Unable to tune DVB-T Freeview on Windows 7 clean install

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Unable to tune DVB-T Freeview on Windows 7 clean install

SpoonNZ

21 posts

Geek

#105695 8-Jul-2012 16:25

I run a Windows 7 Media Centre box that I've been running for several years. It started life with Vista on an AMD board - I upgraded to 7 a year or two back, and earlier this year I swapped to an Intel board/CPU and didn't reinstall at the time.

Not surprisingly, it hasn't been behaving too well. I finally gave in this week and got a new hard drive to do a clean install of 7. This time I went for x64 so I can take advantage of having a little extra RAM (previously I was just on 32 bit).

I installed Windows as per normal, and installed all the latest drivers from the manufacturer's sites. I've booted back into my old install and confirmed the driver on my TV tuner (Hauppauge HVR-2210) is the exact same version as the new clean install - the latest.

Once I got that all up and running I went and configured Media Centre. I pointed it at my media libraries, and video and audio playback worked as expected. I then popped into the TV setup page, told it I was in NZ, gave it my postcode, pointed it to my TV tuners and let it scan for channels - and it found nothing.

So far I have tried:

Rebooting into the old install (i.e. swapping the hard drive back) to confirm that I hadn't fried the tuner. (Worked fine)
Installing NextPVR which tuned in the channels fine when I fed it Dunedin's current frequencies.
Messing around with drivers for the tuner - old version, ones for a different model (the model it selected automatically was slightly different from the one on the sticker; though the same as the driver that worked fine on the old install)
Putting in a couple of different postcodes, and selecting Australia instead of NZ for my region (no change)
Tuning on analogue which I think should find channels, but it doesn't either.
Selecting only the first or second tuner so it searches on that one.

One thing I have tried doing which shouldn't help but was worth trying was installing the Hauppauge WinTV software. This fails because it reckons I'm on a netbook and am not authorised to install it - I'm guessing it's because I don't have an optical drive in that machine. I don't recall running into this issue before at all so don't think this was set up on the old install.

Any ideas of what else I can try?

Thanks

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

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#652571 8-Jul-2012 17:55

SpoonNZ: I then popped into the TV setup page, told it I was in NZ, gave it my postcode, pointed it to my TV tuners and let it scan for channels - and it found nothing.

Thanks

That would indicate no signal input.
Stupid Question - Have you plugged in the antenna?

dontpanic42

1574 posts

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#652574 8-Jul-2012 18:03

I have an inbuilt DVB-T tuner card on my laptop, and even after loading the 'official' drivers from the manufacturer website, I couldn't even get it to show up as a tuner on WMC, or even in the device manager for some reason.
The Windows 7 compatibility website also confirms that the drivers will run fine, and even says that the drivers should download automatically through Windows Update. I'm pretty sure it hasn't ever downloaded any such drivers from Windows Update.

One thing I tried was to grab the Hardware ID string from Device manager and Google it.
I had some success doing this a while back, and was able to find drivers that worked.

I have since done a few re-installs and have, unfortunately, misplaced the drivers that worked well.

I know that might seem a little unnecessary considering the drivers you have should be all good, but just thought I'd put that out there as an idea... Google the Hardware ID string, that is.

I hope that helps.

SpoonNZ

21 posts

Geek

#652575 8-Jul-2012 18:07

B1GGLZ:
That would indicate no signal input.
Stupid Question - Have you plugged in the antenna?

As mentioned, NextPVR tunes them fine, and if I boot back to the old install it still works fine. I have also checked the plug is tight still.

SpoonNZ

21 posts

Geek

#652576 8-Jul-2012 18:10

dontpanic42: I have an inbuilt DVB-T tuner card on my laptop, and even after loading the 'official' drivers from the manufacturer website, I couldn't even get it to show up as a tuner on WMC, or even in the device manager for some reason.
The Windows 7 compatibility website also confirms that the drivers will run fine, and even says that the drivers should download automatically through Windows Update. I'm pretty sure it hasn't ever downloaded any such drivers from Windows Update.

One thing I tried was to grab the Hardware ID string from Device manager and Google it.
I had some success doing this a while back, and was able to find drivers that worked.

I have since done a few re-installs and have, unfortunately, misplaced the drivers that worked well.

I know that might seem a little unnecessary considering the drivers you have should be all good, but just thought I'd put that out there as an idea... Google the Hardware ID string, that is.

I hope that helps.

It's definitely the same driver and version as I had on my old install, given the old one was 32 bit and it's now 64. I've also tried a different sub-model (the one that matched the sticker on the card) to no avail. I've Googled for the model of the card too to see if there are any alternate drivers too, have found nothing.

dontpanic42

1574 posts

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#652578 8-Jul-2012 18:14

I should also note that my Win7 install is 64-bit as well.
Perhaps it's x64 related?

SpoonNZ

21 posts

Geek

#652579 8-Jul-2012 18:19

dontpanic42: I should also note that my Win7 install is 64-bit as well.
Perhaps it's x64 related?

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking - the only obvious difference I can see. I might grab a 32 bit ISO tomorrow (note: legal, licensed ISO) and start again. Was hoping to avoid as obviously if it doesn't help I've just created a bunch more work for myself.

I have seen anecdotal evidence of this card working with x64 MCE though

Nety

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#652732 9-Jul-2012 08:16

It should not be because of x64. I have a HVR-2200 and have it running fine on x64 for a couple of years now. However I am a bit perplexed as to what it would be too. How long does it take to run the DVB-T scan? Takes a good five minutes for me and now with the reshuffle in Wellington it does not find the channels until almost the end of the scan. Also how do you get the EPG? If you use EPG Collector maybe try setting that up to confirm that finds the channels without issue? Also have you made sure you have downloaded all the MS updates in particular any that relate to WMC?

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

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SpoonNZ

21 posts

Geek

#652774 9-Jul-2012 10:09

Yes, the scan takes several minutes. I've spent hours of the last few days watching the wee bar go along.

The EPG I would be getting from EPG Collector. I have set up and tested EPG Collector - it finds the channels and downloads the listings no problems, though stumbles trying to import them to Media Centre, I assume because there are no channels for it to assign to.

All of the Windows Update udpates have been done, and I've googled around for any hotfixes I can find related to MC. I stumbled across a couple that were signal issues, but they appear to have been included in SP1 so not relevant.

I've got 32 bit Windows 7 downloaded and on my flash drive now. I have seen reference to random issues with dual tuners in x64 so pinning my hopes on this! At work so will give it a jab this evening.

SpoonNZ

21 posts

Geek

#653147 9-Jul-2012 20:08

Well, a quick update.

Installed Windows 7 32 bit. Followed exactly the same process as last time. Worked fine.

So I now have a worked media PC again. Bit of a bugger that I wasted $30 or so on the RAM, but I think I'd rather just run with that than try and figure out the actual problem.

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#653184 9-Jul-2012 21:27

Reality is, if you are just using it as a HTPC then you don't need the memory...

SpoonNZ

21 posts

Geek

#653202 9-Jul-2012 21:57

When did this turn into LogicalThinkingZone? Of course I need MORE!

In reality 4GB should be bucketloads, but it's nice to have the room so if I do need to chuck a virtual server of some sort on it I can. It's got a Core i5 processor which is totally overkill too so it kinda suited.

SpoonNZ

21 posts

Geek

#653211 9-Jul-2012 22:04

Actually, while we're in the topic of cheap RAM and media PCs, I was thinking about the viability of using a ramdrive for the live TV buffer. 5 or 6 GB should give a decent buffer soup should make for nicefast seeking. Cheaper and faster than an SSD