Update Windows Vista (KB959485) has been released to the Microsoft Download Center.

x86:   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=c999971f-1ed0-4949-a72b-0fd5c805374a

 

x64:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=c563b394-e6cc-4133-870c-442b4cb788c5

KB article link:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/959485 will be available on 12/5.

This update addresses an issue introduced in the October 2008 Media Center Cumulative Update for Windows Vista (KB955519) where on systems with digital cable card tuners, 2^nd recording is audio and no video when doing back-to-back recordings.

Known issues

This update addresses recording and playback issues on Windows Media Center-based computers. If you watch the TV shows that are recorded from digital cable card tuners on Media Center Extenders, you may still experience some playback issues in which there is audio but no video.

Recommended configurations

There are many possible TV Tuner configurations for Media Center. The following are configurations that may be affected by the issue that is discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 955519. Additionally, recommendations are provided.

Use Windows Media Center-based computer for recorded TV playback without extenders

•	Windows Media Center with only digital cable card tuners For this configuration, we recommend that you install both update 955519 and 959485.
•	Windows Media Center with digital cable card tuner and other digital tuners (not digital cable card) or analog tuners For this configuration, we recommend that you install both update 955519 and 959485.
•	Windows Media Center with other digital tuners (not digital cable card) or analog tuners For this configuration, we recommend that you install update 955519. You do not have to install 959485.

Use extenders together with Windows Media Center for recorded TV playback

•	Windows Media Center together with only digital cable card tuners For this configuration, we recommend that you uninstall update 955519 and that you not install update 959485.
•	Windows Media Center with digital cable card tuner and other digital (not digital cable card) or analog tuners For this configuration, we recommend that you uninstall update 955519 and that you not install update 959485.
•	Windows Media Center with other digital tuners (not digital cable card) or analog tuners For this configuration, we recommend that you install update 955519. You do not have to install update 959485.

(Thanks to Tim Schreck for this -Pete)

I am confused I am using media center with 2 digital ati tuners and 2 extenders so do i not want to apply either update?

Figured it out now after reading the points are a little off and confusing

But basically since I am using cable card, hdrhomerun and extenders I have to live without the update just like I have been. Hey my system is working fine so okay by me.

What kind of update is this?  Wouldn't it be better to release this when you've been able to fix all the issues in a single update rather than having a decision tree for who should and who shouldn't install the update?

This is now three or four cumulative updates in a row that have an issue requiring me to uninstall.  Bravo!

That was actually a topic of debate and the decision was to go ahead and release the host PC fix.

There are additional fixes in KB955519 that can be important to a lot of customers.  The fix for the issue with audio/no video affects not just playback, but recording also.  So getting this fix out helps a lot of customers that don't use extenders.  And it fixes issue when recordings are made, so could help for extender scenarios down the road. 

We released this as a Microsoft Download Center update that gives more flexibility on choosing to install.  The next Windows Media Center Cumulative Update will have both the host PC fix and the extender fix and will release to Windows Update.

 

Tim,

   Would be nice if all of us could get the fixes in KB955519 no just the ones that don't use extenders. I still don't understand how an update breaks something that was working were is the QA?

We're working on identifying why the issue in KB955519 was not caught.  For our releases that go on Windows Update, before we release we do 2 internal test passes, a take home program for Media Center team members and a self host program for Microsoft employees.  While the audio/no video issue is limited to sytems with digital cable card tuners doing back-to-back recordings, we did not get any reports until after it released.  While there can be "holes" in test coverage, it is rare to have one like this.  While we finish our investigation on how we missed this, I have recruited any Microsoft employee who reported this as part of our self host program.

KB955519 was a cumulative update availabe via WU.  The fix for this released in KB959485 was a targeted fix released to the Microsoft Download Center.  This fix will be part of the next cumulative update.

Any fix introduces risk and sustained engineering has to balance the risk of any particular fix and a compact test schedule in order to meet timely releases.  We could extend our test coverage before release, but that would mean an even longer time on getting fixes out.  When we do miss something like this, we take great strides to learn why this fell through all the quality gates and implement changes as needed to help better minimize the risks.

That is good to know and not trying to knock just questing more than anything. Hope to see an update soon to help us with extenders out there.

