problems recording with Windows Media Center

dmehling said:

So what does that mean for my problem? Does this mean that the quality is not an issue?

No it means that you are recording exactly what you are receiving.

Have you listed the make and model of your TV Tuner? I did not see it...

Most of the channels are UHF. A few are Hi-VHF including our ABC affiliate. However, I have only been recording programs on UHF channels. The tuner card is a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1250. I don't think that is a DVB-T card.

Hauppuages Windows 7 Media Center cards are:

Hauppauge Computer Works : WinTV for Media Center

your cards info from Hauppauge:

Technical Specifications

• TV Standards:
  
  • NTSC Analog Cable, Over the Air TV
  • ATSC Digital Over the Air HDTV
  • Clear QAM Digital Cable TV
• Plugs into:
  
  • PCI Express X1 or X16 slot

Features

• Watch, pause and record TV on your PC, in window or full screen. Uses Hauppauge’s SoftPVR to record analog TV programs to your computer’s disk drive.
• Receive ATSC digital TV or Clear QAM digital cable TV, up to 1080i format
• Receive NTSC analog cable TV with the built-in 125 channel cable-ready TV tuner
• Dolby-TV stereo decoder
• Schedule TV recordings with WinTV-Scheduler software
• Compatible with Windows XP and all versions of Windows Vista

and the footnotes:

• For analog cable TV reception, you need an analog cable TV connection. If you have a digital cable set-top box or a satellite box, the WinTV-HVR-1250 can connect via either channel 3, Composite or S-Video inputs.
• For ATSC over-the-air digital TV reception, a high-gain antenna is recommended. To check the ATSC TV broadcasts in your area, go to TitanTV.com and enter your postal code.
  Note: depending on the strength of your antenna, you might not be able to receive all broadcasts listed at TitanTV.
• To use the WinTV-HVR-1250 for TV with the Windows Media Center application, a Media Center certified DVD or MPEG-2 software decoder should be standard in your Media Center PC. If you are building a Media Center PC, check Microsoft’s website for a list of Media Center certified DVD decoders. The Windows Media Center application is included with Windows XP Media Center, Windows Vista Ultimate, and Windows Vista Home Premium editions only.
  Note: the enclosed remote control is not MCE certified and does not replace the Media Center remote control.
• To watch clear QAM channels, you should use either the Hauppauge WinTV v6 or v7 application or Windows Media Center from Windows 7.
• ATSC TV recordings are not 100% compatible with DVD, and therefore you cannot burn them directly to a DVD.
• The WinTV-HVR-1250 is AQ certified for use with the Windows 7 Media Center application.

Okay...? I was already looking at that same information. It's not very useful to me since it doesn't say anything about my particular issue.

You card is not fully compliant with Windows 7.

In what way? How is it that a problem I have on only two channels is the result of a card that is not fully compliant? I should be having this problem on other channels.

I have provided several very likely reasons for why you are experiencing this issue. If I think of any more, I will let you know.

I don't know what likely reasons you have given me. You have given me many suggestions, but most of them do not apply. You suggested that perhaps the problem I have is the result of a weaker signal strength on the problematic channels. However, based on what I told you from looking at the website you suggested, these channels are broadcasting at a very high strength. In fact, I have tested another channel with poorer reception and I do not have this particular glitch when I record on that channel. Another thing you suggested is that my tuner card is not compliant with Windows 7. On the manufactures website, under frequently asked questions for this particular card, it clearly states that it is indeed compliant with Windows 7. So it seems like there must be something else going on besides the possible reasons you mentioned.

A) Just because the signal strength is known to be good in your area does in no way mean you are getting that signal at your PC.

B) I posted above what it is says on the website.

C) I asked what Model # you have - there are two for the HVR-1250 one is W7 compliant - one is not (see above) and refer to the website for clarification.

D) I also asked what format those channels where broadcasting in (to note if different from the others).

As you seem to be having the issue with only those 2 channels, I was trying to help you troubleshoot by ruling out possible known issues, such as compatibility, signal strength, signal type, etc...to see if we could discern a clear difference between the channels that were OK and the ones that were not.

I believe this has been a valid attempt to help you. Perhaps another has some further suggestions, I do not.

If you find a solution, please post it here for the benefit of others.