WMC7 TV Tuner Issues

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fruztrated

35 posts

Geek

#75507 19-Jan-2011 10:25

Hi all. I am having trouble with WMC 7.

My tuner is a WINTV-HVR-1700

When I go through the process of setting up the TV signal I am asked for my country which is New Zealand. I then submit my postcode of 5032 (Paraparaumu) and then I get the message "TV program guide listings are not available for the postal code you entered".

Now I have tried 0000, 1111, 1234, and a bunch of other postcodes but the damn thing can never find the information it needs.

This I am assuming is why when I continue it cannot find any channels.

NOTE: My TV picks up all the channels just fine.

Can somebody help me out here? Is there some list of postcodes that work for NZ Freeview? Is there some manual way to get the silly program to find the information?

Please Help!!

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75 posts

Master Geek

#428743 19-Jan-2011 10:47

Hi There,

Out of the box WMC7 does not support program guides. Unfortunatly you are in for a few hours of stuffing around to get it working.

The two piece of software you will need are

EPG Data Collector
http://sourceforge.net/projects/epgcollector/forums/forum/1125945.
This software sucks the TV listings from the freeview broadcast, and spits it into a XML file

Software to import XML file into WMC7
There are a couple of options, like
Guidehound http://www.tvguidehound.com
Big Screen EPG http://bigscreenglobal.com/bgproduct.aspx?PID=BSEV1

You will need to have a reasonable level of technical understanding and patience to get it all working, but have a look through the fourms, as everyone with a media center PC has to go through this excercise.

berrys

225 posts

Master Geek

#428745 19-Jan-2011 10:50

As far as I know, postcodes aren't relevant for NZ.

To get the tv listings, you will need to either download from the internet the listings in a XMLTV format or use the Geekzone developed EPG Collector which takes the MHEG-5 guide data from the TV signal and converts it to the XMLTV format - Great if your HTPC isn't connected to the internet for daily guide downloads.

To then get the XMLTV data into WMC, you will need an application such as Big Screen EPG (which also can automatically download the guide from the internet) or Guidehound EPG. Both these applications import the XMLTV data it into WMC.

http://bigscreenglobal.com/bgproduct.aspx?PID=BSEV1
http://www.tvguidehound.com/

Both have 'trial' versions so best to test which suits you.

I am using the EPG collector in conjunction with Guidehound with no issues.

berrys

225 posts

Master Geek

#428748 19-Jan-2011 10:51

Always too sloooow!

fruztrated

35 posts

Geek

#428753 19-Jan-2011 11:01

Thanks guys. Will this solve the issue where the stupid program fails to find any TV channels?

berrys

225 posts

Master Geek

#428759 19-Jan-2011 11:15

Is your TV an older set? - picking up the analogue signal and not the Freeview signal which is UHF

fruztrated

35 posts

Geek

#428886 19-Jan-2011 16:53

No, my TV is a brand new SONY 32" LCD and it picks up all the FreeView channels without any issues.

TwoSeven

1623 posts

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#428905 19-Jan-2011 17:40

What happens one you go to a tv channel, wait 30 seconds or so after it displaying the pictures, then select the EPG button to view the guide for that channel?

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fruztrated

35 posts

Geek

#428908 19-Jan-2011 17:43

Maybe I haven't been clear enough about my issue..

WMC7 does not detect any channels and it's driving me insane.

berrys

225 posts

Master Geek

#428914 19-Jan-2011 18:09

That is odd. Just checking:

Latest drivers installed?
WMC detects the tuner?
Digital tuners selected in WMC for the scan?

fruztrated

35 posts

Geek

#428918 19-Jan-2011 18:29

Yep this is a fresh fully uptodate install of Windows 7 Professional 32-bit with all windows updates and driver updates. The tuner is detected in WMC and for the scan.

The scan goes to 100% and informs me that it found no channels (sigh)

freitasm

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#428927 19-Jan-2011 18:52

And do you have an external antenna for this receiver?

berrys

225 posts

Master Geek

#428936 19-Jan-2011 19:30

Just reading this, 3rd post in particular:

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=30062

You might need to disable the analogue tuner in WMC before the scan...?

fruztrated

35 posts

Geek

#428951 19-Jan-2011 20:19

freitasm, yes I have a rooftop antenna which works fine with my TV.

berrys, I have only setup one tuner in WMC7.. the one that does not find any channels.

Rollux

362 posts

Ultimate Geek

#429101 20-Jan-2011 10:03

Have you tried with the default Tuner software that the card comes with? Just to eliminate the possibility of faulty tuner card?

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fruztrated

35 posts

Geek

#429157 20-Jan-2011 12:24

The card comes with no software. I have just installed K-Lite Codec pack and now it finds the freeview channels. This seems a bit odd to me. Using other programs I have discovered that WMC 7 is using the microsoft DTV decoder (c:\windows\system32\msmpeg2vdec.dll) so not much has changed apart from installing some other codecs.

The issue now is quality. The picture is choppy and distorted quite a bit. It pixelates like it is missing frames.

Recorded TV is just the same. It looks really bad :(

Anybody have any ideas why the image is so bad?

Again, the image is perfect (no pixelation) on my TV

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