Windows 7: Lost sounds on several channels this past week

Hi,

In the past, I've been able to use Media Center to record shows such as AMC's Rubicon and Mad Men, put the 'Microsoft Recorded TV Show' type recordings on a DVD, or a USB drive to watch in my living room.

Recently, I had to hook up a cable box to my computer to get all Comcast's channels to show up.

Now, Media Center records them in 'Windows Recorded TV Show' type, so now I have to convert them using the DVR-ms command to get them in the 'Microsoft Recorded TV Show' type format to be able to watch them on my TV in the living room. But many of these shows, like the AMC programs, now show as 'Copy-Protected' when trying to use the conversion process, so I can't convert them. I don't know if Comcast is doing this or if Media Center is preventing this.

Today, the latest! When I open up Media Center to ESPN, ESPN2, History Channel, and several other channels, I get NO SOUND! It wouldn't even pay to record them to watch them on my computer because there would be no sound. I DO get sound on the TV in my living room, running off the same Comcast Cable line, for these channels. And this just started today on my computer for those channels. It started this past Saturday when I tried to record Law & Order: SVU on one of my local channels. A locally broadcast channel, not a 'cable' channel. NO sound!

One other odd thing I've noticed tonight: the History Channel watched thru Media Center...instead of hearing the normal sound and voices I hear on that channel on TV in the living room, I hear music instead.! not even related to the program. When the commercials come on, the normal sound appears. Then when the show comes back on, unrelated music starts up again...?

Does anyone know what's changed? Is it my Comcast provider doing all these things? Or is Media Center now preventing TV programs from being converted and/or not allowing sounds on these channels? I've called Comcast and they claim it's my Windows Media Center.

It's getting harder and harder to record any programs for watching later, or watch in the comfort of my living room. I know a Comcast DVR is always available, for a Price! But I've never had this problem before. So on one hand, I'm suspicious of Comcast to try to get even more money out of me, or is Microsoft dealing with the tv broadcast companies to avoid us 'stealing' their shows?

Anyone??

Hi. I've just had a similar problem that started in the last 2 weeks. I've got a set-top box from Bright House (Time Warner affiliate) that's connected to my PC using a regular coax cable and to my TV with an HDMI cable. Up until about 2 weeks ago, everything was fine. Now, when I try to record anything on Bravo (regular or HD), there is no sound unless the TV is on. I don't know what other channels have this problem, but I know it's a problem with Bravo.

Also, Netflix has vanished from WMC, as well as the connections to Internet TV.

IMO, it's a problem with WMC, but can't find any help. I've un-installed, re-installed, et cetera and nothing has changed

ord2koa,
I still have most of the problem stated above, what with the copyrighted programs being a problem. And now Windows Live Movie maker doesn't have the option to 'not' enhance any tv program imported, which takes at least a half-an-hour. Then to 'save' it after editing, it takes another half-an-hour to save to 'Burn a DVD' or the 'Recommended for this Project' option. Finally, after importing that into Windows DVD Maker, it can take another half-hour or more to make the DVD. I just pretty much finally gave up on the whole process. Microsoft has made their Media Center, Windows Live Movie Maker programs to difficult or impossible to use.

In any case, ord2koa, I did finally fix the sound problem, which may work for you. I called my Comcast rep with that problem, and she said at the bottom of my Comcast remote, there is a button with the letters 'lang' below it. She told me to press it, and it changed the language back to English and everything was fine. I mentioned the problem and finally the solution on one of the other Windows Help forums, and even the forum supervisor wasn't aware of that fix.
Good luck.

Kinda related .. but more of a question about Tv Tuners & Comcast. If a mod deems this to be it's own thread, ok.

I am curious about getting a USB TV Tuner for my computer. We have Comcast Xfinity and all our TVs need a converter box. In our area Comcast went all Digital, except ultra basic channels 2~30. Would I need another converter box for the USB dongle?

I am not surprised at all that Comcast blames WMC. Ever since I tried setting up my VAIO and had problems, Comcast disavowed all knowledge of WMC and refused to support it. When I tried to contact Microsoft, they told me I had to contact Comcast. Woo-hoo!

I have a VAIO All In One Win 7 computer and I have the little digital box Comcast gave me hooked up to it. We had to put in incorrect answers to "defeat" WMC and its ridiculous "Cannot detect IR" messages. WMC then worked great - for a while. About 2 months ago, the guide was totally screwed up, numbers out of order and no rhyme or reason, and this could not be resolved by reloading the guide. I didn't really care since I would just use the remote to watch the 2 or 3 channels I usually have on. I could live with a botched guide. I don't really record anything either.

Then, about a week ago, the sound went out on Bravo, which is the channel I have on the most. But it didn't just go out 100%. The sound COMES ON FOR THE LOCAL COMMERCIALS, believe it or not, and then goes OFF when the Bravo bumper comes on that goes back into the show, or if a national ad is airing. I know about local and national avails because I used to work in radio, so it helped me to notice a pattern. I guess this is most peoples' definition of tv hell - you can hear the commercials, but not the show. Other channels seem to have the sound on all the time with no problem, for example, NBC. I just have no clue what is causing Bravo programming to have the sound off all of a sudden. I have to imagine it's something encoded in their transmission. But why would it have changed, and why are the commercials different? Since neither Comcast nor Microsoft could have cared less whether I had TV through my computer at ALL, I doubt I'll get help from either one of them.

I even tried setting up WMC and doing system restore, to no avail. When I slide the volume down to zero, it switches into closed captions, so I can READ a show if I feel like it. But no sound. I've been doing the same thing as you, playing the tv in the living room where I can hear the sound, which still is irritating as there is a video delay on WMC and they don't exactly sync up. But it's better than nothing.

More than anything I am irritated that Microsoft makes it impossible to get to a human being and end-users like us are left to chat amongst ourselves rather than actually get help from the people who put these programs together. I only found this site from putting queries into Google hoping someone else had the same issue. I knew I couldn't possibly be the only one, but that doesn't help me any.