Media Center won't record one particular scheduled program

[raylo]

Running Win 7 media center for DVR for a few weeks now and it generally works great. I have several series set to record the entire season, new shows only. I picked the shows on the guide and clicked "record series". The one issue I am having is that it fails to record "The Blacklist". It appears in the recording schedule (Monday night, channel 4.1 here), then after that date passes with no recording it shows up again on the schedule for Saturday at 9:00 when it is repeated. But that fails to record, too. Then the record schedule shows the next episode for Monday. But of course, that fails to record, too. All other shows record fine to the nearly empty 2TB hdd. Any ideas?

 

[PSCO2007]

Can you play or record anything on 4.1?

If not, do a rescan of channels.

 

[Sardonicus]

2 very good reasons for this comes to mind...... the StartRecording task is corrupt or the broadcaster is blocking it.

Quit WMC, go to
C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\Media Center
and delete the task.
Restart WMC and it should re-create the task.

Good Luck

 

[PSCO2007]

the broadcaster is blocking it.

Since when are over-the-air channels blocked?

Answer: Never.

I can record from all over-the air channels.

 

[raylo]

I'll try recording something else on that channel this evening. The channel does come through fine viewing live TV via the PC TV card and media center.

Edit: I just checked and that channel is not playing on live TV after all. Medic center says signal not available... So I'll try re scanning the channels this evening. It is a local channel and comes through fine on all my TVs' OTA tuners. Not sure why the WinTV card would lose the signal.... But that would explain the problem.

 

[barnabas1969]

It could be that Media Center has two sources for channel 4.1. This happens sometimes when the TV station has a nearby repeater. The repeater may be too weak for you to receive, but Media Center chooses it as the first source for some reason.

Go to the guide, and click on the channel number (4.1) on the left side of the guide. Go to Edit Channel -> Edit Sources. See if there are multiple sources listed. For example, if you have two tuners, there should be two sources listed. If there are four sources (and only two tuners) then disable the incorrect ones.

 

[PSCO2007]

I'll try recording something else on that channel this evening. The channel does come through fine viewing live TV via the PC TV card and media center.

Edit: I just checked and that channel is not playing on live TV after all. Medic center says signal not available... So I'll try re scanning the channels this evening. It is a local channel and comes through fine on all my TVs' OTA tuners. Not sure why the WinTV card would lose the signal.... But that would explain the problem.

I'll try re scanning the channels this evening

I'm sure that was your problem - a rescan will fix it.

After you do the rescan, you will see 4.1 in channel strength in WMC.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[raylo]

It seems that the issue is simply that the tuners in the Hauppage WinTV card just don't receive channel 4.1 as well as my TVs so at times it just isn't there, hence no recording.

My WinTV card does have 2 tuners and I went to the channel and edit sources and split them into 2 channels. Didn't really help as both tuners are identical. Now I can't figure out how to recombine them into one listing on the guide, not that it is really necessary, but it would clean up the guide display if I could do this. Anyone know how?

Thanks for all the input folks. I guess I'll just have to try streaming NBC stuff instead of DVR'ing.... Or find a TV card with a more sensitive tuner.

 

[barnabas1969]

I wasn't suggesting to split them into two different channels. You can merge them back again, but I don't remember off the top of my head how to do it in Media Center. The easiest thing is to download the free Guide Tool. Then, just highlight the two 4.1's, right-click, and choose "merge tuners".

 

[PSCO2007]

It seems that the issue is simply that the tuners in the Hauppage WinTV card just don't receive channel 4.1 as well as my TVs so at times it just isn't there, hence no recording.

My WinTV card does have 2 tuners and I went to the channel and edit sources and split them into 2 channels. Didn't really help as both tuners are identical. Now I can't figure out how to recombine them into one listing on the guide, not that it is really necessary, but it would clean up the guide display if I could do this. Anyone know how?

Thanks for all the input folks. I guess I'll just have to try streaming NBC stuff instead of DVR'ing.... Or find a TV card with a more sensitive tuner.

This is what my setup shows upon launch - 2 tuners.
All I do is click apply and rescan.

I would uninstall your card and reinstall and do a rescan- it should solve your problem.

 

[raylo]

I didn't uninstall the card but I went through the whole TV signal setup again including rescanning the channels. It did indeed re-combine the 2 separate 4.1s back into one channel listing in the guide. But the channel still comes and goes. It's just a signal strength and tuner sensitivity issue.

 

[PSCO2007]

Don't know why the 4.1 comes and goes.

I thought a rescan would definitely solve it. - Sorry.

 

[carwiz]

I have to disconnect and reconnect (clean) all the connectors in my outdoor antenna system about every other year. The connections seem to get just enough corrosion to affect the digital signals. I have a couple of distant OTA channels that loose strength and that's when I know it's time to clean again. The satellite channels never seem to have that problem but it has fewer and better connectors.

 

[PSCO2007]

Carwiz made a great suggestion, which made me think of my antenna also.

A while ago, we had some strong winds and my antenna moved slightly - enough to lose channel 7.

I re-oriented it and that solved it.

That might be your problem with 4.1?

You also said that your TV does get 4.1.
You might have a bad coax leading into your antenna connection on PC.(Or not making good contact).

Try re-seating the coax .
Do you have another coax you can try?

 

[raylo]

My antenna is indoors in the attic with a booster amp. I live in MD suburbs of DC and I can get the DC channels and some Baltimore channels (Balt is 50 miles away). 4.1 is DC channel but the orientation of my antenna to get Balt channels hurts 4.1 a bit and in windy conditions it is usually one of the first to get some breakups. But the Hauppage TV tuner has trouble with it in good conditions while my Samsung TVs and crappy little Zinwell digital converter box on an old tube TV do better. Same antenna, same connections. It's just the Hauppage tuner....