Thanks for the reply

Tim,

Thank you for providing details about this update.

Unfortunately I am a little unsure if this patch will help the problems our Media Center system has been experiencing.  Could you please suggest what I should do?

In my case:

• I am not running the TV Pack and I do not have a CableCard PC.
• I use an analog PVR-250 TV Tuner and use FireSTB (essentially outside of VMC) to digitally record our HD channels.
• When 955519 was installed on the system it DID experience the "digital audio" problem on back to back PVR-250 recordings.  On top of this, on back to back recordings, the second PVR-250 recording often contained video glitches during the first few minutes.
• 955519 did enable us to record shows that previously would fail due to CGMS-A flags, but it did not fix the incorrect duration problem that we have been experiencing for some time.
• After 955519 was installed, the system started to experienced many recording failures (with strange problems such as scheduling two recordings for the same time slow, even though there is only a single tuner).
• I uninstalled 955519 and the "digital audio" problem went away, first few minute video corruption problem went away, and recordings seemed to become more reliable initially.
• Over the next few weeks it started to experience more and more recording failures with a 771 error.  It got to the point where up to 30% of our recordings would fail in a day.  No longer were two recordings scheduled for the same time slot, but now simply 771 errors would show up and we would end up with a 0kb size recording that would not play.
• Over the next week or so, in addition to the large number of recording failures, I noticed that several of my series recordings were not abiding by their 2 recording limit properly anymore (I would end up with many recordings).  I also had a few series that for some reason were not able to see any episodes to record (they just kept missing ALL episodes).  So I started to delete any series that exhibited problems (including failure to record) and recreate them.  Every time I did, the newly scheduled series would record fine.  At this point the 771 errors "seem" to have mostly gone away (we are still seeing one or two every 3-5 days).
• Unfortunately, without 955519, we are no longer able to record a significant number of shows due to the CGMS-A flag problem (that 955519 resolved).

To fix the CGMS-A problem, I would like to reinstall 955519, but I don't want the "digital audio" problem, nor the video corruption, nor (most importantly) the recording failures and schedule corruption to return.

Will a combination of 955519 and 959485 fix things up for us?

Note we do not use extenders, but recordings are shared with our 5 other Media Center PCs.

Thanks again.

After running Windows update on 12/12 I received the cumulative update from Oct. I did not apply this KB yet.

I do not have cable card - only a single hauppauge 2250.

After the cumulative update, guide data has been incorrect and a number of recordings have been missed stating "no signal available" for both analog and digital shows (1 tuner analog, 1 tuner clearqam). I have witnessed this problem as it happened, switched to live TV to the show and it was showing up fine...should I try this issue...or wait?

When will the fix for people with extenders come out? What happens if I install this and am using extenders?

Just for reference I use two extenders as well as watching TV locally on the VMC computer (cablecard, ATSC tuner) and I was having the problem with back to back recordings (the second one not recording.)  Installing the newest patch fixed this problem for me.  If I read the logic tree right I really should have un-unstalled the October patch but I went ahead with the new one because the October patch fixed some issues I was having before.

Anyway, not suggesting you do the same but just providing a data point. 

I just want to say thank you for releasing this update.  I was having the black screen issues and it was driving me crazy.


The update fixed my problem and I can finally record stuff back to back again.

Could someone from Microsoft please respond to my question above?

If 959485 doesn't apply to my non-CableCard system, could you please briefly explain what this patch does and how it might affect non-CableCard systems?

I have uninstalled 955519 at the moment due to the digital audio bug and back to back recording failures.  The problems were with shows recorded using our analog PVR-250.  Also it appears the Recordings.xml might have become corrupt or confused with 955519 installed.

However, now that 955519 is not installed anymore, we are now seeing CMGS-A recording failures with re-runs of Christmas shows (no more digital audio bugs nor back to back failures though).

Can I install 955519 and 959485 on my non-CableCard system to enable recording of incorrectly flagged CGMS-A shows and to resolve the other recording issues caused by 955519?

Thank you.

I have a new senerio:  I have a Cable Card Tuner and another ATSC and NTSC tuner with no Extender, But have an extender on order and expect it today.  I already installed both patches so what do I do?

Al