reports are greatly appreciated.


Bugtrack:

(1) WebGuide Broke                                                            Verified Bug - Mike Hayton (eHome)
(2) WTV Format Incompatibilities                                         Verified Bug - Mike Hayton (eHome)
(3) HD QAM channels are all over the place
(4) Unable to burn to CD/DVD using the new WTV file format
(5) VMC Controller no longer works
(6) Automatic commercial skipping no longer works                 Verified Bug - Mike Hayton (eHome)
(7) DVR-MS editing applications unable to process WTV files    Verified Bug - Mike Hayton (eHome)
(8) Mini-guide working incorrectly                                           Verified Bug - Mike Hayton (eHome)
(9) mcupdate_schedule not disabling                                      Verified Bug - Mike Hayton (eHome)
(10) Copying prohibited notification during recording
(11) No TV signal on some CableCard channels (No TV signal in Live TV)
(12) Silicondust "PID Filtering" (Problem with "Digital Audio Device" - HDHomerun Issue)
(13) Fast forwarding of music files broken
(14) Playback controls (Stop, Pause, Resume & Delete when watching movies) broken
(15) VMC recording scheduling crippled
(16) Teletext pages won't work
(17) Some form of codec break (or degeneration)
(18) Nero breaks the DVD burning facility
(19) Zoom option not remembering it's setting (on an extenders)
(20) DVB-S (recordings canceling)
(21) MHEG crashing
(22) Autorun via the HKLM registry broken
(23) Tuner conflict resolution not working as expected
(24) VMC won't wake from standby for a scheduled recording
(25) DVR-MS files no longer show thumbnails
(26) Channel jump does not work right
(27) Editing channels only allows 3 digits for the subchannel (Some subchannels are 4 digits)
(28) Video freezes while audio continues
(29) No Guide Data (Running TV setup more than once = guide does not update)    Microsoft confirmed?
(30)
(31)


Keep them coming...


Apps Affected By WMC TV Pack 2008:

(1) DVRMSToolBox
(2) mControl
(3) VMCController
(4) FrontView Display
(5) Media Control
(6) OML
(7)
(8)

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PM me with your ASUS Striker Extreme Horror Story..

After trying to upgrade, everything seemed to work, but then I ran until weird errors, like I couldn't search TV shows because Windows Search had been interrupted. I also had a bad/beta version of TVP that had issues with QAM.

After a fresh install with the proper version of TVP, I have QAM working through my HDHomerun. Everything works great, and I was able to setup the HD broadcasts numbers to the .1 of the analog channel number (for example ABC analog is channel 13, and the HD is 13.1). I also like being able to specify Media Center to prefer HD recordings over SD for each TV show. I'm running 4 analog tuners along with the 2 qam tuners. I also run MyTV plugin, and use extenders. Everything has been running great for 3+ weeks now.

Hauppauge cards currently don't work with qam, but drivers should be coming. Depending on your cable, qam could possibly be hard to setup, but the HDHomerun site has great info to help.

kendrome:

I was able to setup the HD broadcasts numbers to the .1 of the analog channel number (for example ABC analog is channel 13, and the HD is 13.1).

Were you able to do that through the HDHomerun software, or through VMC? I haven't played around much with channel settings since installing the TV Pack last week but that would be very helpful. My HD QAM channels are all over the place currently.

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Zalman HD160XT - DFI LANparty JR 790GX-M2RS - A64 X2 6000+ - Zalman CNPS9500Cu- 4GB Corsair XMS RAM - Corsair HX520W - LG GGC-H20L Super Multi Blue - Seagate 7211 640GB - 3 x Seagate 7200.10 320GB RAID 0 - HDHomerun & PVR-150MCE - Samsung LN40A550

Two major bugs for me:

• No inclusion of H.264 decoder for HD tranmission (big issue for European users)
• With the WTV file format for Recoreded shows I am now unable to use the Burn to CD/DVD option. The error is 'Unknown File Type' when selecting the show.

Dastrong:

• No inclusion of H.264 decoder for HD tranmission (big issue for European users)

I know its no consolation but that's not really a bug, its a missing feature (a pretty fundamental one at that).

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http://www.spore.com/view/profile/Vengence_IRL

too true you are right. It is so annoying that it has not been included though :(

tell me about it. Ireland will be transitioning to h264 dvbt :(

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http://www.spore.com/view/profile/Vengence_IRL

Dragonfly47:

Were you able to do that through the HDHomerun software, or through VMC? I haven't played around much with channel settings since installing the TV Pack last week but that would be very helpful. My HD QAM channels are all over the place currently.

With TV Pack, you do all the channel settings inside of VMC. Under Guide | Edit Channels you can click on a specfic channel and it allows you to enter a correct channel number. You can also change the guide listings here if it shows the wrong guide data (like wrong channel or SD instead of HD)

VMC Controller no longer works.
Automatic commercial skipping no longer works.
Most applications used to edit DVR-MS have not been updated to edit wtv.

