Media center only knows analog TV

[Norm X]

The Canadian TV market switched from analog to digital broadcasts. I use
Media Center to give TV and movie listings. I have a Hauppauge 1350 WinTV
adapter which can detect all the DTV signals. However, MCE setup software is
unaware of digital TV. Has Microsoft been informed of this shortcoming?
..

 

[Norm X]

Are you joking ?

If the signal is digital then it could be encrypted as well.

I have an ATI Wonder VE and digital cable from Comcast and I have a free
digital cable STB.

You will have to get a digital cable STB for your Hauppauge 1350 WinTV
from your cable TV provider.

{ Note: I am not pleased with the idea of using a digital cable STB. It
is just one more vampire item wasting power. }

I don't have cable TV, I have an antenna. The BIG STORY in the Canadian TV
market was OTA digital broadcasts. I can use my SAMSUMG 50" Plasma 1080p
HDTV to watch over the air broadcasts for free with stunning quality. But I
cannot use Microsoft Media Centre. I can use the Hauppauge software, but at
this point Microsoft MediaCentre is a kludge.

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

The Canadian TV market switched from analog to digital broadcasts. I use
Media Center to give TV and movie listings. I have a Hauppauge 1350 WinTV
adapter which can detect all the DTV signals. However, MCE setup software is
unaware of digital TV. Has Microsoft been informed of this shortcoming?

XP was pre digital tv.
See if you can get TV Pack 2008 to work with xp.
Either that or upgrade to Win 7 which has digital built in
(but not in the stripped down basic versions).

 

[Bob F]

The Canadian TV market switched from analog to digital broadcasts. I
use Media Center to give TV and movie listings. I have a Hauppauge
1350 WinTV adapter which can detect all the DTV signals. However, MCE
setup software is unaware of digital TV. Has Microsoft been informed
of this shortcoming? .

I have both ATI and Avermedia TV tuner cards that handle both analog and digital
TV, and am running BeyondTV to use them. This all works fine with both analog
and digital. So one alternative would be to use other software.

"Windows Media Center supports ATSC in the United States and Korea only." from
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/...ls-that-are-supported-by-Windows-Media-Center

I wonder why that would be? Can you just tell your computer you are in the USA?

 

[VanguardLH]

I don't have cable TV, I have an antenna. The BIG STORY in the Canadian TV
market was OTA digital broadcasts. I can use my SAMSUMG 50" Plasma 1080p
HDTV to watch over the air broadcasts for free with stunning quality. But I
cannot use Microsoft Media Centre. I can use the Hauppauge software, but at
this point Microsoft MediaCentre is a kludge.

For OTA television now broadcast using digital encoding, you need a
converter (digital to analog) for analog TV gear, something like RCA
Digital TV Converter DTA800B w/Remote. That's how we got our old but
still working and reliable analog TVs to receive digital OTA channels.

In the USA, the FCC mandated the move to digital OTA channels as of
12-Jun-2009. When did Windows XP Media Center get released? Way back
on 31-Oct-2002 (for the 2002 version), 30-Sep-2003 (for 2004 version),
and 12-Oct-2004 (for 2005 version). Obviously the software won't know
about changes that haven't yet realized or even were in the planning
stages at the time the software was coded. 4 years *later* (after the
last release of Media Center) the FCC forced the change.

Mainstream support for Windows XP Media Center 2005 ended on 14-Apr-2009
- which is before the FCC mandated change. Yes, there was info going on
before that (I think the stink started around Feb 2007) but obviously
Microsoft wasn't going to waste their time making major functional
changes to any software in Windows XP so late in its lifecycle that
support for XP was dead when the change eventually came.

You're using an old OS. So am I. Why would you expect it to be updated
to accommodate changes long after its support has died or even late in
its lifecycle? Take a look at the datestamps of your Hauppage software.
I bet if you found some really old Hauppage software dated over 7 years
ago that it also didn't support DTV.

You'll have to go the same conversion kludge route that owners of old
analog TVs had to go if they wanted to continue receiving OTA channels.
We had to stick DTA converters on all our old analog TVs (other than the
one connected to the ISP's converter box). I used the RCA converter at
my mother's house (no cable, just antenna, all OTA changed to digital.
Alas signal strength was weak in her area so digital reception was so
poor that she forgot about broadcast junk and went to DVD movies. After
the roof reshingling, no antenna anymore. As I recall, there was some
discount coupon just before the mandated change in our area that helped
saved like $40 on the purchase of the DTA (so we ended up paying $10).
Your gov not offering the same?

