Theater 650 and Vista's Windows Media Center

[pr75]

First of all thanks a lot to Octavean for this GREAT post.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial that allows you to set up your Theater 650 to receive both analog and digital channels under Windows Media Center on Vista. Follow the instructions carefully and you will be amazed. I tried here and it works like a charm!

Tutorial:
http://www.hdtvtunerinfo.com/vistahdtvinstall.html


P.S. I only tried on Vista 32bit, not sure if this also works on Vista 64bit.


*ATTENTION* The tutorial tells you to download and install Windows MCE Drivers on Vista but I got it working with the official Vista 32bit drivers.

[Octavean]

First of all thanks a lot to Octavean for this GREAT post.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial that allows you to set up your Theater 650 to receive both analog and digital channels under Windows Media Center on Vista. Follow the instructions carefully and you will be amazed. I tried here and it works like a charm!

Tutorial:
http://www.hdtvtunerinfo.com/vistahdtvinstall.html


P.S. I only tried on Vista 32bit, not sure if this also works on Vista 64bit.

Thanks!

People who are still having trouble with some hybrid cards in Vista may want to take a look at this Microsoft Knowledge Base article (ID 929011) link too which goes along similar lines:

Windows Media Center does not correctly configure a combo TV tuner that supports both ATSC and NTSC signals on a Windows Vista-based computer

Presumably Microsoft has a patch of a sort but it addresses a slightly different issue.

And while it’s a bit off topic it may be worth mentioning that AIW users are able to get their AIW T200 based tuners working (audio and Video) in Vista with the Catalyst 7.2 beta drivers and Vista 3rd party apps. This has never been done before but Vista MCE functionality still isn’t there yet.

[KernelSoftware]

Just a note to say that we could not get Vista to simultaneously support both digital and analog channels on the hybrid tuner on this card either. The HotFix in the MS KB article 929011 did not resolve this problem. We haven't decided whether to use the registry modification or simply get a card with discreet tuners. Thanks for the procedure though!

[Octavean]

Just a note to say that we could not get Vista to simultaneously support both digital and analog channels on the hybrid tuner on this card either. The HotFix in the MS KB article 929011 did not resolve this problem. We haven't decided whether to use the registry modification or simply get a card with discreet tuners. Thanks for the procedure though!

That’s because the TV Wonder 650 doesn’t support concurrent dual tuner functionality of its analog / digital components. There is no working around this very real hardware design limitation. For concurrent dual tuner functionality simply add another tuner and designate tuner priority accordingly to avoid using both tuners on the TV Wonder 650 simultaneously.

[KernelSoftware]

Perhaps there is a misunderstanding here. We are not trying to tune in two channels at one time. We do understand this is a hybrid tuner that can tune in only one analog or one digital channel at a time. However, we thought that the TV Wonder 650 should support the CHOICE of either one analog or one digital channel at any time. That is, we thought Media Center should list both analog and digital channels, even though we could tune to only channel at a time.

Are you stating that even though Vista Media Center supports hybrid tuners in that fashion (tune any one channel, analog or digital), this device does not and will not (no driver update can fix this problem)? I'm curious because ATI does not seem to mention such a limitation anywhere.

Thanks!

[Octavean]

I see,….

Right then, the link to the “tutorial” that pr75 posted should work and allow for both analog and digital components to be seen and configured for “sequential” switching between analog and digital components of the TV Wonder 650 within Vista MCE.

As for why the situation exists currently:

Such cards by design seem not to function properly in programs like MCE 2K5 and Vista MCE. Either a violation of MCE specifications or a diversion from suggested design of the hardware (and possibly drivers) itself seems probable IMO. My guess is that Microsoft deliberately truncated the functionality of such cards in Vista MCE so as to not allow the mistaken assumption that their software were at fault for the errors / erroneous functionality that would inevitably otherwise ensue.

Simply put Microsoft doesn’t want product A, B and C from company X, Y and Z to reflect poorly on their new product Vista / Vista MCE. If true, I wouldn’t blame Microsoft for doing so given the circumstances.