I've also been having more frequent crashes, but I'm still collecting information about it. I'll report back once I learn how to recreate it.

---

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

I dont know if this is a TvPack bug or if it was there previously, but here goes my description

You're watching TV. You go to the guide. Go back to TV. Then go to sleep for the night.

Awake the next morning and VMC goes to the last viewed screen other than live TV, so it powers up on the guide.

If you use the arrow keys and move through the listings, the description of the program in the lower left corner stays stuck on whatever it was the night before.

-dickm

 

dmagerl:

I dont know if this is a TvPack bug or if it was there previously, but here goes my description

You're watching TV. You go to the guide. Go back to TV. Then go to sleep for the night.

Awake the next morning and VMC goes to the last viewed screen other than live TV, so it powers up on the guide.

If you use the arrow keys and move through the listings, the description of the program in the lower left corner stays stuck on whatever it was the night before.

 

Thats a bug in TV Pack - if you dismiss the guide and bring it back, its all back to normal (i.e. press the guide button twice). Its been fixed in the next version.

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

spplutchok:

Bugtrack:

(1) WebGuide Broke
(2) New Recording Format
(3) HD QAM channels are all over the place
(4) Unable to burn to CD/DVD using the new WTV file format
(5) VMC Controller no longer works
(6) Automatic commercial skipping no longer works.
(7) DVR-MS editing applications unable to process WTV files
(8) Mini-guide working incorrectly
(9) mcupdate_schedule not disabling
(10) Copying prohibited notification during recording


Keep them coming...

 

1 - yes - webguide doesnt work

2 - yes - new format to support new attributes. Has broken 3rd party tools. There's work being done to correct this.

3 - I didnt know about this - Im not sure what you mean all over the place

4 - dont know

5- dont know

6,7 - see 2

8 - only a minor bug, (bring up mini guide and then channel up/down to change channel while mini guide is displayed. Result: you end up with the miniguide and info bar showing for a short period of time)

9 - mcupdate_schedule shouldnt be disabled. However, I think the issue you're talking about is the machine waking up in the middle of the night. There's a separate thread on this and we're trying to figure out whats the cause of the machine waking up.

10 - dont know.

 

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Mike - nice to see you posting such detailed responses, particularly letting us know about bug and releases.

When I edit channels, specifically when I'm changing channel numbers sometimes when I hit "previous" it will take me to the channel that is -1 of the NEW channel number, rather than the -1 channel of the original channel number.  It makes it a right pain to run through all the channels, because you don't now where you've got to.

It seems to be different on different "visits" to edit channels - sometimes when you go in it does do it, sometimes hitting previous takes you -1 of the original channel. 

Not being able to play the new format on MCE2005 it a nightmare as well - I have two other mediacenters that aren't able to run Vista.

Also, I've noticed that sometimes when I'm scrolling through the guide, the preview changes in the bakground.

mikehayton:

spplutchok:

Bugtrack:

(1) WebGuide Broke
(2) New Recording Format
(3) HD QAM channels are all over the place
(4) Unable to burn to CD/DVD using the new WTV file format
(5) VMC Controller no longer works
(6) Automatic commercial skipping no longer works.
(7) DVR-MS editing applications unable to process WTV files
(8) Mini-guide working incorrectly
(9) mcupdate_schedule not disabling
(10) Copying prohibited notification during recording


Keep them coming...

 

1 - yes - webguide doesnt work

2 - yes - new format to support new attributes. Has broken 3rd party tools. There's work being done to correct this.

3 - I didnt know about this - Im not sure what you mean all over the place

4 - dont know

5- dont know

6,7 - see 2

8 - only a minor bug, (bring up mini guide and then channel up/down to change channel while mini guide is displayed. Result: you end up with the miniguide and info bar showing for a short period of time)

9 - mcupdate_schedule shouldnt be disabled. However, I think the issue you're talking about is the machine waking up in the middle of the night. There's a separate thread on this and we're trying to figure out whats the cause of the machine waking up.

10 - dont know.

 

 

I would say that 5 and 6 are also affected by the MediaExperience and MSAS bugs.

Mike,

You say this is fixed in the next version, is this a hot fix \ windows update or are you speaking of a seperate release.

 spplutchok

Here is what I have found - the the main bug I am having problems with is related to cable cards.  Everything works fine without WTV 2008 however some channels (which I am suppose to have) with cable cards will come up and say ther is no TV signal (if watching live) however if you set the channel to record it will record just fine and you can watch the program, you just can't warch it live.  It appears to only affect HD channels and not neccisarily all of them ( I have 3 channels I am having problems with).