problems recording with Windows Media Center

[AngelProcesser]

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.

 

[AngelProcesser]

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

 

[dmehling]

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.

 

[AngelProcesser]

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.

 

[dmehling]

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.

 

[AngelProcesser]

You card is not fully compliant with Windows 7.

 

[dmehling]

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.

 

[AngelProcesser]

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.

 

[dmehling]

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.

 

[AngelProcesser]

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.

 

[dmehling]

How do I determine the exact tuner card that I have? I checked under device manager but it does not differentiate which HVR 1250 it is. It came with my PC, but the manufacturer did not list which one it was either. I got this computer only a couple months ago so I assumed that the tuner would be Windows 7 compliant. If it is not compliant, why would I be having this particular problem. Why would it only show up on these two channels and not others?

Coming back to your suggestion about signal strength, when I perform a signal strength test inside Windows Media Center, those two channels that are giving me the problem usually have either five or six green bars. The thing that these intermittent glitches is that they are exactly the same length every time they occur. It's not like a sudden drop in signal strength, which could be regained within a second or perhaps several seconds. It probably would not be the same length every time. I have seen it occur probably over 100 times and it always 3 seconds. Plus it almost always happens the same number of times during a show. Perhaps you are right about this being a signal issue, but I am still not quite understanding why it would be an issue.

 

[AngelProcesser]

Do you happen to live near an airport?

 

[dmehling]

Not at all.

 

[AngelProcesser]

Just a thought I had as a plane buzzed over...

When you are recording, are you running other programs or maximizing/minimizing WMC?

Could another program or service be causing the issue? Do you know how to start with minimal startup items and services (including no AV, etc) running?

 

[AngelProcesser]

How do I determine the exact tuner card that I have?

It should be marked on the card somewhere, you may have to physically remove the card to see it or perhaps Hauppauge support could point out how to identify the model numbers...

 

[dmehling]

It depends. About half of the programs are being recorded while I am working on other things on my computer. Other times the recordings are done very late at night when no other programs are active except background programs. Regardless of what is going on, there is no difference. Are you suggesting that other programs may be taking away resources from the recording process? I have kind of ruled that out. If I'm watching a program live everything is fine, but the minute I click on record, the problem will begin occurring sooner or later. I can actually see it happen as I'm watching the program while it is being recorded. As that was going on I had my task manager open showing CPU usage for all 8 of my virtual CPUs. I could see absolutely no change in CPU usage for any of my processes when the glitch occurred.

 

[AngelProcesser]

Perhaps there may be a comptaibility issue with another program/service and disk access.

have you run the full uninstall utility from Hauppauge, then ran their latest W7 installer, then re-run WMC setup from the beiginning using custom not Express setup?

Also, the usage meter may not see very short spikes.

 

[Desslok]

Quick question do you happen to have a Western Digital Green drive?

 

[dmehling]

I don't have that particular hard drive. Also I was able to pretty conclusively determine that I have the 1196 model. Is that the Windows 7 compliant model?

 

[dmehling]

When you say run the Windows 7 installer, are you talking about the Win TV 7 program? Or are you just talking about the drivers for Windows 7?