You say the newer Hauppage software lets you receive digital TV. Then
the card itself must support DTV. So why not use the Hauppage software
versus old software released before something changed many after its
release? I didn't see any user forums at Hauppauge's web site but there
looks to be some (http://www.google.com/search?q=hauppauge+forum). If
you don't like Hauppauge's DTV software maybe someone there might now of
an alternative player/recorder that works with whatever card you have.

"Has Microsoft been informed of this shortcoming?" Why would Microsoft
put a new saddle on a dead horse?

 

[Norm X]

For OTA television now broadcast using digital encoding, you need a
converter (digital to analog) for analog TV gear, something like RCA
Digital TV Converter DTA800B w/Remote. That's how we got our old but
still working and reliable analog TVs to receive digital OTA channels.

WHAT? I have a digital PC. My monitor a Samgsung Plasma is digital.
Microsoft Win 7 is digital computer software. I have not used analog
hardware of any type in many years.

I don't think you're pulling your weight intellectually on this issue but
what you say is fully consistent with the misinformation from the cable
companies broadcasts. Who is your employer? Do you watch bad TV? Can I sell
you some swamp land?

 

[Norm X]

I have both ATI and Avermedia TV tuner cards that handle both analog and
digital TV, and am running BeyondTV to use them. This all works fine with
both analog and digital. So one alternative would be to use other
software.

"Windows Media Center supports ATSC in the United States and Korea only."
from
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/...ls-that-are-supported-by-Windows-Media-Center

I wonder why that would be?

Thanks. Maybe Microsoft will adjust to the new reality.

Can you just tell your computer you are in the USA?

Thanks. Maybe if I tell it I live in Bellingham WA, it will work. Good idea.

 

[Paul]

Thanks. Maybe Microsoft will adjust to the new reality.


Thanks. Maybe if I tell it I live in Bellingham WA, it will work. Good idea.

I don't use Media Center, but this kinda shows you how screwed up it is.
They try to align digital with analog, so digital is sort of a channel overlay.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/peterrosser/archive/2006/02/03/atscinmce.aspx

It would be nice if there was an actual list of patches or updates,
so you could make sure your version was as up to date as possible.

I thought there was some guide data, on the ATSC channels themselves,
which is what makes some of those cheesy $50 set top box converters
go crazy (too much code concerned with whatever guide data is sent,
not enough on making the basic TV functions work properly). The STB
I have on order, also apparently freezes up if you enable Closed Captioning.

I couldn't find references to 1350 on Hauppauge. Maybe I missed
it somehow. Would it be a 1250 card ?

Paul

 

[VanguardLH]

VanguardLH wrote ...


WHAT? I have a digital PC. My monitor a Samgsung Plasma is digital.
Microsoft Win 7 is digital computer software. I have not used analog
hardware of any type in many years.

And just what did you think you were receiving before for broadcast (or
even cable) television? It wasn't digital hence the need for tuners and
converters in your TV gear. You really thought DTV was somehow sent
digitally in its transmission?

You don't have cable. You have an antenna. That's what you said. So
what you have is analog transmission of digital terrestial television
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_terrestrial_television) for which
you need the requisite *tuners* in your receiving gear that can decode
the *format* of the transmission.

So because the gear is "digital" then everything to it must be digital.
Really? Then all voltages must be digital, too, according to your
logic. I have a digital multimeter so obviously there can't be any
voltages like 4.321289 and alternating current must be a worldwide
deception.

I couldn't find a model 1350 at the Hauppauge site. The 1250 is
probably close.

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr1250.html

Please enlighten us all by showing which is the *digital* input for TV
transmission or video input to this card. But then your topic was how
to get software that was released before the introduction of ATSC
digital transmission to support that encoding format despite the
OS-included app is for a non-supported OS. You want the software to
somehow be ever-forward compatible with as yet non-existing technologies
and that the software owner will continue putting new features on
discontinued software. You'll need to use new software that supports
existing and perhaps emerging technologies.

For your own reaons, you must not like Hauppauge's WinTV application for
viewing DTV (http://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/support_wintv7.html).
Maybe you're also looking to do editing rather than just viewing but you
didn't ask about that. Norm suggested using other software, too, but
for some reason you seem fixed on using old software from Microsoft in a
version of Windows that Microsoft no longer supports. If you're holding
your breath waiting for Microsoft to update their unsupported operating
systems then we'll know why you disappear from posting hereafter.

I don't think you're pulling your weight intellectually on this issue but
what you say is fully consistent with the misinformation from the cable
companies broadcasts. Who is your employer? Do you watch bad TV? Can I sell
you some swamp land?

Good luck finding a solution on your own since you are focused only on
Microsoft to modify old software in an unsupported OS.